{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 1", "text": "\u2002\"The wise man judges the new by the old.\" \u2014SOPHOCLES\n\n\u2002\"The value of life is measured by its beauty and not by its length.\" \u2014PLUTARCH\n\n\u2002\"The times do not wait.\" \u2014THUCYDIDES"}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Greece, 480 B.C.", "text": "Proud Xerxes, Emperor of Persia and King of Kings, invades Greece with a million soldiers. He leads thousands of ships and is helped by dozens of allies, among them the charming Queen Artemisia.\n\nAgainst him stand a few Greek fighters and two determined men - Leonidas and his three hundred Spartans on dry land, the personification of bravery and patriotism; and Themistocles and the fleet of Athens on the sea, the incarnation of ingenuity and strategy."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Prologue", "text": "[ Fifty eight years earlier ]\n\n[ Babylon, 538 B.C. ]\n\nCyrus the Great, ruler of all Asia, grasped his gilt scepter and swept the landscape before him with a direct and focused gaze. He beheld the endless plain of Mesopotamia watered by the imposing river Euphrates. In the distance, a few miles away to the right and left of the river, six miles long and five miles wide, lay the greatest and most glorious city he had seen in all his years of conquest. It was the only city that had resisted until now, the only one he had not yet added to his possessions, the only thorn in the soft underbelly of his vast empire.\n\n\"Babylon\u2026 the city of cities\u2026\" the emperor murmured to himself, impatient yet filled with awe.\n\nHe sat on his golden throne atop a wooden platform supported on the shoulders of fourteen dark-skinned carriers. His eyes were squeezed almost shut, like his tight-pressed lips\u2014narrowed not just against the glare, but from anxious concern. Babylon had the best system of defense of all known cities in the world, even better than the renowned Nineveh. Its famous limestone and granite wall was a hundred and fifty feet tall and a hundred feet wide. Two four-horse carriages could run side by side at full speed along the top of that wall, and they would still take quite a long time to cover the fifty-three miles of its perimeter. In front of the wall ran a great trench, sixty feet wide and ten feet deep, filled with water from the Euphrates and encircling the city. The wall was pierced by two huge gates through which the river entered the city from the north and left it at the south, after passing through the whole city. The gate on the north side opened every morning to let in boats filled with every kind of merchandise from all over Asia. It was a gigantic, double gate with one door leading to the world outside the wall and the other to the city inside. When both doors of the gate were closed, its bottom part touched the surface of the river. This made it impossible for anyone, whether mounted or on foot, to get into the city since no one could have swum underwater against the strong current for a hundred feet, the thickness of the wall.\n\nAt the center of this rich city with its terrific defenses was the greatest prize any conqueror could desire, the famous tower of Babylon, one of the so-called wonders of the world. Seven floors tall and two hundred and thirty feet high, it dominated not only the city but the whole plain and the two great rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. It was the golden temple of the great Babylonian god Bel Marduk. In it served the twenty-four priests who, together with the king, ruled Babylon and all its wealth.\n\nCyrus blinked his eyes. The glare from the golden roof of the temple blinded him and simultaneously enraptured his mind, while the light glancing off the thousands of blue bricks that adorned the temple stained his face cyan.\n\nHe dragged his gaze away from the city, stood up and turned around. Immediately the two generals standing at the back of the throne fell to their knees, bowed their heads to the floor, and touched their foreheads to his feet. His vast army spread out before him from the manmade hill where he stood to the dim reaches of the plain to the east, where sight lost itself in the dull veil of swiftly approaching night. Five hundred thousand front line warriors and five hundred thousand assistants, tens of thousands of workers, servants and merchants, cooks and prostitutes, brought here from all the ends of the empire. His army covered an area greater than the area of Babylon itself.\n\nThe Persian emperor raised his golden scepter and held it out, pointing at the city behind him whose image was fading slowly in the soft light of sunset. Then he raised his head imperceptibly towards the heavens and gave thanks in advance to his god, the winged Ahura Mazda, for the conquest of glorious Babylon. This conquest would make him lord and master of all of Mesopotamia and consolidate his empire as the only power in all of Asia, from the Mediterranean Sea to India.\n\nWhen his prayer of thanks had ended, he returned his scepter to vertical position and struck the wooden floor of the platform three hard blows. The two generals kissed his feet, stood upright and took up their positions before the army. The attack on the unassailable city would begin that same evening.\n\nHis plan, inconceivable for a common mind, went into effect the moment the sun hid itself and continued in an unbroken, feverish rhythm until dawn. A great distance from the unassailable walls of the city, massive boulders were dragged to the Euphrates by elephants and thrown in, lessening the flow of its waters. A short way below this curious dam, for a length of several miles, hundreds of thousands of men were lined up, one next to the other, on the two banks of the river. In their hands they held basins woven of reeds, covered with leather and sealed with pitch. Behind them stretched two deep trenches, many miles long, constructed by imperial engineers in the previous weeks.\n\nAs soon as it became dark hundreds of thousands of basins were immersed in the now-calm water at the same time and they began rapidly and efficiently emptying it. In a few hours the level of the Euphrates had sunk by several inches. By the time the night was at its darkest, just before dawn, the level of the waters was at the height of the knees of a man of average size.\n\nThe glorious moment had arrived. The two generals led foot soldiers and cavalry to the riverbed and drew them up facing the city's great northern entrance. The water lapping the lower edge of the enormous gate had sunk, leaving six feet of empty space. There was enough room for a soldier with all his gear or a horse without its rider to pass through.\n\nWithin a short time thousands of Persian soldiers had entered the city. They seized it suddenly, taking inhabitants and defenders in their sleep.\n\nThe next morning the gold and blue radiance of the tower of Babylon reflected the light of the morning sun and shone on the face of the emperor who stood at its top, surveying the famous hanging gardens.\n\nCyrus lowered his head and looked at the thousands of Babylonians who had gathered below the tower, silently awaiting his decree. Around him, along the sides of the roof, kneeled the twenty four priests of the Babylonian god Bel Marduk with their heads bowed.\n\nThe emperor raised his imperial scepter and showed it to the crowd. He held it high for a short while, like a flaming sword, for all to see.\n\nThen, with his gaze on the far-away red and gold horizon of the dawn and the bright light of the new day, he lowered it suddenly. With it fell twenty-four sharp swords.\n\nThe heads of the priests were cut from their necks and fell into the void. Their headless bodies followed soon after, bathing the townspeople in their sacred blood.\n\nThe kingdom of Bel Marduk had ended.\n\nBabylon the Great had fallen.\n\nThe Persian Empire dawned with the sun."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Athens, 514 B.C.", "text": "The music of kitharas could be heard in all the neighborhoods of Athens around the Acropolis, in all the narrow streets, in all the one-storied and two-storied houses. In every garden, in every temple and in every grove of sacred olive trees. The procession of the Sacred Veil of the great Panathenaia festival was about to start.\n\nEarlier, gymnastics competitions had been held in the three great gymnasia of the city. A little later, the most important music competitions followed. Then there were contests in reciting passages of poetry from the Homeric epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Now everything was ready for the festival's grand finale.\n\nThe police and the Agora overseers had removed all the prostitutes and drunks from the streets and had personally supervised the cleansing of all the shops, especially the ones that sold meat and fish. The fountains were cleaned, the altars of the gods were purified, the temple of Zeus was polished and the street that led to the walls of the Acropolis was newly strewn with gravel.\n\nOutside the walls the inhabitants of Athens and the foreign visitors waited impatiently for the festivities to begin. For the procession to start and to reach the Acropolis and the temple of the goddess Athena, high above the city. For the animals to be slaughtered and the ceremonies to be solemnized. And then for the sharing out of roasted meat and wine and the great celebration with singing, music and dancing that would follow.\n\nOutside the Dipylon, the west gate of the wall of Athens, a great chariot in the shape of a boat had been made ready. The four chosen virgins, who for a year had been weaving the Sacred Veil they would present as a gift to their favorite goddess, had taken their places on the wooden boat with wheels that symbolized Athens' naval power. They wore simple white robes that left one shoulder bare and their heads were adorned with wreaths of olive branches. In their fingertips they held the golden-yellow veil they had woven with their own hands. The veil showed scenes from the Gigantomachy and the Titanomachy, the great victories of Zeus and the twelve gods of Olympus over the Giants and the Titans.\n\nWhen the hot sun of July reached the center of the sky, the sign was given for the procession to start. The four virgins raised the veil and set it up on a pole in the center of their wheeled boat, so that it looked like the sail of a ship filled with wind.\n\nThe wheeled boat moved slowly up the street, its wheels crunching on the gravel. Behind it came young men leading the hundred oxen for the sacrifices, young women carrying woven baskets full of gifts, musicians with their instruments and citizens of Athens bringing amphorae filled with oil, honey and wine.\n\nThe middle-aged Aristogeitonas and the youth Armodios watched the procession start and held their breath. The first stretched out his right arm and put it tenderly around the shoulders of the second. Armodios pressed his lips together and nodded his wreathed head decisively. He looked his beloved Aristogeitonas in the eye and grasped the handle of the sharp knife hidden under his white tunic. The two lovers were ready.\n\nThe boat with the stretched veil passed through the gate and entered the city. At a sign from the head of the procession, the two wreathed oxen pulling it turned to the right and took the Panathenaic Way that led through the Agora and ended at the gates of the Acropolis, where the priests of the temple of the goddess Athena were waiting.\n\nSlowly and steadily, the head of the procession approached the sacred precinct dedicated to the female deities and the pedestal standing in front of it. On the pedestal stood the governor of the city, the tyrant Hipparchus, together with his brother Hippias. Their father, Peisistratos, had seized power fifty years before and imposed a brutal tyranny which now, after his death, was carried on by his oldest son. The tyrant Hipparchus was dressed in his glamorous official clothes and looked down with conceit, arrogance and contempt on the people of Athens gathered outside the walls. But when the sacred veil reached his pedestal, he bent his head in a show of humility and respect for the goddess.\n\nThe moment had arrived. The lovers moved quickly on both sides of the pedestal. While the tyrant's guard was busy with the ceremony in honor of the sacred procession, first the youth Armodios and then the middle-aged Aristogeitonas climbed quickly onto the wooden pedestal. When they reached the top, they pulled out the knives hidden in their tunics. Aristogeitonas grabbed Hipparchus by the throat and immobilized him. His youthful lover raised his knife and, with a quick movement, buried it in Hipparchus's unprotected chest, twisting it with hatred.\n\nThe heart and lungs were shattered instantly.\n\nThe tyrant of Athens fell dead.\n\nDemocracy had returned to the city that gave it birth.\n\n\"The Baptism of Blood\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "ARTEMISIA", "text": "[ Sardis, city of the Persian Empire ]\n\nAre you sure?\"\n\n\"Yes\u2026\"\n\n\"It's expensive\" the merchant murmured, looking with distrust at the girl standing before him. \"It's only for archers and wrestlers.\"\n\n\"And me\" she answered arrogantly, and commanded her nursemaid to take out the daric, the golden Persian coin that glittered in the light of dawn.\n\nThat convinced him. The merchant took a clay cup and filled it up with the black liquid he had been stirring all evening in a huge pot over a low fire. It was the famous broth of Sardis. A thick liquid mixture of blood, wine and honey, flavored with poppy seeds from Mount Tmolus. An expensive tonic that wrestlers drank before matches and warriors drank before going into battle.\n\nLetting go of the nursemaid's hand, the girl grasped the clay cup firmly in both hands and drank down the warm liquid in one gulp. She greedily drank three heavy clay cups full, though even the ferocious athletes of the palaestra were satisfied with just one. She dried her mouth with the back of her hand, sighed in satisfaction and paid for the expensive drink with the golden coin, one of ten that her father had given her for the journey. Only then did she raise her eyes and meet the disapproving gaze of her gray-haired governess.\n\n\"What are you looking at me for? Didn't we come to honor the goddess of plenty? If the goddess Cybele is known for anything, it is for the good things she gives to those who are faithful to her.\"\n\n\"Yes, but...\"\n\n\"Besides, in a way we're relatives. I have the name of a goddess too.\"\n\n\"Of Artemis... The goddess of hunting.\"\n\n\"A goddess who is known for never forgetting and never forgiving\" the girl answered her with a grim look. \"So be careful what you say...\" she added, smiling.\n\n\"It's your money...\" the nursemaid murmured deferentially, bowing her head.\n\n\"Right. Mine. So now let's go and hunt for the gift for my father, the most beautiful golden ring in this whole city.\"\n\nShe gave her a kiss on her wrinkled cheek and pulled her towards the marketplace where there were shops that were famous throughout the vast Persian Empire, the shops of the goldsmiths from Sardis who got their gold straight from the river Pactolus.\n\n\"The sacrifices start when the sun is an arm's length up in the sky\" said the nursemaid, and threw an anxious glance to the east, which was already rosy. \"Perhaps we should wait until the afternoon?\"\n\n\"We'll be done in time.\"\n\n\"We have to go to the baths before we go to the temple for the sacrifice.\"\n\n\"I know. We will, I promise. We didn't make a ten day journey to come before the goddess with our bodies unperfumed and our hair unoiled.\"\n\n\"Ritual cleansing is required before the ceremony of Taurobolion.\"\n\n\"Really, tell me about this famous ceremony\" the girl shouted, pulling her over the rough tiles of the marketplace. \"I've heard so about it much in our city, Halicarnassus. Is it true what they say about the red bath?\"\n\n\"You'll see for yourself with your own eyes\u2026\" her nursemaid murmured, and she smiled for the first time, secretively.\n\n\"Do you promise?\"\n\n\"You are the daughter of Lygdamis, Satrap and King of Halicarnassus. You will have the place with the best view during the ceremony.\"\n\nThe fourteen year old girl's enthusiasm translated into a warm embrace. And a warm, tender kiss that made the nursemaid smile broadly, showing the bare gums hiding behind her usually tightly closed lips.\n\n\"Besides...\" she added, pushing down her conical Persian cap and raising her pleated caftan in order to walk faster, \"you'll experience it yourself when you go into the pit for the baptism of blood.\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 6", "text": "Dust and choking heat. The air was like the air in a blacksmith's workshop. As the sun climbed higher in the sky, foreheads were moistened with sweat and faces turned red from the burning rays.\n\nAnd from excitement. Thousands of people were crowded together under the rock where the Persian fortress and the headquarters of the governor of the city were located. From the western beaches where the Ionian cities were to Susa, the capital of the Persian empire two thousand miles to the east, people had come to Sardis for the annual festival in honor of the Mother Goddess. All those who were faithful or just curious had gathered around the great pits, holding leather bags full of water in their hands and with their heads wrapped in linen cloth soaked in water for protection from the sun. They waited patiently, expectantly, as hour after hour the air grew more and more suffocating from the smell of meat being roasted by the hundreds of peddlers and the odor of thousands of sweating bodies. Pilgrims were everywhere. On the roofs of the imperial limestone buildings, in the branches of the few little trees, crowded together on the surrounding hills, even clinging to the rocks on the hill where the fortress of Sardis was built.\n\nThe girl and her nursemaid were not among them. Their prominent places had been chosen by Artaphernes himself, the Persian satrap of the whole province. They sat on bleachers made out of thick canes from the river, right in front of the place of sacrifice. Next to them and around them sat ambassadors of the Persian emperor Darius who had come there from the capital, advisors of the Satrap Artaphernes, commanders of the Persian army, gold traders from Sardis, owners of mines, large landowners and stockbreeders, and all the power and authority of the satrapy.\n\nThe girl was worried. She had gone to the baths where they had carefully cleansed her with warm water, had rubbed her skin with the metal scraper, massaged her body and hair with cool water, and perfumed her with sandalwood and incense in all the hidden spots and folds of her unripe body. Finally, her nursemaid had dressed her in her new garments, a colorful Persian robe of cool linen and a high conical hat to protect her head and her clean hair.\n\nHer eyes could not get their fill of the strange and new scene, the immense crowd that filled the whole valley and the hillsides, the proud stances of the guard of the honorary delegation, the plumed costumes of the officials, the precious jewels shining on their bodies. The priests of the goddess, the mystics and their followers. The sanctuary workers who were now setting up special wooden racks above the great pits and the dozens of bulls that waited, shut up in a corral, bellowing and stamping the dry ground with their hooves.\n\nThe whole time, her hand stayed in the old, familiar, tender hand of the dear nursemaid who took care of her night and day, and who had been her shadow from the time her eyes first saw the light of day fourteen years before. She as strict as a tutor should be and as tender as any mother, and she was just as absorbed in the scene before them as her charge was. She watched without speaking. For all of her beloved little girl's begging, not a word came from her mouth. Words had no value, they would only cheapen the glorious spectacle that was to follow. Now and then she glanced at the girl's overwrought face and smiled fondly. The fate the gods had assigned to the nursemaid had been hard. She was barren and infertile, alone and unwed, but in the end, her reward had been the precious gift that sat beside her, the girl who had made the years of her old age beautiful from the first time she held her to her breast until now. She was her one and only nurse.\n\nAt that moment the girl glanced worriedly at the sky, half closing her eyes against the blinding light.\n\n\"The chariot of the sun runs faster than Hermes, the swiftest of the gods. It is already in the middle of the sky.\"\n\n\"Don't worry. Everything is arranged, provided and measured out by the priests.\"\n\n\"Will they have time?\"\n\n\"Don't worry\" her nurse repeated. \"The blood will flow in its time...\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 7", "text": "The bull bellowed frantically. Tied with five thick ropes of braided strips of hide and with a forged chain around its neck, it was dragged by ten men while several more goaded it on the rump with sharpened canes. The uproar and the dust kicked up by the maddened brute covered the whole of the little valley, because on this day the god Aeolus had closed up his bags of wind and the city was without a breeze.\n\nJust before the bull arrived at the wooden grate, a man waiting at the edge of the pit stripped off the white tunic he was wearing so that he was naked, smeared himself with aromatic oil and, amid the celebratory chanting of the priests, climbed down into the pit, which was deeper than he was tall. There he kneeled to the earth, prayed to the goddess, and prepared for the ritual cleansing that was to follow.\n\nWhen the chanting of the priests had stopped, complete silence spread out over the hill. It was as if all mouths had closed at the same time so as not to insult the Mother Goddess with their voices. The girl looked on, fascinated, unable to speak because of suspense and the rapid beating of her heart. This was the great hour of sacrifice. The hour for which she had travelled to Halicarnassus in Caria, to the capital of the satrapy of Sardis.\n\nWhen the thick ropes were tied to the five stakes thrust deep into the earth around the pit, and the chain on the bull's neck was stretched by the strong arms of temple servants, the bull was immobilized on the wooden grate. Its bellowing and the stamping of its hooves shook the air, foam came from its mouth, which opened desperately, and thick saliva ran down its snout and neck. Its brown coat glistened with sweat, its great eyes stared and its tail waved back and forth feverishly. Perhaps it foresaw the end that was approaching. The girl was sure that the bull knew what was coming.\n\nThe high priest made three complete circles around the bull, speaking the sacred words of cleansing and sprinkling it with palm oil scented with vrentheio, the Lydian perfume of musk and lavender. Then he stood in front of the animal, grasped its two horns firmly in his two hands, and raised his voice which pierced the air like the howl of a wolf. The naked man in the pit below the grate raised his head, reciting a hymn to the Great Mother. The horns sounded loudly. Another man, dressed in calfskin, climbed up to the wooden grate and took up position under the bull's head. In his hand he held a double ax. With a sudden movement, amid the bellowing and the sound of hymns, he raised the ax and cut the muscles and tendons of the bull's neck. Then, with a long and broad knife, the man cut through the animal's jugular vein while the priest pulled the horns, stretching the head so that the blood rushed out.\n\nThe baptism of blood was well underway. The man in the pit received the waterfall of steaming animal blood ecstatically. His naked body was covered in the hot red liquid and his head was stretched back so that his face would receive the life-giving offering. Above him, the sacrificed animal trembled and shook in a desperate attempt to hold on to life. The bellowing had ceased and had been replaced by a death rattle. The life-giving power of the invincible bull flowed onto the faithful man along with the goddess's blessing. Until the bull fell lifeless on the grate, all the blood drained from its body.\n\n\"Unbelievable...\" the girl murmured, her eyes wide.\n\n\"Ritual cleansing is a great gift from the goddess. It is life and good fortune itself\" her governess commented calmly. Then she abruptly became serious. \"Don't be afraid\" she urged, feeling the trembling of the hand she held in her own.\n\n\"I don't...\"\n\n\"Calm down. You're number eighteen.\"\n\n\"I... I don't think I can...\"\n\n\"The baptism of blood is a gift from the goddess. You can say the prayers we have learned to calm down. You still have time. But you must do it. Your name is already written in the catalog of the temple and the priests have read the wishes on the sacred alter of her temple. If you do not do it, your hubris will be punished and her wrath will fall upon you. Bad fortune will follow you until the end of your life.\"\n\n\"I don't know if...\"\n\n\"There isn't any if. You cannot get out of it. Your fate has been decided. Today you will bathe in blood.\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 8", "text": "The tenth bull had been sacrificed. The hour was approaching rapidly. Luckily her hands had stopped trembling. As the sun sank into the west, as the pits filled up with blood, the girl felt her body dry out and the beating of her heart slow down while her mind relaxed. It was not just that she was getting used to the sight and her first reaction was fading. The poppy milk that her nursemaid had given her to drink had had a calming effect. After the first few swallows she felt her limbs relax, her spirit strengthen and her will expand, like the sail of a ship with the wind at its tail.\n\nThe eleventh bull and she was already anxious to get into the pit herself, to receive the baptism of blood. Yes, the truth was exactly what her nursemaid had just told her. On this day she would bathe in blood. She would receive the goddess's gifts that would accompany her for the rest of her life: well-being, abundance, good fortune. She had to do it. She was impatient to do it.\n\nAt the sacrifice of the twelfth bull they were going to leave the seats to go to the sacrificial area. At the fourteenth bull they were going to take their place next to the pit. At the fifteenth bull the priests would take off her robe and cap, leaving her naked, and the temple women would rub her with the perfume of musk and lavender. And then would follow the hymns, the descent into the pit and she would be sprayed with the life-giving blood that would seal her destiny with the gift of the goddess's favor.\n\n\"Come on, let's go, it's time...\"\n\nShe and her nursemaid climbed down the seats made of canes, took the path between two lines of guards with their scaly armor and their long, embroidered trousers and came to the door of the dressing rooms where the faithful gathered to receive the first blessing from the initiate and to prepare for the ceremony.\n\nWith the poppy milk flowing through her veins, enhancing her excitement, with the murmuring of the priests ringing in her ears like a divine incantation and with the scent of perfume and incense thick in the air, a sacred inebriation filled the girl. Inside her, in her stomach and her heart and out to the tips of her fingers, she felt the beginnings of a new force and power, and this too was a gift of the goddess, a sure sign of her favor. Her spirit was already flying above Mount Tmolus, it rose to the heavens and reached the kingdom of the gods, the boundless ether. Her feet did not touch the ground. Ecstasy had taken her. She did not think of earthly things or hear words from human lips. She only felt the touch of her nursemaid, pushing her slowly but surely towards the dressing room where they would take off her clothes and prepare her naked body, and wrap her head in the ceremonial cloth dipped in perfume of musk and lavender.\n\nAnd then it happened."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 9", "text": "First they heard the horn from the top of the fortress, from the city's watchtower. It was a strident, shrill note that stopped the hearts of the people gathered there.\n\nThen, before time could erase the piercing note of the horn, they heard the noise of galloping horses, metal clashing on metal and men's voices shouting in an unknown language. Battle cries echoed through the valley and got louder moment by moment. Feet thumped the dry ground as they ran up the valley's sides.\n\nFinally came the crying accompanied by piteous sobs from the crowd, terrified cries and heartbreaking screams from women wailing as they picked up their children and ran down the paths like a flock of frightened sheep. Panic. Pushing and trampling.\n\nThat brought the girl back to earth.\n\nShe raised her head in surprise and opened her eyelids. In the time it takes an arrow to leave the stretched string of a bow, her eyes widened and almost started out of their sockets.\n\nIn the distance, towards Sardis, thick smoke was rising on the horizon. It was not the smoke of roasted meat, nor was it from the cooking fires in the central rooms of the thatched houses. It was burning houses. Sardis was burning. First at two or three points, then at five or ten more, and then very quickly the whole city was engulfed by fire and havoc.\n\nDown the sides of the long and narrow valley descended hordes of soldiers howling and brandishing their swords and spears. They ran passionately and quickly in lines one next to the other, sweeping animals and humans along as they passed like a giant broom of dry sticks. Their beaten copper shields formed a solid wall that advanced quickly towards the place of sacrifice.\n\nTheir vanguard had already hit the gathered crowd, slaughtering, hacking, and slicing. The Persian soldiers were taken by surprise. Before they had time to form in defensive lines they felt the full impact of the attack and they scattered without offering resistance. One after another they fell dead from the short swords of the warriors that had attacked the city. Severed heads, opened breasts, bellies with the guts spilling out. The scent of musk and lavender had given way to the brackish odor of blood and the foul stench of defecation and death.\n\nThe few Persian soldiers who managed to escape the onslaught were drawn up around the seats of the officials, while ten of them, the personal guard of Artaphernes, had already pushed the Satrap and his family to the exit, put them on horses and led them to the short, steep path that ran up the hill to the impregnable fortress of the city.\n\nThe girl looked curiously at the fighters attacking. She had heard about their battle dress from sailors in the harbor of Halicarnassus. She had read about it in the parchments of her father's library. She had imagined it when listening to rhapsodists recite the Iliad and the Odyssey.\n\nThey wore crested bronze helmets with nose and ear protectors and openings for the eyes. They had linen breastplates with metal plates sewn on them and leather wings to protect the ribs, blue mantles around their shoulders, and tall bronze greaves from their ankles to their knees. They carried iron pointed spears in their right hands, short swords in sheaths at their belts, and metal shields with short woolen screens underneath to protect against arrows on their left arms. On most of the shields an olive branch was carved or painted, or else two entwined serpents, the symbol of the goddess Athena, the beloved daughter of almighty Zeus.\n\n\"They are soldiers\u2026 Athenian soldiers\u2026 They finally did it, they made an alliance with the Ionians to rebel against the Persians\u2026\" the girl murmured to herself and felt her limbs grow numb, not from sacred inebriation this time, but from fighting agitation at the sight of the enemies of her father, a subject of Darius. \"Athenian soldiers\u2026 Do you hear?\"\n\nBut her nursemaid heard nothing. She stood as if turned to stone and looked at the burning city with a lost gaze. Her face was drawn and livid. She looked like an aged shroud. Her lips were dry, her mouth hung open, doomed and witless, as if she were waiting for the fate Atropos to cut the line of her life from one moment to the next.\n\n\"Do you hear?\" the girl said and shook her vigorously. \"They are the Athenians and their rebel allies from Miletus and the other Ionian cities. They will kill us! If we stay here they will kill us!\"\n\nThe hysterical screaming of the crowd, together with the girl's shaking, brought the nursemaid back to the present. She turned, looked at her and pulled her into her arms. Then she threw a frightened glance beside her, behind her, around her.\n\nShe saw bodies strewn around the valley like the moist reddish leaves of fall, slaughtered. Mothers covered in blood, holding their children under their lifeless bodies in a desperate attempt to save them. Men with severed arms, with missing legs, with crushed skulls. The wounded dragging themselves along the ground, leaving streaks of blood in the dirt like slugs. Priests praying with their last breath. Decapitated workers flung into the ceremonial pits. And a few soldiers from the Satrap's guard, fighting desperately. There was no salvation, there was no mercy.\n\nOnly above, high up behind the bleachers where the rugged Athenian soldiers had not yet reached, on top of the steep hill of the fortress, was there still hope for salvation. A line of Persian soldiers was deployed at its base to protect the path that led to the summit. There, high on the hill, the thick walls could hold off the enemies. And they had the right to go there. They surely had that right. They had been officially invited by the Satrap Artaphernes himself.\n\n\"Let's go to the fortress\" the nursemaid shouted as if she had suddenly recovered from paralysis, and she started to pull the young woman toward the bleachers. \"That's the only place we'll be safe.\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 10", "text": "They moved with what little strength they had left in their stunned bodies. Their legs trembled from fatigue and from the trauma of the slaughter they had seen. They ran desperately, striding barefoot over fallen bodies and around those who were kneeling, about to die, without noticing the cuts on their soles from the sharp pebbles and with no interest at all in the pain in their traumatized joints.\n\nThey got no farther than the base of the great central platform. Before they could reach the path leading upwards, they saw Athenian soldiers racing toward them from the left. In a little while they would be upon them. The path was steep and hard to climb, and their feet were slow from fatigue. The soldiers would take them at the beginning of the path and kill them without mercy.\n\n\"No! Back!\"\n\nThe little one's cry stopped the nursemaid in her tracks, and she stood and looked to her side. She to saw the formation of Athenian soldiers running towards them, clashing their swords on their shields. Their faces were twisted with fury, their hands red with blood.\n\n\"To the city...\" the nursemaid murmured, trembling. \"Let's go to the city to hide.\"\n\nBut when they turned their faces toward the city, the city wasn't there. It was all in flames. Thick smoke covered Sardis, a black haze blotted out the sun. The houses, the stores, the groves, even the temple of the god Ahura Mazda built by the Persians after the conquest of Lydia, were burning. Everything was on fire.\n\nThe nursemaid looked around her in despair. Her lungs were blocked, feeling the end. Her heart had almost stopped beating. Her mind was paralyzed. \"But by Zeus, we're finished...\"\n\n\"No...\"\n\nUnexpectedly, the great god's name had brought an idea to the girl's mind. She looked away from the east, from the burning city, and turned west, to the end of the valley, to the hill where the temple of the goddess Artemis stood.\n\n\"The temple. The Greeks will not strike the temple of one of their own goddesses. It is the greatest sacrilege. They won't dare. We'll hide there and ask for protection as supplicants."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 11", "text": "The idea was simple. Simple and hopeful. Mostly, though, it was the only idea they had. The girl knew from studying the works of Homer and listening to singers recite his verses, that for Greeks the greatest sin was to insult the gods. The inside of the temples was sacred, with everything that word implied. Asylum could not be violated.\n\nTheir feet grew wings. Stumbling, pushing and shoving each other, they ran back to the pits of sacrifice and started to climb the sacred road, the little street that led to the temple standing out, untouched, amid the fire. Its surrounding wall, its altar, the double row of columns and the limestone roof, shone incongruously white in the black smoke and mayhem of battle.\n\nParadoxically, they managed to reach the surrounding wall relatively easily and without being in danger. Inside the walled courtyard the priests who had escaped the slaughter had gathered. They kneeled at the sacrificial alter in front of the temple and prayed to the goddess to save their lives. Among them were some Lydians in their characteristic yellow cloaks and some Persians in their many-colored robes.\n\nThe nursemaid pulled the girl into the courtyard, led her behind the altar, embraced her protectively and made her kneel beside her so they could sing a hymn of thanks together, to the goddess for their salvation.\n\nThey did not have time for that.\n\nAt that moment the Athenian cavalry charged the temple. Four white horses jumped the low surrounding wall and started to trample the people who had sought asylum in the arms of the goddess. At the same moment, a phalanx of soldiers stormed the courtyard with swords in their hands. The first to fall under the blades were a group of Lydians who were huddled together in the corner with the statues dedicated to the followers of the goddess. They were all slaughtered, men, women and little children.\n\nUnder cover of their screaming and howling, the others scattered like a flock of birds after a murderous strike from an arrow. They ran frantically in all directions, some trying to jump the wall and be lost in the hills, others struggling to run into the priests' quarters behind the buildings, and still others fleeing towards the central temple building, to hide behind the huge columns of the fa\u00e7ade.\n\nNow the nursemaid seemed to have lost all hope. Her head bent, she murmured some verses to the god of the underworld, Hades, in a trembling voice. She beat her hands on the ground so that he would hear her prayers. Her face was contorted from the anguish of impending death and her cheeks were wet with tears.\n\nThe girl wrenched herself from the deadly embrace of her hopeless nursemaid and stood up. She looked hurriedly around the area and tried to think. Quickly. Urgently. There was not a moment to lose. Around them people were falling, wounded, bloody, and hacked to pieces.\n\n\"The temple... Only in the temple...\" she murmured, as her eye made out the white tunics of a few priests running to the east side, where the vestibule and the central entrance were.\n\nWithout explaining or waiting for agreement, she pulled her nursemaid upright and, almost dragging her, headed for the temple. She chose to enter by the walkway on the long side, where the columns gave some protection. From there, running more easily on the marble floor and taking cover behind the thick columns, they might reach the east side, get into the temple and demand asylum in the sacred and inviolate space belonging to the goddess, where even condemned criminals were protected.\n\nThey got to the covered walkway, climbed the three terraces, and sheltered behind the wide, square base of a column. They stood there for a little while to catch their breath and find the strength to continue. The nursemaid seemed to have recovered and that made things easier, because the girl's hands were red from pulling and her arms hurt unbearably\u2014she felt like a mule dragging a load of stones up a steep hill.\n\n\"Thank the great god...\" she murmured and left the hiding place, giving the command to run to the east side.\n\nImpossible. Before them two soldiers in blue capes were dismembering a Persian merchant with a colorful caftan and farther back the walkway was filled with the bodies of Persians and Lydians.\n\nThe two women stood frozen in the middle of the walkway, unable to move.\n\n\"From the back. We'll go around the temple from the back and get to the east side from there. It'll take us longer, but we'll make it\" the girl shouted and started to push her nursemaid.\n\nBut before they turned the corner they heard the noise of heavy steps. The two soldiers had finished with the Persian and now they were coming after the girl and her nursemaid. It was just a matter of time before they reached them and plunged their iron swords deep inside their bodies.\n\n\"They're coming! They're behind us! They'll get us!\" the nursemaid cried in terror.\n\nTurning the corner, they stumbled over two dead Athenian soldiers. Their bodies were pierced by the arrows of Persian archers, who were famous throughout the empire. They stopped, but the steps behind them grew louder and louder. And then stopped abruptly.\n\nThe girl stood at the corner for a moment and looked around. The two soldiers had stopped to strip a body of its golden coins. In a little while they would finish their plundering and run after them again. At the opposite corner, more Athenian solders were looting a chariot that had come to the temple full of offerings for the goddess. They were trapped. Both directions were cut off. There was no way of escaping, there was no salvation.\n\nIt was not just a cry of terror any more. It was a resigned wail from the nursemaid. \"They will kill us... We will die...\"\n\n\"No!\"\n\n\"No?\"\n\n\"Not me!\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 12", "text": "The girl ran up to the first dead soldier. She quickly examined his helmet, his breastplate, his leggings and blue cloak. Then she looked at the other soldier. His breastplate was pierced by an arrow and so was his helmet. No, that wouldn't work. The first one was better, his gear was in better condition.\n\nShe quickly bent and turned him over. She took off his helmet, then undid the clasp of his cloak, under the throat. She stood up and put the long blue cloak over her own shoulders and fastened the clasp around her own throat. The she took the helmet in her hands and tried to put it on.\n\nImpossible. It was too small. The dead man's head was smaller than her own, even without the abundant masses of braided hair arranged around it. No matter how hard she pushed, the helmet stayed halfway down her head, and it wouldn't cover her neck. She was sweating from her feverish effort, her face had taken on the color of a flaming pyre.\n\nBehind her, around the corner, she heard the heavy steps again. The Athenian soldiers had finished. They were coming. Any moment they would be at her back with their pointed spears and sharpened swords.\n\nThe girl did not hesitate for a moment. With the sharp blade of the sword she cut off two thick braids of her hair. Then she tried the helmet again. It was impossible to pull it down so that it hid her face. She raised the heavy sword above her head and used its flat side to push it down with all her strength. With one strong blow to the bronze crown, the helmet went down to her neck, taking the tips of her ears with it and making her eyes water from the pain.\n\nAt the moment the Athenian soldiers turned the corner and saw them in the walkway, the girl had her back turned. The soldiers saw a blue cape and a helmet with the characteristic double crest of an Athenian officer.\n\nThe girl did not speak. She had taken the stance for a blow, as she had been taught by her military tutor. Completely motionless, her feet at shoulder width, her arm stretched out and her palm firmly grasping the grip of the sword. The metal blade of the sword was held out vertically in front of her and its point touched the breast of her nursemaid, who stared at her, dumbfounded and terrified.\n\n\"Artemisia?\" she stammered, feeling the point of the sword between her breasts that had withered up with feeding this girl who was now pointing a sword at her. \"What are you doing, my child?\"\n\nThe girl did not answer. She stood motionless, holding her breath, and listened to the exhausted panting of the two men behind her. Until she heard their steps begin again, hesitatingly.\n\n\"I am saving my life...\" she murmured softly, looking into her nursemaid's eyes. \"The fate Clotho has already spun yours out and you are close to death now. The sin is not so great...\" she said softly, and with a decisive movement she plunged the sword into the nursemaid's body, piercing her heart and lungs.\n\nThe conical Persian hat fell from the aged head.\n\nThe body wrapped in its colorful robe fell to the ground.\n\nThe nursemaid's eyes were wide open and they still looked as if she could not believe what was happening.\n\nMale laughter, hideous laughter, sounded behind the girl.\n\n\"You lost the bet, Pitya\" said one of the soldiers behind Artemisia's back. \"Our officer didn't take pity on the old woman. You owe me two cups of wine...\"\n\n\"Damn... And she was wearing jewelry...\"\n\n\"We can't do anything about that. The officer who killed her will take the jewels.\"\n\n\"Too bad...\"\n\nThen there were steps walking away.\n\nUntil complete, deep, deadly silence fell. At least, it fell in the mind and soul of the girl, Artemisia from Halicarnassus, the only daughter of the Satrap Lydgamis.\n\n\"May the gods forgive me...\" she murmured and kneeled next to the lifeless body of her beloved nursemaid, closed her eyes, and covered her motionless forehead with the sacred ceremonial veil, dipped in the perfumes of musk and lavender.\n\nThen she kissed the wrinkled cheek once, took out a silver coin, opened the governess's mouth and placed it softly on her tongue.\n\n\"To pay the boatman who carries you to the kingdom of the underworld...\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "THEMISTOCLES", "text": "[ Athens, Greece ]\n\nDozens of voices sounded together, high up on the rock of the Acropolis, before the sanctuary of Athens. The eighteen-year-old youths of the city were giving the Ephebic Oath.\n\n\u2003I will fight alone and with others\n\n\u2003and when die I will leave my country\n\n\u2003stronger than I received it.