Chapter 3: An Uneasy Peace
Autumn! Sinope is attacked by hordes of Pontic barbarians! Agathokles sent 100mnai in grain, bows, arrows, and bowstrings, 4 catapults, and 150 men to permanently join the sinope defence force. Rhodes also had finished the docks and began construction of a new naval dock which only cost the League 1600 mnai. Sparta began clearing out a harbour and fixed their drainage issue in the main quarter. Admiral Nikandros said back to Athens to avoid Poseidon's angry storms of winter. He left Athenai in 272 aged 36, a fresh sailor. He returned a triumphant hero, a wiley captain, with only 89 ships of the original 172 under his command. The extra hands returning from sea pushed the construction of the new docks to late winter. My father joined his father that summer at the age of 19. He noticed the King Areus had gained an affinity with Athenia, perhaps it was her acting through him in our war against the Makedonian Hegemon. Areus sent word to Sparta he was planning a raid on Thessalia, but the Euphors prohibited it. Till we were attacked on the Peloponnese any aggressiveness would be uncalled for they said. The oracle of Delphi told us the Euphors cared not for Greece but only Sparta. When Areus returned from Delphi he decided to obey the Euphors and Spartan law and waited at Athens expecting Makedon. The year ended with no attack however, and scouts were sent to Thessalia to watch for any strike coming in Spring and after. Agathokles' second son was born 2nd week of spring. Named Otos of Rhodos. King Akrotatos of Sparta began construction on some simple docks for Sparta now that there was a suitable harbour cleared. Korinth started digging sewers seeing a possible problem in the future. Early summer of 270, Eudamidas & Areus joined the Elusians. As areus' scribe, my father became well acquainted with the late King Areus. It was Areus who pushed for new sewers in athens. Seeing the horrendous condition the poor had to live in. It was he who commissioned the new temple to Athenai, and he who built the sanctuary of Asklepieos in Athens. It was he who sealed the alliance with Phyrros. Late summer Areus took 248 Spartans to "scout" the border area since the scouts who were dispatched in late winter did not ever send word. 1550 Athenian hoplites were sent to "patrol" the Attike, both meeting up on the border for the raid. Chremonides the League rep for Athens accepted a ceasefire with Selukeia on the condition they end hostilities with Ptolemy, and that trade between the two nations flow. He then built a colony on the isle of Mykonos, just as his naval dock was built.
Under the excuse of chasing a thief stealing food from his camp, Areus crossed the border with his men, and recieved reinforcements of 2400 helots and the 18 100 Cretan Phalangites.
By the end of Summer Areus' ploy did not pay off.. The field armies of Makedon retreated into Demetrias, and refused to come out to engage by the beginning of winter. Areus returned to the Peloponnese.
Autumn 269 Areus oncovered a MAkedonina spy network in Athens, rounded them up, and publicly executed them. He left their headless corpses hanging from the gates as a warning to future enemy agents who would pass them. Korinth began updating her merchant quarter and Chalkis completed a Shrine to Poseidon. As Areus returned to Sparte with Eudamidas a festival was held to Nike to celebrate their return and many victories against the Makedones.
That winter Agathokles died of natural causes, and a festival on the island was held everyear since on that day to commemorate his contribution to her glory. It was also to keep the minds of the populace of Rhodes off the Impending disaster in the recordbooks and budgets since Agathokles did all the bookeeping budgeting and other management things himself. Especially since it was his eldest boy, Eugenios, aged 10, who would be assuming the throne of Rhodos.
Ptolemy demanded their money, in full, by the end of 268. Areus agreed to pay, and said he'd send
Admiral Nikandros with the money in the summer of '68. The young Rhodesian commissioned a new public gymnasium which was schedualed for completion in 2 1/2 years.
Hermine, daughter of Areus was married to Chlidanon Lamptraios of Attike. An Attike-born man who's family had roots in Pontos Euxeniou. He was a calm, Skilled, unflaggin cavalryman who took few luxuries in life. He knew his way around politics and government, an dhe was sent to Athens to study till he was 20 years of age.
In Summer 268, Admiral Nikandros left the port of Athens and set sail for Alexandria. A brutal storm put him off schedual and he would arrive in early Spring 267. Akrotatos competed in the 268 Olympics. The day before his son competed, Areus had a vision of fighting in the streets of Sparte against an enemy he did not recognize in a style he had not seen before. They bore red like the hoplites of Sparte, but fought with large shields and a small sword. He assumed this dream to be a warning from Athena, and began experimenting with large rectangular shaped shields and how to defeat soldiers armed like the men he saw in his vision. He decided all League spending should for the next 4 years should be spent on the military. Sparte's new barracks would be commissioned as soon as proper funding was raised. Around 12 000 mnai! He gave a grant of 4800 mnai to the blacksmiths in Sparte so that they could band together and they were now paid and organized by the Spartan Hegemon. The grant would be paid back in full in a year and a half - Winter 267.
Cretan boy's who were seen as hardy, and good potential were taken from their parents and shipped to Sparta to undergo the Agoge. Athens had its own Doros Aithalidos, son of Chremonides, sent for the agoge in late 268. These men would become future soldiers and fight in the ranks of the Hoplitai trained in Sparte. They were given Spartan citizenship if they completed the Agoge, and were called Companions.
Nikandros arrived early Spring, and saw that in breech of the Ceasefire agreement with Arche Seluekia, they were blockading the port of Alexandria. He broke the ceasefire, in a surprise attack at night. He surrounded the 25 Seleukid Kerkuoi as so,
trapping the enemy against the port. Nikandros and another ship went up the gap and forced the Seleukids to attack the belt. 2 ships were lost for 13 of the Seleukids. The others escaped and Nikandros quickly dropped off the money and sailed east to destroy the remnants of the Seleukid navy.
Back home Athens begun Construction of a newer, larger barracks, and Areus declared in a public address that the Spartan League had secured all of the Peloponnese and asked all the Hellens to send word to the Spartan Council chambers they wished to join the League against Makedon. Our men were itching to go back to Thessalia.
OOC What do you think of my little map of the Naval battle? I'm going to do better next time, but thats what most of the naval engagements will look like from now on. I will sometimes put more than one on, and go completely indepth, depending on how vital the battle is.
Re: A Spartan Future
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