Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Chapter 349: Theonias Port Market

At the end of Davos' lecture, all the physicians stood up and bowed to him. Then they began clapping continuously.

Words such as “Wonderful” and “innovative” couldn't describe Davos' lecture as he had pushed the medical theory of this era to a more profound and broader world. If the physicians were just groping forward in the dark, then every word of Davos produces a beam of light that they could follow.

The physicians’ shock and gratitude could not be described in words, as they could only express it through their emotions, including Nicostratos. Although he is not very clear about the human anatomy, he is finally sure that the real mystery of medicines lies here, in Theonia's Medical School, in Davos!

Davos bowed and returned their greetings again and again.

And the applause continued…

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

The three-day Medical Exchange Symposium finally ended, and some foreign physicians left, while some, including Nicostratos and Strasippus, applied to stay and continue their visit and studies.

And for a few days, they worked as assistants at Thurii's hospital, learning how the physicians of Theonia saw and treated the patients and occasionally watch during surgery.

As for the systematic study of medical theory, human anatomy and so on, Theonia's Medical School has stringent requirements. Besides the need for the students to be Theonian citizens, preparatory citizens, or freemen who have applied for Theonian citizenship after leaving their home country, they must also pass the strict examination conducted by the Medical School before they could join.

Nicostratos has an extreme characteristic; once he considers something, he will be more enthusiastic than ordinary people. After being conquered by Theonia's medicine, he wanted to stay here. However, for people like him, who had a family, to join Theonia was not easy, as they had to go back and discuss the matter.

His attitude even influenced Strasippus, making him also thought about staying and studying.

On this day, the two of them decided to go to Thurii's pharmacy. After visiting the pharmacy, they heard that there was a bigger, broader and more complete medicinal market in the port, so the two decided to have a look.

The current port of Thurii is different from a few years ago. Although it is not as good as Crotone's deep-water port, Taranto's port’s natural resistance to storms and Rhegiums' port’s superior geographical location, the port of Thurii has now become the largest port in Magna Graecia.

The reason is very simple, since Theonia City-State Union has become the hegemon of South Italia, and its strength is far beyond the other city-states. Thus, as the centre of the union, Thurii has a strong advantage in political status, which could be seen through how many freemen wanted to rush into Thurii and become citizens of Theonia; How many envoys and statesmen of the city-states in Magna Graecia coming to Thurii to visit and seek help and consult with the Senate; How many merchants and tourist coming to experience the unique city-state customs of Theonia, enjoy the unique ball games, celebrations, and even food and entertainment; Not to mention the flow of people within the Theonia Alliance to Thurii from 9 – 5…these massive flow of people naturally created a huge demand, which Thurii could not completely solve by herself, so the merchants who were good at catching business opportunities had come from all directions with merchants ships filled with goods.

Therefore, the port and market of Thurii have continuously been expanded to the point that it stretched from northward from the estuary of the Crati River to the nearby Temple of Hera.

After passing the Temple of Hera and entering the port market, Nicostratos and his party soon felt the difficulty of walking. Although Thurii had built several roads between the main city and the port market and even stipulated that vehicles and pedestrian have their own path, the huge flow of people still made the traffic packed, causing the people walking in it to rub their shoulders with each other. Although it's still only warm in spring, the three of them were already sweating.

At this moment, a team of patrolling soldiers passed by.

The clever Lycasis quickly followed them, allowing their party to have a slightly easier time with the patrolling soldiers at the lead.

In fact, the port of Thurii has actually developed into a big town, which was divided into two parts: The part of the port and the part of the market are separated by stones with guards guarding it. After the cargo ships enter the port and are anchored at the dock, the cargo is then directly transported into the market, or place in the warehouse, or even drop in the shop for sale.

Marigi, Theonia's Commercial Chief Officer, planned the market as a straight street lined with stores, warehouses, workshops…and goods or commodities of the same kind were then placed in one or several streets as much as possible for easy management and easy trading for the people. Therefore, in the port market of Thurii, there are several trade streets and small markets that were famous in Magna Graecia and even the whole of South Italia.