\n\n\u2003I will willingly obey those who adjudicate\n\n\u2003and whatever the people establishes with a joint decision...\n\nA short time before, on the hill across from the Acropolis where the democratic assembly of Athens met, they had received the highest title of honor, the title of Citizen of the Athenian Democracy. That same day they received their honorary weapons, the shield and spear.\n\nNow, dressed in white cloaks, they were lined up before the temple, right hands raised. They proudly repeated the words of the official oath of the democracy, read out from a papyrus by the wise adult man appointed by the assembly to supervise them.\n\nImmediately after the end of the ceremony, each of those eighteen year old youths would officially be considered an Athenian citizen. The next day their military education would begin, and they would have to become soldiers as well.\n\n\"I can't wait...\"\n\n\"It won't be long, Alkamenes. You can wait until tomorrow morning\" Themistocles answered sourly.\n\n\"I don't think I can wait that long.\"\n\n\"The important part is today.\"\n\n\"For you.\"\n\n\"For everyone. The most important thing is for us to become citizens of Athens. Equals among equals, with the same rights and obligations to the city...\"\n\nEquals... It was a word that had come out of Themistocles' mouth thousands of times in all those years they were growing up together.\n\nAlkamenes laughed. He had those words, his friend's obsession, dozens and even hundreds of times before. Themistocles had been repeating them continuously since the time they all learned to read and write, and later, when they were sixteen and wrestled together, naked and oiled, in the same palaestra.\n\n\"I know that it's your dream to be elected by the people, to have permission to speak and address the assembly. To cover yourself with glory...\" he said, teasingly.\n\n\"You're wrong. My dream is simply to serve the city and more importantly, to serve the democracy and the people of Athens\" Themistocles murmured irritably and then added in a bitter voice, \"If the nobles and the aristocrats like you let me of course, because I don't...\"\n\n\"Oh no. Don't start that again, please\" his friend cut him off impatiently."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 14", "text": "After a day of wild celebration, going from one wild symposium to another, and a night of debauchery, going from one hetaera to another, the six hundred youths of Athens who had been sworn in the day before were lined up with all their military equipment at the northwest gate of the city's wall and, singing military hymns, began their march towards every Athenian citizen's first duty. They would perform military service for two whole years away from the city, far from their families, friends and lovers.\n\nTheir backs loaded down with eighty pounds of military equipment\u2013 helmet, shield, sword, breastplate and greaves \u2013 they strode north, singing verses from the Homeric epics they had memorized in their first years in school. Before them walked the wise old man who would supervise them. At their side and behind them, with severe expressions and walking with short, quick steps, were the trainers who would teach them maneuvers and hand to hand fighting, the armed warriors who would direct the infantry exercises, the spearmen who would teach them to throw the spear, and the archers who would teach them archery.\n\nThe young men were dressed in black and wore sandals of the same color. They did not carry bedding, nor did they have warm clothes or boots for the winter. They did not carry any kind of supplies, food, water or wine. They were alone. And they would have to survive alone for two years, guarding the northern borders of the territory of Athens, high in the mountains.\n\nAfter three days hard going they arrived at their destination and made camp high up on the mountain of Parnitha, on what everyone called the Black Earth because of their clothes and because of the psychic testing brought by two years of military training and complete isolation.\n\n\"Companies, take formation!\"\n\nThe abrupt order sounded as soon as they arrived. The young men put aside their armor since they wouldn't need it except for exercises and in military training. They were divided into groups of forty and met their head trainers. Then each group started out for the point on the border for which it would be responsible, where it would be trained.\n\n\"Two years is a long time...\"\n\nAlkamenes laughed, lying on a bed of cut branches. \"Don't feel bad, my friend. Our democracy won't be lost in two years. The assembly will stop in its tracks and wait for you to come back. And one day, who knows? Maybe you'll become a general, if the citizens vote for you.\"\n\nThemistocles sighed heavily. He understood the importance of military training, but\u2014if he could only have been closer to the city. If he could have met his philosophy and rhetoric teachers and talked with them at the market. And even the gymnastics teachers, the ones from the gymnasium of Cynosarges who prepared boys that were not pure Athenian citizens and were not from old aristocratic families. A couple of times he had tried to get into the gymnasia of the Academy and the Lyceum where the offspring of aristocratic families trained, and they had thrown him out without an explanation as if he were some slave beaten and dishonored in war. And that humiliation, one of the many he had endured all these years because of his humble origins, he still could not stomach.\n\n\"One day...\"\n\nEvery time Themistocles thought about his childhood, his fellow students and his teachers, he felt the same bitterness. When he was growing up the city had not been a democracy as it was now, but a tyranny. Then, no one had had rights as a citizen, equality and freedom were unknown concepts, and the old noble families hung on to the city offices tightly. They made sure the dividing lines were clear, even between themselves and the rich merchants and seamen if they were not descended from the old aristocratic families.\n\nHis father Neocles was a rich Athenian merchant but his mother Euterpe was born on the other side of the Aegean Sea in Halicarnassus, on the shores of Asia Minor, which was under Persian control. Euterpe was the sister of the satrap Lygdamis, who ruled the city with an iron fist. Even though Euterpe, hard and relentless like her brother, had always been in charge in Themistocles' house, she was nothing but a foreignor outside their door, without full rights or equality before the law. Her son had inherited her impetuosity and her stubbornness, and he felt the same wounded pride at their treatment at the hands of the pretentious Athenian aristocrats.\n\n\"One day what?\" Alkamenes asked him, after waiting for a long time for their conversation to continue.\n\nThemistocles did not answer. He liked discussion, he was talkative by nature and had been taught the art of rhetoric by some of the best teachers, but he preferred to speak later, one day, with his works and not with his words. The problem of his humble descent was the only thing that could stop his irrepressible tongue. Then, his impetuous and passionate character retreated and he obeyed prudence and wisdom. He was cautious. He thought. And waited.\n\n\"Esset imar\u2026\" he murmured Homer's verse from the Iliad. \"The day will come\u2026\"\n\n\"The day will come for what, Themistocles?\"\n\n\"For them all to get their answer\u2026\"\n\nHis mind went to the words of Clearchos, his teacher, when he caught him in his seat, which was strictly forbidden. Just eleven years old, he had climbed up into the chair and was standing in it and passionately lecturing his fellow students, trying to convince them that the resourcefulness of Odysseus was a more important virtue than the bravery of Achilles. Clearchos, who had just taught them the opposite, had sat down unnoticed under the pilaster of the door and quietly listened to the whole of little Themistocles' speech without interrupting. Afterwards, he entered the room applauding. He praised Themistocles for his arguments and his bravery, and then told him to raise his robe and bare his bottom. He set him before the seat in front of the whole class and gave him twenty blows with the cane to punish his hubris and impudence against a teacher's authority.\n\n\"You have to know that insolence is always punished. Hubris is not related to the correctness of the action. Nemesis comes to everyone, young man\" Clearchos said after he finished beating him.\n\n\"I know, teacher\" answered Themistocles, and then bent and kissed his hand with respect. \"I know...\"\n\nClearchos put his hand on the boy's short, curly hair and looked at him in surprise.\n\n\"You, Themistocles, my child, are born for great things. For good or bad, time will tell.\"\n\nThe he pulled down his robe again and, shouting for the slave who served him, he sent the young student home so his mother could take care of the deep welts left on the tender bottom.\n\nThere, at home, Euterpe made him go without food and water for twenty four hours for his insolence to his teacher. After that punishment she prepared for him the most sumptuous meal ever eaten by an eleven year old boy, with her own hands.\n\n\"The day will come for what?\" Alkamenes repeated the question.\n\n\"When it comes we'll both learn what it is, my friend. The training starts tomorrow before dawn, so good night\u2026\" he answered Alkamenes, and fell to the dry ground with sealed lips, thinking of the Homeric verse.\n\n\"The day will come when...\"\n\nUntil then, he was determined to wait patiently.\n\nBut the chance he was waiting for would be given to him much sooner than he imagined."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 15", "text": "Two years rushed by like the waters of a spring high in the mountains. Spear, bow, sword. Tactics of war and the art of making camp. Survival in the hot sun of summer and the freezing cold of winter, without any equipment because their armor was in the cave they used for storage. So the months of their isolation in the mountains passed. They had to kill what they ate by themselves and to discover sources of water to drink. Their shoulders became broader, their chests deeper, their hands full of calluses and their faces lined from the sun and rain. But most of all, they turned into real men, soldiers able to defend their city against any enemy.\n\nAs with every anniversary or celebration, the circle would be closed with the established games before the Athenian soldiers returned to their families and their tasks. All the young men of the same year gathered together on a little plateau formed by the three snowy peaks of the mountains behind them. They were still without weapons or helmets, and they carried no war gear. They wore only their black robes, faded and torn from the hard use of the last two years. They had only their bare hands and a short sword. And when they left the next day, they would want to have a myrtle wreath on their heads. That was the emblem of honor for the best among them, the emblem that would make them proud when they passed through the city walls again. The title of Athenian citizen would be conferred on the most able, the most thorough, the bravest, and those who would win in that day's games, even if their parents did not belong to one of the ten official tribes of Athens. Victory in the games would bring glory and the most important of the privileges of Athenian democracy: the right to be elected one day to one of the more important city offices--the right to govern.\n\nAfter the sacrifices to the gods, the old wise man who had supervised them for two years now, explained the tests that would follow. They were not very different from the games that the same men had participated in while they were adolescents. They were contests centered around the educational triad of Athens: letters, music, sport.\n\nSitting behind his friend Alkamenes, who was pure Athenian, Themistocles thought that he could only hope to distinguish himself and prove his worth in letters and gymnastics. He had never been very good at music. He had played chords on the kithara until his fingers bled, many times, and he had blown on the reed pipe until his cheeks were swollen, but he was no good at them. But in letters he had always distinguished himself and now, after his training on the battlefield, he had become an expert gymnast.\n\nWhile their leader explained the rules of the games, Themistocles observed the opponents next to him. On his left was Aristeides, a blond man, gentle and delicate, who came from a noble family and lived in the richest neighborhood of the city. He had clashed with him many times, but only for rhetorical showmanship and on political issues. Their battles were merciless, but Aristeides was never underhanded. He never used his wealth or his aristocratic origins to win.\n\nOn the other side, his right, was the man Themistocles hated more than anyone else, the arrogant and passionate Lambrias. He also had rich parents and he came from an aristocratic family that boasted that they were descended from the hero Thyseas himself, the founder of Athens. Large bodied, powerful and aggressive, Lambrias was always scowling with his lips pressed together. His courage, strength and perseverance were legendary. Until now, Themistocles had never confronted him or competed with him because they belonged to different companies and had lived in different areas of the mountains for those two years.\n\n\"So, besides the established pentathlon of running, spear throwing, archery, discus and jumping, what will count more than all the others together in determining the winners, is the two and a half mile race on a real field of battle. That is, it will be run not on a clean and smooth surface but in the woods, with all the natural obstacles, wearing armor and carrying full military gear. That is because endurance is the most important quality for foot soldiers like you,\" the leader finished, and he gave the order to the gymnasts to explain the rough road race.\n\n\"Damn! God damn it to hell!\"\n\nAlkamenes turned around suddenly when he heard his friend's disgusted exclamation. \"Blasphemy is not the best way to start a competition\" he rebuked him calmly, in the meek and bland style he kept to even under the worst circumstances.\n\n\"The race is not my best competition\" Themistocles explained, and then he pointed covertly to Lambrias. \"It's his.\"\n\n\"What do you mean?\"\n\n\"I've seen him running in the stadium. He can do twelve miles without stopping, like a lion, even when he's loaded down like a mule.\"\n\n\"That's the point of the games, though. To show who is the best of us, so the city will know when it needs help in time of war or danger\" Alkamenes murmured. Months ago, with the self-knowledge that characterized him, he had given up hoping to be crowned with a victor's myrtle wreath.\n\n\"The best person for the city in time of war is the one who can run fastest with his mind, not with his feet. Otherwise they wouldn't elect men to be generals. They'd elect horses...\"\n\n\"Turn around and face front! Stop your chatter!\" The leader shouted sternly, and then ordered the gymnasts to hand out the heavy military equipment and the musician to play on the reed pipe to give the signal for the start of the games.\n\nWhen the young soldiers got up and stood at attention with their ankles together and their knees locked, completely motionless and silent like marble statues, Themistocles turned his head to the right. It was perhaps the last chance he would have to study and weigh his great opponent, Lambrias, undefeated in wrestling and in racing.\n\nAt that moment, as if a spirit had gotten into Lambrias's huge chest and warned his heart, Lambrias turned his gloomy face and looked Themistocles in the eyes.\n\nThemistocles did not hear the words he said.\n\nThey were said without sound and without sound they crossed the ten feet between them.\n\nBut he saw his lips move.\n\n\"I will beat you, you miserable bastard...\" Lambrias murmured with his eyes fixed on Themistocles, full of hatred like the piercing eyes of Zeus getting ready to dart like a terrific thunderbolt from the summit of Mount Olympus. \"I will crush you, son of a barbarian bitch from Halicarnassus...\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 16", "text": "For the first thousand yards the whole group ran together like a pack of wolves falling hungrily on their prey. The eighty pounds of bronze armor seemed like a light sack and their feet flew over plants and branches, stones and pits. Besides, the first thousand yards were the easiest. They were still in the cleared valley, on an even and level field.\n\nBut after a mile the way became steep and the path wound through a thick forest, climbing the mountain. Fewer than a hundred of the six hundred runners remained in front when the forest gave way to dry, bare stones with sharp edges that could cut a runner's foot from end to end. Now the eighty pounds of armor felt more like a hundred and eighty, the muscles of their shoulders ached from exhaustion and their heads leaned toward their chests from the weight of the bronze helmets.\n\nLambrias was in front, just as Themistocles had predicted. In full armor, holding the heavy spear in one hand and the iron sword in the other, with his back straight as a statue's, he strode forward confidently and securely. Neither the dry branches that threatened to flay his body nor the sharp rocks that could cut his feet managed to slow him down.\n\nSeveral yards behind him came Themistocles, gritting his teeth, and with him ran about ten other athletes. To his surprise, when he looked to the side to assess the situation he saw the delicate Aristeides, red from the effort but running with a steady rhythm. Physical strength and endurance were not his strong points; in spite of the palaestrae, his body had not become tough and well-knit. But on that difficult day Aristeides was the living proof that sometimes, as the philosophers say, spirit rules over matter.\n\nIn spite of his surprise, Themistocles smiled. For him, Aristeides was also the proof of his own argument that the mind and the will always come before physical strength. At this moment, his permanent opponent in the rhetorical competitions was also a model for his own attempt to overcome Lambrias's physical superiority.\n\nThemistocles turned his gaze to the front again. He saw with dissatisfaction that Lambrias had increased the distance between them while he was looking back. The front runner had already reached the great trench with the steep drop. He stood at the edge for a moment and then, balancing his body, threw himself into the void without hesitation. He tumbled down the steep slope curled up like the wheel of a cart and stopped softly at the bottom of the gorge. He got up and, plunging his sword deep in the earth, pulled his heavy body up. Then he raised his spear and stuck it in, pulling and raising his heavy muscles that twisted like the roots of a hundred year old tree.\n\nImitating his example, Themistocles curled up and jumped into the void. However, his attempt was not so successful. When he landed on the bottom of the gorge and tried to stand up, he felt pain so intense that he thought his left foot must have been torn off and stayed on the slope behind him. And his left arm was in no better condition. When he stood up and examined himself, he found a deep wound in his ankle. He must have hit a stone or something while he was going down. Clenching his teeth and limping, he hobbled to the beginning of the steep slope on the other side of the gorge and thrust his spear into the ground as Lambrias had done.\n\nBut not with the same success. In spite of his best efforts, the tired muscles of his arms could only pull him up slowly. It was almost more than he could do to balance in this new, higher position, and he could not hang on with one arm to thrust the spear in with the other.\n\n\"Use your legs\" he was astonished to hear Aristeides' advice coming from behind.\n\n\"My left leg is useless. I can't move my ankle.\"\n\n\"Your knees... Use your knees... Carve out a place for your knees before you raise the rest of your body.\"\n\nIt took him a long time, but he made it. When he reached the top he turned his body and rested until he felt the sharp pain in his foot recede and the hammering in his breast quiet down. When he got up again, he saw that only three other athletes had made it across the gorge, one of the worst obstacles in the race. Aristeides was one of them, but now he was lying on the ground with his face sweaty and twitching and his chest rising and falling like a boat in a storm. His arms and legs trembled uncontrollably and his nails were scratching the ground.\n\nUnfortunately, Lambrias was nowhere to be seen. With his eyes Themistocles carefully searched the bushy area that stretched out for half a mile in front of him and ended in a thick forest of pine and plane trees, but he could not make out the huge, running figure. Finally, a great distance ahead, he saw Lambrias advancing confidently. With disappointment Themistocles had to admit that, except if some miracle happened and Hermes lent him his winged sandals, the race was lost."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 17", "text": "Someone else might have given up. Not him. Not the young man nicknamed mule, not the personification of stubbornness and perseverance.\n\nBiting his lips, he picked up his sword and spear from the ground and started to run towards the thick forest. His bronze breastplate was an unbearable weight, it felt like a tombstone on his chest, it made it hard to breathe and it was burning hot from the summer sun. He thought about taking it off to make moving easier, but that would be impossible. Those who finished without full military gear were disqualified.\n\nThings got better when he got to the forest. There, the thickset trees offered shade from the burning sun, the air was cooler and his flaming lungs felt the relief, allowing him to lengthen his stride. A wave of optimism passed through him. If the protection of the shade and the soft ground continued until the finish line, then he would be able to speed up and, by Zeus, he might still win the race.\n\nThe smile that had etched itself on his cracked lips for about half a mile started to fade when he heard a strange clamoring noise. Step by step the noise increased, while the air grew moist and suffocating. His skin grew wet and in his eyes he felt fine drops of water like spring rain. When he got to the end of the forest and saw the source of the sound, his legs felt weak. In front of him and to the right was a swift waterfall, at least a hundred feet high. Its waters gushed out and fell to the earth with a demonic noise, churning up foam like a winter gale on the sea. A few feet away from the spot where they fell they became calm, of course, but they formed a lake almost a mile long and half a mile wide. An insurmountable obstacle that Themistocles couldn't get around, because at the end of the mile, a steep gorge created a second waterfall.\n\nHis burning legs froze on the bank of the mountain lake, his arms fell limp at his sides and in his sight, the landscape was drained of color like the sky before a storm. He sat down in despair on the green grass and looked dispiritedly at the waterfall.\n\nA little to the left of the foaming water a steep path climbed the slope, but he would have needed the abilities of Pan, the goat-footed Arcadian god, to climb it. It reminded him of an enormous snake that wound back and forth about twelve times from one side of the cliff to the other as it climbed before disappearing under the waterfall, tunneling into the cliff and passing to the other side of the river. At some points it narrowed to a palm's breadth and a human foot would barely fit there. It was scattered with huge boulders and sharp rocks and at some points the smallest weight would have made it crumble away. On that path, loaded down with his military gear, Lambrias was walking carefully, and he had already reached the third turn. His sword was sheathed and he had tied his spear inside his robe.\n\nThemistocles was overcome with boundless sorrow. He was not strong enough to attempt such a difficult and dangerous climb. He would be almost certain to fall and be crushed on the rocks below, especially if he had to drag his heavy military equipment with him.\n\n\"Oh Goddess Artemis, protector of the forests, guide me, give me strength...\" he murmured abjectly, since only a miracle could give him the victory he so desired, the victory that would turn him from a bastard into a real Athenian citizen with full rights in the elections, that would allow him to realize his political dreams of glory and power.\n\nA quick glance showed him that Lambrias had reached the fourth bend in the path and was climbing steadily. Themistocles calculated that he himself would not be able to reach the summit of the path before the sun set. At that speed, given his arrogant opponent's monstrous strength, how could he overtake Lambrias on the way down and reach the finish line first?\n\n\"It was not my destiny to be equal with the others...\" he murmured bitterly. \"Even democracy has its limits...\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 18", "text": "He sat without moving and watched the water in intense frustration. The large lake was an insuperable obstacle. His mind was paralyzed, he had fallen into a languor in which scenes from his childhood played before his eyes, sights he had seen in the Agora when he was going to his teacher's house and even earlier, in stories and myths he had heard from his father's friends in the courtyard of their house.\n\nLooking at the reflections of the sun on the water, a Babylonian myth came into his mind. It was a story told to him by their Persian slave Sanacheirim before he was forced to change his name to a Greek one and call himself Sikinos. The myth told of the creation of the world and the two great Assyrian gods of water, Apsou and Tiamat, who sent endless rain to the earth in an attempt to kill their children because they were making a lot of noise and wouldn't let them sleep. All of the children of the gods drowned except for Marduk, who managed to survive by clinging to the trunk of a tree that floated on the water. When the rains finally stopped, Marduk found a dry place, stepped on the ground, and was safe and sound.\n\nThemistocles suddenly raised his head and looked at the water that spread out before him, blocking his way. He pushed himself up with his hands and took out his sharp sword. He went back a few feet into the woods and looked around feverishly, with dilated pupils. He chose four small pines with straight, tender trunks, and struck them with his sword just above the ground, near their roots. The green wood gave way quickly under the sword strokes, and the trunks fell to the ground. He cleared off the branches, grabbed them and pulled them to the lake, where he laid them one beside the other.\n\nThen he looked up and down the shore. He saw small plane trees, tall pines and low willows. The willows would work for him. He cut an armful of their longest and most flexible branches, the ones that fell from the top of the tree to the bottom like a woman's hair. Then he went back to the pine trunks, cleaned the leaves off the flexible branches so that they looked like thick cords, and tied the trunks firmly together. When his makeshift raft was finished, he pulled it into the water and climbed onto it, carrying his sword and long spear.\n\nThe trunks rocked under his weight and sank about two feet at first, but then came back to the surface and stabilized. Themistocles smiled in triumph. A shout of victory burst from him. He felt he had conquered the water.\n\nMind against muscle.\n\nHuman ingenuity against brute force.\n\nResourceful Odysseus against fearless Achilles.\n\nThat was his strength."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 19", "text": "He used the spear to push the boat, sinking the point to the bottom of the lake and poling steadily and firmly. The raft started to move towards the opposite shore. At that slow speed, though, it might take hours to cross the distance of half a mile.\n\nWhile pushing on the spear with all the strength he had left, he raised his eyes and looked along the path. He saw that Lambrias had reached the last curve in the path and was starting slowly towards the waterfall. If he managed to pass under the water and come out on the other side, everything would be over.\n\nWith his eyes following his opponent's progress, he tried to speed up the raft. He sank his spear more quickly and pushed harder. The raft swayed but continued on its course. When Themistocles had reached the middle of the lake, Lambrias had reached the edge of the foaming falls and was preparing to pass through the narrow gap between the cliff and the arc of water.\n\nThemistocles bent his head and concentrated on what he was doing. In his mind he heard the rhythmic beating of the drum that gave the tempo in every warship. Sweat dripped from his face, his legs were going numb and the muscles of his arms were going red. It had to work. He had promised himself.\n\nVictory.\n\nIn his mind there was only victory.\n\nUntil he heard a screeching cry that echoed in the rocky valley. He stopped poling with his spear and raised his head, wondering. There wasn't a soul on the shore in back of him, nor in front of him, on the far side of the lake.\n\nBut the cry came again.\n\nHe looked to his right.\n\nAnd then he saw him."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 20", "text": "Lambrias was hanging from the vertical cliff like a bunch of grapes from a vine. His hands gripped an outcropping of rock and his body swung a hundred feet above the water of the lake. The path had crumbled away underneath him, pulling him with it. Lambrias's hands were trembling uncontrollably from his desperate attempt to hold up his two hundred and twenty pounds and the eighty pounds of gear. His feet were searching desperately for a support, but the cliff under him was sheer and steep so they only scratched its surface.\n\nHis agony lasted ten minutes. Then his fingers slowly but surely slipped to the edge of the outcropping and then fell away completely. A last scream was heard and then a splash from the huge body falling into the water.\n\nThemistocles watched without moving, as if turned to stone. He looked at the shore behind him. It was empty and deserted, no help could come from there. Then he looked at his destination, the place that would give him his victory, the shore across from him. In fractions of a second the vile mean words filled his mind: I'll beat you, you miserable bastard\u2026 I'll crush you, son of a barbarian bitch from Halicarnassus...\" the shameless words that had come from Lambrias mouth a few hours before, as he looked at him with hatred.\n\nIt was in his mind to pole to the opposite shore without giving another thought to the arrogant aristocrat, to let him meet the end he deserved. When you came right down to it, the gods punished the sin of hubris severely, you could see that in all the tragedies that played in Athens every year.\n\nBut if he let him drown\u2014which was sure to happen because of the armor\u2014wouldn't that be the sin of hubris, too? Hubris and mercilessness? Wouldn't he become an indirect assassin? Didn't that bring the ire of the gods with it, and severe punishment under the law? The words of Clearchos, his teacher, came to his mind: pride is not related to the correctness of the action. Nemesis comes to everyone, young man\u2026\n\nHe shifted his weight to the right side of the raft, plunged his spear in the water and turned the raft in the direction of the waterfall. Stronger and stronger, faster and faster he poled, trying as best he could to make out some sign of life in the water, a head or hands sticking out, someone trying to come to the surface for air.\n\nWhen he got to the point where Lambrias had fallen, he stopped the raft and pulled out the spear to let the water calm down so he could make out Lambrias's bronze armor.\n\nHe saw him a few yards further on. His huge body had sunk to the bottom and didn't seem to be moving. Themistocles pushed the raft one last time with his spear. Then, hesitantly, he poked the bulky body with it. Nothing. No movement. Lambrias's body floated a little and then was still again. He looked like a monstrous nymph of the waters swaying softly in the dance of death.\n\n\"I came too late... his soul is already with the boatman, waiting to take the last great journey...\" Themistocles murmured numbly, and relaxed his grasp on the spear.\n\nThen he felt the pull. It was weak, but at least it was a reaction. He bent down and saw that Lambrias's hand was grasping the pointed end of the spear.\n\nHe kneeled on the raft and, bracing himself with his leg, he pulled with all the strength he had left.\n\nSlowly he managed to detach the three hundred pounds from the depths and bring it to the surface.\n\nHe pulled Lambrias's limp body up and dragged him until his head and neck rested on the raft. He undid the leather fastenings of his armor and freed his chest. He started to push his chest with short, sharp jabs.\n\nA few moments of motionlessness and suspense. Then, suddenly, the shut mouth opened and water rushed out. Then he was sucking in the air in great, choking gulps and his broad chest started to spasm.\n\n\"Thanks be to Artemis...\" Themistocles murmured. Then he turned back to the raft, almost dead himself from exhaustion. He looked up at the sun that had reached the third quarter of its path through the heavens. There was no way, now, for him to finish the race before the sun set. All was lost.\n\nThen he heard a familiar voice from the shore. \"Themistocles... What happened?\"\n\nWhen he turned his head he saw first the blond hair, the color of sand. Then the features. The blue eyes, the white skin and the delicate physique.\n\n\"Lambrias. He almost drowned, Aristeides. He fell from the waterfall\" shouted Themistocles, pointing to the crumbled path high on the cliff.\n\n\"Bring him here and go finish the race.\"\n\n\"I won't make it. The sun is already setting.\n\nAristeides looked up though the thick leaves, under which it was already getting dark because the weak rays of the sun could not pierce them. \"You're right... It's too late...\"\n\n\"It's all right. I lost the crown of victory in the race, but I gave Athens a valuable soldier for time of war, which won't be long coming.\"\n\n\"We're at peace.\"\n\n\"Not for long. Not after what happened at Sardis. The Persian emperor will not let that insult go unpunished. Nor will his empire, and he's at its borders now\u2026\"\n\n\"Only the gods know that. And maybe the Pythia at Delphi\u2026\" Aristeides murmured, smiling. \"But we'll find out later. Now we have to think about the present. The games and the prize.\"\n\n\"That I lost\u2026\"\n\n\"You haven't lost anything, Themistocles. There is a prize that is more important than the ones they give in the military competitions. The prize for great deeds, the sacred olive branch that the city awards every year at the Panathenaic feast.\n\nThemistocles laughed. \"The prize received by Theseus and the other heroes who saved Athens from destruction?\"\n\n\"That was in time of war. In time of peace, like now, they give it for lesser achievements. And you, by Zeus, with what you managed to do today, could very well be chosen for that honor.\"\n\n\"I can't go to the assembly and talk about what I did, and try to convince them to give me the olive branch. It would be arrogant and besides...\"\n\n\"Not if I do it.\"\n\n\"You would do that for me?\" Themistocles asked his implacable opponent and future enemy in the city's political life, since Aristeides was a declared follower of the Oligarchs and he was a follower of the Democrats.\n\n\"Yes. I'll stand up and speak to the assembly.\" Aristeides added \"I don't like it that I'm going to honor you, but I have to do it because it's the right thing.\"\n\nThemistocles looked at him closely. There was no ironic smile, there was no mockery in Aristeides' face. It was more serious than the face of a priest performing a sacrifice to the gods. He meant what he said. He meant it honestly.\n\n\"Aristeides... Aristeides, my enemy...\" Themistocles murmured and then, with unfeigned admiration at the ethos of the man, he gave him the nickname that would follow him for the rest of his life. \"Aristeides the Just...\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "XERXES", "text": "[ Susa, capital of the Persian Empire ]\n\nThe summer heat in Susa, capital of the Persian Empire, was unbearable. The place was bare of trees and the low shrubs and rocks heated up under the burning sun. The Choaspes river ran near the city, very close to the emperor's complex, but the coolness brought by its waters was too weak to overcome the fiery sun. The bases of the walls caught fire and burned like sacrificial altars.\n\nBut that particular morning, the heat was not the reason the King of Kings woke up soaked with sweat. It was the dream. For the third night in a row now, he had had the same dream and heard the same words. And it was the face. The knitted brows, the pursed lips, the words uttered slowly, falling one by one, heavy as lead, casting doubt on the decision he had made just three days ago.\n\nThe man who came to him in his sleep was huge, dressed in expensive royal robes. With a wide pleated caftan and a high cylindrical hat, holding in his hand the scepter topped by a winged lion. The same curly black hair, the same conical beard. Hooked nose, thick brows, eyes like coals. Undoubtedly it was his forefather, the founder of the Persian Empire himself, Cyrus the Great.\n\nXerxes got out of bed and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Mechanically he stretched out his hand to the cord hanging from the right side of his bed and pulled it hard. Before he could take his hand off the cord the double door of aromatic cedar wood opened and his personal servant came into the bedroom with small, noiseless steps so as not to disturb the king's morning serenity. On his right arm he carried, carefully folded, the mantle embroidered with winged lions, and above it the spiral gold necklace with the head of the sphinx. The symbols of the power of the Achaemenids, rulers of the Persian Empire, the greatest power the world had ever known, that stretched from India to Egypt. In his left hand he held a carved gold chalice, full of the blessed liquid prepared for him every morning by the priests of the god Ahura Mazda, the famous Persian Mages.\n\nArzanes, the old royal servant that Xerxes had inherited from his father, Darius, came towards him with bowed head so as not to meet the eyes of the king without his permission. With slow, studied steps he came before him, his arms outstretched, softly murmuring wishes for prosperity and health, in a fixed ceremony that he had carried out every morning for thirty years. He had carried it out since the day when, still a youth, Darius had chosen him for his personal servant. The years he spent by the side of the great king, splendid years during the conquest of India and gloomy years when the king was defeated by the Athenians at the battle of Marathon, had weighed down his shoulders and whitened his hair. But even at this advanced age, when his hands had started to lose their steadiness and his legs were tired before the sun had lighted up the whole palace, he still carried out the ceremonies down to the last detail. It was his role. It was his world. Without that, his life would have no meaning.\n\nHe waited, holding his breath. He kept his eyes low. He looked at the naked feet of the king. His arms hurt, but he kept them stretched out. His gaze had not yet received permission to be raised from the ground.\n\nXerxes was thinking. One image after another went through his mind. Images he had lived through himself, images painted like the palace reliefs, images he had imagined listening to stories of old battles of the empire.\n\nThe best of these was the conquest of Egypt by Cyrus the Great. The worst: the great defeat in Greece, six years before.\n\nWhen his father Darius learned from messengers of the crushing defeat of his army, he went out to the palace courtyard, bent the great royal bow and shot a flaming arrow toward the west, towards Greece and Athens. At that same moment he promised the Greeks that they would pay the most terrible price the world had ever known. He passed the obsession with revenge to his son Xerxes, who swore on his father's deathbed that he would keep his royal promise to the full.\n\nNow, after he had suppressed the rebellion that had broken out suddenly in Egypt, the hour for revenge had come. Decisions had to be made. But the recurring dream that had oppressed him for three nights in a row, would not let him make them or announce them to his advisors or the officers of his court.\n\nXerxes clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white. Until his nails dug into the soft flesh of his palms. Until he felt his rage recede, flow away and be lost from his clenched hands. Only then did he allow the burning air to leave his chest. Only then did he open his eyes. Only then did he extend his right arm and take the golden scepter that symbolized the glory of the Persians and his own power over the world.\n\nThe servant saw the king's movement out of the corner of his watchful eye. It was the sign he was waiting for. Like a well-trained animal, he immediately took a step forward and stretched out his left arm holding the liquid, blessed by the priests of Ahura Mazda, that gave strength, wisdom and health to every one of the king's days.\n\nAfter the feet and the hands, the lips of the servant moved. Slowly and steadily he pronounced the same phrase he said at every sunrise, on the orders of Darius himself, so as not to allow cunning sleep to soften his hatred and his will to take cruel revenge.\n\n\"King, do not forget the Greeks and Athens.\"\n\nWhen he heard that phrase, Xerxes' left arm shot out straight and then to the right with the strength of rage. The chalice was swept from the servant's aged hand and clattered on the tiles. The blessed liquid spilled on the floor.\n\nArzanes' hands started to tremble, his legs almost collapsed under him, his few white hairs stood up on his uncovered head.\n\n\"A bad sign, my king...\" he dared to stammer, looking at the spilled liquid and shuddering with fear of divine rage at this terrible sacrilege. \"A bad sign...\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 22", "text": "The men in the hall of hearings were standing upright in a line with their heads bowed, waiting for their king to call them near him and speak to them. The first was Xerxes' aged uncle, the wise Artabanus. The second was his advisor Mithrates and the third was the general Mardonius, his childhood friend and commander of the imperial army. Xerxes had chosen them well for the matter he wished to discuss, the expedition to Greece he had promised his father.\n\nThe emperor sat on his golden throne on its marble base, at the end of the long and narrow hall. To his left and right burned aromatic myrrh and frankincense in high metal censers, intended to propitiate the god Ahura Mazda for the disrespect and contempt he had suffered that morning.\n\n\"Approach...\"\n\nJust one word, and that in a low tone. The Great King did not stand as he usually did, with his chest thrown out, his head high and his spine straight. He was not even holding the royal scepter in his hands. He sat hunched over, his shoulders bowed, his eyelids drooping and the corners of his lips turned down.\n\nThey went in and stood before him. Upright. As one would stand before one's god. They waited with bent heads, full of respect and obedience, for the order to raise their eyes and look him in the face.\n\nXerxes' words came from his mouth with anguish: \"My heart is heavy, my thoughts are confused. For three nights in a row a man resembling the glorious Cyrus in form and in stature, has come to me in my sleep and spoken to me.\"\n\n\"About what?\" old Artabanus asked, puzzled. He always had the right to speak first because of his close family relation to the king and his advanced age.\n\n\"About the expedition to Greece.\"\n\n\"What does he say to you?\"\n\n\"To put it into practice immediately, as I planned at the beginning, and not wait a few years so that my army could rest after the war in Egypt, as you advised me. Or to give it up completely, as is Mithrates' opinion. That is why I called you here today, to hear your opinions again and to decide. Speak freely, because the power of every king is founded on correct decisions and correct decisions are made with good council.\"\n\n\"I will start first, son of glorious Darius\" said the aged Artabanus, and began with slow words, each of them weighed carefully. \"A few days ago, when we were gathered here for the same reason, you listened to my words. You thought that it was not time for hasty movements, and you decided to wait. You were correct. After the great battles in Egypt, the army is not yet ready. He who hurries makes mistakes and finds disaster.\"\n\n\"Yes, that is what I thought, Artabanus, but my dream and the words I hear every night are urgent. So the idea came to my mind of changing my decision and starting the expedition as soon as possible.\n\n\"And you will do well, King of Kings,\" said General Mardonius. \"Announce to the Persians today that you will conquer Greece and Europe and extend our empire so far that from the point where the sun rises to the point where the sun sets, it will shine upon no other country foreign to us. That news will give great glory to your name.\"\n\n\"Great glory or great hubris to the gods, son of Darius?\" interrupted the self-possessed Artabanus. \"Because everyone knows there is no greater hubris than for someone to allow his spirit always to want more than he has. The gods punish arrogance and forbid pride, except for themselves.\n\n\"No, do not listen to him, that is a mistake, King of Kings. First of all because you promised your father at the moment of his death, and such a promise is sacred, it may not be broken\" Mardonius was ready with his arguments at once. \"Second, and just as important, everyone knows that Cyrus and Darius, our emperors before you, subjugated all known nations in their victorious wars and made them our slaves. The only thing you should think about, the only thing worthwhile, is not to be less than your ancestors but to extend the power of our empire even farther. And there is only one way to do that. The West. Greece and Europe. And from information I have received, the Greeks always start wars out of foolish egotism, without any strategy. They rush into battle without thought or planning and do not even think of sending ambassadors to resolve their differences with diplomacy, even though they speak the same language and can understand one another.