Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Chapter 258: The Celebration Ceremony for the Completion of the Temple of Hades (II)

The Greek soldiers on the field seemed to have heard the cry, and they immediately put on their helmets, picked up their shields and tied up their red cloaks, and formed a tight formation to fight against the enemy's attack…

However, there were too many “Persians” who swarmed in and surrounded the warriors. The cavalry galloped back and forth around the perimeter, the archers kept shooting their arrows into the air (all with their arrowheads cut off), while the infantry smiled strangely…

The audience can only see the dazzling red and the roar of the warriors through the gaps in the “Persian” encirclement.

The drums are getting louder and stronger…

The Greek phalanx also retreated step by step under the attack of the “Persians” and seems that they will soon retreat to the edge of the square…

The gazes of the general public were completely absorbed by the tense scene on the field, and someone shouted anxiously, “Fight! Greeks!”

It resonated with the whole audience.

“Fight!!! Greeks!!!….” The audience began shouting.

At this time, the high pitched humming sounded again, and “Hades” stood at the front of the stage at some point, and slowly swung his bident…

Surrounded by the Greek soldiers suddenly issuing a neat and powerful shout, “Hah! Oorah!! Hades!!! Hah!….” and more than a dozen salpinx were played at the right time.

The “Persians” began to retreat and finally dispersed…

The red square formation of the Greek mercenaries was now completely displayed in front of the audience, and they charged forward like a wall of iron with their neat and powerful strides together with the rhythmic beat of the drums…

The crowd was enthused and those who had never seen or participated in the Theonian military training, as well as the distinguished guests were overwhelmed by the strength and beauty of the soldiers on the field, they cheered, shouted and applauded.

The “Persian General” who had fallen behind was then pulled down by the charge of “Davos”, he then stepped on the “Persian General” and raised his spear, then pierced the “enemy” in the chest with an exaggerated movement.

“Davos! Davos!! Davos!!!….” The people couldn't help but burst into thunderous cheering.

“The lord archon had said before that he wanted us to see a completely different ceremony and he has done it!” Marigi, standing at the back of the platform, said aloud in exclamation as he glanced at his fellow statesmen who have varying expressions on their face.

“Yes, it's indeed a very different ceremony! Lord Davos is afraid that the public will forget his heroic deeds that he even promoted himself on such a sacred occasion!” Said Pollux.

Kunogelata and Cornelius looked at each other and did not say anything, but they were a little uneasy.

“He really did it! Haven't you noticed?! This will definitely become a new kind of drama, a different kind of drama from the one or two people acting, it is a drama where hundreds and thousands of people recreate the spectacular historical event!….” On the contrary, Ansitanos became so excited that he became slightly incoherent due to Davos enlightening him.

Wonderful chorus, music accompaniment, close to real battle and the performance of hundreds of people had truly shocked the audience and even the statesmen of the Senate.

“I look forward to the next performance!” Mersis' heartfelt admiration had reminded him of the difficult times in Persia, and his words are also a common opinion of the former mercenaries.

But Amintas curled his lips and quietly said, “The fighting scene is too fake!”

“Didn't you hear Ansitanos? This is acting, not real fighting. Look at the excited people. Davos is telling them our heroic deeds in this way of performance!” Antonios, who was next to him, rebuked Amintas in a low voice.

“I think it was Olivos who was playing Davos…he really did a great job! But Ledes who was playing the Persian general is no good, he is like a log!….” Epiphanes' interesting comments attracted the statesmen who were former mercenaries.

Next, “Hades” led the mercenaries to Magna Graecia, the Lucanian invasion of Thurii and the mercenaries defeating the Lucanian alliance…

A group of Lucanians, such as Vespa and Hemon, watched the play nervously.

Obviously, Davos had taken their feelings into consideration, and so the harm that the Lucanians once caused to the Thurians was only a brief passing, on the contrary, he focused more on the last scene. Accompanied by the cheerful and enthusiastic singing and drumming, “Hades” made “Davos” lead the Greeks to make peace with the Lucanians. They wrestled with each other, drank wine and put their arms around each other, and finally joined hands in a large circle, while “Hades” stood in the centre of the circle. The crowd then sang the ode of Hades, threw their arms and legs around and expanded and narrowed the circle, and the atmosphere was very warm that it attracted the people from outside to join in, and so the ode of Hades resounded throughout the city…

Hades, as the lord of the underworld, was said to be dark, cruel and frightening, hence why he is far less popular than Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo and the other gods among the Greeks. Kanos was just like the other Greeks in his likes and dislikes of Hades, so he was surprised when he heard that Theonia wanted to make Hades their patron god. He was distracted at first, but he was now so captivated by the wonderful performance in the square that it had made him have a good impression of Hades and could not stop himself from singing the ode of Hades with everyone.

