Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece
chapter-187

“Theonia Union has no intention of going to war with any Greek city-state, but if any city-state wants to start a war, insult us and invade our land! Gentlemen, what is our answer?” Davos looked at everyone and asked loudly.

“Fight to the death! Destroy the enemy!”

“Fight to the death!….” The former mercenary statesmen shouted at the same time.

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

When Phidias came out of the Senate Hall with a stern face, Dorotheus greeted him and noticed that his expression was not looking good, so he asked, “How is the situation?!”

“Go! Board the ship! We will go back!” Phidias exclaimed angrily.

Under the “escort” of the patrol team, the men of Phidias rushed back to the port and boarded the ship, then they sailed to the sea under the watch of two patrol boats.

“Hey, if my ships were to hit them!” Phidias pointed to a patrol boat and asked angrily, “Will they sink?!”

“Ah?….” Dorotheus was shocked. Before he arrived at the Senate Hall, he already had a premonition that this mission would fail, but they had actually made Phidias so angry…what happened in the Senate Hall? But he didn't dare to ask.

Phidias looked at the city of Thurii which was about to disappear from his sight, he then buried his humiliation in his heart and said in a cold voice, “Let's go to Roscianum!”

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

“Milord, I fear that our expulsion of the Spartan envoy this time will be detrimental to the union.” Said Cornelius worriedly.

“I have kept on saying that we should've driven those mercenaries away! But you insist on them staying, and now, the trouble is coming!” Bolus said discontentedly.

In the face of their condemnation, Kapus and Agasias, who were former comrades of these mercenaries, found it hard to defend them. But at this time, Plesinas stood up and said, “Aren't those mercenaries been punished by the union's law for their mistakes already?! Didn't the other freeman have also made mistakes?! So why must we get rid of those mercenaries?! Everyone, now, our union is in dire need of labor, it is through the open, free and equal attitude of the union that made us attract so many foreigners and freemen. So there is no reason to hastily drive away those who have come to the union, as it will only damage our image and will only make all the Greeks who want to join us be in doubt!”

“But what if Sparta declares war on us?” Asked Ariphes who was somewhat worried.

“So what?! Do you want to accept the unreasonable request of Sparta to have Lord Davos lead our citizens to Asia Minor?” Plesinas angrily rebuke.

“I….I….” Ariphes cast a glance at Davos with a guilty conscience and no longer dared to speak.

“Sparta might not even dare to fight us!” Said Davos with a confident smile, “We are not a small city-state, but a powerful force in Magna Graecia! If Sparta wants to win, I am afraid that they will find that it won't be easy! But now, most of their energy is focused on Asia Minor, and the war with Persia won't be easy, and won't easily end! I also heard that not long ago, Sparta had a war with the city-state of Elis(Elea), which was responsible for hosting the Olympic Games. It can be seen that even on the Peloponnesian Peninsula, there are many city-states that are dissatisfied with Sparta. At this time, I doubt that they would even dare to wage another war in Magna Graecia!” Said Davos, but in his heart, he regretted that he had not given careful consideration to the fact that he had rashly agreed to Agasias. There has never been an absolute thing in the world, if in case Sparta goes crazy and goes to war with Theonia Union, though Davos is not afraid to fight Sparta, his planned expansion of the Union will be ruined.

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

The Spartan warship sailed to Roscianum and it was beyond the expectations of the union, and the patrol boat immediately reported this discovery to the senate.

After an urgent consultation with the statesmen, Davos decided to send a herald to Roscianum immediately together with the order of the senate: For Roscianum to not entertain the envoy of Sparta.

The herald rode on a fast horse and quickly arrived at the city of Roscianum by taking advantage of the newly built Thurii-Roscianum road. The polemarchos of Roscianum, Amikles, have led the other strategoi and some members of the Boule(council of 500) to the port in order to meet the envoy of Sparta. After all, the envoy of Sparta, the hegemon of the Greek city-state has come to Roscianum, a small remote city-state, so they certainly do not dare neglect them.

Seeing Phidias disembark, they went to greet him and to introduce themselves, but suddenly, the subordinate of Amikles hurried over and handed him a parchment. After reading the content, the complexion of Amikles turned pale and then hurriedly said to Phidias, “Esteemed envoy of Sparta, please wait a moment, because there is something urgent that we need to discuss!”

Before Phidias could give his reply, Amikles hurriedly gathered the strategoi and the members of the Council to the distance.

“It seems that something has happened?” Dorotheus saw them forming a circle and was arguing about something.