\"\n\nXerxes thought to himself for a little while. \"And you, Mithrates? What do you say of all this?\"\n\n\"I say that it is foolishness...\"\n\n\"Foolishness?\" asked Xerxes, wondering at the insulting word his advisor had uttered.\n\n\"Yes. Foolishness, audacious foolishness. For the danger of such an expedition is great. The distance to Sardis alone is three day's journey. And then? You must land on shores inhabited by Greeks subject to us, then you must cross a sea and journey for another three months to get to Greece. How will such a great army as ours be kept alive for so many months? With what food and what water?\"\n\n\"Foolishness...\" the great king muttered to himself, as if he could not believe the insulting word. Or as if he could not get used to it. \"And the promise I gave to my father?\" he asked, gloomily, trying to conquer the uneasiness rising inside him.\n\n\"You said it yourself, Great King. It is nothing but a promise. A foolish promise like the promises sons usually make to their fathers. A promise you are not obligated to fulfill, all the more so because the glorious Darius is not alive anymore, and therefore you do not have to answer to anyone. That is my opinion on the expedition to Greece.\"\n\n\"Are you sure, Mithrates? Are you sure of what you just said?\"\n\n\"Yes. I am sure.\"\n\n\"Then I am sorry, but you are not looking at things in the right way. And if you are not looking at things in the right way, then you have no reason to see at all.\"\n\n\"What do you mean, my king?\"\n\nXerxes did not answer. He simply made a sign toward the door, calling the leader of the Immortals, his personal royal guard. The leader came up to him and bent to hear the commands Xerxes whispered in his ear.\n\nThen he stretched his arm toward the end of the hall where the guards stood, brought it down suddenly and pointed at Mithrates."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 23", "text": "Two guards approached swiftly and held him tightly by the shoulders. A third held his head steady, pressing the temples with his open palms.\n\nWithout wasting time, the leader of the Immortals reached out his hand to one of the two censers, took the metal tongs with which the lighted coals were stirred, and without hesitating for a moment, touched them to Mithrates' eyes, first the left and then the right.\n\nThe horrifying screams slashed the stale air and shook the guts of Atravanos and Mardonius, who stood on each side of the unfortunate royal councilor trying to fight off the nausea they felt as the red hot iron melted the tender flesh and the balls of the eyes.\n\nImmediately afterwards, dragging the blinded Mithrates who was uttering heartrending screams, the guards left through the double door with its golden ornaments. The scent of frankincense and myrrh was gone. The whole hall smelled disgustingly of burned skin and cauterized flesh.\n\nXerxes arranged the double golden chain across his chest, wet his hands in an ivory cup filled with rose water, and washed his face and his bald head. Then he turned to Mardonius who was standing before him with his head lowered, trying to hide his smile. His greatest enemy, his most certain opponent in his attempt to convince the king to carry out the expedition, had got his lesson and was out of the way.\n\n\"I realized what you said earlier, Mardonius. I have heard it too. That the Greeks are not one great, unified state but little independent cities that argue, conflict and clash with each other continually, without ever being able to agree on anything\" Xerxes said calmly. \"That is exactly why I am thinking to start the expedition as soon as possible. Because the discord among them is our greatest ally. It will make it easy to conquer their cities and destroy them for revenge. Then there will be no obstacle to me becoming ruler of all the countries that spread out to the west of Greece. The dream I had is the command of my glorious ancestors, that I shall make the empire they gave to me even more glorious...\"\n\n\"My thoughts are the same as yours, King of Kings. We must move as quickly as possible, without doubt or hesitation. We shall crush them like an insect under our foot, or a worm on the ground.\"\n\n\"And you, wise Artabanus? What do you say?\"\n\nThe old man did not speak for a long time. He was still trying to overcome the nausea that churned his insides, to hold down the liquids from his stomach that were rising into his mouth, pushed by the hideous odor of burnt flesh.\n\n\"What you are thinking is correct, son of Darius, I have no doubt of that\" he said in a quiet and measured voice. \"But my opinion is that you must not rely only on a dream for such a serious decision. The dreams we have at night are nothing more than the thoughts we have during the day that take refuge in our souls. And just precisely because this expedition is in your thoughts these days, that is why you have that dream.\"\n\n\"What are you trying to say, Artabanus?\"\n\n\"I believe that one must think carefully before making a decision. Then, if something goes wrong, fortune will be to blame. Otherwise, if from the beginning the decision was a bad one, even if fortune favors us the thought will still be bad. The Greeks humiliated us once at the battle of Marathon. And that was only the Athenians. What will happen if they make an alliance amongst themselves? Do not forget what they did to Troy when they were united.\"\n\n\"Centuries have passed since then\" Mardonius reacted immediately, knowing that the words of the old man affected the king. \"Athens and Sparta are nothing but little unimportant towns...\" he said abruptly, and then he suddenly raised his hand and pointed to the gallery behind the throne. \"Go outside your palace, great king, and look at the horizon from the East to the West and from the North to the South. Thousands of peoples and innumerable men. Think of the territories and the peoples you have conquered until now. Think of the power and the supplies that they can provide. What power of men and what insignificant cities could withstand such a crushing army?\"\n\nFor the first time, Xerxes smiled in satisfaction. \"Everything you say, Mardonius, fits with the dream I had and the words I heard while in the embrace of the god of Sleep.\"\n\n\"The god of Sleep, however, is the brother of the god of Death\" Artabanus murmured thoughtfully."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 24", "text": "The two of them stood there. Uncle and nephew. They stood alone on the porch and watched the river running slowly before the great palace.\n\n\"I want you to do something for me, Artabanus\" murmured Xerxes.\n\n\"To a god and to a king, no one says no.\"\n\nThe king's swarthy face lighted up with self satisfaction at his uncle's words. He liked the comparison. God, the king of the world. Xerxes, the king of men. \"I want you to become me...\"\n\n\"Forgive, me, but the passing years have not given me enough wisdom to understand. What do you mean, son of Darius?\"\n\n\"Exactly what you just said. I want you to become the son of Darius...\"\n\nArtabanus fell two steps back and looked at his nephew. His face looked serious, his lips pulled into a straight line, his eyes clear. \"I do not understand.\"\n\n\"Do not look at me strangely. What I am saying is simple. It is about the dream and the words I hear every night.\"\n\n\"I still do not understand.\"\n\n\"Mardonius is sure of our crushing victory and the dream confirms his words. But whoever does not listen to the voice coming from white hair has not done everything he needs to do to make sure he makes a wise decision. And I do not like to make mistakes.\"\n\n\"You can wait, as I advised you.\"\n\n\"I heard that. But I did not mean your white hair. I meant that of my forefather, the glorious Cyrus. Something you said earlier, in the hall, made me think. Can the dreams that come to us at night really be moved by the matters of the day that occupy our minds? Do you believe that, Artabanus?\"\n\n\"Surely. I have observed the same thing in myself.\"\n\n\"Then there is only one way to learn if the words of Cyrus are true or if they come from my own deeds and are of no importance.\"\n\n\"What way?\"\n\n\"You must become me.\"\n\nArtabanus thought of the court doctor, the famous Greek Ctesias from Cnidus who had offered his services to the king after he was taken captive. Of course, after Ctesias, it would be a good idea for him to see his nephew, the Great Mage of Ahura Mazda, to confirm the doctor's opinion. And all this must happen before the king made his decision.\n\nXerxes looked at him and understood what was in his mind. \"Do not worry, Artabanus. My mind is still in the right place.\"\n\n\"Son of Darius, in all this heat even...\"\n\n\"I mean that you yourself must tell whether this dream is real\" his nephew interrupted him in a serious voice. \"You must wear the king's garments, sit on my throne, hold my scepter for one day and then sleep in the king's quarters and in my bed. If the dream appears to you as well, it will mean that it was not simply a fantasy but an important prophecy and a clear command from my forefathers.\"\n\n\"Son of Darius, King of Kings and my nephew...\" Artabanus started softly. \"Of course I do not believe that we need to exchange clothes and beds to prove what you say, because it is impossible that the spirits of your forefathers would be so mindless as to believe that I am you, just on account of the clothes. If you insist, however, that things must be as you say, I will do exactly as you wish, for the wish of the king is a command to all of us and no one has the right to disobey or doubt it. But will you not tell me at last, what were the words that Cyrus said to you in your dream?\"\n\n\"I may not have white hairs on my head, but I have enough of a mind inside it not to tell you beforehand\" he answered, smiling."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 25", "text": "And yet Artabanus's suspicions and his fears for his nephew's health dissolved like a cloud of dust in a strong wind. It was Cyrus. Undoubtedly it was Cyrus, founder of the dynasty of the Achaemenids. He recognized him from the painted reliefs on the palace walls. He stood over the bed and his words fell like great rocks in a steep gorge, carrying everything before them.\n\nSo you are Artabanus, the one who wants to transgress against my wish and persuade the king to put off the expedition against Greece? You will not be able to change what must happen, either now or in the future. Xerxes knows what awaits him. I told him myself. And now I say it to you. If you insist on your opinion tomorrow, that will mean that you do not see correctly. And since you do not see correctly, there is no reason for you to see at all. Red hot iron. That is what awaits you.\n\nArtabanus woke up bathed in sweat. And not only from the suffocating heat. He sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes. He looked at the window open to the east. The heavens were still black, but he wanted to rush straight to his nephew to tell him the works he had heard, and that he had changed his mind about the expedition against Greece and Europe, and about his belief that Athens and Sparta would be swept away by the imperial army and would become ashes.\n\nThe next day the oracle Onomakritos was called in haste to the great court of the palace. He must read the omens as quickly as possible. The decisions of men and the wishes of ancestors must be validated by the gods. Without divine validation, without their favor, they were worthless.\n\nOnomakritos took his place at the center of the great tiled court, which was open to the sky to make communication with the gods easier. His aged face with the deep wrinkles of thought and his shaved head, pockmarked by the years, were bent reverently over the metal chalice filled with burning coals and incense. His lips were tight, he breathed in deeply through the nose, and at times sighed deeply like a bull getting ready to attach. His limbs remained still, his hands encircled the burning metal chalice.\n\nSuddenly, strange words began to come from his mouth. Words that no one understood, not only because they were in an unknown language but because they were out of order, mixed up, without any pauses. Disordered, as in delirium.\n\nAt the end the oracle stopped abruptly, his limbs began to tremble and saliva fell from his opened mouth, sizzling on the lighted coals. He seemed to have lost all contact with the tangible world and to be enduring, all alone, unbearable torment.\n\nWith one last spasm that shook his scrawny, hunched body, the oracle turned abruptly and fell unconscious, face down, on the tiles of the courtyard. His chest rose and fell in exhaustion, his tongue hung out of his mouth and his fingers trembled like leaves in the north wind.\n\nIt took him a long time to recover. He stood up, trembling, and with difficulty walked the few meters until he could stand on the red carpet spread before the throne where Xerxes sat, awaiting the verdict of the gods.\n\nThe oracle fell to his knees and lowered his head until his forehead touched the carpet. With his hands stretched before him with open palms, he resembled a dog bowing before its master.\n\n\"Well?\" asked Xerxes calmly, hiding the agony growing inside him from his courtiers. \"What did your gods say?\"\n\nDeliberately slow and deep, trained by sixty years of experience, the voice of the oracle Onomakritos gave the divine verdict:\n\n\"You will crown the East with the West, Great King. The image of you given to me by the gods shows you wearing a wreath in your hair. A wreath of olive branches. But the most important is the last word they gave me. That you will unite two lands that are divided by a sea...\"\n\nWith a nod of his head, Xerxes indicated his satisfaction with the oracle and commanded him to withdraw.\n\nOnomakritos withdrew, bent over and walking backwards so as not to turn his back to the Great King, opened the wooden door, and went out into the courtyard. There, he straightened his body, which had grown stiff with bending for so long, and walked hurriedly, shaking his limbs.\n\nHe crossed the great hall with the reliefs, came out on the square, turned left and came to the apartments where guests of the court were housed, where his lodging was. But he passed his own door without stopping. He paused thirty feet farther in front of another door. He knocked three times slowly and then twice quickly.\n\nThe door opened and behind it there appeared an old man wearing the characteristic white chiton under a cape bordered with the meander embroidered in gold, the geometrical pattern that adorned temples, houses and clothes in Greece.\n\nThe old man's eyes looked at Onomakritos anxiously. He nodded.\n\n\"Everything happened as we agreed. Xerxes will be convinced of the expedition...\"\n\nThe old man in the white chiton smiled, took out his leather pouch, and counted five gold darics into the oracle's hand. Onomakritos immediately closed his hand and made the golden coins disappear. Then he bowed and withdrew without another word.\n\nThe old man closed the door, leaned his back against it and smiled broadly. His eyes shone, his face glowed with a bright inner flame.\n\nIt was Hippias, the last tyrant of Athens.\n\nAnd the hour he had looked forward to for so many years had come.\n\nThe hour when he would take back power and have vengeance against the city that had expelled him."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 26", "text": "Shall we call our own Mages, great king?\"\n\n\"No. It is not necessary...\"\n\nThe Persian Mages of the royal palace were not needed to explain anything. The meaning of the vision and the oracle's prophecy were clear for all to see. Everyone knew that the olive is a tree that does not grow in Persia but grows in abundance in Greece. And everyone also knew that Asia and Europe are divided by a sea. It is called the Aegean Sea at its broadest point and the Hellespont at its narrowest. It was the sea he must cross.\n\n\"Unite two lands that are divided by a sea...\" repeated Xerxes ecstatically, almost seeing the vision before his dazzled eyes. \"Could there be anything clearer than that, Artabanus?\" he asked, looking behind him.\n\n\"No, son of Darius... the words of the gods are clear... You must crown your head with the olive, the sacred tree of the Greek goddess and the city that bears her name, Athens.\"\n\n\"In a very little while Athens will not exist anymore. Nor will the temple of the goddess on the rock of the Acropolis. In its place I will build a temple to the god of the creation of the world, Ahura Mazda. And next to that, the Persian palace of the satrapy.\"\n\n\"Greece is a small and poor country.\"\n\n\"So what?\"\n\n\"There is not enough wealth there to support a satrapy.\"\n\n\"Greece is only the beginning. Behind it, in the direction of the setting sun, there are other, strong and rich countries. I have heard of them from the Phoenicians, who sail their merchant ships to all the seas. Syracuse, Italy, Europe. Our empire will conquer the whole world. Just as Mardonius said, from the moment the sun appears until the moment it disappears, it will shine its light only on the territories of our empire. Believe me, Artabanus. The cities of Greece will only be the beginning. The countries of Europe will follow immediately after\" Xerxes cried, beside himself with joy. Then he suddenly grew serious and gloomy. Rage distorted his face. His gaze darkened. \"But before that I must keep the promise I gave to my father. To wipe Athens off the face of the earth. To conquer it and punish its inhabitants without mercy for the defeat and the insult we endured at Marathon.\n\n\"And so are we ready, son of Darius?\"\n\n\"We have the wish of our forefathers. We have the omens of the gods. And we have the best and most powerful army the world has ever known\" said Xerxes and rose. \"What else do we need?\"\n\nThat same evening ambassadors were sent to the great palaces. In a grandiose ceremony, they were each given a silver vase and a small amphora. The vase for earth and the amphora for water. The ambassadors would ask the Greek cities, the separate little states that functioned all over Greece, to give the messengers of Xerxes \"earth and water\", a proof of submission and obedience to the Great King.\n\nThe next day, besides the ambassadors who left for the Greek cities, hundreds of royal messengers scattered to every corner of the vast empire, riding swift horses and taking the three great imperial roads. The eastern road that led to India, the southern road that led to Egypt, and the western road that led to Sardis.\n\nThey carried the order of the King of Kings to all the nations of Asia and the peoples he commanded. To gather an army and a fleet the equal of which the world had never before seen.\n\nThe die was cast."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "\"The Gates of Fire\"", "text": "[ When the Earth was Hidden ]\n\nThe news reached Athens in advance of the official ambassadors. Sailors on Phoenician ships, mercenaries from Thrace, textile merchants from Egypt, porphyry exporters from Phoenicia, exiled Greeks at the court of the Persian king. They were all talking about the terrible gathering of the Persian army, bringing consternation to the little scattered cities of Greece.\n\nA mere seven years after the magnificent victory of the Athenians in the battle of Marathon in 490 B.C. and the expulsion of the barbarians from the sacred soil of Zeus and Athena, no one believed that the Persians would return so quickly. Especially not the victors, the citizens of Athens, who considered themselves safe.\n\n\"No one is safe, Aristeides. Neither the aristocrats like you nor the simple citizens like me. Everyone says that Xerxes is preparing...\"\n\nThemistocles had made a secret appointment with his greatest political opponent in the little storeroom he kept on the harbor of Athens, Piraeus. He used it as a commercial office, having followed his father in his business, the importation of goods from all over the Eastern Mediterranean.\n\nSince he was always at the harbor, he came into close contact with captains and sailors of ships from all the harbors of the Mediterranean. The aristocrats of Athens avoided such contacts. Being landowners, they despised the sailor's trade with its pungent ocean smells. To them, it was necessary only on account of the perfumes and incense it brought to Athens and the porphyry for dying their clothes red. The enclosed space of the market and their own estates, isolated in the countryside, were the only places they frequented besides their houses, where they gave their famous symposia.\n\nIn spite of that, Aristeides the Just, though an aristocrat, had a curious relationship of mutual hatred and esteem with the rich but humbly born Themistocles. It was not easy for him to refuse the invitation, despite his revulsion for the place of the appointment, and despite the fact that Themistocles had convinced the citizens of Athens to ostracize him to the island of Aegina. He got there secretly and came inside with his face covered so that no one would recognize him, and also to filter out the harbor smells. Piraeus stank of fish, salt and sweat, and was full of dives, thieves and prostitutes.\n\n\"The mouths of sailors are larger than the holds of their ships\" Aristeides commented phlegmatically. \"Xerxes is having trouble in fertile Egypt where there is a revolt, everyone knows that. Why would he be interested in a little country like ours again, full of high mountains and dry land?\" he wondered, with good reason, when he heard the bad news.\n\n\"The wealth of a king is not in the coins he has in his treasury. Nor in his golden statues and his huge palace. Much less in his fertile and fruitful territories. The wealth of a king is in his reputation. It is the only thing that allows him to hold on to power in a vast empire.\"\n\n\"So what? What reputation could a little city like Athens give him? Or a little country like Greece? The distance between the two ends of the empire is fifty times the distance between Athens and Sparta. He rules over a thousand times more people than all the Greeks together. Why would he run the risk of another defeat with an exhausting campaign? What motive could he have?\"\n\n\"To wipe out his humiliation. A humiliated king is weak, no matter how much gold he has in his imperial treasury. A king with no glory among his people stands naked\u2026a decorated but empty vase\u2026\" Themistocles explained in a slightly sarcastic tone.\n\n\"I don't understand what you want from me\" Aristeides frowned suddenly, feeling the sarcasm and adopting the haughty attitude he had been used to since he was born, having learned it from his parents.\n\n\"I want your support\" Themistocles with audacious candor.\n\nThe blue eyes of Aristeides widened with surprise. \"Where?\"\n\n\"In the assembly of citizens.\"\n\n\"For what? For the last seven years we haven't agreed even once in the debates and the voting. We live in the same city but we belong to different worlds. As soon as you became master of the political situation, you made a point of limiting my power and finally, you exiled me. Why should I help you now?\"\n\n\"Because I'll revoke your exile. You'll return to Athens with all the honor you had before.\"\n\nAristeides looked at him suspiciously. It was difficult to believe. He simply raised his eyebrows without speaking.\n\n\"And because we'll both be destroyed if the army that Xerxes is gathering in Sardis crosses the sea and reaches Greece\" Themistocles continued impetuously. \"If Persia wins, there won't be any democrats like me or any oligarchs like you either. Neither common people nor aristocrats. We'll all be destroyed.\"\n\n\"Do you really believe all the rumors that sailors bring to the harbor?\"\n\n\"Yes. It's better to believe them and be prepared than to be surprised. At heart, you know that from our teachers and our philosophers. The way to protect peace and freedom is to always be prepared for war.\n\n\"Of course I don't\u2026\"\n\n\"I know I'm right\" Themistocles interrupted him before he could go any further. \"Xerxes is gathering an army. A great army from all over his empire. And I didn't learn that just from the open mouths of sailors.\"\n\n\"You learned it from their closed mouths too? They talk to you in sign language?\" Aristeides grew ironic, with the inborn haughtiness of an aristocrat.\n\nThemistocles paid no attention. He had just been elected general for his tribe and he hadn't needed either parchments showing aristocratic descent or the swagger and arrogance of racial purity to do it. He had done it by talking to simple citizens, helping them, advising them. He had done it with his simplicity and his affability. He had done it with his personal charm and his rhetorical ability, with persuasion. As a method it was more tiring than subservience, but it was more effective in the long run.\n\nHe took a few deep breaths and continued more calmly: \"They don't speak to me in sign language. I didn't find it out from there. I observe the sea traffic. That's my work.\"\n\n\"The fish tell you?\"\n\n\"The lack of wheat tells me. It's not arriving from Egypt any more. The lack of copper tells me, it's not arriving from the mines of the Black Sea. The lack of guts for bowstrings tells me, the lack of bronze for helmets and boiled hides for shields. Where do all those goods go, the ones that used to be used to make weapons and feed armies?\"\n\n\"Maybe the merchants found better prices elsewhere\" Aristeides suggested indifferently.\n\n\"I advise you not to make that argument to the assembly before the citizens\" Themistocles said sarcastically. \"If they hear something like that they might exile you again for naivet\u00e9\u2026\"\n\n\"What do you believe?\"\n\n\"I don't believe anything until I see it with my own eyes\" Themistocles suddenly became serious. \"But prevention is better than cure.\"\n\n\"Is this another of your games to impress people, to stand out and charm your beloved mob?\"\n\n\"No. What I'm saying is not a political maneuver or an attempt to impress. You know that. If I wanted to impress people I wouldn't have called you here to talk alone, far from curious eyes. I would speak at the market for everyone to hear. And I wouldn't intend to revoke your exile, nor would I humble my pride to ask for your help.\"\n\nLogical. In spite of his arrogant conceit, Aristeides was an intelligent man. He grew serious and came to the point. \"And what do you want from me?\"\n\n\"I want you to convince your friends, the oligarchs, to agree that the assembly should approve my trip to Asia so that I can see what is happening with my own eyes.\"\n\n\"That is, if I understand you right, you're asking for the city to pay for your trip from the public funds?\"\n\n\"No. I have enough money and I don't mind spending it for the common good. Anyway, I will not go with an official escort or in a procession. It'll be just me as a merchant, and my slave Sikinos, who is from Persia and knows the languages of Asia.\"\n\n\"Then why are you asking for approval from the assembly?\"\n\n\"So that you oligarchs do not take advantage of my absence and slander me to the citizens as a friend of Persia. So that you do not spread unfounded and sycophantic rumors about me. Or, simply, so people will not think I am a spy of the Persian king and exile me when I come back from the journey. I want to remain a free democratic citizen when I return.\"\n\nAristeides laughed. \"You're exaggerating a bit\u2026\"\n\n\"Exaggerating? Put a Greek by himself and you have a good merchant. Put two, and you have a good fight. That's the way we are. In a bad light, of course.\"\n\n\"That is hubris against the race of Greeks.\"\n\n\"It will be hubris if we allow the city to be destroyed and the barbarians to burn down the temple of the goddess Athena out of our own negligence.\"\n\n\"They won't manage it so easily. Especially not after Marathon\" objected Aristeides.\n\n\"With the five hundred thousand soldiers Xerxes is gathering?\"\n\nAristeides' blue eyes widened again. This time from unpleasant surprise. \"Five hundred thousand?\" he asked in a trembling voice.\n\n\"I got that information from the sailors you despise. And not just five hundred thousand soldiers. Thirty thousand horse as well. And two imperial fleets.\"\n\n\"How many ships are there in a fleet like that?\"\n\n\"Six hundred in each one\" Themistocles answered him gloomily. \"And we only have two hundred. Some from the time of Marathon. Skewed and rotten. They're good for nothing but washing troughs. You understand now why I insisted for so long that we had to create a fleet capable of going into battle and launch new warships? They're the only thing that can help us fight off the invader.\"\n\nThere was a heavy silence while Aristeides deliberated. The numbers were crushing. In the famous battle of Marathon, Athens had thrown in all its forces but it had only succeeded in putting ten thousand soldiers on the field, without cavalry or ships.\n\n\"Five hundred thousand?\" Aristeides asked again, indecisive. \"It seems impossible to me.\"\n\n\"Nothing is impossible for an empire with twenty million subjects\u2026 He can gather enough soldiers to hide the earth\u2026\" Themistocles murmured gloomily, looking out the door at the open sea and the eastern horizon. \"Well? Do you agree?\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 28", "text": "Halicarnassus in Caria, was not the largest city on the shores of Asia Minor. Nor was it one of her greatest trading ports. There were many cities that were greater and more important. Miletus. Ephesus. Sidon.\n\nBut Halicarnassus was the most familiar to Themistocles. He had never visited it in all the forty years of his life, but he had heard a great deal about it. About its sea, its streets, its houses, its palaces. His mother Euterpe was from Halicarnassus and from the royal family, the family that had ruled the city for years. She was the sister of the satrap Lydgamis. His merchant father, Neocles, had met her on one of his journeys, fallen in love with her, married her and taken her with him to Athens.\n\n\"It is a beautiful place\" murmured Sikinos, hanging on the gunwale, gazing at the shores of Asia as the merchant ship approached it.\n\nHis mind travelled another fifteen hundred miles to the east, to the interior, to Mesopotamia and Persia, his homeland. He was moved and sad at the same time. Because he was bound by the oath he had given to his god, Ahura Mazda, before they sailed from Athens. He had lighted a fire, the sacred symbol of the god, he had burnt his aromatic offerings, had offered words of prayer and had made a sacred promise that he would not desert or abandon his master. He had also sworn not to betray him and to return with him to Athens. That was his part of the deal for Themistocles to take him with him on the journey, and for a Persian, faithful to Zoroaster, breaking an oath or telling lies was the greatest sin, bringing immediate punishment from the god and eternal condemnation.\n\nThemistocles' part of the deal was to pay a wage of five hundred drachmas a month for as long as he accompanied him as his guide and interpreter. But also to give Sikinos his freedom after five years had passed, and without any financial demands.\n\n\"A beautiful place with beautiful women\" Sikinos added, as the wooden hold of the merchant ship was tied to the pier of the harbor. \"Although farther to the east, in Babylon, they're even more beautiful. Women the like of whom you will not meet anywhere in the world in beauty of face and in the art of love, and in their willingness to take care of a man.\"\n\n\"For payment, from what I heard.\"\n\n\"Well, what do you expect? Something for free? They have to live. Besides that, beautiful things cost a lot. You people in Athens know that better than anyone else. Your hetaeras are famous for the art of love.\"\n\n\"The hetaeras are not prostitutes. And they are not famous only for the art of love. They also know the art of song, and the art of conversation. Many times that last is more pleasurable than love itself.\"\n\n\"For you? I don't doubt that\u2026\" Sikinos laughed. Over the years he had learned Themistocles' habits and his preferences.\n\n\"Anyway, I've almost forgotten about love. Politics and trade take up all my time.\"\n\n\"So\u2026 it's been a long time since you\u2026\" the slave wondered. He did know his master's first preferences, but was not unaware of his secondary ones: good wine and beautiful women.\n\n\"I have visited some hetaeras after symposia but\u2026 you know\u2026 only from need. That's not love\u2026 I'm not twenty years old anymore, I want something strong\u2026\"\n\n\"Then you must go to Babylon on this journey\" Sikinos answered him, as they put down the board that the sailors had thrown them to disembark from the ship.\n\nHalicarnassus had never been as famous as Athens, but there were so many people on the harbor that it made Piraeus seem like a little fishing village. The twelve piers of the harbor were all full, and at many of them the ships were berthed one next to the other forming wooden bridges with their decks. Slaves and free workers came and went in endless lines, carrying merchandise to shore. Large carts with four wheels yoked with huge oxen waited in a long line to be loaded down.\n\n\"What are you looking at, master? Let's go, we don't want to be out in the midday heat\u2026\" complained Sikinos as they got off, carrying the two goatskin sacks filled with clothes, gifts and weapons.\n\nBut Themistocles did not seem to hear him. His head did not turn, nor did his feet move. His gaze was riveted to the carriers and to the carts they were loading down.\n\n\"What do the ships bring?\" he wondered.\n\n\"Why does it matter to you, master? You do not have your warehouse here.\"\n\n\"And what are they carrying in the carts?\"\n\nSikinos raised his head and looked at the sky. The sun was still in the first quarter, weak, and its rays were pale. There was no way his master could have gotten sunstroke. \"Are you dizzy from the journey, master? Do you want me to open the waterskin? Or shall I bring you some cool water from the fountain?\"\n\nHe didn't get an answer to either one of his questions. \"Strange\u2026\" was all Themistocles said. \"Strange and ominous\u2026\"\n\n\"Why?\"\n\n\"Look at what's happening. The slaves and the workers are only unloading, not loading. And the carts come here empty and leave full.\"\n\n\"Halicarnassus is a big city.\"\n\n\"Wrong. It is a great trading city. And trade requires giving and taking. I only see taking here. There's no giving\u2026\"\n\nSikinos laughed. \"I am not a merchant. I am a warrior. A mercenary. I don't know anything about that.\" Then he suddenly became serious. \"But I do know that when the sun reaches the center of the heavens, besides being a mercenary I will have to become a bull to carry these bags up the hill to the city.\"\n\n\"And also\" Themistocles added, even more seriously than Sikinos, \"It's not such a big city that it would need so many supplies. If it was, it would have a larger harbor and more piers and the ships wouldn't have to be tied up one next to the other. What's happened all of a sudden?\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 29", "text": "He hadn't managed to learn much about the current situation in Halicarnassus. The satrap Lygdamis, who was of Greek descent but a subject and friend of the Persians, had died the year before. Since then, the royal house of the city lacked a head and it was embroiled in quarrels and brawls. There was no heir because Lygdamis had not had a son, only a daughter. None of the courtiers, priests and officers in town even considered the possibility that the daughter might take up her father's position and become queen; that was rejected without being discussed. The courtiers did not have the authority to impose such a humiliating solution, the priests did not want a woman underfoot and the officers did not like the idea of such a direct solution to the problem of succession. Most of them had sons and hoped to gain the coveted position for themselves by means of marriage to the only daughter of the dead satrap.\n\nUntil the problem was solved, the aged Sindos, brother of Lygdamis, acted as king. He was in his sixties and knew about city governance, since for all those years he had served as his brother's tax collector. He was a man experienced in wielding power, practical and diplomatic but cruel and merciless when those qualities became necessary.\n\n\"I am so glad to finally meet you, my dear nephew. I am sure that the news you are bringing from your mother and my sister will fill my heart with joy. I could not wait for us to meet from the moment I learned that you had set foot in our city\" Sindos said jovially when he received Themistocles in the portico of his palace. Then he coughed lightly and added with a meaningful glance: \"You did come here as a relative and friend, I hope\u2026\"\n\n\"Of course. Family is sacred.\"\n\nThat set Sindos's fears at rest for the present. The two men smiled cordially as commanded by Zeus, the god of hospitality, and they embraced, kissed and exchanged the usual gifts. The atmosphere was warm, not just from the sun but from the meeting of close relatives, even if it was the first time in their lives they had seen each other.\n\n\"And Euterpe? Why did she not come with you? Does my sister not want to see the city and the house where she grew up?\"\n\n\"Travel by sea is difficult, especially in this season with the winds that blow every summer from the north\" Themistocles gave a garbled explanation. He had not told his mother where he was going because if she had learned, it would have been impossible to convince her to stay in Athens. \"Besides, she's not so young any more\u2026\" he began, but stopped abruptly, afraid of insulting Sindos. They were brother and sister after all so they must be close to the same age, and he did not want to hint that Sindos was too old to be capable of ruling.\n\n\"Right\u2026 And Euterpe is the oldest of us three\u2026 Much older than me\u2026\" his uncle commented, without losing his good temper at all.\n\nHe gave him a tour of the palace, introduced him to the chamberlain and the advisors and then showed him his room, a large rectangular hall near one end of the complex of buildings, with a gallery that looked out on the sea and many windows to catch the cool air from the sea winds.\n\n\"In the evening I will expect you for dinner\" were Sindos's last words before he left him alone with Iasmi, the servant he had assigned to him, a young girl from Miletus with plump buttocks and breasts and a permanent smile on her fleshy lips. \"We'll talk about everything there. When you've rested of course\u2026\" he said enigmatically, gave a meaningful smile to the servant and withdrew.\n\nBefore Sindos had time to close the door behind him Themistocles sent the lovely Iasmi away, locked the door and went out onto the large gallery. What he had seen on the harbor bothered him. He found fault with himself. He should have been more careful. He should have observed more, understood more. Come to conclusions. He should have found out if his ideas were right or just the result of his fears. That doubt had eaten away at him from the moment he disembarked on the soil of Asia.\n\nBut hard as he tried to watch the strange sea traffic now, the gallery looked to the north and the harbor was on the south side. As if that were not enough, its entrance to the harbor was at the lower part of the peninsula and in order to get in or get out, the ships had to make a circle at sea, more than half a mile away from the coast. It was a great distance for the human eye, almost impossible to make out details. Otherwise Themistocles, whose business was with the sea and who had spent half his life on the harbor of Piraeus, would have been able to learn something from the depth of the ships in the water. The main thing he was interested in. What he suspected. That they arrived loaded down and left empty.\n\n\"There's a lot of traffic on the harbor.\"\n\nSindos smiled broadly. \"Thanks be to Hermes, god of trade. That means more income for the city treasury from taxes and duties.\"\n\n\"Most of the ships are Phoenician, from what I could see.\"\n\n\"The Phoenicians have dominated the sea for many years now. And whoever dominates the sea, dominates the world. You know that, you come from a family of merchants.\"\n\nYes, he knew it. Themistocles had understood that for a long time. The ones who did not seem to understand it were the Athenian aristocrats who insisted on despising the sea and caring only about their farms, some pitiful, infertile fields full of rocks and boulders between the huge mountain masses. But the fields had belonged to the nobles since the time of the hero Theseus, and they wanted Athens to be a little, introverted town that praised only the gods and its aristocrats. That was what Themistocles was hoping would change now, with the establishment of democracy.\n\n\"What do so many Phoenician ships bring to your harbor?\"\n\nSindos's eyes, painted with antimony, a Persian custom that had been adopted by the Greek cities of Asia Minor when they became subject to the great king, narrowed. He looked at Themistocles curiously. \"Why are you interested?\"\n\n\"I am a merchant. You said it yourself, my dear uncle.\"\n\n\"Anyway, they're not bringing wine or oil. As far as I know, that's what you trade in.\"\n\n\"Then what are they bringing?\" he insisted.\n\nSindos didn't have time to answer.\n\nBecause just then, although it was evening, Themistocles had the impression that the sun had risen again, came straight into the hall with all its light, and stopped in front of the table."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 30", "text": "Let me give you some advice, cousin\u2026\"\n\nThe voice that was heard in the royal hall of symposia with its colorful stones and gilded fountain, was not hoarse or heavy. It was not an old man's voice, like the voice of Sindos. It was as soft as light fabric fluttering in the breeze, tinkling and musical like the water of the fountain. It was serious and commanding, but at the same time charming and playful. It sounded like the delicate and harmonious voice of a singer, but also like an order from a person who is accustomed to command, whose words have weight. It was the voice of a despotic man trapped in the splendid body of a woman.\n\nHer jet-black hair fell to her waist like a silky night veil, in complete contrast to her eyes which were the color of emeralds on a cloudy day. Her body was wrapped in a light blue chiton decorated with golden embroidery and fastened at the shoulders with carved clasps. A short white cloak fell to the backs of her thighs. In spite of her expensive women's garments, her bare arms and legs were muscular and at every move the muscles showed as carved lines on her dark skin, tightened from training and burned by the sun.\n\n\"Oh\u2026 Are you here, my dear?\" murmured Sindos, and he got up from the couch with the cup of wine in his hand. \"Didn't we agree that you were going to stay in the hunting lodge until the moon was gone?\"\n\n\"I didn't want to miss the chance.\"\n\n\"Your chance to hunt foxes is now, when there is a full moon. When it's gone you won't be able to make out your own shadow in the forest.\"\n\n\"I'm interested in another fox right now. One that doesn't live in the forest, but on the sea. As you said yourself, whoever dominates the sea, dominates the world\" the woman answered. She embraced the old man and stood before the low table, looking at Themistocles. \"Isn't that so, cousin?\"\n\nThemistocles got up from the couch and came to stand before her, his limbs numb and his gaze fixed on the imperious beauty he saw. He stared at the woman in front of him, who reminded him of the legendary amazons, the mythical warriors of Thrace. He was stunned by this woman who had called him cousin. Her high cheekbones and her full lips, which naturally turned down at the corners, reminded him of his mother, Euterpe.\n\nUnder her intense gray-green eyes, Themistocles felt like the phoenix, the bird that is reborn and flies swiftly, tearing the air. She smiled at his confusion, which was impossible to hide. Her curved lips rose and two dimples appeared on her cheeks. She came towards him and kissed him, touching him softly with her moist lips, and all of Themistocles senses were sweetly sharpened as if he had drunk a whole cup of the nectar of the gods in one gulp.\n\n\"I am Artemisia, daughter of Lygdamis and niece of your mother. Welcome to Halicarnassus, cousin.\"\n\n\"You haven't given me your advice\u2026\" murmured Themistocles as soon as he found his mind and his voice again.\n\n\"I know why you have come. It didn't take much guessing to understand. My advice is to visit Miletus, it's only six days journey from here. Fifteen years have passed since their rebellion against the Persians, and the ruins are still smoking. That will be your fate if you raise your head and oppose the will of Xerxes\" she told him calmly. The dimples from her charming smile were still showing in her painted cheeks. \"The Persian lion will eat you in one bite, cousin\u2026\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 31", "text": "The dinner was not going as expected. His cousin, even though she had Greek blood in her veins, had become the most loyal subject of the king. It was not just her appearance that told him: her eyes ringed with black kohl, her eyelids smeared with powder of oxidized copper, her eyes dilated with solution of belladonna, and her lips colored with red ocher. It was also her scent: her lithe limbs were perfumed with Assyrian balsam and her hair was oiled with lotus oil. But more even than her scent or her appearance, her soul was Persian.\n\nArtemisia was not just a subject of the Persian king. She was a bandaka, a subject and at the same time a friend, a faithful member of the boundless empire. She believed to her core in the values Xerxes represented: eternal peace under the roof of the King of Kings.