It wasn't only him, but also the Lucanian chieftains, who only worshipped Asinu, started asking the others about the meaning of the words in a strange and stiff Greek, and some had even hummed along. In contrast to the overwhelming devotion of the majority of the Theonian population, the invited guests from the South Italia Alliance had different ideas, and some, like the Crotonians, had even expected the Theonians to make a fool of themselves during the celebration ceremony.

But at this moment, they were also shocked by this unprecedented ceremony in the whole of Greece, and the polemarchos of Crotone, Lysias, sighed and said, “It seems that the faith of Hades will truly take root among these Theonians.”

“Hera and Apollo were the gods that the Greeks of the western Mediterranean believe in the most, and only these Theonians and the savages will believe Hades!” Askamas said angrily as his good friend Milo was expelled because he was defeated by Theonia, and so he had some resentment in his heart. What is more, Crotone has the most magnificent Temple of Apollo in Magna Graecia, and the Greeks from other city-states often go there to pay their homage to it. Therefore, although the performance in the square made him amazed, he still complained, “Look, it's almost noon and it is already hot, but when are we going to be allowed to see the Temple of Hades?!”

“Yea, my legs are starting to go numb now!” Another seemingly playful remark by another strategos of Crotone caused a stir among the guests.

“Clang!!!….” Then a long and powerful bell suddenly rang, which shocked the people who were disappointed with the end of the performance.

“Look…the…the Temple of Hades!” There were constant exclamations in the crowd.

In the northwest of the Nike Square, on the hill behind the Grand Senate Hall, the building, which was half-covered by many scaffolds and large pieces of linen in the early morning, had finally fully revealed its true appearance as the people were concentrated on the performance on the square: A towering, grand white building shining in the hot sunlight!

Plesinas then took the lead, followed by the 50 white-robed priestess and the statesmen of the Senate, then the distinguished guests of the city-state, and the people on the north side of the square, followed by the people on the south side of the square…everyone began to move slowly towards the Temple of Hades under the orderly guidance of the soldiers…

The bronze bell was still being rung unhurriedly, more clearly and deeply, and soothed the urgent mood of the people.

As they get closer to the Temple of Hades, it became clearer to the eyes of the people. This is a very unique temple, it's height is no different from other temples, but its length is twice as long as the largest temple in all of the city-states in Magna Graecia. More importantly, as the site of the city-state's protection, according to tradition, it is also the centre of a city-state, and it should be enclosed by walls and become the acropolis of Thurii, just like the former Temple of Apollo in Thurii. However, not only does it not have any walls, but it also has stone stairs from the east, west, south and north, allowing easy access to the temple.

Androlis, who just recently became a statesman of the Senate, curiously asked Cornelius, who he got along well with during this period, “Why is there no wall in this new temple?”

Cornelius then replied to him seriously, “This is the proposal of Lord Davos so that the people can freely visit the temple to make offerings and prayers in order to show their love of Hades!”

Davos is the favoured of Hades and the high priest of the temple, and so proposals regarding the Temple of Hades would not normally be opposed. Androlis looked at the temple, but the hundred years of tradition had still made him confused, “But in this way, Thurii will have no acropolis!”

Cornelius sighed, his expression became slightly strange and said, “Lord Davos insisted that there will be no more Acropolis to be built in Thurii. He said something like this-” At this point, there was a bit more hardness in the tone of the always mild-mannered praetor of Amendolara, “‘The cities in the Theonia Union are the walls of the union, and Thurii is the acropolis of the union, and so Theonia no longer need an extra Acropolis!’”

After listening to this sentence, Androlis was taken aback, ‘Having the city as the wall?!….seeing the whole territory as a city?!…’ A sense of pride budded in his heart and the figure of the young archon came into his mind. He couldn't help but be impressed by the kind of heart and spirit he has, and felt that it was no wonder that he can build a strong city-state union!

The people climbed up the stairs and at about 30 meters from the temple, the soldiers had formed a circular line and the people could only stand outside the line. The whole hill was filled with so many people that, except for the little bit of white at the top, it became almost a “mountain of people”.