For example, the stone market is very prosperous for the Theonia Union, which is keen on building roads and temples. They even own several quarries in the union's territories. It does not only have a variety of quality marble but also has a lot of labourers at a lower price.

And it is matched by the Sculpture Street, the sculptures of the gods in the temples, the monumental pillars in the squares, the milestones lining on the roads…had attracted and spawned a large number of sculptors engaged in this industry. Although there has not been a sculpture that could shock the whole of Greece, nor has there been a master sculptor, it has instead produced a lot of middle and low-end sculptures.

Another extremely famous one is the arms market. Since Theonia conquered Magna Graecia with force, naturally, the production and sale of weapons are very important. Moreover, in order to obtain meritorious service, the people spared no effort in investing money in this aspect, which naturally resulted in hundreds of weapon workshops and shops, large and small, to gather in the port market. Half of them had even come from other Greek city-states outside the union. And two of the most famous shops are the Legion Weapon Shop under the Ministry of Military Affairs and managed by the Disabled Soldiers Committee, while the other is Tios Weapon Workshop.

There is also a very famous market – the livestock market. Since Lucania and Bruttii, the two main mountain races with animal husbandry, have joined Theonia Union, and Theonia also owns two plateaus and a mountain from the Lucania and Bruttii region with reach grazing resources. In addition, Cheiristoya Restaurant, which was widely spread in the cities of Theonia Union, had most of its recipes made from cattle, sheep and other livestock, giving birth to the Theonians great demand for meat. As they gradually change their diet structure, it has also promoted the breeding of cattle, sheep and other livestock in Lucania and Bruttii.

The livestock produced in these two areas are not only large in quantities, but their meat is also delicious, which is deeply loved by the Greeks on South Italia who have tasted the food in Cheiristoya Restaurant. In fact, the Lucanian cattle were known for their docile temperament, strong strength and good endurance since long ago, making them the pack animals of choice in the Western Mediterranean. At the same time, the Bruttian horses, although they are not good at galloping, they are good at climbing mountains, hard-working, and an excellent packhorse, which also had a good market in Magna Graecia. Thus in recent years, under the guidance of the Senate's policy, the Bruttian region began raising a large number of horses. Another important thing to know is that most of the horses used by the carriages in Theonia had come from the Bruttians' livestock market at the port of Thurii…

There is also a street that is unique only to Theonia and is quite famous throughout South Italia – the Ball Market. The rugby and football games were first played in the Theonian military camp. Later, they became popular throughout Theonia Union and the alliance, that they even held city competitions every year. However, the people are not satisfied with the fact that the competition is only held once a year. Therefore, under the proposal of Davos, the Senate introduced a new bill last year, allowing citizens (citizens only, mind you) of each city to organise their own rugby or football teams, which would then be reported to the city or town hall and then organised by the praetor’s of each city to play a rugby or football match against each other, approximately every ten days, in a single round-robin tournament. And the team with the highest score will be the city's champion and be sent to Thurii to participate in the South Italia Finals. The rugby finals will be held after Hades' Day on September 9 every year, while the football finals are held on November 1 every year to celebrate the establishment of the union, to determine the champion of the rugby and football for the year. The participating team also included some city-state teams from the alliance, except for some city-states that have been invited but had never taken part, such as Taranto and Crotone.

As a result, most of the Theonian citizens were both participating and spectating, causing the arena to be often filled to capacity for each match. With the public's enthusiasm for these games, these have become the main form of entertainment for them more than watching the theatre. And as the saying goes, the whole population's passion has naturally led to a boom in the industry, everything from the whistles for the referee to the goal post for the game, as long as the equipment and supplies are related to rugby and football, they are all sold on this street. This street also includes a number of items for other competitive sports. But the most surprising thing is that there is a lot of store selling famous player merchandise on this street, and the boom in the market has naturally given rise to some highly skilled players, some of whom have shone in the various city competitions, some even in the Theonian Finals, so it is only natural that the public will follow them and see them as idols. Thus these shops were born. It has statues and dolls of famous players in all materials and sizes, as well as sportswear bearing their names and numbers, and so on…which shows the prosperity of the trade in this street.

Another unique and famous street in Thurii's port market is the herbal medicine market that Nicostratos’ party of three will visit at this time.