\n\nDuring the sumptuous dinner, his cousin promoted the superiority of the Persians better than a member of the great king's court could have done. Their architectural wonders in Susa and in Persepolis, their agricultural achievements in Babylon and Mesopotamia, their military achievements in India and Egypt. The prosperity and well-being that prevailed in the empire of Asia, the abundance and wealth its citizens enjoyed.\n\n\"If you see the palaces built in Persepolis and the temples dedicated to Ahura Mazda, you will rub your eyes in surprise and wonder, cousin. Before them, our own temples, even your famous Parthenon, are nothing but huts and wooden houses.\n\nThemistocles' reply was a saying from the oracle of Delphi. A saying that governed all of Greek life and behavior: \"Nothing in excess\u2026 All moderation is excellent\u2026\"\n\nJust before the slaves from Lydia and Babylonia brought in the desert, dried figs dipped in honey and flavored with cinnamon, Artemisia, perhaps dizzy from the sweet wine of Samos, began to talk with unfeigned admiration about the army of the Great King.\n\nIn spite of Sindos' diplomatic attempts to change the subject, which was dangerous, and bring it into the calm waters of family matters and common customs, his niece was riding the chariot of Apollo and galloping forward in ecstasy. She spoke enthusiastically and rapidly about the Spanta, the famous Persian army. About the Immortals, the personal guard of the emperor with their blue uniforms and their javelins decorated by golden pomegranates, who never died or retreated. About the spearmen who put on their colorful garments and advanced, holding their iron spears vertically like an impassable fence of deadly metal. About the famous archers with their bright red uniforms who stretched the cords of their bows, which were as tall as a man, so tightly that their arrows reached the roof of heaven. About the swift horsemen who slept, ate and shot arrows from the backs of their horses and who galloped like the desert wind.\n\n\"We beat all of those at the battle of Marathon. We can beat them again if we have to\" Themistocles answered calmly, trying to choke down his anger at his presumptuous and annoying cousin.\n\n\"You beat part of the army\" Artemisia corrected him with a smug smile. \"Not the whole army. This time, there will be so many Persian spears that a horse could gallop over them for three days.\"\n\n\"That's good. We need roads for horses and chariots\u2026\"\n\n\"And their ships will fill the whole sea from Asia to Greece.\"\n\nThemistocles' irony evaporated like water in the burning Asian desert. \"How do you know that?\"\n\nOld Sindos tried desperately to change the subject. To end this dangerous conversation. To stop his niece from answering before it was too late and his guest was irreparably insulted.\n\nTo his great relief, Artemisia's excitement and enthusiasm worked in his favor.\n\n\"You think, cousin, that we inhabitants of the Greek cities of Asia have to follow the traditions and the ideas of our ancestors who came to these shores four generations ago, and fight on your side when need arises. Our ancestors were needy and miserable when they came here from a country with nothing but mountains, rocks, olive trees and dry land. Poor people without a chance in life. And look at us now. Look at me. I have gold on my body and expensive clothes on my back. Look at the gifts of the Persian peace and the friendship of the great king. Why would I not fight with him?\" she said with pride.\n\n\"That's not friendship. It's subjection. It's not the same thing.\"\n\nShe ignored his observation. \"I have everything my body needs and everything my heart desires. Power, money and authority. What would I have if I had remained faithful to my ancestors and to Greece?\" she asked with calm self-confidence.\n\n\"Dignity.\"\n\nArtemisia was silent. She looked at him searchingly for a moment. Then she blinked her eyes as if she could not believe what she heard.\n\n\"Dignity\u2026\" she murmured contemptuously. \"Can dignity sweeten your palate at the feast? Can it dress you in precious fabrics and expensive jewelry? Can dignity give you wealth and power?\"\n\n\"No.\"\n\n\"Well then you're not just dignified, cousin, as you implied. You're also reckless, stupid and pathetic. You have no hope before the emperor's army\u2026\" she commented, and then she smiled sadly, got up from the couch and, with her light veil fluttering in the air behind her, withdrew imperiously, leaving behind the scent of Assyrian balsam, her favorite perfume.\n\n\"That is the recklessness of youth, and its naivet\u00e9. Young eyes see things without understanding them, and about ten times larger than they really are. And young lips magnify them a hundred times\u2026\" Sindos tried to make excuses for her to lighten the tense atmosphere.\n\n\"Unfortunately, she was right about one thing\u2026 Xerxes' army is terrific. It's not just Artemisia that says so, everyone does\u2026\" Themistocles muttered gloomily. \"On the other hand, the wise do nothing but pile up money. Great achievements are made by those who are reckless and courageous.\"\n\n\"But if you have a large fortune, why would you want all the rest, my dear nephew? Is that not itself a great achievement?\" Sindos asked cheerfully, and raised his cup of wine. \"What is higher or more desirable than abundant food, good wine, bright gold and beautiful women? What else does a man need to be happy?\"\n\nThemistocles' answer was one word.\n\nOnly one word.\n\n\"Freedom\u2026\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 32", "text": "He looked at the stars and thought about his life. Themistocles considered himself a lucky person, blessed by the gods. He hadn't been born an aristocrat, nor was he descended from noblemen, but he had lacked for nothing all his life. His father was a knowledgeable man, shrewd and circumspect. Although he came from a poor family who worked the earth, his mind and his character pushed him to become a trader, to work the sea roads and acquire a considerable fortune.\n\nThat fortune got the young Themistocles an education from the great teachers and philosophers of Athens. It got him the opportunity to build up his body and his will in the gymnasium of Hercules. It helped him become a successful trader himself and gave him a comfortable life. All of this later brought him the political power he desired. The power to take part in the city's public life, to influence people for its good and, finally, to be elected to one of the most distinguished positions in the democracy of Athens, the position of general. He had lived free under the gods, as all men should. Frugally and humbly, but with dignity and pride. With the power to decide their own fate and that of their city by themselves.\n\nLooking at the black sky sprinkled with bright points and listening to the light rustling of the waves of his beloved sea, he felt his anger slowly fade and disappear, as a wave is absorbed on a soft, sandy shore.\n\nThe last thing to fade was Artemisia's words: you are stupid. That was what bothered him most out of all her pretentious boasting about the achievements of the Persian empire, its boundless wealth and its unbelievable power.\n\n\"Am I stupid?\" he wondered out loud, looking at the star-embroidered heavens. \"Am I stupid, Athena, goddess of wisdom? Am I?\"\n\nHe didn't have time to decide on an answer. A knock on the door interrupted his reflections and distracted him.\n\nIt's Sikinos, he thought. Sikinos coming to ask when we are leaving tomorrow.\n\nThe caravan for Sardis, the Persian capital of Asia Minor, would start the next day from the market of Halicarnassus, before the sun climbed over the horizon. He had arranged that they would leave with it.\n\nBut when he pulled the latch and opened the wooden door, he did not see Sikinos before him. He saw Iasmi waiting on the doorstep. She was wearing a thin linen chiton that showed the rich curves of her body, her face was made up with red cinnabar and her body scented with heavy myrrh.\n\nThemistocles hesitated for a moment. It had been months since he had been with a woman. There were evenings when he longed to embrace and taste a perfumed female body. But tonight was not such a night. The conversation earlier at dinner had removed the erotic desire from his mind and brought gloomy thoughts instead.\n\n\"No\u2026 No, Iasmi\u2026 Some other time, perhaps\u2026\" he told her softly, trying not to offend her.\n\n\"You cannot refuse.\"\n\nThemistocles laughed. He had heard of the famous voluptuousness of the women of the east, who had inherited something from the unbridled hedonism of the women of Babylonia and something from the intense sensuality of the priestesses of Cybele, creating an explosive mixture of female lust.\n\n\"But\u2026\"\n\nHe was not allowed to continue his objections. Iasmi's hand covered his mouth and cut off his refusal. Then it left his face and went farther down.\n\n\"You must follow me\" she said, taking him by the hand.\n\n\"I don't have the desire tonight. You are very beautiful and as attractive as Aphrodite. I am sure that no man with even one eye in his head could resist you but just tonight I\u2026\"\n\nIasmi smiled broadly and cut his verbosity short. \"Are you Athenians always such chatterers?\"\n\nThemistocles laughed in spite of himself. \"Just me. Well\u2026 And a few others... Anyway, we live in a democracy\u2026 But\u2026 Honestly, tonight\u2026\"\n\n\"It's not about me. I have orders to lead you somewhere\" she told him, and pulled him by the hand.\n\nThey crossed the great hall with the Greek statues, climbed one more stair, passed a gallery decorated with colorful stones and lighted with dim lamps, came to another hall painted with forms of Aphrodite and Artemis, and came to its end, before a double door of aromatic cedar wood.\n\n\"Here\u2026\" said Iasmi, and softly raised the iron latch.\n\nThe door swung halfway open without a sound. The entrance to a half-dark room showed in the opening. Shadows flickered on the wall like moving paintings. A strong scent of liquid musk and burnt amber reached out to him from inside.\n\n\"Who is here, Iasmi?\" he asked, his heart thumping in his chest.\n\nThe answer was not long in coming.\n\nBut it did not come from Iasmi.\n\n\"Come inside, stupid Athenian\u2026\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 33", "text": "The shapely figure stood upright next to two large couches. Lower down, on a wooden table decorated with ivory and terracotta, there were figs, walnuts, honey and sweet grapes, and a delicate amphora full of wine from Samos with two silver cups.\n\nFarther back, the doors to the balcony stood wide open. The light veils hanging from the roof fluttered in the evening breeze coming from the sea, bringing a pleasant coolness and the familiar smell of the sea and filling Themistocles with well-being and euphoria.\n\nArtemisia was wearing a full length caftan the color of sand, fastened with a golden clasp on one shoulder and leaving the other bare, while on the side it was tied only with fine cords. It was made of a soft, airy fabric that wrapped her body like a glove.\n\nThemistocles swallowed noiselessly, dumbfounded by the beauty he saw before him. Artemisia's face had lost the severity it had at dinner. She had rubbed it with aromatic oil and it shone in the light of the lamp. Her abundant hair was piled on the top of her head and caught with an ivory hairpin, showing a neck like a swan's. Her lips, painted with red henna and aromatic cream, were provocatively half open, showing two rows of straight, white teeth.\n\n\"Do you not wish to sit, cousin?\"\n\n\"Ah\u2026\"\n\n\"Or are you used to standing up, like on the rostrum of your famous assembly where you like to talk and orate by the hour?\"\n\n\"We talk about the city's business. So many thousands of citizens need time to be heard, to judge and make decisions.\"\n\n\"Wasted time. That explains why Athens is just a village compared to our cities.\"\n\n\"Is that why you called me?\"\n\nArtemisia smiled. She bent down, took the amphora and filled the two silver cups with wine. \"Will you not come next to me?\" she asked him, offering the cup. \"It is sweet wine from Samos. The kind you like\u2026\"\n\n\"How do you know that?\"\n\n\"In the east, people have big mouths\" she said, and smiled. \"Especially the Persians, big and honest. Even if they are servants, the great god of creation, their one and only god, forbids them to tell lies. It is the greatest sin. When the time comes for them to cross the bridge of the Great Judge of souls, such a sin could send them to eternal damnation. That is why the Persians never send other Persians as spies\u2026\" she finished, meaningfully.\n\n\"Sikinos told you?\"\n\n\"Yes, he told me\u2026 About everything, even the personal things. Especially the personal things. And as I told you before, Persians believe honesty to be a great virtue\u2026\" Artemisia explained, and her lips curved in a cunning smile.\n\nThey sat on the couches next to each other, in the way Greeks usually sat at symposia. With one arm supporting their reclining bodies turned towards the low table, and the other serving the needs of the stomach and throat.\n\n\"I am sorry about the silly things I said earlier. It was rude, unbecoming in a hostess. But you annoyed me, cousin.\"\n\n\"I only told you my opinion. It is what I believe.\"\n\n\"It is mistaken, nevertheless\" Artemisia answered, smiling. \"Think about what I said and you will see I am right.\"\n\n\"You won't convince me with a little wine\" Themistocles replied with a smile, and took a large swallow of the excellent, sweet, amber wine.\n\n\"I know you have enough money, cousin. I know you are good at your work. My uncle told me about you. And your mother sends us news of your family every now and then, when she can find a merchant ship to take it. And I know that you're as stubborn as a mule and as wise as a fox. You know how to hold the helm steady, as I do. Also, we are relatives. The blood that flows in your veins from your mother's side has governed Halicarnassus for many years.\"\n\n\"Where are you going with this, cousin?\"\n\n\"I am an only daughter. My father Lygdamis, king of the city\u2026\"\n\n\"And slave of the Persian emperor\" Themistocles interrupted her ironically.\n\n\"No matter what you say, you won't spoil my mood\" smiled Artemisia. Then she explained a little more seriously \"Not a slave. You mean tributary. It's not the same. We pay some taxes to the emperor, we apply his laws and carry out his wishes, but in return we receive continuing peace and protection. Our trade has increased, our wealth has multiplied. You are a merchant too. Think about what I am saying\u2026\"\n\n\"You are an only daughter, you say,\" Themistocles stopped her flow of words. \"So?\"\n\n\"If I were a man I would already be king.\"\n\n\"And?\"\n\n\"The nobles and the officers will not accept a woman on the throne. That means that the city is officially ungoverned.\"\n\n\"I know that. But your uncle is acting as governor.\"\n\n\"For now,\" she said, and looked him straight in the eyes. \"I must marry for Halicarnassus to have a king.\"\n\n\"I wish that for you.\"\n\n\"You can do something better than wish.\"\n\n\"Find you an Athenian?\" he asked ironically.\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\"Who?\" he wondered.\n\n\"You\u2026\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 34", "text": "Themistocles felt as if one of Zeus's thunderbolts had fallen next to him. He forgot all of his witty replies. His eyes started out of their sockets, looking at Artemisia.\n\n\"What kind of game is this?\" he asked, stunned.\n\n\"It's not a game. Our house has governed the city for three generations. I do not wish to put some stranger on the throne now. And you are not a stranger. You were born and live in Athens, but your mother is my father's sister. In your veins flows the same blood as flows through mine.\"\n\n\"Blood means nothing.\"\n\n\"Blood means everything, cousin. With one word, you can become king\" she urged. \"When I learned you were coming I sent my men to the harbor, where there are some Athenian merchants. They asked about you and the news was excellent. They spoke highly of Themistocles, son of Neocles, from Athens. And so I weighed all things in my mind, and decided. All that is needed now is for you to decide as well. As I told you before, it is simple, and the throne of Halicarnassus will be yours.\"\n\n\"I don't like thrones.\"\n\n\"Don't start talking nonsense again. Everyone likes thrones. Who would refuse to be king?\"\n\n\"Tributary king\" he corrected her. \"But it's not just that. I was born and raised in a democracy. I like the assembly, as you said before. I like talking and chatting with my fellow citizens about city matters. I like it that decisions are not just the wish of one person, but the will of many. But more than that, I like it that a simple merchant like me, without aristocratic descent from one of the official tribes of Athens, can be elected general and hold one of the most powerful city offices simply on account of his worth as a person and the power of his words.\n\nArtemisia rose. Slowly, ostentatiously. She stood before him. Her face did not show anger, but solemnity and self-confidence. She raised her hands, undid the clasp at her shoulder, and let the chiton slip from her body with a light rustling sound. Even in that relaxed, voluptuous position the muscles on her shoulders, her arms, her belly and her thighs stood out, reminding Themistocles of the Spartan women who trained next to the men in the palaestras from a young age. But the resemblance stopped there. She also had femininity that the goddess Aphrodite might have envied: full breasts and rounded, vigorous buttocks. Her whole body had been carefully denuded of hair and it shone with aromatic oil in the flickering light of the lamps.\n\n\"Perhaps you do not like me?\"\n\nIt was a rhetorical question. There was no answer. The stunned Themistocles stood still and sweated, and his face showed amazement at the beauty he saw.\n\n\"I am offering you a rich throne and a young body like the bodies of Aphrodite and Artemis put together. Why do you not want them?\"\n\n\"Because I have learned to live free. And I think that is the greater good.\"\n\n\"Free\u2026\" Artemisia chewed on the word. \"So I am a slave?\"\n\n\"You are a tributary.\"\n\n\"It is a fair return for the great goods the Persians bring. Marry me and you will enjoy them with me.\"\n\n\"On my knees\u2026\" was all Themistocles would say. Not so much because he couldn't think of anything else to say, because his volubility and his rhetorical ability were well known. But speech was cut off by the sensuous body and the sculpted face before him. \"I would enjoy it, but I would be on my knees\u2026\" he repeated slowly.\n\n\"That's no reason. Everyone kneels at some moment, for some reason. You are a politician, you should know that. Even you kneel before the gods at their altars.\"\n\n\"But not before humans. I prefer to die standing up than to live on my knees.\"\n\n\"What an unrealistic view\u2026 Almost foolish\u2026\" she said, but now her voice was honey-sweet. \"Why would you prefer that?\"\n\n\"Because power is not held by the one who kneels, but by the one who always stands upright.\"\n\n\"Are you sure?\" she asked in a sultry voice, and came even closer.\n\n\"What are you doing?\"\n\n\"I'm convincing you of the opposite. I am using that persuasion you admire so much.\"\n\nWithout saying any more, she bent her carven legs and knelt before his couch. She ran the ends of her fingers over his broad chest and tight stomach. Then she laid her whole palm on his body and caressed him farther down. She took his erect penis in her right hand and rubbed it, covered it with oil from her hand, then opened her lips and took all of it in her mouth, stroking the naked tip with her tongue.\n\nThis special love play with the lips and the mouth was a practice of the women of the island of Lesbos. The women of Athens did not do it. Themistocles had heard about it but had never experienced it until then. It made his head pound and his body spasm with pleasure.\n\nA little later, when his head was empty of kings, armies and campaigns and his penis was competing with the anvil of Hephaestus for hardness, Artemisia took him by the hand and led him to the great bed, made of oak and sandalwood, which was already made up and waiting for them."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 35", "text": "Hours later when their bodies fell apart, soaked with the juices of love and the liquids of pleasure that had come many times for both of them, the sun had not yet risen over the horizon. The sea had just taken on the rosy color of dawn and the room was filled with pale light. Most of the lamps had gone out.\n\nArtemisia kissed him on both eyes and pushed back the curtains that hung down from the bedposts, concealing the bed. She rose from the moist linen sheets. She stood there for a moment, naked, watching him. The expression of desire had faded from her face and, in spite of the night of love-making, she looked as if she had just woken from a deep slumber.\n\n\"It's still early, come back to bed\u2026\"\n\nWithout answering his invitation, without saying a word, she went to a large wooden closet standing on one side of the room. She opened it and took out the last garments that anyone would have expected. Themistocles looked at her in surprise.\n\n\"I am on a peaceful journey\" he said, looking at the helmet and breastplate she held in her hands. \"Thank you, but I don't need armor. Anyway, I have some in Athens. I wore it at the battle of Marathon.\"\n\n\"It's not for you\" Artemisia cut him off dryly.\n\n\"Who is it for?\"\n\n\"For me\" she answered him, putting on the breastplate of linen sewn with bronze plates that flashed in the light of the few lamps that were still burning. \"Today I'm leaving for exercises on the sea with the flagship of our fleet, the Cassiope.\"\n\n\"You?\"\n\n\"Yes. One day I will be made queen. Either by you, if you marry me\u2026\"\n\n\"Artemisia\u2026 I explained to you that\u2026\"\n\n\"Or by Xerxes himself, who can put the nobles in their place with one of his decisions and give me the power by royal decree\" she answered him curtly. \"I must command the fleet and the army. That is what kings do all over the world. Though that may be hard for you to understand, since you do not have a king in Athens.\n\n\"We do have a king.\"\n\n\"You said\u2026\"\n\n\"We have thousands of kings. Our citizens.\"\n\nArtemisia laughed. \"I can see why you are so successful in your city. You know how to choose your words and serve them up like a well-cooked dish.\"\n\n\"What you are describing is called persuasion. It's the opposite of command. Persuasion\u2026\"\n\n\"I know. I used it on you yesterday evening, you saw it with your own eyes. But when Xerxes' army reaches Greece and destroys your cities, then you won't speak of this persuasion with the same pride\" she said with bitter sarcasm, since now that the excitement of love-making had faded the disappointment of his refusal returned with a vengeance. \"I have learned that after this you will go to the capital of the satrapy. To Sardis.\"\n\n\"Do you want to come with me?\" Themistocles smiled.\n\nArtemisia's face became like the face of Thetida when her son Achilles was slain before the walls of Troy. Stone, like hard granite. \"I will not set foot in Sardis!\"\n\n\"Why?\"\n\n\"Because of you\" she told him, looking at him as if in disgust. \"Because there, on account of the Athenians, I lost the person I loved most in my life. The only woman in the world I really loved. I was forced to kill her with my own hands to save my life from the swords of your soldiers.\"\n\nIt was impossible to hide his astonishment. \"What woman? How?\"\n\nArtemisia did not answer him. She put on the helmet and fastened the sword around her waist with quick, experienced movements. \"Think of my proposal on your way back, when you return to Halicarnassus. That is when I will expect your answer.\"\n\n\"I told you my thoughts. You are very beautiful, you are really irresistible, but my answer is no.\"\n\n\"Your answer may change, then\" she cut him off icily. \"It's very likely.\"\n\n\"Why?\"\n\nTaking in her hand the spear with its iron point and the silver pomegranate at its base, as Persian spearmen did, she opened the door and prepared to leave the room \"Because you will not be able to get into Sardis, Themistocles. You will not even be able to get near it\" she said drily.\n\n\"Why?\" he repeated in surprise.\n\n\"Because Sardis is too small a city to hold all of the army that Xerxes is gathering there. Tens of thousands of soldiers are encamped throughout the whole valley of the Pactolus river, for miles and miles around the city. And those soldiers, cousin, are only the beginning\u2026\" she answered him, walking to the door. One step before she went through it and disappeared into the great hall, she turned and spoke to him one last time. \"But you must decide quickly. You do not have much time. The ambassadors of the Great King have already started out for your cities, to demand earth and water\u2026"}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 36", "text": "Days later, on the way back from Sardis, Themistocles was surprised to find that instead of thinking about the terrifying mass of the army he had seen, he kept thinking about Artemisia.\n\nHer moist eyes as she writhed in pleasure and her moist body that he pierced like the hard bronze ram of a warship. Her soft, full lips and her playful tongue that wrapped his hard penis and played with it like a hetaera with a flute. Her smooth skin that shuddered under his heavy body and her heavy breasts that pulsed vigorously when she rode him like a wild stallion, howling with pleasure. But also the striated muscles of her trained body, hard as the marble of columns and sculpted like the statues of temples.\n\nSince that night, every evening before he flung himself on the straw mat he carried with him and surrendered to the embrace of sleep, he had prayed to his beloved goddess of wisdom, begging her to visit him with some dream and give him her guidance.\n\n\"Most wise Athena, goddess of wisdom, deliver me\u2026 Take the thought of Artemisia from my mind or help me to decide otherwise and make her my wife if that is right\u2026\" he murmured on the last evening before boarding ship to return to Athens."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "This is Sparta", "text": "The two naked boys turned and twisted energetically. In this competition all holds, all kinds of kicks and blows and every move was allowed. Their immature but hardy and muscular bodies were full of lacerations and old scars from their struggle for survival during their harsh education. And this was its peak: wrestling with no holds barred and to the limit, known to the Greeks as pancratio.\n\nThe palaestra where the competition was held was twelve yards long and six yards wide. It was filled with rough sand from the bed of the river Evrotas. Reeds from the banks of the same river formed a barrier not to be crossed by anyone except the paidonomos who set the rules of the competition and was the final judge. Around the palaestra were rows of bleachers full of adult men. At the base of those bleachers, in the spot with the best view, the young trained warriors, fellow students of the two boys, were seated. Exemplification was the basis of the famous Spartan education.\n\nAs the competition went on, the two twelve year old boys hit each other like rabid dogs. The thinner of the two was lying on the sand and trying to push his opponent off of himself, scratching deep bloody lines into his back. The second, sturdier boy had his knees firmly fixed in his opponent's side and was pulling his neck with all his might, trying to dislocate his shoulder or break his collarbone, while pointedly ignoring the pain from the gashes and the blood running down his back.\n\nWhen the boy who was lying on his back on the ground opened his mouth to draw breath, the boy kneeling on his chest let go of the neck, thrust his palm into the open jaw and pulled hard on the lower mandible, tearing the edges of the lips and dislocating the collarbone.\n\nBefore the smaller boy could recover from the painful surprise, the bones of his nose were shattered by a vertical punch that fell on his face like a lead weight. His face had been turned into a formless, mutilated mass of blood, saliva and mucus. Screams of pain and gruesome wails filled the stadium, but no one got up to help.\n\nWhile the thin boy was still writhing like a wounded animal from the unbearable pain and the other one waited patiently over him with cold eyes and tight fists, the Athenian Cimonas jumped up in a panic from his place in the bleachers.\n\nThe hand of King Leonidas, who was watching the games with him, stretched out and pulled him back to his place. \"You can't\u2026\" he said calmly without looking at him. \"The games cannot be interrupted except by the paidonomos and he has not moved yet\u2026\"\n\nCimonas, agitated but silent, sat down again on the little bench, sparsely decorated with pine boughs and braided garlands of red cloth like that from which the characteristic red cloaks of the Spartans were made.\n\nHe had come to the city three days earlier with a delegation from Athens. The delegation was headed by Themistocles, who had pretended he felt tired and weak to avoid appearing at one of the most characteristic ceremonies of the famous Spartan education. He admired that education because it was so effective, but at the same time abhorred its inhuman tactics.\n\nWhen a Spartan mother brought a young boy into the world, she immediately had to give him to be examined by a committee of elders of the city. That was the first of the four important stages in the life of the newborn child. If the elders found that the infant was healthy and able-bodied, they gave him back to his mother. If not, they left him all alone at a place in the Taygetos, the wild mountain that towered behind Sparta. There, amid the steep cliffs and shrubs, hidden by oak, maple and pine trees, was a steep ravine that the Spartans called the Keadas. On the sheer slopes of this chasm they left every crippled newborn boy to die or to be raised by shepherds and slaves, not, that is, by real Spartans, since he would not be able to serve the city as a soldier.\n\nIf the child was able-bodied and healthy enough to pass this first test, at the age of seven the second important stage of his life followed. The boy left his family and joined a group called the Herd. For five years he lived with a group of boys of the same age, ate one frugal meal a day with them, was taught writing, wrestling and music, slept on a mattress of reeds from the river, and was encouraged to steal if he wanted more food. Not to make him into a skillful thief, but to develop his resourcefulness and ability to survive. In Sparta theft was not punished unless it was discovered, otherwise it was considered to be seizing an opportunity.\n\nAt the age of twelve the boy became an adolescent, and after a series of ruthless wrestling matches against the most distinguished Spartans and his mother, he had to prove his worth on the field of battle. His adolescence started with the Krypteia, a hunt in the open air where all the adolescents of the same age, armed only with a small curved knife, had to hunt down rebellious slaves and to murder at least one each, in order to become familiar with death and to learn their purpose in life: to kill uncomplainingly and mercilessly when the city required it. During the six years of his adolescence, the young man lived day and night in a military group, ate only a nourishing liquid called Black Broth, drove out the fear of blood and death with physical and mental exercises, participated in exhausting ten-hour marches wearing armor, was whipped mercilessly by his superiors if he was exhausted and gave up trying and, most importantly, learned to blindly obey the adult man who was in charge of the whole of his education. He only had the right to one light chiton, the same one all year round, winter and summer. He did not have the right to wear boots or sandals on his feet and, besides the broth, he ate only rough barley bread, dried figs, olive oil, and cheese. Besides the military education, the group leaders also taught writing, dancing and music. The members of a group were linked by bonds of friendship and comradeship and all the groups were bound to their city and had the common values of respect, discipline, honor, solidarity, iron will, rejection of the fear of death, and spontaneous sacrifice for the good of the city.\n\nAt the age of eighteen the adolescent became a young soldier, carrying the honorable weapons of Sparta and participating fully in wars, and even in time of peace he prepared for war by training every day and living frugally and with austerity. He had the honorary privilege of participating in a military unit, paying a contribution and eating with its members. Day by day, this strengthened the bonds with the comrades on which he would have to depend totally during war. He only returned to his family in the evening, to sleep in his house at night. He was a full-time soldier, the only one in the whole ancient world and full of pride in his own worth. The maxim of Sparta was: everyone knows their duty, but only Spartans carry it out fully.\n\nFinally, at the age of thirty, after an exhausting eleven years of education and twelve years of honorable military service, having earned the right with his actions, he became one of the omoioi or equals, a free Spartan citizen, a man with full rights to take part in the public life of the city and participate in the Apella.\n\nFor one moment, the thinner boy writhing in unbearable pain on the sand of the palaestra, with a crushed nose, torn face and mouth full of sand, raised his hand, squealing gruesomely like a hog being dragged to the altar for sacrifice. Immediately, a sturdy woman jumped up from the bleachers opposite and started to complain in a loud voice, directing at the boy an angry jumble of reprimands, curses and prayers to the gods for punishment.\n\n\"Who is she?\" asked Cimonas in surprise, since the women of Athens did not have the right to go to the palaestras where the men competed naked.\n\n\"His mother. She is trying to protect him\" Leonidas answered calmly.\n\n\"To protect him how? By scolding him? To protect him from what? The boy might bleed to death.\"\n\n\"From dishonor, from asking for mercy, from giving up by raising his hand. From showing that he is not able to bear the pain and that he has not managed to defeat the fear of death.\"\n\nAt precisely that moment, the women, whose muscles stood out clearly on her arms and thighs as they did in all Spartan women, raised her right hand and signaled the paidonomos.\n\nA man with a porphyry chiton and a rod in his hand came up to her, exchanged a few words with her and then went back to the palaestra and pulled the boy with the crushed face out.\n\nHe pulled him to the column on the side of the gymnasium and set him upright with his face and breast against the marble. While his mother held his hands from the other side of the column, the man raised his rod and brought it down hard on the boy's back twenty times. That was the punishment for abandoning the competition and giving in to fear.\n\n\"He will die\u2026\" murmured Cimonas, astonished and upset, looking at the savage beating of the boy's already wounded body.\n\n\"If he dies that will mean he was not worthy of serving the law and the city\" was Leonidas' calm answer. \"But if he lives, our doctors will heal him and his mother will be proud of her son, and not ashamed because she could not give Sparta a worthy defender.\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 38", "text": "Bare walls without ornamentation. Whitewash and a statue of the goddess Artemis. No decorations, no carpets, no couches with comfortable cushions. Wooden stools without backs and a long table fashioned from pine boards smoothed with a thin layer of wax furnished the official banqueting hall where the Spartans honored their guests in accordance with the command of Zeus, protector of travelers and wayfarers.\n\nAround the table sat the leaders of the military battalions, the imperious Spartans with their long hair and their red capes, upright, their spines like the trunks of pine trees. They did not speak loudly, but asked and answered each other in low voices and they ate slowly, without greed.\n\nA few pine resin torches burned in the four corners of the room, discretely lighting and scenting the place. It was the only perfume in the roomy but severe hall. The bodies of Spartans were never anointed with heavy perfumes and myrrh except in some of their religious ceremonies, in which all the citizens participated and which were maintained strictly and austerely.\n\nAnd the food was unspiced. It was chosen and cooked according to the dictates of physical health and not for pleasure of the palate. Even that night, at a formal dinner in honor of a foreign delegation, not a single dish had been laced with expensive spices. Simple barley bread, dried figs, white cheese, walnuts, almonds, boiled vegetables and of course, the main dish of the Spartans, the infamous Black Broth.\n\nThemistocles smiled faintly, looking at the tasteless and unsightly food waiting for him on clay plates.\n\n\"Why do you not eat?\" King Leonidas, who was sitting beside him, asked in a puzzled voice. Dinner was the only meal of the day, besides breakfast.\n\n\"I am not very hungry.\"\n\n\"At least our broth. We are famous for this dish. It accompanies all our meals\" explained Leonidas, and pulled the deep basin with the black liquid towards him. \"Here, try some\u2026\"\n\nThemistocles hesitatingly broke off a piece of bread and dipped it in his bowl. Then he slowly brought it to his mouth and chewed it without appetite, trying to hide a grimace of disgust.\n\n\"Well?\"\n\n\"Now I understand why Spartans do not fear death\" he murmured to Leonidas with a smile. \"A thousand times better to lose your life than to be forced to eat this food all your life\u2026\"\n\nLeonidas laughed at the joke. He was an uncompromising, austere man, like all the Spartans, but he respected directness and honesty. He had met Themistocles a long time ago, after the battle of Marathon when he came to Athens as the head of a unit of Spartans and was impressed by the victory the Athenians had achieved over Persia. He himself, with Themistocles as his guide, had visited the field of battle and offered sacrifices and libations at the tomb of the fallen. Since that day, a close friendship based on understanding and respect had grown up between the two men. That was why, when the question arose of an alliance of Greek cities against the Persian invader, the Athenians had sent Themistocles himself as the head of their delegation to discuss it with Leonidas.\n\n\"We have already launched two hundred new ships.\"\n\nLeonidas looked at him calmly. \"That is very many. Does Athens have that much money?\"\n\n\"Half was paid by the public treasury of the city and the other half by citizens. With donations.\"\n\n\"Donations? What are those?\" The Spartan honestly did not know. He had never heard the word before, nor could he understand how a simple citizen could have enough money in his possession to pay for a whole ship all by himself.\n\nThe concept of money was unknown in Sparta. Besides a piece of land and the slaves needed to provide the minimum food necessary for himself and his family, no Spartan owned any property in money, gold or silver. There were no coins and in the very few cases when it was necessary, they used clumsy, heavy iron rods as currency so as to discourage the tendency to amass money. Acquiring and possessing gold, except as ornaments for weddings and religious ceremonies, was strictly forbidden. Spartan law laid down merciless punishments for greed and speculation. Of course those punishments were almost never applied. Personal interest was incomprehensible to Spartan citizens. There was only the public interest of the city and the common good.\n\n\"Every Athenian merchant has undertaken to build and equip one warship within the space of one year. The merchant provides for its maintenance and the wages of the crew and the rowers\" Themistocles explained.\n\n\"The wages of the crew? Aren't the crew soldiers?\"\n\n\"Yes. They receive two drachmas a day for their services.\"\n\n\"Even in wartime?\" asked Leonidas, unable to hide his surprise. He had never been able to understand Athens. \"How is it possible for a citizen to accept payment for his services to the city?\"\n\n\"It would take a long time to explain, my friend. And we don't have time,\" Themistocles answered seriously. \"What I came here to propose to you is an alliance of all the Greek cities, but most importantly an alliance between the two great opponents, Athens and Sparta. With our own fleet and our own army, we have a chance of beating Xerxes' hordes and staying free. Otherwise each of us will be crushed separately by the Persian forces.\"\n\n\"We will have to think about it. We will have to ask the Senate. Alliance is something strange for us. We usually fight alone.\"\n\n\"And what will you do? Will you shut yourself up behind your walls and wait for the Persians?\"\n\n\"Sparta is not walled because it does not fear anyone. Walls make soldiers feel safe, make them lazy. We always confront our enemies face to face on an open field of battle.\"\n\n\"Is that what you plan to do with the Persians?\" Themistocles asked gloomily. He could not hide his surprise.\n\n\"The Spartan infantry has never yet been beaten\" answered Leonidas proudly, but it was unnecessary. Everyone knew that about Sparta.\n\n\"Of course not\u2026 But\u2026\"\n\n\"But what?\"\n\n\"How many soldiers are there in your city?\"\n\n\"Four and a half thousand full soldiers of the front line. Fifteen phalanxes fighting as one. Many times we have beaten armies ten times our size.\"\n\n\"So you have an army of forty five thousand soldiers?\"\n\n\"Perhaps fifty in good battles.\"\n\nThemistocles laughed. But not with his former optimism; it was the sad laughter of knowledge.\n\n\"Xerxes has gathered such a large army that he would not need to send messengers to Athens. All he would need to do is to line his soldiers up in a row, one next to the other, and they would reach to here.\n\nLeonidas felt as if he had been kicked in the chest, but he showed no sign of surprise. Spartan policy was to show complete indifference to the numbers and strength of the enemy.\n\nAnd Themistocles continued undaunted: \"If you don't understand I'll explain it to you with numbers, my friend, because I saw it with my own eyes. He has five hundred thousand soldiers in his whole empire, and more than a thousand ships, including three hundred Phoenicians\u2026\" he said slowly, emphasizing every word. \"Think about it\u2026 Without the alliance we are all lost\u2026\"\n\nLeonidas was unaffected by Themistocles' dramatic tone and his unparalleled rhetorical technique. Anyway, Spartans did not understand rhetoric either. So he simply shrugged his shoulders.\n\n\"Even if things are the way you say they are\" he said, undisturbed, \"there are ways to face them\u2026\"\n\n\"So your answer to our proposal is no?\"\n\n\"We will have to think about it.\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 39", "text": "When Themistocles and Cimonas opened their eyes, it was still completely dark even though it was summer and the nights were short. Trumpets were sounding from one end of Sparta to another, announcing the new day and summoning the people to rise. In Athens people got out of bed before sunrise too, although not for the same reasons and not while it was still completely dark. The Spartans were different from everyone else in Greece in this habit too. Winter or summer, they ate early and went to bed early, getting up at first cockcrow so that the sun's first rays would find them in the barracks next to their weapons and their comrades.\n\nLeonidas was waiting for Themistocles alone, at the exit of the guesthouse, holding a lighted torch of pitch and pine resin in his hand. He laughed crustily when he saw his friend's red eyes, and came up to him with good wishes for the new day.\n\n\"Is the agora already open?\" Themistocles asked sleepily.\n\n\"There isn't any agora in Sparta because there isn't any money. Besides, we don't have any use for it.\"\n\n\"And where do you shop for food?\"\n\n\"What do you mean? We take whatever we need from our land. If we need something we can go to the city's storehouses and get it for free. Our goods are available to every citizen who really needs them.\n\n\"So then why did you get me up so early?\" Themistocles asked in frustration. He had hoped to use his rhetorical skills on the simple citizens at the agora to influence the decision of the Spartan Senate.\n\n\"We will visit the temple of Artemis and then go to the barracks together. Watching the morning drills is the best way for a stranger to understand our military technique. And don't imagine that we would put on a display like this for just anyone. We do it only in exceptional cases and it is a sign of my boundless friendship and esteem for a victor such as yourself.\"\n\nWhen the two men returned from the temple where they had offered sacrifices and libations for a favorable outcome of the quickly approaching war, the sun had still not risen but the darkness of night was gone, and a pure light filled the whole valley.\n\nWith or without an alliance, it looked like a clash was inevitable. Xerxes had finished gathering his army and completed his preparations for the campaign in Greece. Even to isolated Sparta, without a harbor or trade, rumors had come more and more frequently, more and more ominously.\n\n\"The truth is that I had already heard from other mouths what you told me yesterday. And with even larger numbers than the ones you gave. Some speak of eight hundred thousand and others of one million men\" Leonidas said suddenly. \"But if he has such a huge army, how will he get it here? How will he feed it? How will he supply it with water?\"\n\n\"With the ships that will accompany him, sailing next to the coast. In this war, the navy will be the most important factor. Without that, Xerxes' campaign will fail\u2026\"\n\n\"If you do not dominate the land, you have not won the war\" Leonidas answered him immediately. \"The sea does not produce olives or wheat or grapes. The sea does not have cities. It has nothing but fish. It is merely water. And for Xerxes to dominate our land, he will have to fight us with his army and his solders, not with his ships and his navy.