Phidias did not speak and only looked at the distance and felt that it wouldn't go well.

Amikles then return with a somewhat resolute expression, “Esteemed envoy of Sparta, I am sorry to tell you that Roscianum, as a member of Theonia Union, has just received a strict request from Theonia to not allow you to enter the city of Roscianum! So-” Amikles then waved apologetically, then a group of soldiers came.

“THIS IS AN INSULT TO SPARTA! Have you ever thought of the consequence of your choice?!” Phidias threatened angrily. He originally wanted to alienate the relationship between Roscianum and Theonia after getting into the city of Roscianum. Because as far as he knows, it hasn't been long since Roscianum joined the alliance. Besides, he also wants to stay here for a few days and send soldiers into the port of Thurii to catch some of the mercenaries that have fled, then go back to the Gerousia, and at the same time, to retaliate against Theonia Union. But now, it seems that it is impossible to achieve his goal.

Watching Phidias leave in anger, Amikles breathed a sigh of relief and became worried again, ‘The Theonia Union is too courageous to provoke the Spartans, what should we do if they were to indeed lead an army to attack?!’

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Phidias was still not willing, so he made the ship turn and head to Taranto.

Phidias does not believe that Theonia Union can influence Taranto, a strong city-state in Magna Graecia. Moever, Taranto is a child of Sparta and the relationship between the two is friendly.

The establishment of Taranto is somewhat dramatic. A hundred years ago, Sparta was greedy for the fertile land in the land west of Laconia, so they launched a war, and finally, after nearly a hundred years of fighting, Sparta managed to completely annexed Messenia. They then turned the same Greeks of Messenia into helots, but due to the Spartan men needing to fight outside of their homeland for a long time, the women that stayed became lonely. As a result, they had a relationship with the Partheniae(sons of Helots) in Sparta and gave birth to a number of babies, but after they grew up, Sparta did not acknowledge them. Therefore, after many efforts, Phalanthus, the leader of the Partheniae, obtained the opportunity from Sparta to allow him to request an oracle from Delphi. As a result, the Temple of Apollo gave a puzzling oracle: Find a place where rain can fall from a clear sky and you can build a city there. So, Sparta agreed for Phalanthus to lead the illegitimate children and the exiles to leave Sparta to establish a colony.

Phalanthus led his group to sail westward in search of a settlement. Their fleet crossed the Adriatic Sea and went to the Gulf of Taranto, along the way, they saw many places but they did not meet the requirements of the oracle. However, the long sea voyage has made the people complain and depressed, and Phalanthus himself was also very frustrated. So he then told his wife about his distress, then his wife, in order to comfort him, placed his head on her lap. However, his sentimental wife has become depressed instead. When Phalanthus felt her tears splashing on his forehead, he suddenly realized the real meaning of the oracle, because the meaning of his wife’s name is “Clear Sky”. So he immediately ordered the people to disembark, and the place where they disembark was Apulia. They then built a city there and named it after Taras, the son of Poseidon.

Although the founders of Taranto left because they couldn't obtain Spartan citizenship, and though they developed Taranto into a democratic city-state, it's a dual archonship, their council system and the ecclesia, are similar to those of Amendolara and are all derived from Sparta's dual kingship, the Council of Elders(Gerousia), and the Apella(ecclesia version of Sparta), with the absence of the Ephors. It became a prosperous commercial city, which is quite different from its mother-state of Sparta, which has always adhered to the agricultural tradition, but they have always maintained a good relationship with Sparta. During the Peloponnesian War, Taranto stood firmly on the side of Sparta and when the Athenian fleet expedition to Sicily passed through Magna Graecia, they did not allow them to anchor and refuse to provide them food and water. So Athens retaliated by strongly supporting the Messapians against Taranto.

Naturally, the arrival of Phidias was warmly welcomed by Taranto. However, after exchanging greetings with the senior officials of Taranto, he immediately mentioned the insolence of Theonia Union and the lack of respect as a traditional Greek city-state, and he reminded the statesmen of Taranto that Theonia Union advocates force and aggression, which is a threat to the city-states in Magna Graecia.

He also advised Taranto not to form an alliance with Theonia Union and to also limit its expansion.

The newly appointed archon Diaomilas and Umakas evaded the subject and continued to chat and laugh, until Phidias forced them to take a stand. Then, they said with a smile that there must be some misunderstand between Theonia Union and Sparta, so Taranto is willing to help them mediate. Besides that, they did not mention anything else.