Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece
chapter-201

Kunogelata, who had a grave expression, was greatly relieved. He thought for a while and said, “I am afraid that the war between us and Crotone won't end in just three days. So, how should we solve the problem with the food supply for the tens of thousands of soldiers, this is the main issue that we should consider.”

Marigi then immediately said, “I will go to the market now and suspend all the trades regarding wheat, and I will also immediately purchase all the flour and other foods in order to prevent the merchants from having malicious intent by raising the prices of grains once they learned about the outbreak of war. I also suggest that we should immediately send someone to Heraclea to buy food as a reserve….”

Davos nodded and agreed. Although Mersis is sad, he still took Marigi to the treasury to take the money.

Burkes stood up at this time and said, “It is now the season of wheat sowing, if most of the citizens went to war, it would seriously affect this year's harvest. So I propose to suspend the mining instead, and organize the thousands of slaves to farm the land of the citizens, and at the same time, give some preferential treatment to the freemen of the union, and let them take the initiative to help, so that our land will not be short of labor.”

“Burkes, you are very considerate.” Davos said solemnly, “Cornelius, Kunogelata, and – (Nerulum, after all, is far away, so Sesta naturally can't attend the senate meetings every time)” Then the gaze of Davos moved to the people at the back, “Vespa, Hemon (Hemon had been sent to Grumentum many times and had even managed to successfully signed a peace treaty with Cincinnag, and he even repeatedly persuade the small tribes of Lucania to submit to the union. His influence among the Lucanians is even stronger than that of Vespa. In the end, Bagul suggested to Davos to make him a statesman and Davos suggested it to the senate, the statesmen then voted for it, and now, he became the third Lucanian statesman.), you will discuss it together with Burkes and work out a feasible plan as soon as possible to ensure that our farming and grazing will not have problems because of the war.”

“Understood.” Several people answered.

“Philesius, immediately issue a war mobilization order to all cities in the union! In addition, send someone to inform Laos and Roscianum, and ask them to provide reinforcements…oh…and…hmm…tell Roscianum to strengthen their city's defense and burn the pontoon bridge on the Trionto river!”

Philesius was taken aback, he wanted to say that there is no bridge on the Trionto river. But out of faith and obedience to Davos, he immediately accepted the order and said, “I will immediately send someone.”

“Plesinas.” Davos apologetically said to him, “We have to suspend the construction of the temple and invest all the revenues of the treasury into this war!”

“I understand and I also agree with it!” Replied Plesinas.

Davos nodded his head, then looked at the statesmen in the senate hall. He clenched his fist and raised his arm, and loudly said, “Everyone, Crotone has destroyed the city on the Sybaris plains three times! After we have beaten them, they must have been very resentful of Theonia! Why? Because they are afraid that Theonia will take revenge on them after we have become strong, so they will try their best to destroy Theonia while still in her cradle, so this war is not something we can avoid just because we want to avoid it! The war has come. We must unite together to defeat Crotone once more and burn their city, and open up a wider world for the future of Theonia!”

“War! War! If we can beat Crotone once, then we can beat them again!” Kapus, Antonios, Amintas and other statesmen, who were former mercenaries, raised their arms.

“Fight the Crotonians to the death!!” Scambras, Protesilaus, and other Amendolaran statesmen vigorously responded.

“Thurii can never be destroyed again! We will do our best to fight Crotone!” Some Thurian statesmen such as Burkes and Ansitanos had also expressed their support.

“We, Lucanians, are also citizens of the union, so we will defend Theonia with all our might!” Of course, the two Lucanian statesmen, Vespa and Hemon, supported the decision of Davos.

In the excitement of the “declaration of war”, the two praetor, Kunogelata and Cornelius, who had been hesitant, also decisively said, ‘We will lead the officials and the people that are under their jurisdiction to prepare for this war.’

“BANG!!!…” While Marigi led his people to the market to buy grain, the huge bell that was casted for the temple of Hades and was temporarily placed in front of the gate of the Grand Senate Hall, because the temple was not yet completed. And today is the first time that the bell was rang. Then the cavalry galloped out to Amendolara, to Nerulum, to Laos, and to Roscianum!

When the people heard the bell rang throughout the whole city, most of them were still in a daze.

At this time, the patrolmen ran through the streets and kept shouting, “Attention, citizens! Attention, citizens! The war has broken out! The war has broken out! All citizens who have participated in the military training should immediately gather in the Victory Square! Immediately go to the Victory Square!….”

On the vast Sybaris plain, the cavalries that were sent out had also shouted the same words in every village.

The war had suddenly come, so it is natural for the people to have doubts and panic. However, the strict military training that they had participated in has taught the citizens and preparatory citizens, discipline and obedience. They put down their housework, stopped their work, prayed to the statues of the gods that were enshrined at their homes, and hugged their families and bid farewell. They then took all their weapons, equipment and rations, and converged into the Victory Square in Thurii from all directions….

Such an obvious move by the city of Thurii had naturally attracted the attention of Teratus, who had then written a secret letter, ‘Thurii had issued a war mobilization order, and had rushed to buy foods in the market. There was also a riot in the port but was put under control, and for the time being, I am not clear about the situation in the other cities.’

