Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Chapter 261: The Secret of Theonias Strength? (I)

“Oh, that's interesting!” Kanos smiled, while subconsciously looking at the man on the opposite side. He is tall and lean, with a thin face and with a hawkish nose, and a weak disposition.

Seeing that Kanos was looking at him, the man raised his head and said with a smile, “I have met you at the guest house in Thurii. I am Siprus and I have come from Terina.”

Kanos hesitated for a moment and said, “…I am from…Elea.”

“Oh, Elea.” Siprus didn't appear to be too surprised. He looked at Kanos and said seriously, “I have been to Elea several times, and we have the same dilemma as Elea. The lands of Terina were often invaded by the Bruttians, while Elea is surrounded by the Lucanians, and the only difference between us is that we have allies behind our back, while you have to fight alone most of the time.”

Siprus' words touched Kanos' heart and this feeling of empathy had made him feel close to Siprus and he unconsciously leaned forward.

“I believe that the reason why you have come here was on behalf of Elea to ask Theonia for their help.” Added Siprus.

Kanos hesitated once more and then said, “Elea has come to seek an alliance with Theonia….”

Siprus saw his worries and comforted him by saying, “Don't worry, Theonia will surely form an alliance with you!”

When Kanos saw the strength and prosperity of the Theonians in Thurii these two days, he became a little bit worried. The weak Elea could not attract the interest of Theonia, and they might be unwilling to provoke the vicious Lucanians.

At this moment, he put aside his guard and asked, “Why are you so sure?”

“Because the location of Elea is very important.” Siprus picked a piece of tripe with a wooden stick then threw it into his mouth, chewed it carefully and said, “As it is beneficial for the unification of Theonia in the Lucanian region.”

“Theonia wants to occupy the entire Lucanian region, how is that possible?!” Kanos was astounded.

“It's certainly quite possible. Theonia's polity dictates its ambition to expand.” Said Siprus with a complicated expression on his face.

“You mean-” Kanos suddenly realized, he looked around and bowed his head, “Theonia is run by a tyrant?!” City-states with a tyrant are always cruel, greedy and aggressive, as both Gelon, the tyrant of Syracuse decades ago, and his successor Hieron, the former tyrant of Rhegium – Anaxilus, and now Dionysius, have successively proved it.

Siprus shook his head. He was a thoughtful man, and since his last mission to Theonia, he had been analysing the reason for the rapid rise of this emerging union out of curiosity, “Not exactly, I don't know whether the archon of Theonia, Davos, is a tyrant or not, but he is without a doubt the supreme ruler of the Theonian army, he has the sacrificial rights, he is the supreme leader of the city-state union and he is the grand statesman of the highest authority of Theonia – the Senate and has a great deal of influence, yet he does not do whatever he wants. His proposals even needed the approval from the majority of the statesmen, and the Senate has the power to elect and appoint senior civil servants, however, he has the right to veto it. The important events like waging war and making a truce are also decided collectively by the Senate, so unlike a tyrant who can easily decide the life and death of a citizen, his actions are still subjected to the laws of the union. However, there is no doubt that he has more power than the king of Sparta and the strategos of the democratic city-states….”

Kanos listened carefully and thought deeply, “No wonder…I have heard that this archon often does not want the protection of his guards in the city of Thurii and often goes in and out of the streets of Thurii alone, not at all like Dionysius who lives in his palace and having thousands of mercenaries to protect him. In this way, he seemed to look like a….uhm….democratic king.”

“Democratic king?!” Siprus listened and clapped the table excitedly, “This word is very suitable to show the position of Davos in Theonia Union! It is because of this unique system of archonship in Theonia that their rapid rise has been created.”

“Do you mean to say that Davos was the sole reason for the strength of Theonia?” Kanos asked in surprise.

“Mmm…Davos is of course a very capable archon, but Theonia's political system is also very unusual-” It was a rare occasion for Siprus to find someone to relate to, and Kanos' question was a convenient way for him to continue to elaborate on what he had been thinking on for some time, however, after eating a lot of sauce, he felt his throat getting a bit dry. After swallowing his saliva, he continued to say, “Kanos, do you drink beer? The beer in this shop is delicious. I heard that it was brewed by the slaves under the command of Davos after many experiments. This guy has not only a strong ability in military and politics but also a unique talent in business. It is no wonder that he is called the favoured of god!”

