Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Chapter 179: Sparta

“Silence! Drag this Lucanian traitor and chop him up, then feed him to the dog!” Exclaimed Cincinnag, he must not allow Hemon to preach the benefits of joining the Greeks here, which may end undermining the morale of the people.

“Kill me? Great! The archon of Theonia, Davos, is the most protective! When you attacked his camp, he had annihilated the Lucanian army! When the Crotonians invaded his territory, he then captured all the Crotonians as captives! If you kill me, a citizen of Theonian Union, believe it or not, tomorrow, the troops of Theonia Union will appear here!” Hemon allowed the soldiers to hold him, and shouted fearlessly.

The face of Cincinnag twitched a few times, then he changed his words and said, “Get…get him out of here!”

Hemon laughed inwardly. He had heard that the chieftain of Pyxous is a coward who bullies the weak and is afraid of the strong. As expected, if it was Akpir, Hemon would not dare to offer himself to get killed, “Don't you want to hear the good news that I have brought?!”

“What is it?!” Asked the chieftains impatiently.

Hemon pushed aside the guard and said it aloud, “As the envoy of Theonia Union, I was appointed by the Senate to talk about the possibility of peace with Grumentum and Pyxous!”

Cincinnag was shocked when he heard what Hemon had said.

“The Greeks won't come to attack us?!”

“Great! We don't have to abandon Grumentum!”

“You can't trust the Greeks! If they really wanted peace, then why would they occupy Nerulum?!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

They felt a sense of relief even during the fierce argument among the chieftains.

“Foolish Pyxous, have you forgotten the Lucanian's old saying? ‘If you have a big club in your hand, then there is no need to be afraid of the wolves.’” Hemon laughed, “Will you sit down and talk with Theonia if they didn't occupy Nerulum?! In fact, the Greeks who love the sea are not interested in the land of Lucania at all. Mountains are everywhere, the land is barren, and the roads are extremely bad. It is very difficult for them to do business or travel. The reason why the Union occupied Nerulum was to block you from going south, because the Lucanians have always attacked Thurii through Nerulum….”

The chieftains thought that this was a fact, and so they stopped talking.

Then Cincinnag once more asked with uncertainty, “Do the Greeks really intend to have a peace with me?!”

“Of course! Else, why am I here?!” Said Hemon in a sullen voice.

Cincinnag felt relaxed. He leaned back in his chair and said, “Is it because Nerulum is still in a mess, and are afraid that I will take advantage of this and attack?”

“Great chieftain, aren't you talking about yourself?” Hemon said sarcastically.

Cincinnag coughed awkwardly, and said, “Erm, let me listen to your….Theonia Union's condition.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Both sides have a desire for peace, and naturally, the negotiations went smoothly.

One day later, they have reached an agreement. The boundary between Theonia City-State Union, Pyxous and Grumentum is the pass between the two rivers, the two sides are not allowed to invade each other, and they can open markets at the intersection. Theonia Union must not support the enemies of Pyxous, and if there are small tribes or vagrant mountain people who are not under the control of Pyxous and want to go to Nerulum, then Pyxous must not stop them….

The term of agreement is one year. Originally, Cincinnag hoped that the term would be five years, but Hemon rejected it. His reason is that many people in the Union doubt whether Pyxous can abide by the agreement. If Pyxous manage to win the trust of the statesmen of Theonia Union with their good performance, then after a year, the next renewal people can be extended.

Cincinnag was angry, but he was helpless, because he needed the peace agreement more than the Greeks, so that he could deal with the hostile tribes in the city of Grumentum without any worries, and then against Potentia who had sheltered Lusau. As for Theonia Union, he could wait until he became the great chieftain of Lucania….

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Prior to the signing of Theonia Union and Cincinnag, Avinoges of Laos had reached a new agreement with the Union. First, Laos agreed to build the Thurii-Nerulum-Laos road and was willing to provide a large number of labor (There was a large number of Greek slaves in Laos, they are mainly descendants of the Sybarites, and they have now become freemen. However, Avinoges was unable to give them land and had to sell their labor to make a living. In addition, the Lucanians of the old Laos were either killed or have become slaves.) At the same time, Avinoges also intended to provide all the funds for the road construction. In this regard, Davos politely declined his good intention, and finally proposed that they should share it equally.