\"\n\n\"Without his ships his army is lost. Five hundred thousand men are impossible to feed on enemy territory, there aren't stores of food that large anywhere. Without the supplies brought by his transports he'll be starved out before he can raise his spear and shield\" countered Themistocles.\n\n\"You're not wrong about that\u2026\"\n\n\"Listen to me, Leonidas. Even if you manage to withstand him at the narrow pass of Isthmos, on the road that leads to your city, then Xerxes' ships can transport his army and bypass your phalanxes. And how long will your defenses last if the Persian disembarks his army to your south and you're surrounded? Even your famous phalanxes cannot fight on all fronts at the same time.\n\nLeonidas listened without speaking. Most Spartans only thought about one thing, but Leonidas had a reputation for being open-minded and knowledgeable. He was thinking. He weighed the words he heard from Themistocles. His face suddenly became as dark as the night that had passed. Deep lines of thought were carved on his forehead and his lips darkened as he pressed them together.\n\nBut he did not open them. He said nothing. He neither agreed nor disagreed with the Athenian general. Brevity of speech and the ability to keep silent were considered great virtues in Sparta. Together with music and singing, they occupied second place in the hierarchy of the things Spartans valued, after martial ability and obedience to the law.\n\n\"That's how it is, my friend\u2026\" continued Themistocles. \"Sometimes, besides courage, it takes a little imagination to win a war.\"\n\n\"If there is a war\u2026 We Spartans are untrusting by nature and don't put much faith in the words of men. From one mouth to the next they grow like clouds in the winter sky\u2026\"\n\n\"It will happen, Leonidas. You must believe me. It's not just me who says it. The sailors on the merchant ships that come here from the other side of the sea say it too. Xerxes is already bringing his army from Asia to Europe across the straits of Abydos, just above Troy. In a few weeks they'll be here with hundreds of thousands of soldiers and one thousand two hundred warships.\"\n\n\"Not even Ares, the god of war, could gather such an army and cross so many countries in a few weeks. No, I do not believe the situation is as bad or as urgent as some frightened sailors describe\u2026\" explained Leonidas seriously, before adding with a smile as he looked at Themistocles, \"or even generals\u2026\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 40", "text": "They met Cimonas just outside the barracks. It was a day of training, a typical day for the Spartans that is, and Leonidas believed that allowing his Athenian guests to watch the exercises would serve two purposes: it would raise their morale to see the famous Spartan infantry in action, and it would also impress them, making them less proud and less likely to resist the one unbreakable condition on which the Spartans would join any Greek alliance. Sparta would have to command the whole Greek army, both land and sea.\n\nOn that day the Evrotas company was scheduled to line up on the field for exercises, but Leonidas had intervened and the Hercules company took its place. Hercules was the royal guard and it was commanded by Leonidas himself, one of the two kings of Sparta.\n\nUnder the astonished eyes of Themistocles and Cimonas, the king himself went to the storehouse and met his personal assistant, Melegros. Unlike in Athens, where a soldier's armor and his weapons were his personal property, paid for out of his own pocket, in Sparta the city provided the expensive fighting equipment and every soldier got the same thing. The only difference between the king's armor and that of a simple Spartan soldier was that a king's helmet had three crests on it, while an officer had two crests and a simple soldier had one.\n\n\"What are you doing, my friend?\" wondered Themistocles when he saw him fastening on the heavy metal breastplate.\n\n\"My company is exercising\" Leonidas answered naturally. \"What do you think? That I'm some barbarian king who sits on a golden throne and watches his men get killed?\"\n\nThemistocles laughed. His friend's scornful reference to the style of the Persian king, who led bloody campaigns and watched them like a spectacle from the safety of his throne, lightened his mood and dispelled the clouds of worry that had gathered at Leonidas' ambiguous answers the night before.\n\n\"Sit and watch the morning exercises\" Leonidas told him, pointing to the little benches under the reed roof. \"Melegros will bring you wine, figs and cool water from the well.\"\n\nThen the king strode quickly forward and took up his usual position on the right side of the phalanx, next to his soldiers who, without any sign of submission or fear, welcomed him into their ranks by taking a small step to the side in a completely natural and coordinated way.\n\nThe round shields stood upright before the soldiers' feet, the pointed lower ends of the spears were thrust into the ground and the helmets were raised and supported on their foreheads. Complete stillness and silence. If the Athenians had closed their eyes, they might have imagined themselves alone in the barracks.\n\n\"Arms!\"\n\nWith a single, curt word from Leonidas that seemed to create waves in the air from the intensity with which it was pronounced, a unique spectacle unfolded before the eyes of Themistocles and Cimonas. Like a well-oiled machine, like a single man, three hundred soldiers raised their shields from the ground and held them vertically before their breasts with their left hands, while with their right they raised the heavy spears from the ground and held them parallel with their bodies. The spears, lined up one next to the other, resembled the back of a gigantic hedgehog. It was as if the earth had suddenly sprouted hundreds of black needles.\n\n\"Helmets!\"\n\nThe second one-word command from Leonidas sounded after a pause of a few seconds to allow the men to synchronize their breathing. It was a physical technique for driving away fear that they had been taught since they were small children. In one moment, without anyone moving his hand or putting down his weapons, with a short, coordinated movement of their heads, three hundred helmets came down over their faces, fencing them off with bronze and iron.\n\nThe third and most impressive preparatory movement, however, was the one that followed. This was the one that caused the hearts of enemies on the battlefield to be wrung out like sponges from fear and their legs to walk backwards to avoid slaughter.\n\n\"Phalanx forward!\"\n\nFirst, with a sudden movement of the left arm, the shields were placed one next to the other and locked liked the doors of a treasure chamber, forming an impenetrable metal wall at the front of the phalanx. Next, in one movement, three hundred spears were raised horizontally above the shields, forming a terrible line of iron points six feet in front of the phalanx. Eighteen inches back and a little higher there was a second line of spears from the second line of soldiers, and then a third from the third line. A killing machine of staggered points supported by muscular arms and shoulders, moving slightly up and down to aim at the faces or the chests of the enemy.\n\nFinally, Leonidas raised his spear high. He waited for a moment and after turning his eyes to the left to check that the phalanx was in formation, he lowered it suddenly.\n\nThe shrill sound of reed pipes sounded from the musicians behind them, a simple but rhythmic and piercing sound. The Spartans began to sing their battle hymn loudly in time with the music.\n\n\u2003Forward, brave Spartan\n\n\u2003children of citizen fathers,\n\n\u2003with the left hand hold the shield,\n\n\u2003with the right boldly lift up the spear,\n\n\u2003without ever thinking of your lives\n\n\u2003because that is a Spartan's traditional duty!\n\nMoving as one, their legs took the first step. And then they all moved together like one hand, one head, one body. They went straight forward, singing martial songs in coordinated rhythm. Step by step their voices became louder. A straight line of thirty-five men and behind them, perfectly aligned, another seven lines exactly the same so that every man in front led a file of eight men that followed him foot for foot, with a three-foot distance between them.\n\nWhen the pipes suddenly changed rhythm, without interrupting the steady pace of the formation, the five files on the left split off from the main body of the phalanx and marched faster, moving many feet forward. When they were more than a hundred and fifty feet in front and the formation looked from far away like a closed fist with the first finger extended, the music of the pipes changed again. Perfectly coordinating their movements, the five files turned to the right, with their shields to the front and their spears extended. It was the crowning moment of the exercise. This was the moment when they would hit the enemy phalanx from its vulnerable right side and throw it into disorder by attacking it from two sides simultaneously.\n\n\"An outflanking movement\" Cimonas stammered in awe. \"I have heard about it but it's the first time I've actually seen it.\"\n\n\"Thank the gods for that\u2026\" Themistocles answered him, looking with the same fascination at the soldiers moving all together as one to carry out a maneuver that required absolute discipline and complete coordination.\n\n\"I would not like to be a Persian standing before the spears and shields of the Spartans.\"\n\n\"Yes\u2026 Right\u2026\" murmured Themistocles thoughtfully. \"Except that it would take thousands of phalanxes like that to frighten Xerxes and his five hundred thousand warriors, and the Spartans only have fifteen\u2026\"\n\nA shrill note from the pipes interrupted their talk. The advanced left part of the phalanx turned back with absolute discipline and took up its place in the formation again. Then the three hundred soldiers started to withdraw without turning their backs to the enemy for a single moment, first because that would ensure a safe withdrawal and secondly because the most dishonorable thing for a Spartan was to have wounds in his back.\n\nWhen they had all returned to their first position, the pipes fell silent. Leonidas, standing on the right side in his predetermined position, raised his spear high again, ready to give the order for the pipes to sound for the next exercise.\n\nBut the sound they heard was not that of a pipe. It was the door of the barracks slamming.\n\nMelegros ran up, breathing hard, his face as red as Leonidas' cloak.\n\nBehind him came three of the five elders of the city council, their faces as black as their famous broth.\n\n\"Leonidas\u2026\" shouted Melegros and began to run faster. \"You must stop! Immediately!\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 41", "text": "Melegros approached his exasperated king, trembling with anxiety and also with fear. In twenty years with Leonidas, the old attendant had learned that no one, for any reason, interrupted military exercises.\n\nMelegros' white head turned leaned towards the king's rich braided crest and he began to whisper furiously in his ear. Moment by moment, listening to the assistant's words, Leonidas' angry face relaxed and finally, his anger at the interruption turned to concern at what he was hearing.\n\n\"What is going on?\" wondered Themistocles.\n\n\"I don't know\u2026\" murmured Cimonas, looking around him. \"Something unpleasant, though.\"\n\n\"I hope it's not a sudden attack. I wouldn't like to be shut in here in Sparta. The assembly of Athens meets in ten days to set the strategy for war with Persia.\"\n\n\"If there is a war and it's not all one of those rumors that turn people's minds.\"\n\n\"Yes, of course, it could all be in our minds and nothing will happen\u2026\" Themistocles commented ironically. There had been no doubt at all in his mind since the moment he saw the Persian troops and denied Artemisia's proposal to follow the Persian king. \"But if it happens\u2026\"\n\n\"You want to be in command.\"\n\nThemistocles reddened slightly. In the years Cimonas had been with him since the death of his father Miltiades, he had learned exactly how Themistocles thought, his desires and his ways. Themistocles opened his mouth to deny having such an obvious and arrogant ambition, but he didn't have time to say a word.\n\nAt that moment, Leonidas looked toward the gate of the barracks and made a sign to the guards standing to the right and the left of the gate, blocking the entrance.\n\nThe soldiers stood to the side, and in the open gate appeared the many-colored trousers, the light blue caftan and the yellow hat of a swarthy man, his arms and neck loaded down with golden jewelry and with a gold medallion engraved with a winged lion shining on his breast. Behind him came two more swarthy men dressed the same way, but without jewelry on their bare arms.\n\nOne of them carried the Caduceus, a special wooden rod held by official ambassadors which assured them asylum.\n\nThe other held a silver vase and a small amphora, to receive the earth and water of the Spartans."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 42", "text": "Leonidas laughed. \"What kind of a joke is this?\"\n\nBut the ambassador remained serious. \"It is that which is requested by my lord and King of Kings, the Emperor of Asia.\"\n\n\"A little dirt and a little water, that is?\" asked Leonidas, as soon as his laughter had subsided. \"Did you come all the way here for a little dirt and a little water?\"\n\nThe Persian made a sign behind him and his attendant came forward, holding out the small amphora and the silver vase. \"It is a symbolic declaration of submission\u2026\"\n\n\"Submission?\" asked Leonidas, his face showing his aversion to the hideous word.\n\n\"Yes, submission. By giving earth and water\u2026 That is what the Great King asks\" repeated the Persian ambassador with complete seriousness.\n\nThe Spartan stared at him in puzzlement. The demand he had heard was beyond all logic. How could the earth and water of a city be given? Those goods belonged to the gods and not to men. The gods gave them and took them back. No one else.\n\n\"Ask Zeus and Apollo, the protectors of Sparta, for them\" Leonidas said ironically. \"But you'll have to climb to the top of Mount Olympus to do that.\"\n\nThe Persian frowned and his expression became even more dry and formal. \"The King of Kings demands earth and water from Sparta\" he repeated intensely.\n\n\"What does that mean, Persian? I do not understand!\" Leonidas said in the same tone.\n\n\"You will be subjects. You and your city. Your land and your people will be possessions of my emperor and will belong to him just as all the world from the Mediterranean Sea and Egypt to the Caspian Sea and India belong to him\" he announced, taking the amphora and the vase from his attendant and offering them to Leonidas with his own hands.\n\n\"How can humans become possessions of other humans without being beaten in battle and taken captive? How can they belong to someone? What you are asking, ambassador, is an insult to the Spartans. We are free citizens and obey only the law of our city. Nothing else! At least, not until we are defeated in battle!\"\n\n\"The Great Xerxes is not merely human. He is chosen by the great god. He himself is a god.\"\n\n\"Blasphemy!\" shouted one of the elders, who was also a priest in the temple of Apollo. \"Hubris inside our city itself. Hubris for us and an insult to the god who is our protector!\"\n\nLeonidas bent his head. And stayed that way, motionless, thinking, for several moments. Not even the breathing of the guards could be heard in the heat of the summer's noon. Themistocles and Cimonas watched wordlessly, holding their breath. If Leonidas gave a positive answer to save his city, or if he even tried to negotiate with the ambassador, Themistocles' whole strategy would collapse. The Greek alliance would have no chance without the Spartans. The only thing left for the Athenians to do would be to get into their warships and sail away from Athens, looking for another country.\n\n\"What about ours?\" asked Cimonas in a whisper. \"What would they answer?\"\n\nThemistocles was lost in thought and in his suspense. \"What do you mean, ours?\"\n\n\"Since a Persian ambassador came here, one will have gone to Athens too. Perhaps one is already there, since our city is closer to Asia. What do you think they answered?\"\n\nA new wave of suspense dominated Themistocles. Cimonas was right. In Athens there were many rich aristocrats who would like to see a deliberate surrender to the Persians so as to achieve their double purpose: to save their fortunes from destruction, and to dissolve the democracy. It was certain that Xerxes would bring in old Hippias, who for many years had been living at his court and nursing his hatred for Greeks, as its satrap and tyrant. Then everything the people had achieved\u2014the right to vote, freedom, equality before the law\u2014would be lost. Athens would become an insignificant province, an oppressive tyranny.\n\n\"By Zeus\u2026 Everything is at stake now\u2026\" Themistocles murmured in a choking voice, looking at the Spartan king before him.\n\nAt a certain point Leonidas raised his head and looked at the imperious messenger of the Persian king. The golden jewelry flashed on his arms, his legs, his throat and his breast. In his face, his eyes, painted with antinomy, stared straight ahead without moving an eyelash. He was like a statue of arrogance, insolence and contempt, all the qualities the frugal and austere Spartans hated most.\n\nThe Persian waited.\n\nLeonidas smiled.\n\nThemistocles squirmed."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 43", "text": "Leonidas smiled for a long time. Then he looked away from the Persian. He looked first at the three respected elders of the city council who waited, standing a little farther back, for his decision. Then he turned and looked at his men, standing motionless in the lines of their phalanx like armored statues.\n\nAt an almost imperceptible sign from him, the first file moved and its eight men ran towards him.\n\nThey came up to the ambassador and grasped him by the arms, while they immobilized his two attendants.\n\n\"You cannot touch us. We have asylum. We are official ambassadors and hold the Caduceus\" said the Persian without losing any of his arrogance.\n\nOne of the Spartans moved quickly and took the wooden rod from his hand.\n\n\"Not any more\u2026\" said Leonidas, and came towards him.\n\n\"You cannot do anything. We are an official delegation. It is great hubris if you hurt us.\"\n\n\"The hubris came from you first. It was a very great impropriety from a guest.\"\n\n\"What hubris?\"\n\n\"You compared a simple king with the gods. That is hubris to the gods. Especially in the city of Apollo.\"\n\n\"We do not believe in the same gods\" explained the Persian. He had lost some of his arrogance in the meantime.\n\n\"That was not all.\"\n\n\"I did not say anything else. If you hurt us, the great curse of blasphemy will fall upon your city. You know that.\"\n\n\"There is no greater blasphemy, Persian, than to ask free men to become slaves of their own will.\"\n\n\"There is the emperor and there are his subjects. That is how the world is made.\"\n\n\"Not ours!\"\n\nLeonidas said nothing further. He looked around him once more and then walked to the right, to where the altar of the goddess Artemis was located, and the great well of water with which they cleaned it after sacrifices.\n\nBehind him followed his men, dragging the Persian by the arms. Sweat from the burning summer heat melted the paint on his eyes and his light, many-colored garments were growing heavy with sweat. Only his jewelry remained as bright as ever, reflecting the golden light of the sun.\n\n\"Shall we swear an oath to the gods?\" asked the Persian ambassador with a weak smile, when they let him go behind the sacred altar.\n\n\"Why do you not ask them yourself? In a little while you will see them.\"\n\n\"How\u2026\"\n\n\"You asked for earth and water, Persian\" the Spartan told him severely, looking at the vase and the amphora that the messenger was still holding in his hands.\n\n\"Yes\u2026\"\n\n\"Go and get some yourself, then!\" shouted Leonidas. \"Because this\u2026\" He screamed, and the muscles of his face tightened, revealing all of his pent-up rage \"\u2026 this is Sparta!\"\n\nThe next second his terrific arms shot out.\n\nThe breast of the Persian received a terrible blow and fell backwards.\n\nHis blood-curdling cry ended in a splash as he fell to the bottom of the well.\n\nHe had gotten the earth and water he asked for."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Come and Take Them", "text": "Besides the Thessalians, Thebes and the city of Argos that sided with the Persians out of long-standing enmity with Sparta, all the other Greek cities agreed to participate in the war effort. They sent soldiers and ships, and they swore to the gods to hold to their decision with all their might. The ships would gather as soon as possible in the dockyards of Athens, Salamis and Aegina, while the phalanxes of the Greek army would be drawn up in two defensive lines. The first would hold the pass at Thermopylae, a hundred and twenty miles north of Athens, and the second would hold Isthmos, forty miles to the south of Athens.\n\nOne month after representatives of the Greek cities had gathered and the alliance had been formed, the Hercules company, the Spartan royal guard, bid farewell to its city. It was the ceremony that Sparta always organized for its soldiers leaving for war. First there were sacrifices to the gods, led by the archpriest who also commanded the expeditionary force, King Leonidas himself. Immediately after that, all the city's inhabitants lined up on the road leading to the city's exit. Men, women, children, even babies hanging at their mother's breasts stood by the sides of the road, wearing their black garments, to say goodbye to the soldiers, wish them a triumphant victory or honorable death, and listen to them proudly chant their battle hymn as they marched off to war.\n\nThe supplies, pack animals and slaves that would accompany the Spartan phalanx had already left days previously to set up camp and makeshift kitchens. The soldiers would follow accompanied only by their personal attendants, who carried their personal belongings and their weapons. Fourteen hours quick march every day. One meal. Six hours of sleep. Three weeks to get to the field of battle, three hundred miles north of Sparta.\n\nLeonidas stood before his soldiers, raised his cup with the last of the wine, poured half of it on the ground as an offering to the gods, and drank the rest. He strode slowly towards the point where his wife, Gorgo, was waiting for him together with their children, and went first to his oldest son. He bent, caressed his head, and asked him to continue their line with dignity and honor.\n\n\"Since the time Sparta was founded our wives, our mothers and our sisters have never faced an enemy sword. You must continue this tradition, my son. That is the inheritance I leave to you\" he said calmly and in a steady voice.\n\nThen he turned, opened his arms, scarred from dozens of battles, and tightly clasped his wife, Gorgo in them. He felt the wild beating of her heart against his chest, smelled the aroma of her unbraided hair, and tenderly kissed her dry cheek.\n\n\"I only have one wish and I want you to remember it and put it into practice. Choose a good husband\u2026\" he urged her, simply, and fixed his gaze on her large black eyes for a little while\u2014for a last moment, something to remember from their happy life together.\n\nBeside him, behind him, the Spartan soldiers were saying goodbye to their wives and sons who would carry on their lines if they had the great honor of falling in battle defending their country\u2014which, as everyone knew, was very likely to happen on this campaign. No tears were shed, there was no begging or regrets. The country was more important than anything else. And military honor was the greatest good. Those were their values.\n\nA little while later the soldiers returned to their lines. They took up their weapons and gave the order to their attendants to raise the rest of their gear from the ground. The time had come. The pipes sounded piercingly three times and then started up their familiar rhythm. The men began to sing loudly, led by Leonidas, and marched in formation toward the city's exit. Half an hour later, the golden wheatfields of the plain swallowed up their worn and faded red cloaks. Before they left, Leonidas had ordered that the men should not be given new cloaks so as not to unnecessarily burden the treasury. After all, most of them would not need a cloak at all after the battle. In a tomb there is no difference between an old cloak and a new one.\n\nAfter their departure the sound of their battle hymn faded quickly together with their image. Their rhythmic stride on the dry ground was soon lost. But the military body that left for Thermopylae was not the total of nine thousand first and second reserve soldiers that Sparta had.\n\nIt was not the four and a half thousand first line soldiers that were usually sent on campaigns.\n\nIt was not even the one thousand five hundred select warriors.\n\nIt was only three hundred."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 45", "text": "The first line of defense, a narrow pass, was a hundred and twenty miles north of Athens. It combined all the advantages. To the east lay the sea and to the west was the high mountain of Kallidromo, impassable for a large army. Between them there was a strip of level ground, half a mile long and two hundred feet wide, the only passable road leading from northern to southern Greece. Whoever wanted to advance towards Athens and Sparta from the north would have to pass over that long and narrow piece of land. The pass called Thermopylae.\n\nThe point selected was ideal for Themistocles' strategy of simultaneous battle on land and sea. Forty miles to the east of Thermopylae lay the sea straits of Artemisio, ten miles in width, between the shore and the island of Euboea. Two hundred and fifty ships from the Greek fleet lay at anchor there, while another hundred remained behind in the dockyards as a reserve in case the Persians decided to divide their fleet in two and attack the Greeks from the south. The Persians had the power and the numbers of vessels to make such an outflanking movement successful. They had one thousand two hundred fully equipped warships and hundreds of transports.\n\nThe three hundred soldiers of the royal guard reached Thermopylae on the evening of the twentieth day after leaving Sparta. In the course of their journey they had been strengthened by military units from the cities they passed through, so that in the end they numbered four thousand in all. Leonidas sent a thousand soldiers from Phocis behind the mountain of Kallidromo to guard the Anopaia Path, which was a second way to cross the mountains. It would be impossible for a large army to pass over it, but a small, well-equipped military force might use it to outflank the Greek defensive positions. Another two thousand soldiers were sent to the heights around Thermopylae and the rest of them made camp on the south side of the pass, with the three hundred Spartans taking position at the center and the seven hundred soldiers from the city of Thespies arranged to their right and left.\n\nThat same evening the Spartans erected an altar and made sacrifices to the gods to consecrate the field of battle. Then they set guards and sent out scouts, lit fires and withdrew to eat a few crusts of barley, some cheese and some figs, and to rest. They slept on the ground wrapped in their cloaks. Each soldier's attendant slept next to his master, protecting the military supplies he carried for him: needles and string made of intestines for stitching wounds, iron for cauterizing, linen bandages for blood, pyrite for lighting fires, sand and oil for polishing the bronze armor, emery stones for sharpening the swords and spears, cooking pans, pickaxes for opening trenches, images of the gods, family charms, amulets and mementos.\n\nLeonidas now held two of these in his hands and looked at them intently, breathing deeply but calmly. One was a braid of his son's black hair and the other was a white scarf embroidered in the center with simple red thread forming the name \"Gorgo\". They were both mementos and amulets. For a battle without mercy. A battle to the end, since it was well known that Spartans never retreated. They either won or died. The farewell wish of Spartan mothers and wives was the famous ancient Greek phrase: \"either come back holding your shield proudly before your chest, or dead, with your body on top of it.\"\n\nThe next morning the Spartans woke, as was their habit, before the dawn. Leonidas sent scouts to the north to find out what kind of condition the battlefield was in and how many Persians had already arrived.\n\nWhen the scouts came back to report that the plain spreading out beyond the pass was empty, he sent out groups of soldiers to destroy every house, uproot every bush, kill everything alive and poison every river and well with the bodies, thus depriving the Persians of food and drinking water.\n\nThe next day he ordered all his soldiers to proceed to the narrowest point of the pass and to rebuild an old, ruined wall there, carrying stones from Mount Kallidromo.\n\nSoldiers, attendants, weapon makers and craftsmen formed a long human chain starting at the foothills of the mountain and reaching all the way to the level pass. Dienekes, Leonidas' second in command, was the first link in the chain high on the mountain, while the last link, at the other end where the wall would be built, was the king himself. He had taken off his chiton and was hauling rocks like all his men.\n\nBy the third day after their arrival the wall reached three feet higher than the head of a strong man and Leonidas ordered that the work should be stopped. That same day at noon, the first Athenian messenger from the fleet anchored to the east, in the straits of Artemisio, arrived at their camp. It was Cimonas, captain of the Pallas, and his ship dropped anchor before Thermopylae to serve as a link between the Spartans and the Greek fleet.\n\n\"You chose the right place to give battle\" admitted Cimon when he arrived, embracing Leonidas warmly. \"But\u2026\" he murmured skeptically, looking around him.\n\n\"But?\"\n\n\"There are so few of us\u2026 the terrain will help but it will still be difficult to succeed\u2026\"\n\n\"It is not just the terrain. We built the wall too.\"\n\n\"The Persians have cavalry and siege engines. We Greeks never lay siege, but they say the Persian army acquired most of its cities by laying siege to them, even Babylon, whose walls were famous throughout Asia.\"\n\n\"I know all that. I have taken my measures. For the cavalry we have dug dozens of pits. We buried large clay jars upside down in them and put the earth, stones and plants back in their place so that no one can tell where they are. The jars can take the weight of a man but not the weight of a horse. They will break and the horses will fall into the pits. We can fight before our wall, but their cavalry cannot.\n\nCimonas' face brightened. He had always respected Spartan military techniques, but now he was filled with admiration. \"And for the siege?\"\n\n\"I hope they do lay siege to us. That will delay them long enough for nature to decimate them.\"\n\n\"What do you mean?\"\n\n\"Where will they find water and food for so many thousands of men? I have taken my measures. If you stop their transports on the sea and their provisions never arrive, their advantage will become a disadvantage. But even if our wall seems small to you and you are afraid it won't hold up to their siege engines\" continued Leonidas in a rare moment of garrulity, \"know that I have taken measures for that too. As you know, just above us are the famous thermal springs with their hot water welling from the earth that give this place its name. My men have made small dams there to stop their flow and collect the water. The Persian siege engines are large, heavy and cumbersome, pulled by slaves on wooden wheels. They are hard to hide and even harder to move. If they appear on the horizon, our men will break the dams and the pass will fill with water. The ground will become a mud sink and it will be impossible to drag the siege engines over it.\"\n\n\"Excellent\u2026\"\n\n\"It's not so great\" Leonidas said shyly. \"Every general makes the earth his ally. He has been trained to do that since he was a boy.\"\n\n\"Not every general. Your generals\u2026\" Cimonas said in admiration.\n\n\"Every Spartan general\" Leonidas corrected himself, blushing. Then he hastily changed the subject. \"Has the fleet arrived? Themistocles? Our plan depends on them. Without the fleet, everything we do here will be worthless.\"\n\n\"We have anchored off the coast and pulled the ships up on the sand to dry them out and make them lighter and easier to maneuver. Themistocles has sent scouts out on the open sea. From what they saw and reported, he calculates that the Persian fleet will be here in three days. We have established naval formations on the islands opposite, to notify us as soon as they see a Persian ship on the horizon.\"\n\n\"We do not have contact with the enemy yet. The field on the other side of the pass is still empty. Our scouts have not found even a trace of a Persian soldier.\"\n\n\"Perhaps in Thessalia, to the north, they have changed their minds and decided to resist. That might explain the slowness of their army.\"\n\n\"The Thessalians took no oath to the gods when we made our alliance. But even if they've decided to fight now, they won't have any chance all alone on the open plain where their cities are. The Persians will mow them down like a scythe cutting through ripe wheat. We are alone. If we do not stop them, no one will.\"\n\nIt was late in the afternoon and they had finished their frugal meal, sitting and talking in the shade of an oak tree. Cimonas took out a worn linen cloth, spread it out, and was preparing to write Leonidas' commands to Eurybiades on it with a piece of charcoal. Eurybiades was the commander of the Greek fleet. On the day when the representatives of the Greek cities met at Isthmos to vote, Themistocles had accepted a Spartan as commander of the fleet even though Sparta had only sixteen warships and Athens had two hundred, for the sole purpose of making sure that Sparta was part of the alliance. In return, he had asked only one favor. He had asked Leonidas to promise that if he had trouble convincing Eurybiades to carry out a sea maneuver, then the king would help him. The commander of the fleet was above the other admirals like Themistocles and he did not have to obey them, but he would not be able to ignore a command from the king himself.\n\n\"Well? What does our friend Themistocles want us to write to Eurybiades?\"\n\n\"He wants you to command him not to make all the decisions about the fleet's movements himself, but always to consult the council of war.\"\n\nLeonidas laughed heartily. Then he took the cloth and the coal from Cimonas' hand, threw them away, and picked up a cup of wine.\n\n\"It's not necessary. It's a waste of time and cloth, my friend. Eurybiades never makes a decision on his own anyway.\"\n\n\"Never?\"\n\n\"Never. Believe me, I've known him for many years. He always wants to have partners to share the responsibility and so he can blame them for his mistakes. His opinion is lighter than dry leaves in an autumn breeze. That's why I recommended him to the Apella as commander of the fleet. Themistocles can do whatever he wants with him\u2026\" Leonidas laughed long and loud and then picked up the cup to quench his thirst.\n\nHe did not have time.\n\nBefore he could wet his lips, a loud cry sounded from the watchers, who were standing on terraces carved every hundred yards all the way up the mountainside, carrying the message from the top of the mountain to the Spartan camp at its foot.\n\n\"What is happening, Alexander?\" Leonidas asked his second in command, although he already knew the answer.\n\n\"The Persians are here.\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 46", "text": "A chorus of shouts came to their ears. Almost the whole Greek camp had climbed up on the wall or else the slopes of the mountain and was looking to the north, towards the depths of the plain. A large plume of dust rose from the low hills at its end. Just at the edge of sight, black dots moved in lines like great, supernatural snakes. It was the Persian vanguard that had reached Thermopylae.\n\n\"Tell the allies\" Leonidas said to Cimonas. \"We have contact with the enemy. Nothing will happen today, and maybe not tomorrow either. A great army needs days to encamp and study the field of battle.\"\n\n\"Then I can stay with you.\"\n\n\"No. A great army also needs its fleet. It depends on it for food and supplies. You must leave immediately and inform Themistocles. By tomorrow at the latest, their fleet will be in these waters. Tell him to prepare and wait for him. And\u2026\" he stopped for a moment, looking at the horizon \"tell him that Leonidas will do what he promised...\"\n\nBy evening the empty plain was flooded with men. The shouts of the Greeks had ceased. They looked in awe at the unbelievable number of Persians pouring in like a rushing river. The dust of their footsteps on the dry ground had filled the air not only over the land but over the sea as well. Their many-colored uniforms and their curious weapons were surprising. Even more surprising were the strange animals the warriors brought with them, animals that most Greeks had never seen before and that some had never heard of. Some with humps like the actors in tragedies in the Athenian theaters, and others the size of five horses with legs as thick as the columns of a temple.\n\n\"Light fires.\"\n\n\"It is early for dinner.\"\n\n\"Not for dinner, Dienekes. Light fires everywhere. Behind the wall, on the coast, on the mountainside, on the hills to the south, light them as far as the eye can see. Fires that can be seen from the plain and the enemy camp, as if the place is full of our soldiers. And tell the attendants to polish the shields until they can see the hairs of their heads in them. There is no sight so fearsome as a line of shields flashing in the sun.\"\n\nDienekes understood. He pulled back behind the wall and went to the attendants' camp. He gathered them together, drew a rough map on the ground, and told them where to light the fires. He sent them off with pyrite in their hands and the order to throw green wood on the fire so that the smoke would be seen from far away during the day as well as at night.\n\nHours later, as the sun set behind Mount Kallidromo, the fires of the Greeks looked like dozens of lighted arrows shot into the ground by the god Hephaestus.\n\n\"They must believe that there are many thousands of us. When fear nestles in the heart, then the sword does not nestle so firmly in the hand\" explained Leonidas, looking at his companions.\n\n\"But they are like ants, uncountable. Not even Zeus himself on Olympus could count them. Even if fear nestles in their hearts, they'd still stretch out endlessly\" said Dimophilos, the commander of the seven hundred men from Thespies. \"No matter how we fight, no matter how many we kill, they will defeat us in the end.\"\n\n\"They can defeat us, yes. But they cannot defeat nature.\"\n\n\"I don't understand you, Leonidas.\"\n\n\"They have to move continually. Otherwise they are in danger of falling sick, and epidemics can spread very quickly if so many thousand men stay so close to each other in one place for days. They must also find fresh food and clean water. We have destroyed all the plain's resources and poisoned the rivers and the wells. If their transports do not come soon with their supplies, they won't last many days in one place. That is why our own fleet is stationed at the straits of Artemisio, to prevent theirs from getting here. If Themistocles manages it, we won't have to defeat them ourselves. Hunger will defeat them. All we have to do is to keep them here for two weeks.\"\n\n\"Two weeks?\" asked Dimophilos, stunned. \"Two weeks is a long time to hold off that many thousand enemies.\n\n\"I have the advantage.\"\n\n\"What advantage? With three hundred men?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" Leonidas answered calmly.\n\nDimophilos looked at him in amazement. Of course he had heard that Spartans were fearless in battle, but he had never yet heard that they were unhinged.\n\n\"The pass is thirty yards wide from the sea to the mountain cliffs at its narrowest point, which is right before our wall. So they cannot put more than thirty men on the front line of their phalanxes. We can wait for them before the wall, where the pass widens a little, lining up sixty men in our front line. So we have an advantage of two to one on the field of battle, no matter what reserves the Persians are holding in the rear\u2026\"\n\nDimophilos' mouth fell open, listening to Leonidas' reasoning. He could not think of any questions or comments.\n\nHe was convinced.\n\nAnd to be as fearless as that, you need to be a little unhinged.\n\nThe Spartans were both."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 47", "text": "Then followed four days of waiting, with tentative moves by the Persian infantry and harassment from mounted archers who galloped up to the wall, shot a few arrows and then returned to their camp. The Spartans did not shoot back. They couldn't be bothered. Guerilla warfare was not warfare for them. They had not learned to fight while hiding like women.\n\nBut underneath their bronze armor, their hearts began to swell with impatience. Waiting and doing nothing are perhaps the most difficult work of all for a man who has learned to throw himself passionately into the fire of battle from the first moment.\n\nLeonidas had given strict orders that all everyday activities should continue as if nothing unusual was happening. His men got up from their spread-out cloaks in the morning, arranged their long hair, ate their best meal of the day, breakfast, exercised their bodies as usual, carried out their military exercises and sharpened their swords and spears.\n\n\"Who sharpens his sword sharpens his courage\" said Leonidas to his subordinates. He insisted on his order being followed, even though it looked like the points might be ground down to nothing under the sharpening.\n\n\"Messengers are coming!\" the watchman from the advance guard on the left, higher side of the wall, had come running and the words came in quick bursts from his panting chest. \"They are coming to the wall holding the Caduceus. They might be here already. But\u2026\"\n\n\"But what?\" asked Leonidas, wondering at the scout's sudden pause and his awkward glance.\n\n\"They are headed by\u2026\" the scout swallowed. \"by a woman\u2026\"\n\n\"Are you sure?\" asked Dienekes, wondering himself.\n\n\"Yes. But she is not wearing women's clothes. She is wearing a man's armor.\"\n\n\"Then how do you know it's a woman?\" asked Leonidas.\n\nThe scout swallowed. It had been many days since he had been with a woman. His body reacted in the normal way of a man who sees a beautiful woman. But there was no way he could admit something like that to his king. \"It is a woman\u2026\" he repeated simply.\n\nLeonidas saw his red face and understood. He shrugged his shoulders indifferently. \"All right. So what?\"\n\n\"A woman in war?\" asked the scout, aghast. \"The word manliness comes from the word man.\"\n\n\"To go to war and fight you need courage, everyone knows that. But the only fear you need to face is the fear of dying or being wounded. Wounds and pain in the flesh. That is, nothing. But the women who send their men and their children to war while they themselves remain behind have to face wounds and pain in the heart. And that takes much more courage and manliness\" answered Leonidas, and got up slowly.\n\n\"There is something else\u2026\" murmured the scout. \"Something even stranger.\"\n\n\"What?\"\n\n\"The woman is not wearing Persian armor.\"\n\n\"Is she naked? Even better\u2026\" joked Dienekes. \"Just what we need to raise our men's morale\u2026\"\n\n\"She is wearing Greek armor and she speaks Greek.\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 48", "text": "When he heard those words Leonidas clenched his fists to break his rage, as he had been taught to do in his training ever since he was a small child. For a Spartan, there was no failing worse than treachery.\n\nWithout saying another word, he strode firmly to the wall, the gaze of all his men fixed on him. He climbed the rough stones like a nimble boy and stood on top of them with legs shoulder width apart, arms crossed on his chest and eyes forward.\n\nNow he could see her too. The woman was wearing a Greek helmet and not the conical tiara, the hat worn by representatives of the Persian king. She was unarmed and her arms hung relaxed at the sides of her breastplate. A few steps behind her stood her entourage. It consisted of two men in many-colored trousers and caftans that hung to the knee. One held up the carved wooden Caduceus, the symbol of messengers, and the other held a large roll of papyrus.\n\n\"I am not thirsty\u2026\" the woman said suddenly, breaking the long silence.\n\n\"What does that mean?\" asked Leonidas, surprised by her words.\n\n\"I heard that you threw the last person Xerxes sent into a well. Well, I am telling you that I am not thirsty.\"\n\nLeonidas smiled in spite of himself. \"I would never throw a woman into a well. Especially not one dressed in the Greek manner. Who are you and what do you want?\"\n\n\"My name is Artemisia and I am the queen of Halicarnassus. I am here with my soldiers and five warships\u2026\"\n\n\"Thank you, but we do not need help\" the Spartan interrupted her. \"There are enough of us.\"\n\nIt was Artemisia's turn to smile. \"I serve the Great King in the navy, but I also take part in his council of war. I am here today by his order.\"\n\n\"For what reason?\"\n\n\"To offer peace to the Spartans in his name\" she answered him solemnly, before adopting a more familiar tone. \"I speak our common language and believe in the same gods. You can trust me, Leonidas.