On his way back from the port after sending the secret letter, he saw a group of freemen with sad expressions rushing to their crude shacks, and a trace of regret rose in his heart. After staying in Thurii for more than half a year, he had gradually fallen in love with this vibrant city. He has ridden a horse-drawn wagon, had eaten hotpot, and watched the exciting and fierce rugby games…he admits that the life here in Thurii was more interesting and more humane than that of Crotone. If he was not a Crotonian, he would be willing to live here for a few years and then strive to become a citizen of Theonia. Unfortunately….

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

After leaving the Crati river, the transport ship of Lysias did not immediately return to Crotone, but instead went to Roscianum first.

At this time, Roscianum still did not know that a war between Theonia and Crotone had broken out. Out of etiquette, they went to meet Lysias.

When Lysias told them that “Crotone and Theonia Union is at war” the strategoi of Roscianum and the statesmen were shocked.

Lysias then threatened them and said, “The 40,0000 soldiers of Crotone are now coming, this is the largest army even in Magna Graecia! Roscianum can only be spared if you leave the Theonia Alliance and join Crotone, else, you will be destroyed!”

Although they were really afraid of Crotone, their alliance with Theonia Union had brought them too many benefits since the time they had joined the alliance. Transportation and trade has become more convenient, the income of the people and their state's treasury has increased. Moreover, the status of Roscianum has improved a lot. And up to now, Theonia has never discriminated against Roscianum. In fact, according to their agreement, they will never pay any tribute to Theonia or be ordered to do things that are against their will. On the contrary, they were invited to participate in any of their important celebrations…with each passing days, the popularity of Theonia to the Roscianum is increasing, and they seem to have found the feeling of a happy and safe life just like the time they were under the protection of Sybaris a hundred years ago.

In the end, Roscianum reluctantly refused the request of Lysias, and Amikles said in a roundabout way, “According to the agreement with Theonia, we have no right to sign any treaties or agreements with other city-states, so we are very sorry!….”

Lysias could only reluctantly leave the port.

By this time, the cavalry of Theonia had arrived and told the council of Roscianum that the union was gathering troops, and soon, up to 20,000 troops would arrive to help defend Roscianum.

Amikles and the others became completely relieved, they then began to follow the instructions of Theonia to reinforce the city walls, stack food, burn the pontoon bridges, and close the port.

Lysias then saw the billowing smoke on the Trionto river while aboard the ship, which made him understand the determination of Roscianum. At the same time, he was surprised by the strong influence of Theonia, which strengthened his determination to agree to the war with Theonia.

The transport ship he was on had quickly moved south, passing through Krimisa, where the fleet of Crotone had been waiting. After they got the news of “The war has broken out” from Lysias, they could not wait to stretch out their sail and head straight to Theonia….

At this time, Davos sent Plesinas to Taranto under the reminder of Kunogelata, to ask them for 40 triremes to aid Theonia at sea and prevent the fleet of Crotone from blocking the port of Thurii.

However, under the strong opposition of Diaomilas, the council of Taranto, after a heated discussion, regretfully told Plesinas that the request of Theonia had come too late, because after the new year, the Messapians invaded Taranto again, and Diaomilas led the army to repel them. The council believed that Messapians must be given a heavy lesson and to get rid of their arrogance. Therefore, Diaomilas will once again lead the army to attack Manduria, the stronghold of Messapians. And the warships of Taranto had also rushed to the Adriatic Sea to harass the interior of the Messapians and to stop them from sending reinforcement to Manduria. Therefore, Taranto is unable to help Theonia and can only allow them to buy low priced food at Heraclea.

Author's note: Because of some questions of the readers, here is a description of the population in Magna Graecia: According to several data, the number of soldiers that went to attack Lucania at that time in history was 10,000-15,000. It means that there are many militia in the city of Thurii, because of the fact that they even dare to send such a large number of soldiers away from the city. Therefore, the author of one of the documents speculates that at that time, the population of Thurii was at least above 200,000 (total number, not just the citizens). While in other datas, it shows that at the peak of Taranto, they have a population of at least 300,000, which shows that Taranto is not weaker than Athens. Taranto entered their final glory during the time of Archytas. Ten years after the start of the novel, the population of Taranto at this time is no less than 250,000. Then Crotone, who is comparable to Taranto, and has a huge geographical area and population that might not even be less. While the relatively smaller city-states such as Rhegium and Locri have smaller territory and certainly have fewer population than that of the above-mentioned city-states, they are still an influential city-states in Magna Graecia, with a population of no less than 100,000. The combined population of these major city-states in Magna Graecia is more than a million, and if we were to include the other city-states in Magna Graecia such as Terina, which is located in the Euphemia plain, and Metapontum, which is famous for their agriculture, then the combined population of Magna Graecia may be more than 1.5 million.

Taking into account a part of the population of Lucania, it is just right for Theonia to be able to dispatch 50,000 soldiers. Don't forget, Theonia is not worse than the other long established city-states even though it is an emerging union. In terms of Theonia’s population composition, the number of old people among the freemen is naturally fewer than that of the young. So I estimate that the population of Theonia is about 250,000. Of course, this is only a rough estimate, because freemen kept pouring in.