Second, without the permission of Laos, Theonia Union is not allowed to convert the people of Laos who have entered or fled into the Union into the Union's citizens, and they are responsible for returning them back to Laos.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At the southernmost tip of the Peloponnesian Peninsula, there is a piece of land called Lacedaemon in ancient times, and it is now called Laconia. The land is surrounded by some natural barriers, in the east and the south faces the sea, in the north is the gray and terrible Parnon mountains, in the west is the tall and desolate Taygetus mountain, and its five claw-like peaks are often covered with snow even in hot summer. The small plain under the protection of these dangerous terrain, have the Eurotas river run through from the north to the south. On the crags of the promontory at its entrance, the red rock is the tomb of Helen, who once charmed Greece and triggered the ten-year Trojan War. Along the entrance of the river, up to the middle of the river, is a city without walls. Its name is Sparta.

This is a rather rustic city. Although it seems to occupy a large area, except for the temple, the other buildings are low and crude, but there is a kind of tranquility and peace peculiar to the countryside. In the early morning, the people in the city got up early one after another, the Helots went to farm in the fields, while the housewives did housework at home. Some men went out to participate in military training and some went to participate in political matters.

The Gerousia and Ephors are the two major powers in Sparta. On this day, the two powers were dealing with Asia Minor at the same time. For the powerful Ephors, Thimbron's rhetoric about Cheirisophus at Ephesus was doomed to be a joke. The evidence of his dereliction of duty is conclusive. Moreover, the envoys of the city-states in Asia Minor are still waiting for the result of the trial in Sparta. No one dared to speak for Thimbron, he was then fined and sentenced to exileship.

At this point, Thimbron will be expelled from Sparta.

In the Ephorate, except for king Agis II, who was unable to attend the meeting because of his serious illness, he could only entrust his younger brother, Agesilaus II, to attend the meeting. All the other 29 elders attended the meeting on time and discussed the aftermath of the city-state of Elis.

The city-state of Elis was located near the Olympia region of the Peloponnesian Peninsula. It has always been supported by Sparta to win the right to host the Olympic Games from another city-state. However, during the Peloponnesian War, they took refuge in Athens, and in the year before last, they stopped the Spartan king, Agis II, who went to Olympia to offer a sacrifice to the temple of Zeus because of the oracle of Delphi….

These things finally infuriated the Spartans. Six years after the surrender of Athens, they declared war on Elis and sent king Agis II, who had been humiliated, to invade Elis. If it was not for the earthquake that made Agis II think that it was not a good omen, and withdraw his troops. Then the war would have been over at the beginning of this year. At the urging of the inspector, a month later, Agis II then led his troops to successfully invade the territory of Elis once more, burning, killing and looting, destroying the fields and the buildings, and capturing a large number of livestock and slaves. Finally, they arrived in Elis, a city without the protection of the walls, under the threat of the powerful troops of Sparta, the people trembled. Then the people, out of fear, rioted in the end. Although the chaos was suppressed, the national strength of the city-state of Elis was greatly damaged.

Agis II did not take advantage to capture Elis. After all, this is an ancient Greek city-state, as the host of the Olympic Games, they enjoy a reputation in the Greek city-states. So Agis II could only withdraw and return home, then soon fell ill.

After a discussion, the elders agreed that, if Elis, whose strength was greatly damaged, does not want to be attacked by Sparta next year, then they will certainly come to the peace talks. So, Sparta must force Elis to allow three of its towns to become independent, which will then further weaken the strength of Elis and make it no longer able to resist Sparta. If Elis agrees, then Sparta will allow them to have the right to host the Olympic Games and to also have the jurisdiction of the sanctuary of Zeus in Olympia.

The reason why the elders of Sparta do not want to return the Olympic Games and the jurisdiction of the sanctuary of Zeus to Pisa* is because they think that Pisa resents Sparta since the time Pisa has been separated from the Olympia region by Sparta a hundred years ago. And also due to Pisa having a good relationship with the mortal enemy of Sparta – Argos. (T/N: was a town, or perhaps an independent district, in Peloponnesus. It included Olympia, the site of the Ancient Olympic Games, and Dyspontium. This area subsequently formed part of the territory of ancient Elis.)

After dealing with Elis, Lysander stood up and said, “Elders, I believe that you have read the report of Cheirisophus at Ephesus. The investigation council hopes that we can come up with a solution as soon as possible.”

An elder murmured discontentedly, “The investigation council is too overbearing now, and are now even commanding us!”

All the people who were present seemed to not hear it, and only king Pausanias had said abruptly, “Isn't it because of the support of Lysander?!”