\"\n\n\"A common language and the same gods do not matter when the mind thinks differently. Tell me what you want, you are keeping me away from my soldiers.\"\n\n\"Xerxes informs you that he will respect your city and your law. We know that for you Spartans, the law is above everything.\"\n\n\"If Xerxes respects our law, he has already trampled on it. Because our law does not allow barbarians to respect it.\"\n\n\"He will not destroy Sparta, Leonidas, I know that well\" she insisted. \"You will have your own kingdom and\u2026\"\n\n\"A kingdom like yours? That will have to campaign and make war on his orders, and not according to the law and the citizens?\"\n\n\"You will be masters of your own land\" continued Artemisia, undaunted by his insulting interruption. \"The Great King wants only an oath of obedience and his taxes from you. Nothing else. Think about it, Leonidas. Think about his proposal. You have nothing to lose except a few words and a little money.\"\n\n\"We will lose something more important than that. We will lose our freedom. By giving an oath of obedience, we will trample on our citizens' most important right.\"\n\n\"If you do not accept you will all die. What will your famous freedom mean after your death?\"\n\n\"And choosing when and how you will die is also freedom\" Leonidas answered drily. \"Besides, there is something more terrible than death\u2026\"\n\n\"What?\" Artemisia wondered honestly. \"Death wipes out everything.\"\n\n\"Dishonor. That is not wiped out even by death.\"\n\n\"You will not be dishonored. Xerxes undertakes\" she said, pointing to the man with the papyrus standing behind her \"not to dishonor your women and not to desecrate your temples. If you abandon your position and the Athenians now, you will leave and return to your country safely.\"\n\n\"This is our country too. Whether or not you have forgotten it\" he commented scathingly. \"But even what you are saying is dishonor, because there is no greater dishonor than to become a slave without giving battle.\"\n\n\"You will not become slaves. It is enough to\u2026\"\n\n\"Enough to what?\"\n\n\"Enough to surrender your arms.\"\n\nLeonidas remained silent for a little while. Then he drew his short sword from its sheath and held it high, the blade shining in the sun.\n\n\"Come and take them!\" he told her decisively. \"Let him come and take them himself!\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 49", "text": "That same evening sacrifices were made to Ares, god of war, to bless the Greek fleet, and to Hades, god of the underworld, to accept those who would travel with the boatman into his kingdom. Then the Three Hundred ate their scanty dinner together, each drinking a cup of watered-down wine so as to have their heads clear. Finally, after they exchanged the customary wishes for an honorable death, Leonidas stood up in the center of the great circle next to the fire so that all could see and hear him.\n\n\"My brothers\u2026 My fellow warriors\u2026 Tomorrow the Persian will strike our position with all the power of his hordes. Tomorrow a great day will dawn for all of us. A day of blood and a day of glory.\n\n\"Many of us, maybe all, will not return. Will never again see the high mountains of our sweet country, will never again embrace mothers, women, children and friends, will not make sacrifices of thanks to the gods in the temples of the city.\"\n\n\"To protect everything we love, everything we swore to serve selflessly, everything that makes us men and free citizens, that is why we are here today. That is why we came to stand with our other Greek allies and brothers to fight the invader in a common fight.\n\n\"The Persian has come in numbers difficult for a man's mind to grasp. He has come in numbers ten, twenty, a hundred, a thousand times greater than those defeated by the Athenians at Marathon. He has come like a god to sow destruction in a country that will not kneel before him because it kneels only to its own gods.\n\n\"Listen to me, my brothers\u2026 The Persian is not simply a king like I am and like the others were before me. He does not take part in the battle but watches it, always from a safe distance. His companions and his men are not equal and omoioi as we are. They are his slaves and his possessions. Every man and every woman in the countries he rules is property of the king, worth no more to him than a goat or a pig. And when those men are led by the Persian king to battle and war, they do not go out of love for their country and their freedom, but under the whip of another slave and only from fear, not from virtue.\n\n\"This king who comes here today has tasted defeat at the hands of the Greeks at Marathon, and that defeat was too bitter for his pride and his arrogance. He has come now to take revenge, not as a warrior worthy of respect, with daring, virtue and honor, but like a spoiled and wayward child having a temper tantrum.\n\n\"I despise the crown of such a king, based only on terror and not on the acceptance and respect of his subjects. I despise it because he does not follow laws, but only his own stubbornness and his desires. I despise it because it is the crown of a barbarian who does not strive or struggle for anything noble, but to make all other men his slaves.\n\n\"That is why we will fight him tooth and nail tomorrow. That is why we will never abandon our position. That is why we will never give up our weapons. Let him come and take them himself!\n\n\"The struggle will be hard, my brothers. But when did we Spartans ever have easy struggles? And the men who will be lost tomorrow will always stand with us, in the first line of our hearts and our souls, to teach the Persian once and for all how free men live and die!\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "The Gates of Fire", "text": "The waiting was over. Early in the morning, before dawn, the Three Hundred and their allies from Thespies got up from the ground, washed their bodies, arranged their hair, polished their shields and helmets with sand, rubbed them with oil, put on their clean tunics, offered libations to the gods and their ancestors, and put on their armor.\n\nThey formed into groups according to the scheme they had practiced hundreds of times in their gymnasia, and came out in front of the wall.\n\nThey drew up their phalanx a hundred yards in front of it, at the narrowest point of the pass, on ground that had been carefully cleaned in the previous days for a space of five hundred yards, in the area where they had set the traps for the cavalry. Thirty men on the first line, and ten lines after that. A perfect and compact rectangle of leather, wood and bronze.\n\nThey rested their shields upright on the ground, supporting them against their greaves, thrust their spears into the ground and waited with their helmets at their foreheads. A light wind was blowing from the north, the air was clear and at that precise moment the sun rose in the east.\n\nImmediately Alexander, Leonidas' second subordinate, came out of his position and checked the phalanx's arrangement and direction. Then he looked carefully at the sun and sent his attendant forward. With successive orders, he commanded the men to turn slightly to the right with their polished shields and then tilt them back until they reflected the sun and the attendant was completely bathed in light, shining like someone riding the chariot of the god Apollo.\n\nThen he raised his head and looked towards the Persian camp, far away on the plain. Even the large tents of Xerxes and his generals, that had been set up at the rear of the camp, were lighted up by the beam of light coming from all the shields together, reflecting and concentrating the rays of the sun.\n\nShouts and cries suddenly came from the sleeping Persian camp. The earth shuddered like a mother giving birth from thousands of running feet. Exclamations and words of surprise were heard in dozens of languages unknown to the Greeks. But they did not need to know the words. The wonder and surprise were clear from the tone of their cries. The first goal before battle, the most essential, had been achieved. The fanatical and fatalistic men of the east would now believe that a great god, the god of the sun, was on the side of the Greeks. And that was an incomparable psychological advantage.\n\n\"There is nothing more impressive than the flashing of polished weapons\u2026\" murmured Leonidas and raised his spear high, commanding the phalanx to close and to take up battle position.\n\nThe shields were raised suddenly without changing their angle, then passed to the left arms and locked together, sealing the men's bodies behind a bronze wall. The spears were picked up from the ground and, in one movement, were raised over the shoulders and the shields. The helmets came down from the foreheads, closing he faces in a mask of hard metal.\n\nLeonidas, standing on the place of honor to the right of the phalanx of his men, suddenly lowered his sword.\n\nThe pipes behind the warriors began to play in the strong rhythm of the Spartan martial hymn.\n\nThe men of the first line took a step forward, stamping their feet.\n\nAnd then another.\n\nAnd another.\n\nLeonidas stretched out his spear to direct them.\n\nA chant shook the air as the phalanx prepared to march toward the enemy:\n\nForward, brave Spartan children..."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 51", "text": "The structured formation of the Three Hundred advanced to the middle of the field of battle. Suddenly the shrill sound of the pipes accompanying the martial hymns was silent, and the phalanx stopped.\n\nBefore them stood the first units of Persian fighters, consisting of the best of the nations participating in the campaign, the most faithful to the Great King, the Medes and the Sakas. They were clothed in scaly armor and trousers of sky blue linen fabric. They held shields that covered their whole body made of braided willow branches covered with boiled leather, painted in bright colors. The Medes were armed with spears and cutlasses tied around their waists, while the Sakas held a javelin in one hand and in the other, a huge, biconvex bow made of horn. From their shoulders hung their long quivers full of flat-headed arrows that were especially difficult to pull out of flesh.\n\nA large formation of three thousand Medes separated itself slowly like a long snake and came to stand across from the Spartans, leaving an empty space of two hundred yards. The ground had been cleaned of rocks and wood, it was level and smooth. Exactly as the Greeks preferred it for their battles. Leonidas had ordered that it should be carefully cleaned for that reason, in the days before the enemy arrived.\n\nAn ivory horn sounded from the Persian side. It was a strident sound that was heard three times in succession. Immediately, the Medes raised their weapons and their shields, shouting the praises of the Great King who watched them from the hill next to his tent. Then a long-drawn out whistle was heard, ending in the blaring of trumpets, and the Persian army started to march toward the Greeks. At the same moment, hundreds of arrows were shot off by the Sakas, not so much to wound the bodies of the Greeks as to put a dent in their morale.\n\nThe iron discipline for which the soldiers of Sparta were famous worked this time too in spite of the hail of arrows. Not a single foot moved, not a single arm was bent, not a single face grimaced. The Three Hundred remained unmoved in their position, upright like the columns of a temple, watching the thousands of soldiers marching toward them under the protection of thousands of arrows. The first Persian phalanx with a breadth of thirty men and a depth of twenty lines, approached them steadily with a rhythmic stride. Behind them, with Saka archers filling up the gaps, followed another four. The force of impact and pressure wielded by a formation with that much depth of men would be unprecedented, since the Greek phalanxes seldom drew up in a depth greater than ten lines. And Leonidas knew that. He had taken measures for that too.\n\nWhen the Persians were at a distance of twenty yards, the Spartan king stuck his spear into the ground as if he wished to surrender. Immediately, as if automatically, all of the soldiers of the phalanx stuck their spears vertically into the ground. But without moving their shields an inch.\n\nThe approaching Persian lines seemed to lose their organization. The commanding officers looked with surprise at the Spartans leaving their spears, and then turned their heads back, to the place where their general Tigranis stood on a raised platform with wheels. He also was surprised to see the enemy laying down their arms.\n\nMistakenly, he did not give the order to stop. Without their officer's orders, the simple Persian soldiers continued to walk, but their phalanx loosened. They thought that the gods had blessed them with an easy victory without a battle, since their opponents intended to surrender and give in to their terrific numerical superiority. Talk and laughter were heard from the Persian phalanx, and the shields made of boiled leather and willow wood broke up their wall. They had already reached fifty yards distance and they could not see any defensive move at all from their enemies, who stood still with their spears immobilized in the ground.\n\nBut not their spirit. At forty yards, suddenly, Leonidas gave a piercing howl, leaned his body on the spear, took a step forward, raised it, and held it over his shoulder and shield while he ran like one possessed. Next to him and behind him, two hundred and ninety nine men did the same thing, running and howling like wolves.\n\nThe Spartan phalanx moved with terrible speed, faster and faster, like a huge arrow with dozens of sharp points and a wall of bronze shields that flashed in the sun. Whatever they lacked in men, the Spartans made up for with their compact density, the metal of their shields and their terrific speed over forty yards.\n\nThe clash that followed was terrible. The first line of Persians was swept away, many pierced by the heavy Spartan spears and still more trampled by the onslaught. Their wooden and leather shields could not stand up against the bronze Spartan shields and were crushed, dragging with them the bodies behind them.\n\nThe first line of the Spartan phalanx did not stop to engage the few Persians who remained unscathed on the front line but continued to advance, pressing on with the strength of their muscles and the momentum of their speed. The men coming behind finished off the fallen soldiers, piercing their faces and breasts with their spears.\n\nThe onslaught stopped at the fourth Persian line and then the real hand to hand combat began. But it was not an even match. The Spartans had the psychological advantage and that determined everything. Their intolerable slowness in the beginning, followed by sudden terror, cut the legs from under the Persians, who lost their grip on their shields and spears. The first line of Greeks pressed forward with their metal shields and stabbed them with their heavy spears, twenty inches longer than the spears of their enemies.\n\nIn spite of that there were many lines of Persians still upright behind them. Young and rested warriors took the place of those hacked by Spartan weapons. The fray was terrible. Blood and earth. Dust and slime. Broken skulls and spilled guts, severed arms and legs covering every inch of ground. Mired in fallen bodies and severed limbs, the Spartan phalanx had stalled after its breakneck offensive.\n\nLeonidas turned and looked at Dienekes next to him. He made him a sign with his eyes through the two round openings of the helmet.\n\n\"Now?\"\n\n\"Now.\"\n\nDienekes raised his spear high while Leonidas and another comrade covered him from the sides. He swept it three times, its point drawing great circles above the dust of battle, so it could be seen from the rear. The whole maneuver took no more than three seconds.\n\nImmediately the five last lines of the Spartan phalanx broke off and started to move backward without turning their backs, facing the battle so as to be able to intervene instantly if necessary. They went fifty yards and then stood still with their shields and spears at the ready. Immediately, the pipe sounded shrilly.\n\nThree of the five lines of Spartans that were still in the battle turned one hundred and eighty degrees and started walking quickly backwards until they took up battle position behind the phalanx that had drawn up a hundred and fifty feet further on.\n\nThe pipe sounded again with a piercing sound. Immediately the last Spartans, who were still fighting to hold the front, turned their backs to the Persians and began to run, stamping the ground to give an impression of panic and covering the battlefield in a thick cloud of dust.\n\nThe Persians followed cheering enthusiastically, believing that their enemies were in disorderly retreat. They charged at them, thinking to take advantage of the Spartans' panic. Among the mangled and lifeless bodies of their comrades that covered the ground, their lines dissolved completely and they ran like a stampeding herd through the cloud of thick dust.\n\nThe moment they passed through the dust cloud and came out into the clear air again, they faced an unpleasant surprise: the battle-ready Spartan lines that had reformed fifty yards back.\n\nIt was now impossible to react. The thousands of fellow warriors charging forward at their backs pushed them with terrible force onto the metal wall of the phalanx that was waiting for them.\n\nThe heavy Spartan spears were raised automatically above the shields.\n\nThe first lines of Persians were skewered on the metal points.\n\nThe human slaughter was complete.\n\nAnd it was only the first day of battle."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 52", "text": "Rage. The thick cloth coverings of the imperial tent shook under Xerxes' voice. It was not the delay. It was not the failure of his plan. It was not the six thousand dead and wounded men in a single day.\n\nIt was the humiliation.\n\nXerxes had never felt that unpleasant emotion before. His army had always been victorious. Cities surrendered or were burned to the ground wherever he passed. No one had ever withstood until now. No one had ever beaten him. The rebellious Egyptians had become pyramids of headless corpses next to the pyramids of the Pharaohs.\n\nAnd now this humiliation.\n\nFrom a handful of men.\n\n\"Prestige is a king's greatest weapon!\" he yelled furiously at Mardonius, who was standing in front of the generals in the tent of the war council.\n\n\"Sometimes fortune takes the side of the weak and makes them into superhuman beings. But fortune does not last forever. Tomorrow we will crush them.\"\n\n\"You said the same thing yesterday, Mardonius.\"\n\n\"We should not have clashed with them. We fell into their trap, we did exactly what they were hoping we would do\" said Hydarnes in his usual cold way. He was the commander of the imperial guard, the Immortals. \"I said that from the beginning. We should have waited and struck on our own terms.\"\n\n\"We cannot wait. Our army has been here five days already and our fleet has not yet arrived. Our stores of food are exhausted\" countered Mardonius.\n\n\"The fleet\u2026\" the king muttered gloomily. \"Only Ahura Mazda knows why Achaimenis, my brother who commands it, is taking so long.\"\n\n\"The sea is not the land.\"\n\nThe voice sounded from the behind the men of the war council. But it was not a male voice.\n\n\"Who are you, woman?\" Mardonius asked irritably.\n\n\"My name is Artemisia. I am the queen of Halicarnassus, the ally and friend of the Great King.\"\n\n\"That does not give you the right to interrupt the commander and\u2026\"\n\nXerxes' voice cut through Mardonius' angry words. \"Come forward\u2026\"\n\nArtemisia obeyed his order immediately. In spite of the familiarity and sympathy the king always showed her because she was the only woman in his army, she always kept a low profile and a humble attitude. She did not wish to provoke anyone. She knew that the generals could influence the emperor, that they could slander her or even conspire to make her disappear. In the end, Persian blood did not flow in her veins. She was only a vassal.\n\n\"What do you mean, Artemisia?\"\n\n\"The mountains of the land, hard as they are to cross, stay in their place. But when the sea raises its own mountains they cannot be defeated because their power is terrible and they keep changing place.\"\n\n\"I don't understand what that has to do with anything.\"\n\n\"Let Artemisia speak, Mardonius. We are men of the plains. Her country is near the sea. She knows it well.\"\n\n\"Two days ago, just after dawn, clouds gathered in the north, in the direction your ships will come from. A little later the thunder of Zeus was heard and a wind started up. The sun continued to shine but the sea, even in the protected straits, resembled a plowed field. That was not a good sign. In the open sea they would not be a ploughed field but a mountain range. It is not easy to sail with so many warships on such an ugly sea. They cannot find a good place to anchor. And for the heavier and slower transports, things will be worse. So it is difficult to predict when our fleet will arrive and what state it will be in.\"\n\n\"What do you propose?\"\n\n\"That we rest the army to consume less food and military supplies and wait until we learn news of Achaimenis.\"\n\n\"We have no time, Mardonius is right about that. Even without battles, the supplies of food, water and military gear will run out soon\" said Hydarnes calmly.\n\n\"If they run out, I propose that we withdraw to fruitful Thessaly where there are many rivers and storehouses full of grain, and return when the fleet has crossed the sea and can feed our army.\"\n\n\"Impossible! A handful of people cannot defeat the hundreds of thousands of soldiers of the first line that we have here\" Mardonius shouted in exasperation. He had planned the campaign.\n\n\"They have already beaten thousands of our soldiers from the best nations. And they beat them alone. Three hundred men, alone.\"\n\n\"Mardonius is right. Your thinking is correct, Artemisia, but if we withdraw now, my prestige will suffer a great blow\" Xerxes said skeptically. \"And if is learned that the emperor is not invincible, then many nations may revolt behind us in the territories of the empire. My authority is based on fear and obedience. Neither of the two will remain if we follow your advice.\"\n\n\"What you say is right, King of Kings. But it is also right that back in Susa there is the wise Artabanus with thousands of reserves, ready for war, and he can deal with any revolt. Besides, who would revolt? The shepherds and the women? The best soldiers of all areas are here with us\" Artemisia said, untroubled. \"If, later, we defeat the Greeks and dominate Athens and famous Sparta, then this little retreat I am proposing now will not seem to be anything more than a simple maneuver that will be forgotten. Sometimes the means must serve the end. Wars are not won only by numbers but by thought, Great Xerxes. That is what wins wars. And thought says that we must put off the land battle for a little while.\"\n\n\"That is impudence and an insult. Throw her out!\" shouted Mardonius, calling his guards from the entrance of the tent.\n\nA sign from Xerxes stopped him. \"What do you mean, Artemisia?\"\n\n\"That we must throw the weight of our military effort onto the sea battle. Everything will be decided on the sea.\"\n\n\"She wants to humiliate you, Great King. Or she may be a hidden weapon of the Greeks. A snake in our bosom. Do not forget that her ancestors were Greeks. She speaks their language and she believes in the same gods.\"\n\nXerxes raised his hand to stop him. \"Nonsense\u2026 If Artemisia wanted to help the Greeks she would not have campaigned with me. She is a woman, no one forced her to do it. And yet, she is here with her best ships. Sometimes, Mardonius, your passion and egotism blind your eyes.\"\n\nAt that moment, the cool Hydarnes chose to speak in the voice of logic. \"If we retreat, the delay will be great. The rains of winter will overtake us before we reach Sparta. And it is impossible to move such a large army on wet and muddy ground. We cannot delay that much by retreating all the way to Thessaly. On the other hand, we cannot remain here without food. Famine will decimate our men. Unfortunately, our great army and our rapid onslaught have brought us to a dead end.\"\n\n\"And what do you propose, Hydarnes?\"\n\n\"We must take the pass at all costs.\"\n\n\"That is what I say too\" added Mardonius, with satisfaction.\n\n\"You will not achieve anything\" Artemisia declared loudly for all to hear.\n\n\"How do you dare?\"\n\n\"You will not achieve anything at all!\" she repeated, ignoring Mardonius' rage and looking almost provocatively at the Great King.\n\n\"When we throw the whole strength of our army at them, then we will crush their spine and\u2026\"\n\n\"No, not in that way. We tried it today and lost six thousand men and suffered a humiliating defeat\u2026\" Hydarnes stopped the flow of Mardonius' words. \"It is foolish to strike the ox on the horns with your bare hand. You must strike at his throat, where he is vulnerable. There you can kill him in an instant. It is enough to strike suddenly with a well-sharpened knife. That is what we must do.\"\n\n\"What do you mean?\"\n\n\"Only a fool insists on mistaken tactics until he is proven wrong. An intelligent man changes them\u2026\" Hydarnes answered enigmatically."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 53", "text": "\"Wars are not won by repetition\" Leonidas was saying at the same moment.\n\n\"What do you mean?\"\n\n\"Wars are won by surprise. Tomorrow we will not draw up on the field of battle. Now the Persians know our tactics. Their generals will have studied our movements and taken their measures.\"\n\n\"So we're not going to fight?\" Dienekes asked, dumbfounded.\n\n\"Who said anything like that?\" Leonidas answered, smiling."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 54", "text": "The next morning the Spartans did not gather their phalanx, did not raise their spears or go out before the wall. The Persian scouts looked for them in vain from their raised lookouts.\n\nThe sun was high in the sky but the area in front of the Spartan wall was still empty. Even the gate with the sliding wooden door at its center remained fast shut. Higher up, on the bastions of the Greek wall, not a single crested helmet could be seen. The place looked eerie and abandoned.\n\n\"Maybe they have left\" Mardonius said to himself when he read the reports from his scouts. \"They fought one battle, caused some damage, and retreated to wait for us somewhere else. Or maybe they simply ran away when they understood they won't always be this lucky.\"\n\n\"Yesterday they won a great victory. No one abandons a victorious field of battle that quickly\" said Hydarnes, skeptically.\n\n\"But the reports are clear. There is no one on or before the wall.\"\n\n\"But behind it?\"\n\n\"Behind the wall they cannot fight. They cannot defend it. No one wins a battle by hiding\" Mardonius insisted, looking at Xerxes who was sitting on his throne outside his tent and gazing at Thermopylae four miles away. \"They have left. Their city is many days march to the south. It is more likely that they want to fight the next battle nearer their own territory. My agents in Athens and our friends from the city of Argos report that the rest of the Spartan army is barricaded in a narrow spot called Isthmos a hundred and fifty miles south of here.\"\n\nXerxes did not speak. He looked at the battlefield and the narrow pass for a little while and then turned his gaze back to the camp. But he did not look either at Mardonius or Hydarnes. He looked at his servant, Patiramphi, who stood beside him holding the golden cup with perfumed water.\n\n\"Go and call Dimaratos. He will solve the problem for us,\" he ordered him.\n\nThe exiled king of Sparta, who had found refuge in Xerxes' court and was now repaying him for his magnanimity by following him and advising him on the campaign, came to the great tent wearing a simple white chiton without ornaments or jewelry. He bowed before the Great King and then retreated a few steps and stood to attention. A strange thing for a Spartan to do, even in exile, but ingratitude is also a great sin for a Spartan.\n\n\"I am listening, King of Kings.\"\n\nXerxes briefly told him of Mardonius' assumption and the objections of Hydarnes.\n\nDimaratos did not hesitate for a second. He replied as if he did not need to think at all. \"Mardonius is mistaken. A Spartan never abandons the field of battle. He either triumphs or dies.\"\n\n\"How can you be so sure?\" Mardonius was indignant. \"You have been away from your city for ten years. Everything could have changed.\"\n\n\"Fish may grow legs and horses may grow scales, but the law of Sparta does not change. It has been followed with iron discipline for forty generations.\"\n\n\"You are sure, then, that Mardonius is mistaken?\"\n\n\"Absolutely. Spartan warriors do not leave.\"\n\n\"Then where are your famous warriors?\" Mardonius asked angrily, pointing at the empty field of battle. \"Are they hiding behind their wall like chickens?\"\n\nDimaratos shrugged his shoulders. \"I do not know. But I will give you a piece of advice, general\" he said, turning his gaze to Mardonius. \"Do not go to find them with stalks of wheat in your hands. You will need spears. Many spears\u2026\"\n\n\"I know how to go and find them, Dimaratos\" Hydarnes answered him, and came closer.\n\n\"How?\"\n\n\"The same way they found us yesterday\u2026\"\n\n\"Do whatever you want as you have planned it. The only thing I ask is to pass the straits and march quickly towards Athens. Even though yesterday it seemed very difficult to me\" Xerxes muttered tiredly. Then he turned away and walked to his private apartments without saying another word.\n\nIn spite of Mardonius' optimism and Hydarnes' plans, his mind was on a phrase he had heard a few hours before. A phrase said with certainty and courage in a woman's voice, raised against all of his generals: You will not achieve anything. Everything will be decided on the sea\u2026\n\n\"Everything will be decided on the sea\u2026\" he muttered now, thoughtfully repeating her words.\n\n\"Bring Artemisia to me\u2026 And inform the bath attendants\u2026\"\n\n\"To prepare the hot water and aromatic oils for you?\"\n\n\"Not for me. For Artemisia\u2026\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 55", "text": "He looked at the yellow cloth of the ceiling with the intensity of a priest before carrying out a ritual. His gaze motionless, his lips pressed together, lines of thought on his forehead. Not a word had come from his mouth for some time.\n\nArtemisia sat and turned towards him, looking him in the eyes. \"Can I be of service to you, my king?\"\n\nHe did not break his silence or lower his eyes. The fabric of the ceiling continued to monopolize his gaze.\n\nArtemisia sat a little higher than his swarthy chest. She opened her red lips and passed her tongue over them to moisten and soften them. The she lightly touched his hairless chest and her hand slipped lower, to his penis that still shone in the half light of dusk, covered with her fluids.\n\nHer lips opened again and drew all of it in, her tongue playing upon it with the artistry of Sappho and her daughters as she had been taught by those who came to Halicarnassus from the island of Lesbos.\n\nIn spite of the undeniable hardness of his member and the slight tremor brought on by his pleasure, the king touched her ebony hair and pulled her softly upwards.\n\nArtemisia sat up and looked at him in surprise. Unpleasant surprise.\n\n\"Don't you like me anymore?\" she asked in a trembling voice. Everyone knew what happened to the king's mistresses when he lost interest in them.\n\nXerxes smiled for the first time in many hours. Faintly, but he smiled. \"It's not that.\"\n\n\"Then what?\"\n\nHe took his gaze from the ceiling and sat up on the pillows of the bed. \"I lost many men yesterday\u2026\" he said dejectedly.\n\nArtemisia, who was still holding his penis in her fingers, felt it loosen like dough placed in warm water. She opened her palm and, with two quick kisses to his underbelly, she got up and sat beside him, looking at him attentively.\n\n\"You will win, my king. Everyone knows it. No tree can withstand the sweeping wind, no matter how strong its roots are.\"\n\n\"I will win, but at what price?\" he answered with melancholy. \"You have been right every time you have spoken so far, and you do not hesitate to risk your head by saying what you think in front of everyone.\"\n\n\"It will not happen again.\"\n\n\"Do not be hasty like Mardonius. You will make mistakes.\"\n\n\"I do not understand.\"\n\n\"I want you to help me.\"\n\nArtemisia sat up and looked at him, puzzled. \"How?\"\n\n\"You are Greek\u2026\"\n\n\"I am the queen of Halicarnassus and a subject of the empire\" she hastened to explain.\n\n\"Your roots are Greek, their blood flows in your veins\" Xerxes continued undisturbed. \"You speak their language and believe in the same gods. I want to learn about the Spartans. I want to understand. Tell me. I trust you, but I don't trust Dimaratos.\"\n\n\"I cannot tell you much, my king, beyond what the whole world knows. They are fearless fighters, the best in the world. Many of our cities are descended from common ancestors with Sparta, but Halicarnassus has ties to Athens.\"\n\nShe felt his muscles spasm when he heard the hated name. And his skin tighten like a ship's sail in the wind.\n\n\"Tell me about Athens then.\"\n\n\"Hippias knows it better.\"\n\n\"Hippias is a dotard who thinks only of revenge and becoming tyrant again. He advised my father on the last campaign and the advice led to catastrophe. I will get rid of him when he ceases to be useful. Tell me about the Athenian soldiers. Are they like the Spartans?\"\n\n\"Athens is not famous for its army, but for its navy. Its ships and its sailors are its great strength.\"\n\n\"Sailors did not beat us at Marathon.\"\n\n\"They are neither such great fighters nor such upright men as the Spartans are. You do not have as many reasons to admire them in war. They talk a great deal and they quarrel a great deal, but just because of that they also think a great deal. That is their great advantage. Thought. The Athenians would never be in a battle like the one you saw yesterday and today.\"\n\n\"Hippias and our spies in Athens have spoken to me of a certain Themistocles. Do you know him?\"\n\nThe muscles of her body tightened. She fought to hide the reddening in her cheeks and the fear in her eyes. She wondered for a moment whether the king knew something about herself and Themistocles. Whether someone had spoken to him. She tried to guess. It was impossible. His eyes were fixed on her and motionless, like black nails.\n\n\"Do you know him?\" Xerxes repeated the question insistently.\n\n\"Yes. If Leonidas is the famous hand of the Greeks, Themistocles is their cunning mind. Ten times more dangerous, and he is not lacking in valor either. He convinced the Athenians and the other Greeks that they must confront you on the sea.\"\n\n\"Foolish. If the Spartans stop our army and we cannot pass, then the sea will be irrelevant. If we defeat them and pass, then it will still be irrelevant.\"\n\n\"Wrong\" she answered curtly. She had refound her usual self confidence when the conversation left Themistocles and came back to warfare.\n\n\"Wrong?\"\n\n\"If our fleet does not come in time, our army will not be stopped by Leonidas but by hunger. Whoever dominates the sea dominates the world. In this war, the sea will determine the victor.\"\n\nHer moment had come. Artemisia jumped nimbly from the bed, pulled the carpet that covered the floor of the tent to the side, picked up a rod and drew a map of the area on the beaten ground, as she remembered it from the relief on the table of the council of war.\n\nThen, using the rod, she showed him the positions of the Persians and the Greeks on land and sea. She explained her plan quickly, emphatically, persuasively.\n\n\"If we use our fleet, we can outflank their positions, disembark our soldiers to their south, and surround them. No army can fight on two fronts at the same time. Not even the Spartans.\"\n\n\"Intelligent\u2026\"\n\n\"But there is one problem, my king.\"\n\n\"What?\"\n\n\"To do that we have to destroy the Greek fleet guarding the sea straits and the passes that is lying at anchor at Artemisio,\" she answered emphatically. \"We must first defeat Themistocles, its commander\u2026\"\n\nXerxes sighed. \"We Persians do not know the sea, we are men of the plains and deserts.\"\n\n\"But the Phoenicians know it. They are the best sailors in the world and they are your subjects.\"\n\n\"Exactly. They are my subjects. I do not trust them for such an important mission. Besides that, they are merchants. Men of money, born to buy and sell\u2026\" he added suddenly and fixed his eyes on her. \"Whereas you\u2026\"\n\n\"I am also your subject.\"\n\n\"Not only that,\" he said meaningfully and stroked her head tenderly. \"You also know about naval war. Your country is a sea-going state and you command your fleet yourself.\"\n\n\"That is true.\"\n\n\"Will you help me, then?\"\n\n\"How?\"\n\n\"By helping my brother Achaimenes and my fleet destroy the Greeks. I know you know Themistocles, the commander of the Greek fleet. I had reports from Halicarnassus. He came to your palace. That man now commands the enemy fleet.\"\n\nSilence. Heavy, intolerable silence.\n\n\"Am I wrong, Artemisia?\"\n\n\"No, my lord.\"\n\n\"Destroy him!\" Xerxes said suddenly, his eyes shining with rage. \"Destroy him and put your plan into practice.\"\n\n\"Themistocles or his fleet?\"\n\n\"I am not interested in one man, no matter how big his reputation is. Without his fleet, Themistocles is naked, a man without weapons, without power.\"\n\n\"I will do it,\" her answer came immediately and decisively. \"But we don't have time, my king. You know that. We must hurry.\"\n\n\"In the morning they informed me that our fleet is anchored at Afetes, across from the Greek fleet, half a day's journey from here by fast horse. Leave at once and do whatever you think is necessary. With you will come two royal messengers so you can inform me immediately. If we manage to destroy their fleet and transfer part of our army to the south of the Spartans as you propose, everything will be over soon.\"\n\nIn a few minutes Artemisia had dressed and left the royal tent.\n\nWith anxiety and a pounding heart.\n\nAnd not just because she was back with her ships again."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 56", "text": "The Immortals. The renowned, elite imperial guard. Professional soldiers, terrifically impressive, trained hard in many years of war from India to Egypt. But not all of them. It was only one of their battalions, one thousand out of ten thousand.\n\nThey resembled priests at a ceremony. They were wearing their colorful garments\u2014red tiaras on their heads, sky blue caftans to their thighs, porphyry cloaks and green trousers. When they marched together, they looked like a moving rainbow. Their eyes were painted with black kohl and their foreheads with green oxidized copper. On their necks, wrists and fingers they wore their best golden jewelry that flashed in the strong midday sun. The quivers, bows and arrows were slung on their backs, their sheathed swords at their sides, and in their hands they held their spears, engraved with the royal symbol, a golden pomegranate, shined to perfection by their attendants. It was an imposing sight, unquestionably magnificent, worthy of an imperial army.\n\nBehind them a wall of dust confused the sight and created an imposing background that heightened the impression. The attendants of the Immortals, who followed their masters everywhere, had been ordered to carry branches with them and to drag them over the dry ground. Farther back, the other nine thousand Immortals stamped their feet on the ground, stirring up even more dust and creating a rhythmical pandemonium as if the underworld were quaking.\n\n\"Nobody move\u2026\" Leonidas gave the order softly to the watchers standing on the wall above them, watching the advance of the battalion of Immortals from cracks in the cliff, unseen themselves.\n\nBeneath the watchers, with their backs to the wall, the attendants were spread out. Soldiers who were not omoioi and equal citizens of Sparta, but helped the army as light infantry, armed with slingshots from which they shot round lead pellets weighing thirty grams, that were easy to carry in large amounts. Behind the double wooden gate in the wall stood a small phalanx of sixty Spartan fighters in a long rectangle with its narrow side four yards long, the length of the gate in the wall.\n\nA long way farther back, the rest of the Spartans were drawn up with all their gear, ready for battle.\n\n\"Three hundred feet and closing\" called the watcher from the wall.\n\n\"Wait\" Leonidas said calmly to the phalanxes of his soldiers.\n\n\"How long? If they get too close and they have siege machines, the wall won't take it\" asked Dienekes.\n\n\"They can't. We broke the dams and the ground is muddy. They won't be able to carry them here.\"\n\n\"They can carry ladders.\"\n\n\"They won't touch the wall. They won't get there.\"\n\n\"Two hundred feet\u2026\"\n\n\"Load the slings\" Leonidas ordered the attendants.\n\nThen he looked at the four files of warriors waiting for him behind the gate in the wall. Fifteen lines deep. Sixty men in the first, peculiar phalanx of the attack he was preparing.\n\n\"A hundred and fifty feet.\"\n\n\"Weapons at the ready.\"\n\nIn one movement, without making a sound, the Spartans of the first phalanx behind the wall lowered their helmets, picked up their shields, and raised their spears.\n\n\"A hundred and thirty feet.\"\n\n\"Wait. Don't move. Surprise is everything.\"\n\nWith a nod, Leonidas ordered the two hewn trunks barring the gate to be taken down.\n\n\"A hundred feet.\"\n\nHis last glance was to his back. Behind the first phalanx were four more, ready to follow the first wave of the attack. The double transverse crests of the officers' helmets waved in the light breeze. The vertical crests of the soldiers gave a magnificent height to their formation. Their shields flashed in the sun. Their spears pierced the heavens.\n\nEverything was ready.\n\nLeonidas lowered his helmet.\n\n\"Sixty feet.\"\n\n\"Now!\"\n\nThe gate in the wall opened. Dozens of lead missiles left the slings of the attendants simultaneously, like a torrential metal rain."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 57", "text": "With one volley every second, in just two minutes thousands of lead pellets struck the Persian formation and brought confusion and chaos to their lines. If they had worn heavy metal armor like that of the Greeks, the little pellets would not have pierced the bronze and caused wounds or death. But their shields were willow and leather, their helmets glued layers of linen, and their breastplates little metal scales to make them more flexible and so that they could be worn under the impressive uniforms of colored cloth.\n\nDozens of Persians fell on the spot, their skulls pierced by the lead pellets that fell vertically from the heavens, weighing a hundred times more because of gravity. Hundreds of them lost hands and arms, the most exposed and vulnerable parts of their bodies. The whole sky grew dark with the metallic grey of lead. A piercing, eerie sound was heard from end to end of the battlefield.\n\nConfused and dazed, the Persians stood still like paralytics and watched the lead pellets mow down their fellow warriors and officers. When they had gotten to the wall without a fight they had been almost sure that the reports were right and the Spartans had abandoned it, but now they were disorganized by the volley of missiles they had never seen and discouraged by their inability to protect themselves with their shields.\n\nImmediately after the last group volley, the doors of the gate opened and Leonidas ordered the men of the first phalanx to charge onto the battlefield, stamping their feet to worsen the enemy's confusion. Behind them followed the second phalanx and immediately after that, the third. The fourth and fifth stayed inside the wall as a reserve, following the battle plan.\n\n\"Forward, children of Sparta!\"\n\nThe first phalanx, only four men wide, fell like a huge wedge upon the disorganized lines of Immortals and opened a great schism, sixty feet deep. Behind them followed the second, eight men wide, and farther behind came the third with a width of sixteen men. Together they formed a kind of blunt point that punched a hole in the Persian formation like an arrow falling on soft flesh.\n\nThe field of battle was covered with corpses. Some with heads pierced from the pellets, almost bloodless, lying like bodies resting in sleep, others with their faces and breasts pierced by Spartan spears, eighteen inches longer than the Persian spears. Most were missing legs or arms, had cut throats, crushed skulls, or slit bellies with the guts spilling out. Those with slight wounds were finished off quickly but methodically by men of the fourth and fifth phalanxes, who came last from behind the wall before stopping and forming the compact and rested reserve phalanx.\n\nThose of the famous Immortals of the first battalion who were still alive turned in disorderly retreat, rushing back towards their camp. A hundred, two hundred, three hundred yards of running, with sides, backs and necks slashed by bronze points and skulls split in two by the short Spartan swords. Colorful bodies adorned half the battlefield, although it was very difficult to make out the blue of their uniforms under the fresh red blood.\n\nSitting on his pedestal in the rear of the Immortals and watching the slaughter, General Hydarnes smiled in satisfaction. His few remaining soldiers were running desperately, and the Spartans chasing them, shouting and cheering. He had achieved what he wanted, an appearance of disorderly retreat. They had copied it exactly. The tactic the Spartans had used yesterday was his today.\n\n\"Ready!\" he shouted his order to the phalanxes of Immortals waiting, rested and intact, to go into battle.\n\nHydarnes took his gaze from his army and observed the field of battle as well as he could through the dust. At the same time he strained his ears to calculate the distance from the heartbreaking cries of his men and the thundering feet of the Spartans chasing them.