Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Chapter 705: Delegation to Egypt (I)

“We could no longer allow Rhegium's situation to continue!” Alkibiades suddenly raised his voice and said, “So, after discussing it with some others, we decided to unite the people of Rhegium and hold an emergency ecclesia to vote together for the full integration of Rhegium into the Kingdom of Theonia!”

Davos could no longer hide his surprise after hearing that. He learned towards Alkibiades and asked, “Did your father support this?”

He knew that Alkibiades, his brother-in-law, was gifted in trade but had no interest in politics. So it would be difficult to carry out a momentous event that would determine the future of Rhegium without the strong support of a respected and capable political figure.

“My father is no longer too interested in Rhegium's politics… And he doesn't even have the energy to do that anymore…” Alkibiades glanced at Davos, then said, “It was strategos Pheidon who proposed the idea and pushed it forward!”

“Pheidon…” Davos rubbed his chin as he thought of the man he had paid some attention to.

This strategos, who had led Rhegium's army, had significantly contributed to the defeat of the Syracusan army in the Southern Italian War. After the war, he earned the respect of the Rhegians, who elected him one of the strategoi of Rhegium for several years in a row, even serving as polemarchos at one point. Although he was decisive and resolute on the battlefield, he suffered frequent political setbacks, with his proposals often failing to pass the councils and many criticising his ability to govern. There were also scandals about his relatives using his power to take bribes and gain favours, which caused Pheidon to take the blame and resign. Then, in a fit of anger, he announced that he would no longer hold any public office in Rhegium. But according to information from Aristias' intelligence, Athelycus was behind the Council of Rhegium's attack on Pheidon.

Given Davos' father-in-law's strong desire for power, he doesn’t want to see Pheidon, who has dramatically increased his prestige, take control of Rhegium's politics.

Seeing that Davos didn't speak, Alkibiades thought the king was wondering if Pheidon could make this matter work.

So he stressed, “Apart from Pheidon, there are also some merchants that had clearly expressed their support…” Then Alkibiades said several names.

And that surprised Davos as these merchants, like Alkibiades, were famous in Rhegium, ‘Aren't they worried that they might lose some of the rights they enjoyed by fully merging Rhegium with the Kingdom of Theonia?’

Seeing Davos' confusion, Alkibiades explained, “Your Majesty, Rhegium is too small, so we hope to become a true Theonian merchant and enjoy greater trade convenience throughout the western Mediterranean! We firmly believe that after the war between Theonia and Carthage, Theonian merchants will have unprecedented and valuable opportunities to venture into areas of trade they have never ventured into before!…” Alkibiades said, looking a little excited.

‘So that's how it is!’ It wasn't because they cared about the commoners but because they were driven by profit, and being a merchant of a free city couldn't give them the same rights as a merchant of the Kingdom of Theonia… Davos smiled and exclaimed, “You seem more confident than I about the coming war between the kingdom and Carthage, which proves that merchants are the most adventurous of all! Have you been in contact with Sostratus?”

Alkibiades nodded, feeling a tug of tension in his heart as he knew the critical moment had arrived.

Davos said quietly, “Then you must clearly understand the dilemma the kingdom would face once this war is underway and the efforts that Sostratus and the others will make to ensure that Theonia wins this war.”

Alkibiades didn't hesitate to say, “Our Rhegian merchants have more financial resources than the Thurii merchants. Thus not only can we do what the Thurii merchants can do, but we can also do what the Thurii merchants cannot do!”

Davos didn't express his opinion and just said in a low voice, “Very well, I hope the Rhegian merchants can prove it to me!”

“Your Majesty, you will see it soon!” Alkibiades replied confidently.

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

While Alkibiades was telling the children the stories of ancient Egypt, the foreign minister of Theonia, Ansitanos, had arrived in Egypt, the oldest kingdom in the eastern Mediterranean.

Egypt created a unified kingdom over two thousand years ago, had a prosperous economy and a strong kingdom, created a brilliant culture and was once the most powerful country in the Mediterranean. But as time passed, it began to decline, and other Mediterranean forces began to rise, so the misfortune of the Egyptians came.

Hyksos, Libyans, Assyrians, Persians…successively invaded and eventually ruled most of the valuable land in Africa.

The Persian king then appointed loyal men as satraps of Egypt to squeeze and plunder its wealth to satisfy the luxurious lifestyles of the Persian nobility and provide a base for Persia's further expansion. Unwilling to be ruled and oppressed by a foreign race, the Egyptians revolted by staging several revolutions over a century.

