LEUCTRA

leuctra, a village of boeotia in the territory of thespiae, chiefly noticeable for the battle fought in its neighbourhood in 371 b.c. between the thebans and the spartans and their allies. a peloponnesian army, about 10,000 strong, which had invaded boeotia from phocis, was here confronted by a boeotian levy of perhaps 6000 soldiers under epaminondas (q.v.). in spite of inferior numbers and the doubtful loyalty of his boeotian allies, epaminondas offered battle on the plain before the town. massing his cavalry and the 50-deep column of theban infantry on his left wing, he sent forward this body in advance of his centre and right wing. after a cavalry engagement in which the thebans drove their enemies off the field, the decisive issue was fought out between the theban and spartan foot. the latter, though fighting well, could not sustain in their 12-deep formation the heavy impact of their opponents' column, and were hurled back with a loss of about 2000 men, of whom 700 were spartan citizens, including the king cleombrotus. seeing their right wing beaten, the rest of the peloponnesians retired and left the enemy in possession of the field. owing to the arrival of a thessalian army under jason of pherae, whose friendship they did not trust, the thebans were unable to exploit their victory. but the battle is none the less of great significance in greek history. it marks a revolution in military tactics, affording the first known instance of a deliberate concentration of attack upon the vital point of the enemy's line. its political effects were equally far-reaching, for the loss in material strength and prestige which the spartans here sustained deprived them for ever of their supremacy in greece. authorities.--xenophon, _hellenica_, vi. 4. 3-15; diodorus xi. 53-56; plutarch, _pelopidas_, chs. 20-23; pausanias ix. 13. 2-10; g. b. grundy, _the topography of the battle of plataea_ (london, 1894), pp. 73-76; h. delbruck, _geschichte der kriegskunst_ (berlin, 1900), i. 130 ff. (m. o. b. c.) leuk (fr. _loeche ville_), an ancient and very picturesque little town in the swiss canton of the valais. it is built above the right bank of the rhone, and is about 1 m. from the leuk-susten station (151⁄2 m. east of sion and 171⁄2 m. west of brieg) on the simplon railway. in 1900 it had 1592 inhabitants, all but wholly german-speaking and romanists. about 101⁄2 m. by a winding carriage road n. of leuk, and near the head of the dala valley, at a height of 4629 ft. above the sea-level, and overshadowed by the cliffs of the gemmi pass (7641 ft.; q.v.) leading over to the bernese oberland, are the baths of leuk (_leukerbad_, or _loeche les bains_). they have only 613 permanent inhabitants, but are much frequented in summer by visitors (largely french and swiss) attracted by the hot mineral springs. these are 22 in number, and are very abundant. the principal is that of st laurence, the water of which has a temperature of 124° f. the season lasts from june to september. the village in winter is long deprived of sunshine, and is much exposed to avalanches, by which it was destroyed in 1518, 1719 and 1756, but it is now protected by a strong embankment from a similar catastrophe. (w. a. b. c.)