\n\n\"Soon they will be within range of our arrows\" he observed and gave orders to Fernazi, his second in command. \"Get the archers ready and order our fighters to start for the battlefield without much noise.\"\n\nThe thousands of archers in the rear lines kneeled, set their great bows on the ground, took the arrows out of their quivers and stretched the cords, ready to let loose a volley of thousands of arrows.\n\n\"Go\u2026\"\n\nWith a single word, without the usual trumpet calls and piercing horn calls, thousands of Persian Immortals started to advance. Hydarnes smiled again as he saw his rested men marching, ready for war. Everything was going according to his plan. The Greeks had spilled out on the field of battle, chasing their retreating enemies, and everyone knows how vulnerable an army is at that time. At this moment they would have abandoned their weapons and would all be looting the bodies for their valuable weapons and golden jewelry. Exposed. Easy targets for bloodshed.\n\n\"Attack pace\" he gave the order and then, satisfied, stretched out his hand for a glass of cool white wine to celebrate his victory in advance.\n\nAt the same moment Leonidas, from his position on the right side of the phalanx, turned his head, looked behind him, measured the distance to the wall, and then observed his men. All upright, all in their lines. No one was missing, no one was delayed behind some pile of corpses. The gold and jewels of the Persians meant absolutely nothing under Spartan logic. Spartans never plundered, never defiled the bodies of their dead opponents. Looting was unknown to them. The only thing they took from dead enemies was their weapons, for the prestige. But even that did not apply here, since these were not weapons of copper or bronze. Leonidas listened to the air, calculated the distance they had crossed once more, and raised his hand. Within fifteen feet the Spartan phalanx came to a complete stop, ceasing pursuit.\n\n\"Retreat!\"\n\nImmediately the Spartans turned and walked back at a quick pace. When they got near their wall they took up position behind the reserve phalanx that was waiting, ready to fight, its soldiers rested.\n\nThe few minutes of complete immobility seemed like centuries. It was as if time had stopped and so had their hearts. It was a short period of waiting, the most disciplined period in a battle, the period that required strong nerves and iron discipline.\n\nBut this time the waiting did not last long. Through the thick cloud of dust, jumping and striding over the hacked bodies and scattered limbs of their comrades, appeared the Immortals of the rested formations that had just entered the battle. They charged forward passionately, believing that they would have inactive, plundering soldiers to face, or else exhausted soldiers collapsing before their walls.\n\nThey were wrong.\n\nAs they soon understood."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 58", "text": "He withdrew, enraged and frustrated, to his apartments, and lay on his bed thinking about the unexpected, unheard of defeat of his enormous army by a handful of fighters for the second day in a row. He lay still while the tears drew lines and made paths over his dark face. Not from grief for the lost Immortals, but from humiliation.\n\nSlowly, slowly, while time passed and the heavy hand of melancholy gradually loosened its grasp, Xerxes' mind turned to Artemisia's plan. The more he thought about her words the more convincing they seemed. Once more she was right. Things were exactly as she had said. There was no way out on the dry land, no matter how crushing his numerical superiority was. Her plan on the sea was perhaps the only solution, since in spite of his order that gold and silver from his treasury should be given to any local who could lead the army through the high mountains and take him around to the rear of the Spartans, no one had appeared that whole day.\n\nThe tent's curtain opened suddenly, interrupting his thoughts, and his personal attendant appeared in the opening.\n\n\"My king\u2026\"\n\n\"Not now, Patiramphi.\"\n\n\"Mardonius just arrived with someone and is asking to see you.\"\n\n\"Tomorrow. Today has been tiring. More than tiring. Tragic. I lost many of my best men, nobles from the court of Susa, beloved friends and my brother, Avrokomi. I must mourn and perform libations to the Great God. My brother will pass the bridge of the Great Judge tonight. Call the priests\u2026\"\n\nBut Patiramphi did not move.\n\n\"Call the priests and the mages!\" Xerxes repeated imperiously, surprised at his servant's slowness.\n\nBehind him, in the door of the tent, Mardonius appeared. He came into the bedroom and stood before the emperor, looking at him intensely.\n\n\"I have told you that I do not wish to see anyone, Mardonius. Not even you!\"\n\n\"Then do not see me\u2026\" his commander in chief answered enigmatically. \"But you must see the man I am bringing with me.\"\n\n\"Why?\" asked Xerxes, wondering at his general's insistence.\n\n\"Because he will bring us the victory tomorrow.\"\n\nThe emperor laughed sarcastically. \"Are you bringing a god with you?\" he asked.\n\n\"No. I am bringing a Greek.\"\n\nXerxes sat up in confusion. \"A captive?\"\n\n\"No. Free. He came of his own free will.\"\n\n\"A deserter?\"\n\n\"No.\"\n\n\"Then what? Why did he come? And how did he get here?\"\n\n\"By your orders.\"\n\n\"My orders? Who is he?\"\n\n\"His name is Ephialtes\u2026\" Mardonius said slowly, and smiled meaningfully. \"And he is the one you asked for\u2026 The one who will lead us over the mountain\u2026\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 59", "text": "The Persian camp and Xerxes' tent were far away, four miles to the north. But the Greek camp was right next to the field of battle, behind the slaughter.\n\nThe whole triangle spreading out before the little wall looked like a meat grinder had ground up thousands of bodies from every nation and tribe in the last two days. The dry ground had absorbed the freely flowing blood and now showed dark and discolored. On the black earth were spread intestines from the torn bellies of fighters, severed legs and arms scattered and mixed up like the limbs of broken clay dolls, opened heads, spilled brains, and urine and feces from men meeting death in the worst way. From the sea to the vertical cliff on the other side it was impossible to walk on the ground. It was impossible even to see it. The bodies rotting in the hot summer sun covered the earth from one end to the other. A new wall of flesh had been raised on the field of battle, hills of human limbs and corpses were formed in the places where heroic hand to hand combat had taken place. Around and above that disgusting scene thousands of flies buzzed, feasting and blackening the horizon. The stink was overwhelming. It filled the air and neither the sea breeze nor the wind from the mountains could blow it away.\n\nA few yards to the south, behind the pile of rocks that was all that was left of their wall, the Spartans and their allies the Thespians tried to get their breath, rest their exhausted bodies, and revive their terrified minds. Drooping over their cloaks and shields, those who had gotten out of the superhuman struggle without wounds and those who had been wounded or who had lost one of their limbs were taking advantage of the night's hiatus to bring back their spirits for the next day's battle.\n\nAt the center of the camp, before a fire where they were heating iron to cauterize the wounds of the soldiers, sat Leonidas with Dienekes and Dimophilos, the commander of the Thespians. Across from them sat Agathis, the captain of the messenger ship that had just arrived from the dockyard of the Greek fleet in Artemisio, bringing the news of the day and supplies.\n\n\"They lost that many ships?\" asked Leonidas, rejoicing inside at Themistocles naval prowess, since he knew who really commanded the Greek fleet.\n\n\"Yes, it was a terrific battle. On the coast of Euboea the sea is still washing up bodies of sailors and pieces of wood from Persian ships. More than eighty of their ships have been rammed and sunk. If we count those they lost yesterday evening in the sudden storm, a fifth of the Persian fleet has been lost.\"\n\n\"But still\u2026\" Dienekes murmured doubtfully. \"They still have four times as many ships as we do\u2026\"\n\n\"Why shouldn't we keep up the sea battles tomorrow? And the day after tomorrow? A loaf of bread can be eaten all at once or in pieces. That does not change the result. It will be enough if\u2026\"\n\n\"If?\"\n\n\"If you hold the pass\" said the Athenian captain. \"Our whole plan of defense is based on good coordination. If the Persians get through here, the fleet will have to retreat and sail south to protect our cities, you know that, and then there will be no sense in holding the sea straits or trying to sink their ships.\"\n\n\"We are not interested in sinking their ships. We are interested in keeping them far away from here, so that they cannot unload the supplies they are waiting for. Or bring the army south to surround us\" Leonidas said with difficulty, because his jaw was dislocated and his mouth bloody from a blow with a nail-studded club that had not succeeded in knocking his helmet off. \"As for whether we will hold and how long, only the gods know the future. We merely do what we can.\"\n\nHis slurred words were drowned out by a clamor coming suddenly from the left side of the camp, where a spring with drinkable water flowed from the depths of the mountain. There were words of fear mixed with sighs of disappointment, and prayers to the gods, mostly to Ares and Zeus, but also to Apollo, the god of the sun.\n\n\"What is happening?\" wondered Dimophilos and looked around him uneasily. \"Persians?\"\n\n\"It is night. No one fights at night, neither Persians nor Greeks. Everyone needs rest.\"\n\nLeonidas raised his head with difficulty and looked to the left, sweeping the whole camp with his gaze. Far behind him, the assistants and servants of the soldiers were hastily cleaning and repairing the weapons that had been damaged by war. Closer to him, the first line soldiers were resting in a boundless, otherworldly silence, looking at family mementos or tenderly stroking braids of hair. Now that the hours of heroism and furor had passed, now that the hours of valor and brave feats were over, now their thoughts went to their families\u2014to respected parents, beloved children, adored wives. To a beautiful image, a warm caress, a tender kiss. Now that nostalgia and longing grew large inside the minds and hearts of his men, now was the most difficult time.\n\n\"The worst time to hear whispers of disappointment and prayers to the gods\u2026\" muttered Leonidas. He leaned on his short sword and got up, moving his stiff limbs with difficulty.\n\nHis first step was difficult. He clenched what few teeth he had left and fought back the paralyzing feeling of sharp pain, as he had been taught to do when a child. But after the first step he did not allow himself any indulgence, any weakness. He was the king of Sparta, their image and symbol. He had to walk as he did every day. He was the one who must support and revitalize his soldiers' morale.\n\nExchanging words of sympathy with the severely wounded, words of encouragement with the abject, and familiar teasing with those who were simply tired out, Leonidas walked toward the edge of the camp, to the base of the spring where many men were gathered and whispering agitatedly together.\n\nWhen he got there and they saw him, those who had gathered moved to one side, opening a space for him to pass even though there were not only his own fighters there, but also soldiers from Thespies. At this point, where people came from did not matter. Only the spirit mattered.\n\nLeonidas walked with a wringing heart to the place where many soldiers were gathered, the place where he had heard the sighs of disappointment and words of prayer.\n\nAt the center of this mass, all alone next to a half-extinguished fire, stood the diviner Megistias poring over the intestines of a vulture that had fallen from the cliff and been crushed.\n\nHis face was drawn and worried. In his wide eyes, the irises had disappeared and only an uncanny white showed. His mouth was open and saliva ran from its edges and dripped onto his dirty beard. Dry foam on dried-out lips. He had just come out of the sacred ecstasy, the peak of his art.\n\nLeonidas looked at him, unable to understand. Then his eyes fell to the vulture's innards. He did not have the gift of divination, he did not understand anything. The intestines looked the same to him as they did every time, filthy and disgusting. He looked again at the diviner, silently wondering what he had prophesied that disturbed his men so much. What disaster he had foreseen. Or what hope had been erased with his words. Or had he perhaps misunderstood, earlier, and were the murmurings only thanks to the gods for the good omens they had sent?\n\nAt that moment, as if just recovering from his trance, the diviner shook his head, waving his long white hair, stretched his shoulders and neck and turned to Leonidas. Without speaking. Barely breathing.\n\n\"What did you see, respected Megistias?\" he asked him after a little while. \"What did the omens tell you?\"\n\nThe diviner was slow to answer. But when he did, even Leonidas felt the need to pray to the gods.\n\n\"The Greeks will not see another dawn\u2026 Tomorrow will be the last\u2026\" answered the diviner in a trembling voice, but with certainty. \"That is what the omens show\u2026\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 60", "text": "The moonlight gleamed on the ornaments as the figures walked hastily up the narrow path between the steep canyons of Mount Kallidromo.\n\nA few hours earlier, immediately after the night's trumpets gave the signal for silence, half the force of Immortals, having in the meantime replaced the huge numbers of men they had lost, had gathered as silently and secretly as they could at the edge of the Persian camp a few miles to the west. There, the five thousand men and Hydarnes, who had been made head of the enterprise, met Ephialtes, the Greek traitor who would lead them over the mountain for a leather purse full of gold from the Persian treasury.\n\nNow, while the moon was high, the Persian soldiers quickly marched over the Anopaia road that cut the mountain in half, crossing its gorges by passes carved in the rock by rushing waters from the winter rains.\n\n\"How long will we need, Greek?\"\n\n\"About six hours, my lord. Dawn will find us on the other side of the mountain, behind their position.\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 61", "text": "The small boy was still out of breath. The sheepskin he wore next to his flesh was soaked with sweat and the clay amulet hanging on his chest, carved with the form of the goddess Artemis, went up and down like a little boat on a stormy sea.\n\n\"Are you sure?\"\n\n\"It is summer, my master's sheep are still high on the mountain. I watch them.\"\n\n\"And you saw them?\"\n\n\"Yes. They went over the path. They were wearing strange clothes, colorful. They spoke a language I didn't understand.\"\n\n\"Were there many?\"\n\n\"They walked by for a long time. Their voices woke me. I watched them, but I could not count them in the darkness and I was afraid to come closer.\"\n\n\"Someone has betrayed us. It is impossible for the Persians to have known that difficult path\" commented Dienekes.\n\n\"It is easy for the tongue to be loosened when the eye sees gold\" murmured the diviner Megistias. \"Unfortunately, the omens were right\u2026\"\n\n\"Perhaps the thousand Phocaeans at the exit of the path stopped them.\"\n\nDimophilos, who knew them better, smiled bitterly. \"Do not place your hand in the fire, Dienekes.\"\n\nLeonidas did not comment on what he said. \"Gather the officers\" he told Dienekes calmly.\n\n\"The Spartans?\"\n\n\"All of them. We are all equal here in battle and in death.\"\n\nA little while later, around the extinguished central fire of the camp, the officers of the alliance, those that were still alive, gathered to make their decisions.\n\nJust before they started to talk, the scout they had sent out earlier arrived, dismounted from his horse and announced that the Phocaians had abandoned the exit of the path and had run away to the hill a little farther back. The Persians ignored them and marched towards the sea. In a few hours they would be there.\n\nLeonidas looked to the east, which was turning grey. \"Before the sun climbs high, they will have closed off the road that leads south towards central Greece and Athens. They will have surrounded us.\"\n\n\"Can we retreat before they close off the road?\" asked Dimophilos.\n\nDienekes looked at him as if he had just heard the strangest thing in the world. \"Retreat?\"\n\n\"In a little while they will surround us. What are our chances?\"\n\n\"Chances?\" This time it was not Dienekes who wondered, but the Spartan Maronas. His left hand hung lifeless at his side. The tendons had been cut and the fingers were dead. But his face was like his cloak, red with rage. \"The chances don't matter. You cannot go into battle calculating your chances like a merchant at an auction. We can fight on both fronts. We can face them.\"\n\n\"Until when?\" shouted Philaretes, the leader of the Arcadians. \"What does it matter whether we resist until morning or evening? Or even until tomorrow or the next day? In the end we'll be defeated. That's what logic tells us.\"\n\nDienekes opened his mouth to disagree, but Leonidas' hand stopped him.\n\n\"You are right, Philaretes\u2026\"\n\nDienekes' mouth closed suddenly. He looked at his king in amazement. So did Maronas and his brother Alpheos, sitting beside him. The Spartans could not believe their ears when they heard those words from their king.\n\nWould the Spartans break their law for the first time in their history?\n\nWould they retreat?"}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 62", "text": "The soldiers advanced slowly. First came the beasts of burden, pulling the severely wounded on makeshift carts, those who had been paralyzed by blows to the head or who had lost their legs or were unable to stand upright. Immediately after them, grabbing each other's shoulders like mismatched couples, came those of their comrades who had lost their eyes in the battle and were now being led over the ill-surfaced road by those who still had them. Lastly, behind those, came those with slight wounds who could still control their bodies.\n\nImmediately after that began the units of the allies. The Arcadians, the Locrians, the Myceneans. Those who were still alive. Soldiers who brought tears to the eyes of everyone who saw them. Exhausted, broken, dirty. Covered with thick, dried blood from head to foot. On their heads and their bodies, even in the folds of their torsos, their elbows and their lips, there was dust and dirt, black saliva from their mouths, a black veil over their chests and hearts. A few hours previously they had gotten the order to retreat. Only the allies, though. Not the Spartans.\n\nThat was Leonidas' order.\n\nThe king stood to the side and saluted them as they left the field where they had fought and found glory, the ground where they had left hundreds of dead fellow fighters and friends. Behind him the Spartans wrote, scratching their names on pieces of tile, tree bark and tablets of wax.\n\nBeloved Aristeas\u2026\"\n\nMy honored son Myronas\u2026\n\nMy respected mother Kleoniki\u2026\n\nThey were their last letters to their loved ones, to mothers, wives and children back in their country. Although all the Spartans knew how to read and write\u2014it was a required part of their education\u2014some of them did not write a single word. They simply opened their chitons and took out the mementos and souvenirs that had been hanging at their muscular and wounded chests, or cut off a lock of their long hair and wrapped it tightly in pieces torn from their cloaks.\n\nWhen the messengers had received the letters to be delivered to the soldiers' families back in Sparta, Aristonas, the leader of the Arcadians, stood before Leonidas.\n\n\"I have a request\" he said.\n\n\"Forget it. You must leave at once.\"\n\n\"I have a request\" he insisted.\n\n\"If you do not hurry, you will not be able to cross the road. The Persians will close it off and you will be caught like a rabbit in a trap. Then, everything we have done and will do will be lost. You must leave and inform the rest of our army, deliver our last wishes to our families back in our city, and revenge us.\"\n\n\"We want to first make libations on the tombs of the fallen\" Aristonas told him.\n\n\"The last priest was killed yesterday\u2026\"\n\n\"At least let us pour a little wine on the ground that covers them.\"\n\nLeonidas took the flask with the little wine that remained, and without another word, went with Aristonas to the graves of the fallen, a little beyond the camp.\n\n\"And now leave. Do not delay any more.\"\n\nAristonas looked at the road that led to the south and was lost at the horizon. A cloud of dust was rising far away in the direction of the mountains. It was the Persians approaching. \"You still have time to come with us. You can save yourselves\u2026\"\n\nLeonidas did not answer. He turned towards the wall and started to walk silently. Just before he disappeared among his men, he turned back to Aristonas.\n\n\"From what? Save ourselves from what?\" he asked softly, without waiting for an answer. And then he added in a louder voice. \"Be well. We will stay on the field of battle to cover your retreat. Make sure that you stop them at Isthmos, since I did not manage to. That is all I ask\u2026 All the rest is unimportant\u2026\"\n\nAristonas dried his streaming eyes, raised his hand high, giving the promise the king asked for, and then ran to join his last departing men.\n\nLeonidas watched them for a while, a long line of crippled, exhausted warriors who had given their last drop of strength before being forced to retreat. Not defeated. Not ashamed. Simply betrayed.\n\nThen his gaze turned inwards. His eyes looked into his naked soul. He saw three images clearly. The images he had learned to confront from a young age. The images of coming death. First his ancestors, the honored founders of the line of the Cleomenes, the kings of Sparta. Then Gorgo, his adored wife, and their children. And finally the gods, those who were on their side in the difficult hours of battle. Among them was Hades, god of the Underworld, whom he would meet before the light of this day went out.\n\nIn his mind he said a last goodbye to his wife and children. Then he took his gaze from his soul and considered his body. A body covered in mud and dust, a vigorous but wounded body. He could still feel the eyes of his beloved Gorgo looking at him in adoration. He felt his knees loosen and his heart melt with love. His eyelids fluttered and he shook his head slightly. To his mind came the prophecy of the Pythia from the oracle at Delphi:\n\nEither Sparta will be lost or one of its kings will die...\n\nHe raised his eyes and observed his men for a while, scattered about their camp, which was now empty and looked enormous. A hundred Spartan soldiers who could bear arms and fight. One hundred out of three hundred, who would soon go to meet the rest.\n\nMost were looking down at their hands, which were rubbing and shining the coin every warrior carried on him when he left for battle, the coin to pay the boatman of souls that would carry him to the other world.\n\nSome were carefully combing and oiling their hair, some were washing their faces with water and wiping their beards, and some were pouring their last wine on the ground, chanting prayers to the gods.\n\nThey were preparing to die."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 63", "text": "Leonidas was standing upright to the right of the phalanx, in the most dangerous position, the one that was not protected by the shield of any comrade. Next to him and to the left was Dienekes, then the two brothers, Alpheos and Maronas, and then followed, in the first line, all the Spartans that were left of the Three Hundred, those that could stand on their feet and bear arms. A hundred fighters in all. All the others were dead or dying.\n\nThis time their phalanx was not drawn up in the narrow pass in front of their half-ruined wall. This time it was spread out a few yards to the south, at the widest point of the pass, so that everyone could be in the front line, the place of honor, face to face with the enemy.\n\nBehind them, in the second line, were the fighters from Thespies who were still alive and who had refused to abandon the field of battle of their own free will. They stayed to fight to the end with the Spartans. First, at the right end of their lines, was their leader, Dimophilos.\n\nIn the third line was the light infantry, the attendants of the Spartan soldiers and the freed slaves. Leonidas himself had freed them and their families a few hours before and the messengers bringing the last letters and wishes of the fighters back to Sparta, also carried a royal decree of freedom for their wives and children.\n\n\"So they can fight and die as free men\" the king had said. \"It is hubris to fight and die when you, your wife and your children are still slaves\u2026\"\n\nThat was all.\n\nFour hundred and thirty warriors in all.\n\nThe sun had already climbed high when the hordes of the Persian infantry appeared behind the wall. Tens of thousands of soldiers of every kind, shape and appearance filled the pass and the valley. To the south, the column of dust raised by the phalanxes of Immortals marching to surround them got closer and closer. The great hour had come.\n\nSeeing the nearly imperceptible murmur and nervousness of his soldiers at the sight of the huge mass of enemies, Leonidas left his line and came out in front of the phalanx. He turned his face to his soldiers, raised his sword high and, as well as he could with his wounded jaw, gave a war cry: the call that accompanied the pipe in an attack: \"e, le, le!\"\n\nIt was repeated feverishly.\n\nCheers of enthusiasm came from his men.\n\nSwords and spears were raised high in the air.\n\nIt was a rare phenomenon in an austere Spartan phalanx, but a moment like this was also rare. The rarest in Spartan military history. The rarest in the military history of the world.\n\nLeonidas lowered his sword.\n\nThe cheers stopped as if a knife had cut off the voices in air.\n\nThe swords and spears were lowered.\n\n\"Eyes on me!\" ordered the king as he saw the eyes of the warriors, mainly those of the soldiers from Thespies and the attendants, fixed behind him, at the enemy in the distance who was approaching fast. \"Only on me!\"\n\nFirst his voice was heard.\n\nStrong and stentorian, in spite of his wound.\n\nThen dozens of voices were raised with it, stentorian in spite of their wounds.\n\n\u2003Forward, brave Spartan\n\n\u2003children of citizen fathers\u2026\n\nThey sang the Hymn of Bravery, the war hymn of Sparta, all together.\n\nFor the last time.\n\nA little while before the bright summer sun was hidden by the thousands of arrows shot off at the same time by the famous Saka archers, the Kisian and Bactrian infantry marched forward at a fast pace. When they saw that they could finally cross the ground that had been drenched with their blood for the last two days, their lines dissolved and they started to run for the first time, cheering, without being whipped from behind by the Persian officers. They threw themselves on the few stones of the wall that were still in place and started to push and pull them in fury, until they had taken them all down.\n\nNow that the pass was open from one side to the other, they removed to the right and left, forming a wide passage. Then they stood and waited, looking at the few wounded and jaded men of the Greek phalanx who stood to the right at a distance, holding whatever weapons had not broken and some more they had managed to salvage from their reserves.\n\nTrumpets sounded piercingly, breaking the silence that followed the barbarians' shouts. A loud, shrill, long note from a horn was heard. From the left, six white imperial horses, covered with purple cloth and gold-embroidered linen, walked slowly down the passage formed by the Persian soldiers. Behind them they pulled a high golden chariot that flashed in the noonday sun. In the chariot, standing upright, was a tall, swarthy man covered with jewelry. His head was painted, his eyes outlined in black, his lips porphyry. The rest of his body was naked, anointed with palm oil and scented with balsam and myrrh.\n\nXerxes stopped a few yards before the end of the passage. He raised his eyes and looked, motionless and silent, at the few Greek soldiers drawn up to face his army. His expression was sullen, but his eyes were triumphant.\n\nWithout saying a word, he lowered his hand to the belt he wore around his waist and pulled a long, curved sword, adorned on its hilt with precious stones, from its sheath.\n\nHe raised it high in the sunlight, and the polished metal flashed like lightning.\n\nThe god of the sun, winged Ahura Mazda, had spoken.\n\nWhen the sword came down, the Persian cavalry waiting behind him charged forward."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 64", "text": "A battle like the angry sea. Like the waves breaking on the shore, taking the boats with them or like a violent tide sweeping everything from its path.\n\nEven before the Persian cavalry reached the Greek's position, they had taken out their bows and shot dozens of arrows. They surrounded the phalanx and urged their horses in a circle around it, trying to disorganize it and raising a cloud of dust that completely obscured the field of vision.\n\nThen, in the dust, the formations of the Persian infantry appeared. Blue caftans, many-colored shields, swarthy faces. Spears held out, clubs with metal nails, curved knives of dark metal. And then time froze as the gods put the finishing touches on the image of human slaughter that would follow.\n\n\"Close the lines!\" ordered Leonidas as he took up position on the right side. \"Forward march, shields held out!\"\n\nBefore the words were out of his mouth, the Sakas fell on the meager Spartan phalanx and battered it with their huge mass and the depth of their lines. It was wood on wood and metal on metal. There were broken javelins, torn shields, and slashed breastplates that left the chest uncovered.\n\nThe Spartans took a hard blow, but they lasted. Many fell in that first clash, and others from the second line immediately came forward and took their place, reducing the depth and toughness of the Greek formation even more.\n\nThe only piper left saw Leonidas' raised spear and played the rhythm for the free-for-all. The Spartans each chose an opponent and attacked in merciless hand-to-hand combat, this time without formations and lines.\n\nIn this way, as the branches of the willow tree bend and absorb the force of the wind, they lightened the terrible pressure of the thousands of Persians pushing them slowly but surely towards the steep cliffs of the coast and the sea.\n\nLeonidas still had not used his spear, but his shield had been smashed in the conflict. He plunged forward, lowering his long javelin with its iron point again and again, and swept away the light, scaled armor of his opponents. Dienekes had thrown away his broken spear and drawn his short sword. Alpheos and Maronas, the two brothers, were standing back to back and fighting like a two-headed monster. All around them flesh was torn, guts were spilled from bodies and the earth was soaked with steaming blood.\n\nThe shrill sound of the pipe was heard again. The Spartans pulled back together, giving the impression of flight. A hundred and fifty feet farther they stood and reformed, making a rudimentary phalanx and closing up their lines as best they could.\n\nDienekes felt something hot running at his foot. He looked at his body, his abdomen, his thighs. They were not wet, they had not been painted red. Puzzled, he lifted his head and looked to his right. Leonidas, beside him, was the one who was bleeding. A deep cut on the left side of his uncovered chest near the ribs had exposed the bone and was spewing blood. One of the king's arms hung nerveless, and his jaw had left its place completely, showing his broken teeth.\n\nBefore he had time to ask, before he could say anything, he felt the heavy Persian arrow in his thigh. It had been shot by the horsemen who were charging again, and it went all the way through his leg. For one moment he kneeled, bent to the ground, then he leaned on his sword and managed to raise his body again. With his free hand he pulled out the arrow and threw it away.\n\nThe Greek phalanx kept its formation for only a few minutes. Its weak lines broke quickly. The tough and disciplined Greeks held, but the lines of the attendants broke. Irregular combat began again, far behind the wall and the pass. Suddenly, a trumpet call sounded from the Persian side and the Sakas retreated. The Immortals had arrived from the south and had closed the trap. Now, they would take over. The victory belonged to them, the emperor's chosen soldiers, the nobles and the pure-blooded Persians.\n\nImmediately after the Persian call, the piercing sound of the pipe was heard from the Spartan lines for the last time. The order was clear in the complete silence that had spread out for a little while. Battle in pairs. Rudimentary protection of the back and side.\n\nDienekes turned to Leonidas. Not for protection from him, but to protect him. The king was deeply wounded, his head covered in blood, his chest bleeding, one of his arms useless.\n\nLeonidas pushed him away with his good arm. \"Protect the man next to you. Not me.\"\n\nDienekes stood for a moment undecided. He did not speak but looked into his leader's eyes, the bulbs that had completely lost their white color. One glance only. Of farewell.\n\n\"We'll talk about it at dinner. Hades will host us in the Underworld\" Leonidas said to him, as clearly as he could, and made a pitiful attempt to smile.\n\n\"We didn't manage to stop them\u2026\"\n\n\"But, Dienekes\" he answered and for a moment he turned his gaze to the east, to the sea, where the Greek fleet was. \"We will manage it\u2026 If Themistocles keeps his promise, we will manage it\u2026\"\n\nDienekes looked around him in frustration. Hacked bodies, broken weapons, dissolved lines. The place reeked of blood and urine. Pieces of flesh and body parts were scattered everywhere. The faces of his fellow warriors were bloody, dispirited, exhausted. No eyes, noses or mouths. They looked like statues of the gods, made of earth and dust.\n\n\"We have lost the battle, my king\u2026\" Dienekes told him in a heavy voice, his breath coming with difficulty.\n\n\"The important thing is not who wins a battle, but who wins the war\" Leonidas answered him slowly. \"and the Persian will understand that soon\u2026\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 65", "text": "A short time later, it was all over.\n\nLifeless bodies of Spartans lay everywhere on the battlefield, pierced by spears, cut by swords, stuck full of dozens of arrows. The area was full of fallen red plumes, red cloaks and red bodies. At a distance of five hundred feet, the earth had turned to mud from the blood. It was muddy higher up too, on the nearby hill where the last thirty Spartans had reformed, creating a circular defensive phalanx and dragging with them, like a precious offering, the dead body of Leonidas. Where they had stood without weapons, without shields, without armor, and where they were surrounded and raked with hundreds of arrows. Where they fell to a man, battling with bare hands, with nails and teeth.\n\nJust before the sun set behind Mount Kallidromo, the golden chariot made its appearance again. Standing on it was the emperor. The wheels bounced over the rough ground on the hastily cleared paths between the hacked bodies.\n\nHe made the rounds of the battlefield and stopped before the hill where the last page of the terrible conflict had been written. Again he raised his sword to the sun, this time in triumph. Then he called the commander of the Immortals, Hydarnes.\n\n\"Find me the body of their king\u2026\"\n\nAfter a few minutes the lifeless body of Leonidas was dragged out by the feet. Two ferocious imperial guards threw it in front of the golden chariot.\n\nXerxes looked at the man lying before him. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it at once. He stood silently for a little while. Then, with a double axe in his hand, he descended to the bloody ground.\n\nHe approached Leonidas, bent, grasped his long, muddy hair, raised the head from the ground and, with a sudden blow from the axe, cut it from the neck.\n\nThen he raised his trophy high and climbed back on his chariot. The emperor's charioteer lashed the ornamented horses and the chariot started back towards the Persian hordes.\n\nThe breeze that suddenly started to blow from the sea stirred the bloody hair on the severed head of Leonidas.\n\nThe guards, the soldiers and the subjects of the Persian emperor enthusiastically cheered his triumphant passage.\n\nWhen they reached the point where the Spartan wall had once stood, the emperor stopped suddenly.\n\nHe looked around him, first east to the sea and then west, to the high vertical cliffs of the mountain.\n\nWith a sudden movement, he threw Leonidas' severed head into the hands of Mardonius.\n\n\"Put it on a spear and stick it high on the cliff\" Xerxes ordered, his voice harsh with boastfulness. \"So it can see the battlefield where it was defeated. So it can see our army marching towards Sparta. So it can see our fleet embarking for Athens. So it can see Greece swept away by the power of the King of Kings.\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "The Lion and the Scopion", "text": "In the heavy summer heat without a breath of air, humidity covered the coast like a damp veil as she sat on the mountainside and looked at Artemisio. Motionless. Absorbed. Ten miles of sea to the opposite coast was not much, even on a suffocating evening like this one. Neither were the dozens of lights twinkling in the depths, some moving feverishly and others that shone steadily as if reflecting the celestial dome. Nor were her own emotions.\n\nTwo days after she arrived at the Persian dockyard at Afetes and two sea battles after boarding her flagship, the Cassiope, the Greeks had abandoned their dockyard at Artemisio and retreated. With them went Themistocles. Unharmed. Certainly unharmed. She knew that already and it filled her with relief. And with fear for the future. Because how could she face him again? In bed or at sea? Alone or with his ship, the Artemis?\n\nShe shuddered when she thought about it. The first time they clashed she had seen her name written on the Athenian ship, above the two open eyes that were painted on its prow, as on the prow of every ship, to make it look like a live sea monster. It wasn't hard for her to read. She had spoken and written Greek since she was a small child, it was her language. But it was hard for her to understand. Why? Why her name?\n\n\"Because Artemis has been my protecting goddess since I was a youth, since the days of my military education in the mountains\" Themistocles had told her simply when they met in secret the evening before. \"Why should I not have the same protection on the sea?\"\n\nHis cool answer froze her heart. She had hoped for something when she saw the name. She had hoped that he wanted her with him, not just as an ally in the fleet, but as a companion and regent at her side. But when she heard his conventional explanation she said had no words to say.\n\n\"Of course, it's not just that\u2026\" Themistocles had continued, looking at her with his large, slightly protruding eyes and making her heart pound again.\n\n\"What else?\" she asked expectantly.\n\nHe did not answer but only smiled. She understood immediately. Neither the darkness nor his thick beard could hide his smile. His eyes betrayed him, that warm, cunning gleam in his eyes.\n\n\"My queen\u2026\"\n\nThe rough, breathless voice brought her out of her daydream. She looked away from the sea's horizon to the beginning of the path climbing high up the pine-covered hill, where she had sat gazing at the opposite shore since dusk.\n\nAs soon as her eyes got used to the darkness she could make out the Cassiope's helmsman, the mature man who had taught her the secrets of the art of navigation. \"Tell me, Diomedes\u2026 What do you want?\"\n\n\"I don't want anything. The admiral has summoned an emergency council.\"\n\n\"Now?\" she asked, and looked at the moon, which was already high.\n\n\"Yes, now. You must go at once. The messengers just arrived with the emperor's commands and the news from Thermopylae.\"\n\n\"What news? We have known of the death of Leonidas and the Spartans since this afternoon. The fires and smoke signals on the mountain tops told us clearly. What does Achaimenes want now?\"\n\nDiomedes shrugged his shoulders. \"I don't know. But the Persian is asking for you and if you want the opinion of a man who has served many masters, you would do well to go at once. He doesn't look happy, my queen.\"\n\n\"What's wrong with him?\"\n\n\"He reminds me of a god who just drank vinegar and bile instead of nectar and ambrosia.\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 67", "text": "In the tent of Achaimenes' and of the Persian naval council the commanders of the fleets of the more important nations were gathered, those that were participating in the campaign with warships and transports. First came Mervalos, commander of the Phoenician fleet, the most powerful and experienced in seamanship. Next to him stood Kyvernes, commander of the ships from Lycia, and Amires, the Egyptian admiral. Farther back were the commanders from Caria, Cyprus and Cilicia. They all looked disgruntled. Most of all Achaimenes, brother of Xerxes.\n\nIn his hands he held a parchment with a golden border. Flung on the table before him were the leather cord and the broken piece of lead stamped with the imperial seal. They were the orders Diomedes had spoken of.\n\n\"Greetings, brother of the Great King and highest of the\u2026\"\n\n\"What do you have to say about this?\" Achaimenes cut her off rudely and showed her the papyrus he was holding.\n\n\"I might have something to say after I have read it.\"\n\n\"It is an imperial decree. It just got here with the rest of the decrees.\"\n\n\"What does he decree?\"\n\n\"Something that concerns you.\"\n\nShe did not like his tone. She did not like his manner. He scared her. \"What has the Great King decreed concerning me?\" she repeated slowly.\n\nNo answer. Only silent disapproval. Her apprehension grew. It must be bad news. Probably bad news for her.\n\nThe Persian admiral stretched out his arm, decorated with jewelry and painted with carmine, fluttering his fingers as if he was chasing away a cloud of flies that annoyed him. \"Get out of here...\"\n\nArtemisia turned to leave with the others.\n\n\"Not you\u2026\" muttered Achaimenes grimly. \"You stay\u2026 You and my guards\u2026\"\n\nWhen the place was empty the admiral commanded his soldiers to close the tent flap, sat on his raised armchair, called her to him and pointed to the empty space in front of the table with the open Phoenician sea charts.\n\nHis widened nostrils audibly forced out the wind from the storm raging in his breast. His eyelids, outlined in black, opened and shut nervously. Lines of rage were carved on his face, which shone with oil. His fingers unconsciously squeezed and released the papyrus.\n\n\"What did you do?\" he asked her coldly. \"What did you do to the emperor?\"\n\nThe color drained from Artemisia's face. What Xerxes did to mistresses who overestimated their power or became dangerous or simply bored him, was known to everyone. In that moment many images passed through her mind: beautiful severed heads with ebony hair adorning the signposts of the imperial road, shapely bodies buried whole in the desert of Lut, scattered female body parts torn by the imperial hunting falcons on the mountains of Alborz, and scattered bones whitening in the hot sun of the plains of Kabir. Perhaps now a similar fate awaited her. She had probably overstepped her limits in the war councils, making Mardonius or Hydarnes angry, and one of them had slandered her to the emperor. Or she had become too bold in the personal moments she spent in the Great King's tent, and brought his legal spouse's wrath down on her head. Or maybe Xerxes was just tired of her and would send her far away to get rid of her without creating any problems for the war effort. She could not know what exactly caused his rage. But the more she thought about it, the more possibilities there were. It explained Achaimenes' haste. It explained his grim face and abrupt manner. The decree concerned her and it would be carried out immediately.\n\nUnconsciously she brought her hand to the grip of the sword hanging at her waist and looked behind her. The Persian guards were still standing on either side of the entrance to the tent, making no move to come near her. Across from her, Achaimenes watched her coldly.\n\n\"On the day you came, my officers were looking for you all over the dockyard after the Greek raid. They couldn't find you anywhere\" he said drily. \"Where were you?\"\n\n\"What?\" Her surprise was complete. \"I was battling on the sea with the rest of our fleet.\"\n\n\"I mean later. That evening. You were missing, Artemisia. And your ship was missing with you.\"\n\nNow it was confirmed. Achaimenes knew her secret. And if he knew it, the emperor knew it too. That explained his confident decision. She swallowed. It was certain now. Her end would come soon. The imperial decree had arrived. Execution for treason.\n\n\"Will you tell me?\" asked Achaimenes and raised his hand to signal the officer of his personal guard, who approached together with the admiral's scribe and the huge black eunuch from Nubia who acted as executioner. \"We don't have time\u2026\"\n\nIn the moments before she heard the men's steps approaching her, her thoughts traversed the hours that had passed, hours of battle and hours of peace, hours with clenched teeth and hours with open lips, hours full of blood and hours full of love.\n\nShe had gotten to Afetes in the afternoon, two days before.