In 460 BC, when Athens was at its strongest. The Athenian navy pushed the Persians eastward, forcing them to shrink their defences. Then the army of the Peloponnesian League confronted them in the south, winning two successive battles at Aegina and Megali. The Athenians even called this their glorious year.

At the same time, the Libyans in Lower Egypt launched an uprising in an attempt to overthrow Persian rule and requested the powerful Athenians' assistance.

So Athens agreed and sent a navy of two hundred warships to Egypt. At first, they won some victories, even capturing Memphis. But then they suffered a disastrous defeat, with many Athenian citizens and allies dying on Egyptian soil.

The Egyptians finally got another chance when Darius II, the ruler of Persia, died, and his son, Cyrus the Younger, fought his brother Artaxerxes for the throne and the ensuing civil war in Persia. This time it was still the Libyan who led the revolution in the Nile, whose leader was called Amyrtaeus, who eventually succeeded in driving out the Persians and then became Pharaoh of Egypt.

But after only four years on the throne, Nefaarud, one of his ministers, usurped his throne and later passed it on to Hakor.

During Hakor's reign, Sparta fought Persia and then Greece in the Corinthian War. After the King’s Peace treaty, Artaxerxes, king of Persia, finally had his hands free, so he sent an army under the command of Pharnabazus in the eighth year of the kingdom of Theonia (386 BC) to try to retake Egypt.

Pharnabazus had even recruited Greeks to participate in the war, led by the Athenian strategos Iphicrates. But they failed to cooperate because of the conflict between the Persians and the Greeks. Thus, after three years of fighting, Hakor drove the Persian army out of Egypt.

Egypt remained safe for the time being until Hakor fell seriously ill last year and could not lead the kingdom, leading to political instability. Earlier that year, his son Nepherites hastily ascended to the throne, but the kingdom was soon thrown into turmoil. Eventually, Nectanebo, a general from Bubastis on the northwest bank of the Nile, seized the throne and became the new Pharaoh of Egypt.

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

Ansitanos recalled the major events that have taken place in Egypt over the years, especially as this has been a turbulent year for Egyptians. It has only been four months since Nectanebo became Pharaoh of Egypt, so it is fair to say that his political situation is still unstable. And thus, it wasn't exactly the best time for Ansitanos to come to Egypt as a Theonian envoy, hoping to establish friendly contacts, but circumstances forced him to do so…

At that moment, the Theonian passenger ship on which he was travelling was making its way smoothly up the Kanobikos River, a tributary of the Lower Nile on the west side, after passing the Kanobikos checkpoint.

It is now the end of the tenth month, so the Egyptian flood season has just ended. Thus Ships sailing against the current no longer need a towpath puller to pull them along the banks, as the river is so calm you can barely see its current.

Egypt's fertility benefited from the Nile, which regularly rises and falls yearly. Every summer, during the rainy season, the Blue Nile, which flows through the Ethiopian highlands south of Egypt, rises and carries a great deal of sediment down into the valley. Once it reaches the Nile Valley, the floodwaters overflow the riverbed, submerging the land on both sides. Then the sediment and organic matter contained in the river water seep into the soil, keeping the land on both sides of the Nile dark and fertile. This is particularly true in the lower Nile delta, where a major flood could turn the vast lowlands bordering the sea into an ocean.

Now that the Nile has begun to recede and the banks of the river are still full of puddles and muddy fields covered with water and grass, Egyptian farmers have begun tending their fields naked, barefoot and with only a piece of linen wrapped around their waist. Some of the farmers built mud dams around the banks to keep as much of the remaining water on their fields as possible; others cleared the fields of weeds and other debris, picking up a few fish in the puddles as an extra harvest; others pulled their oxen and started ploughing their fields… Then there are the many papyrus boats that come and go along the river, bringing ploughing tools, food and seeds to the women farmers working along the banks.

Ansitanos also often noticed some neatly dressed people with papyrus and quills at the edge of the farms, who must have been Pharaoh's scribes. They would not only be estimating how much could be harvested from this year's flood, but they would also supervise the farmers' work.

With agriculture as the backbone of Egypt, the importance the Pharaoh placed on it far outweighed the other Mediterranean powers. In addition, he could also see that the new pharaoh had already begun exercising his authority, which eased some of Ansitano's worries.