Beer is a drink for the bottom people of the city-state, but Kanos became interested after listening to Siprus.

Then Siprus immediately said in a loud voice, “Give us two big beers!”

Then a long, thin-necked jar was placed in front of Kanos. After picking it up, a faint aroma hit his nose. Kanos then hurriedly took a sip and the cool golden liquid went down smoothly into his belly, dissipating most of the dryness from his body, and couldn't stop himself from taking another gulp.

“Taste good doesn't it!” Siprus said smugly upon seeing his reaction.

Kanos nodded, he belched and asked, “What's different about the Theonian system that you have just mentioned?”

After taking a sip of the beer, Siprus slowly said, “Whether it is Crotone or us, Terina, the highest power is the ecclesia, which decides everything in the city-state. Secondly, their number of council members was reduced, usually, at least 300~400 people attended the council meeting to discuss and solve the usual city-state affairs. While the strategoi are elected by the ecclesia and they are only the highest executor of the decisions made by the ecclesia and the council, right?”

“Right, so is Elea. The democratic system of the Greek city-states is basically like this.”

“The Theonia system came from Amendolara, and Amendolara…I guess that after they have separated from Sybaris, they were influenced by Taranto, just like Heraclea and Metapontum, because Taranto was a child-state of Sparta, and changed the ‘Dual Kingship’ to ‘Dual Archonship’ and the Gerousia to the Council, except that the archon is elected by the ecclesia. However, after Davos led the mercenaries to join Amendolara, not only did he change the dual archonship to a sole archon for life, but at the same time, the ecclesia seems to have never been held afterwards….” Said Siprus in a deep voice.

“Theonia has put aside the ecclesia?!” Kanos nearly exclaimed in surprise, but if it were based on what he learned previously before he had spoken to Siprus – that Davos was a tyrant – then it would not have surprised Kanos that there was no ecclesia in Theonia. But Siprus had told him that “Davos was not a tyrant and was equally subject by the Senate” hence why his perception of Theonia became that – it was still a relatively normal union of city-states – which is why he overreacted a little when he heard what Siprus had just said.

“Theonia's ecclesia has not explicitly been put aside, but it was just not held….” Siprus slowly added, “I think that it might be due to the special circumstance of Theonia Union that prevented it from being held. After all, the citizens of Theonia are scattered in several cities and are of complex origin, there were Greeks, there were also a considerable number of foreigners, there were also Thurians, as well as Amendolarans and Krimisians…holding an ecclesia would be both time consuming and prone to arguments over their interest that would not allow anything to be decided….”

After careful consideration, Kanos had to admit, “Maybe, that might be an important reason. Just like Elea, even though we don't have many citizens and live in the same city for generations, we still can't reach an agreement on many important issues on every ecclesia that was held, let alone an emerging new union like Theonia, where the citizens come from complex backgrounds.

Siprus patted the jar with his hand, he hesitated for some time, tilting his head back and taking a sip before continuing, “In fact, the ecclesia handles various affairs…on any given subject, it makes it easier for the citizens to voice their opinions and exercise their vetoes just based on their preferences and interests, rather than the interests of the city-state, which often results in the issues to remain unresolved for a long time, especially in times of crisis! An ecclesia that is unable to unify its opinion quickly can put the city-state in great danger, and it is because of this reason that Terina who had been facing the invasion of the Bruttians for a long time now, has a different system than those other city-states from the South Italia Alliance such as Crotone and Scylletium, that is, in the event of an enemy invasion, Terina will immediately elect a strategos, with supreme authority, to decide all the affairs of the city during the war! In order to avoid endless discussions and disputes!”

Kanos smiled, “Elea will also elect a dictator during the most difficult times of war, with supreme power over the city-state, much like your grand strategos that you speak of.”

The common understanding had made Siprus stop hesitating and said bluntly, “You see, both Terina and Elea realized that there are some shortcomings with the ecclesia, but we have only made small changes. However, Theonia had completely put aside the ecclesia and made use of the ability of the archon, Davos, and the rich administrative experience of the statesmen of the Senate, who numbered less than a hundred, to be able to pass laws and make decisions quickly in the interest of the development of the city-state union, and Theonia has also enacted laws that no other ecclesia of the city-states in the South Italia Alliance could have passed, two of which are very important! These two laws have played a very important role in the rise of Theonia as a newly formed union!”