Epaminondas

Epaminondas , was a Theban general and statesman of the 4th century BC who transformed the Ancient Greek citystate of Thebes, leading it out of Spartan subjugation into a preeminent position in Greek politics. In the process he broke Spartan military power with his victory at Leuctra and liberated the Messenian helots, a group of Peloponnesian Greeks who had been enslaved under Spartan rule for some 230 years, having been defeated in the Messenian War ending in 600 BC. Epaminondas reshaped the political map of Greece, fragmented old alliances, created new ones, and supervised the construction of entire cities. He was militarily influential as well, inventing and implementing several major battlefield tactics.

Epaminondas was born into the Theban aristocracy in the late 5th century160BC estimates for the year of his birth vary widely. Cornelius Nepos claims that his father, Polymnis, had been left impoverished by his ancestors. He was educated in his childhood by Lysis of Tarentum, one of the last major Pythagorean philosophers. Epaminondas evidently excelled as a student, and was devoted to Lysis. Nepos also tells us that the young Epaminondas worked hard to increase his physical prowess, and specifically his agility, since he thought that strength suited the purposes of wrestlers, but that agility conduced to excellence in war. He also trained in running and wrestling, but most of all, he undertook martial exercises .

Source: Wikipedia