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[4] But Epameinondas, who saw that the soldiers were superstitious on account of the omens that had occurred, earnestly desired through his own ingenuity and strategy to reverse the scruples of the soldiery. Accordingly, a number of men having recently arrived from Thebes, he persuaded them to say that the arms on the temple of Heracles had surprisingly disappeared and that word had gone abroad in Thebes that the heroes of old had taken them up and set off to help the Boeotians. He placed before them another man as one who had recently ascended from the cave of Trophonius,1 who said that the god had directed them, when they won at Leuctra, to institute a contest with crowns for prizes in honour of Zeus the king. This indeed is the origin of this festival which the Boeotians now celebrate at Lebadeia.

1 Near Lebadeia. Trophonius designates an underworld Boeotian Zeus (Chthonius) who gave oracles from this cave. For these stories see Polyaenus 2.3.8.

Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.

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