\n\nShe arrived at the worst time. An alarm was sounding throughout the Persian camp. There was feverish, almost paroxysmal activity on the sandy shore where the strongest squadrons in the Persian navy, the triremes from Phoenicia, Lycia, Egypt and Halicarnassus, were drawn up. Neighboring bays held the ships from Cyprus, Cilicia, Thrace and Ionia. Some of them were already completely in the water, others were being pushed in by slaves and still others had thrown out rope ladders and were waiting for their spearmen and archers to climb on board and man the combat section of the deck, reserved for raids and assaults. The petty officers bawled out orders like rabid dogs in their attempt to board the crews quickly, the captains ran left and right around the wooden hulls checking the dryness and tightness of the vessels and the trumpets sounded piercingly for the last stragglers to hurry. The whole sandy beach was full of clashing, blending, competing odors. The cool scent of pine from the hill behind the beach, resin and pitch used to caulk the wooden joints of the ships, and secretions of unwashed male bodies full of adrenaline.\n\n\"What is happening?\"\n\n\"The madmen\u2026\" a helmsman from Caria, dragging the double oars of his rudder with him, told her. \"They're coming like sheep into a wolf's mouth\u2026\" he explained, and pointed to the sea. \"The admiral of the fleet promised twenty golden darics to the first crew that sinks or captures a Greek vessel.\"\n\nArtemisia did not ask for more explanations. She just looked at the horizon to confirm the man's words. A formation of about two hundred vessels was coming directly towards them with furled sails. Then she looked around her at the ships of her own fleet. Her side must have more than six hundred battle-ready ships that could sail at once, perhaps more than seven or eight hundred if they could wait a little while longer. One Greek ship to three or four Persian ships. They would battle on an open sea ten miles wide, on which they could deploy a thousand or two thousand boats in full formation so as to take full advantage of their crushing numerical superiority.\n\n\"They are mad, they come to the wolf's mouth of their own will\u2026\" she murmured in agreement, confirming the helmsman's words, and strode quickly towards the center of the dockyard where her own ships were berthed.\n\nShe changed on board her flagship so as not to waste time. She took off her jewelry and her garments and, over a simple linen chiton, she put on the bronze armor that she kept in the little wooden storeroom at the bow of her ship. Then she took her place on the high platform at the stern. A wave of determination and excitement swept through her face and spirit.\n\nShe inspected her rowers on both sides of boat. All three rows of men, one above the other, were in their places with their callused hands grasping the handles of the oars. Then her eyes went to the front end of the boat, to the bow. The signalman and the lookout who would oversee communication and navigation were standing upright in their places. Above them, in the two wide passageways of the deck, the five archers and ten solders who would protect the ship were standing. The petty officer ran back and forth among them in a fury, yelling orders at the rowers. The piper next to her waited with the mouthpiece of his pipe between his lips and his chest expanded. Diomedes was ready behind her, with the double oars of the rudder in his hands. A thrill of pleasure ran down her spine as she watched her ship get ready and breathed in the smell of two hundred male bodies packed together in a hundred and thirty foot wooden ship.\n\nHer other four vessels were already in formation next to her and were ready to start with her. She raised her eyes high and looked at the furled sail, tied carefully to the middle mast. The distance was short and the battle would start soon, and that meant moving only with the oars to build up power and speed, and also to avoid any disasters from the unpredictable wind. In sea battles with ramming, precision and coordination played the first and most important role. Satisfied by what she saw, she strove to remember any last detail she might have forgotten, but she could not remember anything.\n\nThey were ready.\n\nThe signal from the Persian admiral was given from the top of the hill when the great horn roared three times. Thousands of wooden oars were raised simultaneously into the air. The pipes of the ships sounded piercingly. The oars were buried in the water and pulled backwards with a loud bellow from the rowers. Then out again, in again, pull again, in a steadily increasing rhythm.\n\nThe Persian armada sailed.\n\nOnly one hour later they were quickly approaching the Greek fleet. Artemisia, at the center of the Persian formation with the Phoenician ships to port and the Egyptians to starboard, looked at the horizon and calculated their position and speed. The longer she watched the two hundred Greek triremes drawn up in a straight line across from them, the more she wondered. Their own formation stretched farther than the Greeks for about two hundred ships to starboard and another two hundred to port. They would outflank them and encircle them at once. The Greeks would be caught like a rabbit in a trap. They would be trapped and sunk before they could find a way to escape.\n\n\"What is he doing? Is he that stupid? Or that brave?\" she wondered, this time shivering with fear for Themistocles. \"Or is he simply insane? Has he really put a little fleet like this on such an open sea? It is suicide\u2026\" she murmured, and the last word raised the black flag of grief inside her.\n\nThe cries of her quartermaster, who stood with his polished shield on the bow receiving and sending light signals to the other admirals, interrupted her gloomy thoughts. The man on the other side shouted loudly, but his voice was drowned out by the sharp sound of the pipe and the clamor of the voices of the crew. Now he had put down his shield and raised his arms high, opening and shutting one hand hastily and pointing ahead. That meant that the signal had been given to sail at attack speed, the highest speed the rowers could manage, the speed for ramming.\n\nAs the Cassiope's prow cut through the water, the wind blew the hair streaming from under her helmet and drops of sea water moistened her face. She loved this feeling of speed on the sea and the sense of coming battle, but it made it hard to hear and see. Artemisia stood up, holding on by the rail, and brought her other hand up to shade her eyes against the sun as she observed the Greek fleet.\n\nNo, she was not analyzing the enemy's formation and their rigging to divine their battle tactics. She was not thinking about battle on the sea at all at this moment. She was thinking of him. He had not left her thoughts for a single day. After all that had taken place in her bedroom that summer's night, he would never leave them. Because the ties that bound them would hold for a lifetime.\n\nHer eyes darted feverishly from the prow of one Greek ship to the next, looking at the martial emblems of the Greek cities painted above the rams. Mermaids, dolphins, eagles, winged horses, entwined snakes, lighted torches. She searched attentively through them all. Her life with Themistocles might depend on her powers of observation. If she could make sure she ended up opposite him, the chances were better that he might survive the calamity coming to him and the other Greeks. She would make sure of that. She would do what she could.\n\nBut no matter how hard she looked she could not make out images of snakes, owls or olive trees, the symbols of Athens and its protector, the goddess Athena. She was too far away and the hundreds of ships rowing in a frenzied rhythm raised a mist and a haze as if the winter rains had come.\n\n\"Let whatever the gods wish to happen, happen. I did what I could. I offered him the hand of friendship and he refused. I asked him to marry me and he rejected me. I tried to save him before it was too late and he said no. And now he wants to destroy himself\u2026\" she murmured, and turned her attention from the prows of the Greek ships.\n\nBut not from the ships themselves.\n\nThat she now looked at in surprise, almost appalled.\n\nJust before the two fleets clashed mercilessly, each trying to disembowel the other side's ships with their bronze rams in the famous tactic of diekplou, the Greek formation started to change. Their oars dug into the water and pulled only on one side. The line of their bows opened and the ships spread out, leaving space between them. There is no worse mistake in a naval battle than to leave space between ships, because that way the enemy can sail into the space and ram the ships from the side.\n\nThe Persians could not believe their eyes. The Greeks were turning their backs. Their formation was breaking up. They would not stay and fight. They had come out on the open sea in the hope that the Persians would not answer their challenge, and now they were running in fear from the unbelievable sight of six hundred fully armed ships rowing towards them at full speed. The commanders were dumbfounded. They felt a strange blend of enthusiasm and disappointment. Easy victory, little glory, few gifts from the emperor.\n\nArtemisia looked around her at the Persian armada. And then to the back of their formation, to the high ship that followed it, the ship with the porphyry sail with its golden border and the great kriari, the male sheep with the curled horns, as its figurehead. To the flagship of the whole Persian fleet, the ship of Achaimenes that was now giving orders with light signals: encircle the Greeks and attack them.\n\nMoment by moment, distress grew within her. This might be their great chance. To trap them, not to allow them to escape. To hunt down the Greek fleet and sink it, to dominate the sea routes and free up the movements of the Persian army.\n\n\"But he can't be such a fool\u2026 Themistocles can't have made that big of a mistake\u2026 It can't be\u2026\" she repeated, feeling her ship gain even more speed. She could not believe it. \"He can't be such a fool\u2026\"\n\nNot the Themistocles she knew, anyway. Not the one she had met and slept with. Not the notorious and resourceful leader of the Athenians.\n\nBefore she had time to shake off her distracted thoughts, the two ends of the Persian fleet had already started to row forward in an attempt to close the sides of the pincers before the Greeks could escape. She watched the ships from Caria, Cyprus and Thrace hastily outflank the enemy fleet as a storm brewed inside her, an ugly foreboding that she could not tame.\n\nHe raised her eyes and looked at the Greek fleet again.\n\nAnd then she understood. And a shudder ran through her.\n\nThey had been wrong. The Greeks were not leaving.\n\nAt that moment the Greek ships, the oars on their port sides working furiously and the oars on their starboard sides motionless in the air, their bows opening to the front and their sterns remaining still, completed their new formation.\n\nLike a giant sea daisy, the Greek ships formed in a tight circle with rams sticking out across the whole front. The image resembled a huge sea urchin spreading out its sharp spines. There were no exposed or vulnerable points anywhere, there were no sides uncovered. The center of the circle was completely covered by the sterns of the ships. With an unexpected and ingenious move, they had managed to transform the open sea into a narrow battlefield, and their disadvantage into an advantage.\n\nBefore the Persian ships could hurriedly close their pincers and form their own, larger circle, the Greek fleet struck like lightning. At a signal given from some central ship, the Greeks started to sing their martial hymn in stentorian voices, and their ships rushed forward with all the speed their oars could give them.\n\nArtemisia rubbed her eyes, unable to believe what she was watching. The Greek ships shot out in all directions at once, with perfect synchronization and coordination, like the rays of the sun pulled by the mighty Apollo.\n\nThe Persian navy was struck before it had time to complete its maneuver and draw up in battle position. But even if it had managed to do that, the circle it formed had such a large perimeter that its three-to-one numerical superiority did not help. They would have needed twice as many ships to close that circle. And now it was too late. Their ships were in loose array, their unprotected sides exposed to the Greek rams.\n\n\"Our only hope is to sacrifice some of our ships to trap the Greek ships when they ram us. We have many ships, we can offer some for bait to slow them down, and then we'll strike with the rest\" murmured Artemisia.\n\nHer ideas were correct, based on the tactic of ramming usually followed in sea battles.\n\nBut this time they did not apply. Because the attack planned by the Greeks was not based on ramming enemy vessels. It was based on surprise, on instantaneous direct strikes while moving and swift withdrawals.\n\nBy now the Greeks had achieved their first goal.\n\nIt was time for the second: the instantaneous direct strikes.\n\nThe Greek ships came forward with all the speed their oars could give them. According to the battle tactics that were usual at that time, they should now attempt the diekplou. That is, they would approach the enemy ship from the side at a short distance, as if they were simply going to pass it. When the two ships lay parallel to each other, with a sudden maneuver, they would turn vertical to the enemy and ram its unprotected side. They would strike with terrible force, delivering a deadly blow and opening a great hole in the wooden keel. Then the rowers would row backwards. The attacking ship would detach itself from the rammed one and quickly withdraw, before the enemy waiting on the deck could take advantage of the contact to storm its deck.\n\n\"Archers at the stern! Soldiers left and right of the rowers! Weapons at the ready!\" shouted Artemisia as she waited for the blow of the ram, planning to board the Greek ship before it could withdraw. Capturing an unscathed enemy ship was the only solution. The new ship would replace the one sunk by the blow. \"Rowers on the port side row slowly, approach the starboard side of the ship and cover the empty space to\u2026\"\n\nHer words stopped abruptly. Her eyes were fixed on the fast-approaching Greek ship. It was only a hundred yards away. She could clearly make out the white sail tied to the mast, but also the wooden statue above its ram, a mermaid holding two entwined snakes, the symbol of the goddess Athena.\n\n\"It's Athenian\u2026\"\n\nThat was all she managed to say, as her eyes focused a little above the ram and the two painted eyes. On the ship's name, written clearly in red: Artemis.\n\n\"It's him\u2026 It can't be anyone else\u2026 she murmured, the instant she felt the crash of impact.\n\nThe few seconds of delay were crucial. The Artemis struck the Cassiope from the side and the flagship of Halicarnassus shook and shuddered as if in a raging gale. The impact was so strong that the seats of the rowers were almost pushed into the sea. The soldiers standing ready for battle fell overboard and, in their eighty pounds of bronze armor, sank like stones. The archers lost their quivers and arrows, the petty officer had fallen into the hold, and dozens of the rowers had broken fingers and dislocated shoulders from the violent smashing of the oars they held.\n\nBut her ship held.\n\nAnd stayed afloat.\n\nBecause the Athenian vessel did not strike vertically with its ram to open a great hole in the Cassiope and sink it. It passed right next to it with the oars withdrawn, and its hard wooden rail snapped off the Cassiope's oars like twigs, literally shaving them off. It was a calculated blow with controlled results. No ship was sunk, but the Cassiope lost all the oars on its starboard side and half of its rowers, who were unprepared for the blow and killed by their own oars.\n\nFor one instant, as if time had frozen, the two ships stopped and embraced each other like long-lost lovers.\n\nBut the same did not happen with the ships around them. Uproar and crashes came from dozens of points at the same time. The Greek ships charged into the empty spaces between the Persian ships, but they did not stop to carry out the maneuver of diekplou and ram them. They simply passed quickly by their sides, shearing off the Persian oars with their rails. The enemy ships became useless and many rowers were killed or lost their hands, legs or spines. The Greek ships did not even stop to board. They were satisfied with crippling the Persian ships and inflicting losses on their crews, while they themselves got away safe and sound.\n\nNone of that happened to the Cassiope. The ship from Halicarnassus tried to recover from the clash, while the Athenian went ahead at a very slow pace, as if it was not eager to leave.\n\n\"Go\u2026\"\n\nThe voice from the stern of the Athenian ship caught Artemisia's attention. Her eyes opened, as did her mouth, but no sound came from them. She looked across to the overwrought face with the high cheekbones, snub nose and decisive glance. She looked at it and her heart longed for him more than it had before, when she was going into battle. She looked at him and her knees loosened worse than at the moment of impact.\n\n\"Themistocles?\"\n\n\"Go. Turn back or take down your emblems. Our council of war has put a price of ten thousand drachmas on your head. All the captains of the Greek fleet will be hunting for you.\"\n\n\"They don't need to hunt for me, I'm here. Let them come!\" she told him, partly indignant, partly flattered.\n\n\"Go!\"\n\nSlowly, their ships drew apart. Artemisia looked at him without speaking as he withdrew in his ship, hanging from its raised stern. He shouted something to her, but she couldn't hear him anymore. Maybe he was repeating his warning.\n\n\"That he put himself in danger to come close to me, to warn me and protect me\u2026\" she muttered, surprised herself by how moved she was.\n\nShe made a trumpet with her hands before her mouth, ready to speak, ready to ask, ready to shout to him.\n\nShe did not have time. The Athenian ship was too far away. Themistocles, standing at the stern, had stopped speaking. He was simply looking at her anxiously.\n\nShe put down her arms in frustration. Shouts and groans were heard from inside her ship. Her ears were filled with the clamor from the sea battle raging around her. She wasn't interested. She wasn't interested in anything. The only thing that interested her at that moment was the man with the white chiton and the helmet, retreating from her and becoming lost in the mist and fog of battle. Whom she might not ever see again, whom she might never tell the secret she carried deep inside her.\n\nBefore turning back to her ship and answering the agonized cries of her men, she saw the white chiton one more time. Themistocles had climbed all the way up the curved stern of the boat and was standing looking at her, gesturing with his hands. His hands were spread towards the northeast, moving emphatically. Then he pointed to the west, to the sun that was setting behind the mountains of Greece. Then back to the northeast.\n\nArtemisia turned in the direction his hand was pointing.\n\nShe saw the island in the distance.\n\nAnd understood.\n\nIt was dark.\n\nA moonless night and the heavens were embroidered with thousands of stars. But their light could not dispel the darkness. It could not make shadows.\n\nIt was ideal.\n\nHe got there first. He had come there early and was waiting. His ship was drawn up on the shore, its crew in their place, ready, alert. He himself had climbed down by the rope ladder and was waiting on the shore in the pitch-black darkness, looking towards the west where he was expecting her to come from. In his hand he held a lighted clay lamp, covered for the time being by his palm.\n\nA short while later he heard oars splashing softly. He did not hear a petty officer, or the shrill sound of a pipe. He uncovered the lamp in his hand and held it high, like a little lighthouse. The quiet splashing continued to come to his ears until his eyes, which had grown used to the darkness, made out the dark shape over through the water. Her ship appeared out of the darkness calmly, evocatively.\n\nThe Cassiope moored next to the Athenian ship on the great sandy shore. Her sailors disembarked, dragged her bow onto the sand, and then climbed back in and lay low under the deck. With airy movements, Artemisia's lithe form climbed over the rail and jumped easily to the sand.\n\nThemistocles came quickly towards her and stood before her. \"Did anyone follow you?\"\n\n\"Even if they had wished to they could not have done so in this darkness. I even had a hard time finding the island. Only the Phoenicians could do it, but they don't like to travel on the sea at night. You?\"\n\n\"No. If they had followed me, I would not see the light of day tomorrow.\"\n\n\"Why did you tell me to come here?\" she asked him, hoping for an answer that would save both her life and his. Metaphorically the first, literally the second. Not to mention a third who was waiting back in her country.\n\n\"I want to talk to you, Artemisia.\"\n\nHis imperative tone, stripped of emotion, made her feel disappointed.\n\n\"Tell me\u2026\" She looked behind her, to her ship waiting with its sailors at the oars. \"I do not have much time. They don't know I'm gone at the dockyard. Tell me\u2026\"\n\n\"Not here.\"\n\n\"But you told me to come\u2026\" she raised her voice, but stopped suddenly feeling one of his hands, rough with salt, cover her mouth and the other take her by the arm.\n\nShe followed, not saying a word. Themistocles walked, pulling her behind him, and together they entered the little pine forest next to the sandy bay. They walked a good way, in the dark, until they felt the ground become hard and steep under their feet. They had reached the beginning of the pine-covered slope of the hill that towered over the beach.\n\n\"Good. Now we're far enough away. Here they can't see or hear us.\"\n\nArtemisia felt his hand release her arm and at the same time she heard his mantle rustle. Her hand immediately went to the belt around her waist, to the sheathed sword hanging next to her body.\n\n\"Don't be afraid. I have the reputation of being a cunning man, but not even I would go to the trouble to bring you here to kill you. If I had wanted to, I could have done that this afternoon, in the battle.\"\n\n\"What then?\" she asked, taking her hand off the hilt.\n\n\"Contrary to what you believe, I came to save your life. I don't want you to die on this campaign.\"\n\n\"Why?\"\n\n\"I don't want\u2026\"\n\n\"Why?\" she repeated stubbornly.\n\n\"The Greeks have put a price on your head. They find it humiliating to fight and be defeated by a woman. They want to get rid of you, make an example of you, and send a message to everyone with your death.\"\n\nArtemisia laughed. \"I'm here. Let them try.\"\n\n\"Today five of the best ships in the fleet asked my permission to ram you. I refused. I said you belong to me. I won't be able to refuse forever.\"\n\n\"Why did you do that?\"\n\n\"Because I don't want you to be killed.\"\n\n\"Why not?\"\n\n\"You are very stubborn.\"\n\n\"And you don't talk much for an Athenian. Why don't you answer? Why do you want to save my life so much, that you put your own in danger?\"\n\nSilence. An empty space. And then, suddenly, Themistocles took a step forward and touched her neck, moving her ebony hair to the side. He pulled her to him and covered her mouth with his. His silent tongue sang between her lips like a nightingale in spring.\n\nThey fell together on the bed of soft leaves and pine needles and their bodies entwined like sailor's knots. The caresses and kisses quickly gave place to feverish excitement. Their limbs tangled, their skin shuddered, their hands clasped tightly and caressed wildly.\n\n\"Now\u2026 Don't delay\u2026 I want you now\u2026\" she whispered full of desire.\n\nHe responded to her request immediately. He spread her legs and put his naked body between her naked thighs, his penis as erect as a bronze ram.\n\n\"No\u2026\"\n\n\"No?\" he asked, dazed and confused.\n\nArtemisia pushed him away with her legs. Then she got up from the ground, supporting herself on one elbow, turned, got up and turned her back to him.\n\n\"I thought you wanted to\u2026\"\n\n\"Don't talk, fool\" she rebuked him in a voice rough from passion. \"This is not the orator's podium in your assembly.\"\n\nThen she put her palms on the ground and supported her body on her knees. She bent her waist and lowered her head until the side of her face touched the fallen leaves. She brought back her palms and opened her round buttocks, revealing the most hidden spot of her body.\n\n\"This may be the last time I see you. I want to give you a gift\u2026\" she said slowly, with desire evident in every sound coming from her half open mouth. \"Take me in the way you Greeks like so much\u2026\"\n\nSome time later, both half lying, they were looking at the stars in the sky. Their breath had slowed, but their skins still burned, their bodies were still damp. She was bending over his chest, one of her hands in his short hair, the other lower, stroking his soft and moist penis which, a short time before, had come out of her.\n\n\"I don't want you to die either\" she said tiredly.\n\n\"Why not? You are now queen of Halicarnassus. You don't need to marry me.\"\n\n\"Men are good for politics and war. But for all the rest, they need a woman\" she murmured, trying to sound annoyed. But she didn't succeed. \"I want us to live together. I feel desire for you, you've never left my mind in all this time.\"\n\n\"We are enemies.\"\n\n\"Now. In a few weeks the war will be over.\"\n\n\"Don't be so sure. But even if it is over, I cannot abandon my country.\"\n\n\"It will end. Xerxes cannot maintain such a large army and fleet forever. He will strike a crushing blow to bring the campaign to an end, so that winter will not find him on enemy territory. Then, when everything is over, come to Halicarnassus with me. That is your country too, on your mother's side.\"\n\n\"I cannot leave Athens and my people.\"\n\n\"Leonidas is dead. Thermopylae has fallen. In a little while, Athens will fall too. It will not exist anymore. It will be just a province of the empire.\"\n\n\"If my city didn't exist\u2026\"\n\n\"Your city will not exist, Themistocles. The question is whether you will exist\u2026 That's what I care about\u2026 And not just for my own sake\u2026\"\n\n\"What are you trying to say?\"\n\n\"Tell me that you will leave the Greeks and come with me.\"\n\nHe shook her off quickly. Her body was light, but the words that came out of her mouth were as heavy as lead.\n\n\"Are you asking me to betray my country?\"\n\n\"To leave it. It's not the same thing. Just in time, maybe. Before your lifeless corpse is floating around in Poseidon's kingdom.\"\n\n\"Why should I do that? Just to save my life? He asked sarcastically.\"\n\n\"To be king at my side.\"\n\n\"I grew up in a democracy. That's what I'm fighting for.\"\n\n\"Nonsense. The world is ruled by the smart and the powerful. All the others just serve. That is how the gods made it.\"\n\nThemistocles got up and put on his linen chiton. Then he looked at the sky. \"It's late. We must go back. Soon Apollo will be driving his shining chariot through the heavens.\"\n\nBefore the words were out of his mouth he felt her nails raking his shoulder, then his waist and finally his buttocks. He shuddered with pleasure. But he did not turn towards her.\n\n\"Xerxes has gathered the greatest army and fleet the world has ever seen. How long will you stand against him? With what forces and what reserves? Sooner or later, even the hardest rock is worn away by the waves. That is the truth. There is no way to defeat the emperor.\"\n\nHe was silent, weighing her words. He stood looking at the stars, fighting to control his sorrow at the truth of her words and the desire growing inside him at her touch. Then he noticed the constellation of Leo and next to it, the constellation of Scorpio. People believe that lions win in war. But scorpions, though often overlooked, are more effective. Scorpions attack stealthily, without boasting or glory. They prepare for a long time and finally strike once, but they strike suddenly, effectively, fatally. He smiled and turned towards her, the smile widening.\n\n\"What do you think I should do?\" he asked.\n\nThey say that smiles are catching. In that case, it happened to be true. Artemisia took her fingertips from his back, rose, stood before him and tenderly stroked his cheek.\n\n\"Come with us. The Great King will reward you richly. In spite of the name of barbarian that has been given him, he knows how to value an intelligent man and an able warrior. If you swear loyalty to him and help him, he may make you satrap of the provinces of Ionia. Then, together, as legal spouses, we will govern almost all of Ionia, because the territories of Halicarnassus will double.\"\n\n\"Two birds with one stone\u2026 Enslavement to the Persian and me as king next to you, on new territory\u2026\" he commented ironically.\n\nArtemisia's expression hardened. \"The land is not the only reason I want you as my husband\" she said, fighting to hide her nervousness.\n\nThemistocles, for his part, was trying to hide his smile. His irony had a purpose. If he accepted her proposal immediately, he would make her suspicious. He had to make her believe he was struggling, that he was trying to get around his objections, so that she would try to persuade him. That was the smartest way. He had used it many times on his opponents in the assembly of Athens. Even if you are a wolf, you have to learn to bleat every now and then to bring the sheep near you. That was what he always told his friends.\n\n\"If I sacrifice Athens\u2026 What will I gain in return?\" he asked drily, trying to look like a sharp merchant who only thought about profit.\n\nIt took her several minutes to explain the emperor's generosity, giving examples. It took her even longer to analyze her plans for their kingdom It took her very little time to stand on her toes and kiss him tenderly on the lips.\n\n\"I love you\u2026\" she whispered, her lips still moist from his.\n\nIt was the right moment. Like a blacksmith who knows when the metal is hot and flexible, ready to be taken out of the furnace and hammered on his anvil, Themistocles said the words she so longed to hear from his lips.\n\n\"So do I\u2026 I love you too\u2026\" he told her tenderly. \"That's why I will do what you ask\u2026 I will do it for both of us\u2026\"\n\n\"Not just for us.\"\n\n\"And for your emperor.\"\n\n\"Not just for him.\"\n\n\"For who, then?\" wondered Themistocles.\n\n\"The time has not yet come for you to find out\" she told him, laughing.\n\n\"When will it come?\"\n\n\"After our victory.\"\n\nIn spite of her fearless and dauntless character, she took his warning seriously. The next morning, after a few hours of sleep, she pretended to be sick and avoided approaching the fleet and its flagship.\n\nShe explained her reasons for her absence to the Persian admiral and retired, first to her tent and then to the place where she had sat the first evening after she got there, on top of the hill above the anchorage.\n\nAchaimenes had ordered his fleet to leave late in the afternoon. The whole morning would be devoted to repairing the damaged ships and replacing the oars that had been broken by the Greeks' strange tactic. Then, in the afternoon, after the rowers who had been killed or crippled were replaced, the Persian fleet would sail to strike the Greeks before their own anchorage, on the opposite shore, at Artemisio. Mervalos, the Phoenician commander, who still could not stomach the thought of their defeat the day before, had proposed a commando raid to the Greek heart, at their base itself, and Achaimenes had accepted his proposal with enthusiasm. They would strike simultaneously from two sides.\n\nAccording to Mervalos' plan, some ships would disembark Persian troops a little to the east of the Greek anchorage, while the main force of the fleet would surround them on the side of the sea. The ships with the troops had already sailed so that the Persian soldiers would be able to disembark in time to march the distance to the Greek dockyard. The other ships would wait for the smoke signal from the mountain opposite them to sail. Thus they would coordinate and strike a crushing blow simultaneously from land and sea.\n\nArtemisia had to admit that it was a plan worthy of a Phoenician warlord. A plan that, if it worked, would deprive her of the great benefit of last night's success, the agreement she had made with Themistocles. On the one hand the glory of the victory would go only to the Phoenicians, and on the other hand Themistocles himself might be killed in the battle.\n\n\"If things go well for Achaimenes, today everything will be over\u2026 Unfortunately\u2026\" she murmured thoughtfully. \"Our victory will come without my contribution.\"\n\nHer heart tightened with fear, her chest swelled with anxiety. She sat in the shade of the pine and sighed deeply. The enthusiasm of the previous evening had been replaced by anxiety about the outcome of the battle that was about to take place. She sat and prayed devoutly to her protecting goddess, Artemis, to turn events towards the best solution for her, and it was a long time before she raised her eyes.\n\nHer reverent prayer was interrupted suddenly by the piercing sound of the trumpet. Then followed the harsh voices of officers and the clamor of sailors weighing anchor, although it was still too early for the fleet to sail.\n\nPuzzled, she raised her head and looked at their dockyard.\n\nAnd then at the sea before her.\n\nAnd then she saw them.\n\n\"They are mad!\" she muttered in surprise and admiration. \"They really are mad, by Artemis\u2026\"\n\nThe opposite shore was hidden.\n\nThe Greek fleet had arrived at full speed and it had been drawn up opposite them before they even had time to sound the alarm. The rowers were still on shore and most of the officers were at the military council being informed.\n\nThe few Persian ships that were manned and battle-ready at that moment, immediately began to row towards the exit of the anchorage, so as to create a security cordon and intercept the Greek attack.\n\nArtemisia looked over at the Greek fleet, trying to make out the white sail and the mermaid with the two entwined snakes, Themistocles' ship.\n\nBut it was too far away. All she could do was to calculate the number of enemy vessels. Clearly fewer than on the previous day. She counted about a hundred and twenty Greek ships. There were about four hundred of their own, even after the departure of the two hundred that had left earlier to carry out the encircling maneuver by transferring soldiers. When they were manned and ready, they would have a four to one superiority. This time, no Greek formation could cover the difference. No heroism could turn it around.\n\n\"They are mad\u2026\" she murmured again.\n\nAnd then, before the words were out of her mouth, the first line of Greek ships rushed forward to the paroxysmal rhythm of the pipes. At the same time, great stretched leather drums sounded loudly, shaking the air of the bay, as the trumpet calls echoed through the steep cliffs that surrounded it. Just before the enemy ships reached their greatest speed, the trumpet calls suddenly stopped and thousands of male voices were raised. The Greeks attacked frontally, singing their victorious battle hymn.\n\n\"It's amazing\u2026\"\n\nArtemisia looked and could not believe her eyes. Ignoring every rule of war at sea, the little Greek fleet attacked first, not waiting for battle. The Persian vessels that had come out into open waters were swept by the first wave of the attack. Some of the Greek ships appeared to have achieved their purpose and sunk the Persian ships, others clashed with the heavier Persians and were damaged. The sea battle had an ambivalent outcome in spite of the prowess and daring of the Greek crews, and Artemisia did not understand why they were making this suicidal move. Because of this, when the time for the real battle came, the Greek fleet would have even fewer battle-ready ships.\n\nHer doubt was soon over. Forty of the Greek ships were engaged in battle, but the other eighty skirted the conflict and outflanked the Phoenicians who were protecting the dockyard. They gathered together, undisturbed, a little farther on, drew up in a straight formation and immediately rushed forward again at top speed. They were going to ram the Persian ships while they were still docked at the shore. It was very dangerous since some of the attacking ships might run aground in the shallow water off the coast, but the Greeks were fighting on their own territory and obviously they knew the waters.\n\nThe Persians did not have time to sail away. They tried to pull their ships even further out of the water, using slaves and draft animals to take them out of the reach of the enemy rams, while at the same time their archers let loose broadsides of arrows at the rowers, trying to hit enough of them to lessen the speed and momentum of the attack.\n\nBefore the sun had climbed over the mountains of central Greece, towering to the west, the Greek fleet withdrew as quickly as it had come, leaving behind chaos, panic and seventy destroyed ships. Although the damage to the Persian fleet was slight in absolute terms\u2014it still had enough ships and crewmen in reserve\u2014the damage to the morale of sailors and officers was incalculable.\n\nThat same evening, Achaimenes publicly beheaded the officers on duty and two admirals as an example. Then, still full of rage, he summoned a war council. Not so much to return the blow as to find a victim that he could offer to his brother in atonement, along with the bad news.\n\n\"Well?\" Achaimenes asked again, returning her to the present. \"Are you going to tell me where you were?\"\n\n\"I do not understand, my admiral\u2026\"\n\nThe Persian sat down again, exasperated, still holding in his hand the papyrus with the imperial seal. \"In addition to your strange absence that night, the next day you avoided taking part in the battle. Why?\"\n\n\"I was ill.\"\n\n\"Where were you, Artemisia?\"\n\n\"Here. In the dockyard.\"\n\n\"No one saw you.\"\n\n\"I was high up on the hill.\"\n\nThe Persian sighed. He raised his hand and gave the papyrus to the officer of his personal guard. \"Carry out the orders of the Great King. We won't get a word out of her mouth.\"\n\nThe officer opened the papyrus and ran his eyes over the words. \"Very well\u2026\" he said finally, and his eyes sought the huge black eunuch.\n\n\"When everything is finished, write a letter to the king. Say that his wishes were carried out immediately, exactly as he asked\" said Achaimenes to the scribe of the admiralty.\n\n\"What do you want me to tell you?\" shouted Artemisia, as she sensed behind her the eunuch's heavy breath and the smell of blood coming from his gigantic body.\n\nAchaimenes sighed. \"You know what I want you to tell me. I asked you before. Where were you and what did you do for my brother to make a decree like this?\" He looked at her face impatiently. Then at the lamp that had almost gone out. \"Don't take too long, Artemisia. I am tired.\"\n\n\"I was with Themistocles\".\n\n\"The Athenian? The leader of our enemies?\"\n\nThe eunuch shook beside her.\n\n\"Yes. We are relatives.\"\n\n\"But enemies in this war\" murmured Achaimenes through his clenched teeth.\n\n\"Not any more. I will tell you. I will tell you everything.\"\n\nThe admiral made a gesture to the eunuch, who withdrew. \"Quickly though. Do not try my patience.\"\n\n\"I made a deal with him. At the right moment Themistocles will come to us. Perhaps with the whole fleet of Athens.\"\n\n\"Are you telling the truth?\" asked Achaimenes doubtfully. But the excitement that had suddenly appeared on his face clearly showed his interest. Treachery was the best tactic for swift victory in war. It had been shown at Thermopylae the day before. Treachery would be the best gift for the Persian admiral's abject morale. \"Are you telling the truth, woman?\" he asked again, intensely.\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\"And what does the Athenian ask in return?\"\n\n\"To become my spouse and king of Halicarnassus.\"\n\nAchaimenes smiled. For the first time since the previous day. Then, as if he had suddenly thought of something, his face clouded over again.\n\n\"When did you make this arrangement?\"\n\n\"Yesterday evening. I met him secretly on the island of Skiathos.\"\n\n\"If that is so, why did the Athenian not warn us today? Why did he attack us with the other Greeks?\" he asked nervously.\n\n\"He will come to us at the right moment, that is what we agreed. Today was not the right moment. It was too soon, he did not have time to put our plan into practice. If he had not fought with them today, he would have caused suspicions and the whole plan would have foundered.\"\n\n\"And when will the right moment be?\"\n\n\"At the decisive naval battle. Today, in spite of the damage they caused, they only destroyed a small part of our fleet. Most of our ships are still ready for battle\u2026\"\n\n\"We have six hundred left. We have lost almost a third of our ships in storms and sea battles.\"\n\n\"Still. We have the advantage on the sea and we completely dominate the land. What can stop us? If everything goes well with Themistocles, it is only a matter of time before we destroy the Greek fleet and become masters of the sea. And that honor will belong only to you, Achaimenes. History will memorialize your name for ever.\n\nFlattery is the shortest path to success. Everyone knows that. Although Achaimenes was a member of the Persian court and had used the ploy many times, he gave in to its seduction immediately. Anyway, this time he was not using it. He was its object, and that made all the difference.\n\n\"I must admit that your plan is very good, Artemisia\" he commented. \"Perhaps that is what made my brother issue this decree. Were you perhaps gone today because you were secretly travelling to his camp at Thermopylae and telling him what you had accomplished with Themistocles?\"\n\n\"No\u2026\" she answered, really puzzled this time.\n\n\"Take her\" he ordered his officer.\n\nThe eunuch moved toward her. The sword of the officer touched her back.\n\n\"Without me there is no agreement\" Artemisia reacted. \"Themistocles will not commit treason for money or gifts, but only for my sake. If something happens to me, the agreement will be cancelled.\"\n\n\"Why should something happen to you?\" asked Achaimenes. \"Now, after all you have told me, I applaud my brother's decree as well, although it enraged me at first.\"\n\n\"What is his decree?\" she asked in surprise.\n\n\"He has appointed you vice admiral of the fleet.\"\n\nThe officer's sword was lowered.\n\nThe eunuch's thick hands withdrew.\n\nThe scribe rolled his eyes.\n\n\"Vice admiral?\"\n\n\"Together with Mervalos and Tetramistos, the Phoenician admirals. Immediately under me. That was the sudden and strange imperial decree that made my heart stop and filled my mind with doubts and questions\u2026 No longer\u2026 After what you have told me, I understand what he did and I agree\u2026\" murmured Achaimenes with satisfaction. \"Women\u2026 Sometimes more cunning than the gods\u2026\" he added, smiling."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "September, 480 B.C.", "text": "[ \"The Fall of an Empire\" ]\n\n[ The Decision ]\n\nA moonless night. And yet their anguished faces were lit up as they stood on the shore of the island of Salamis across from Athens. They watched with fear, awe and anger as their city burned. The shops and houses, the market, the gymnasia and the theaters had already fallen prey to the flames. But their indignant eyes were mainly drawn to the flaming temples of the Acropolis.\n\nWhen the Persian army reached Athens three weeks after the battle of Thermopylae, it had captured an abandoned city. All of the noncombatants, tens of thousands of people, had been moved to the nearby islands of Aegina and Salamis. The evacuation was completed in fifteen days and nights by the Athenian warships returning from Artemisio, together with merchant vessels and transports from the harbor of Piraeus.\n\nThe fury of Xerxes had known no bounds. He laid siege to the Acropolis, where those who were too old or too disabled to move had taken refuge, and when he captured it he respected neither the temple of the goddess Athena nor the supplicants who had taken refuge in it. He slaughtered them all and set fire to the whole of Athens.\n\n\"By Zeus\u2026 We don't have a country any more\u2026\" murmured Mnisiphilos, his voice shaking with grief, as he watched the destruction.\n\n\"And yet\u2026\"\n\n\"And yet what, Themistocles? Look. There are fires everywhere. Nothing is left of the Acropolis but the rock. Mnisiphilos is right, we don't have a city any more, we don't have a country\" said Cimonas in a rage.\n\n\"Yes, we don't have a city any more, but we do have a country.\"\n\n\"Ashes and embers is all we have.\"\n\n\"No. We have dry wood and strong hulls. Our ships are our country now.\"\n\n\"What do you mean? That we are all going to live together in the holds, like rats?\"\n\nThemistocles did not have time to answer Mnisiphilos' sarcasm. The messenger started to shout even before he reached the top of the hill where the three of them stood looking at the destruction.\n\n\"Eurybiades wants to see you, Themistocles.\"\n\n\"Where?\"\n\n\"On his flagship. He has called a war council.\"\n\nCimon raised his head and looked at the sky. The moon was in the east, but this was the third week after the full moon and that meant that the night was far gone.\n\n\"At this time of night?\" he muttered, puzzled.\n\n\"We're at war, Cimonas. There are no good or bad times\" commented Themistocles, who was worried. \"I am sure the Spartan has his reasons.\"\n\n\"I'll come with you\u2026\"\n\n\"No, Mnisiphiles, the soldiers of the infantry know and respect you. I want you to be near them because I trust you. I control the fleet. I'll take Cimonas with me.\"\n\n\"Why Cimonas?\"\n\n\"If I need to leave the war council for any reason, I don't want to give Eurybiades and Adeimantos a chance to influence the leaders of the other cities against us. There must be at least one Athenian to protect our interests.\"\n\n\"Why would they influence them against us? At Artemisio we all fought together as one.\"\n\n\"Only for three days, Mnisiphiles.\"\n\n\"What does that mean?\"\n\n\"That that's how long Greeks can remain unified\" Themistocles said, uneasily, and he started to walk quickly down this hill with his heart hammering faster and faster from suspense.\n\nWhen he reached the bottom of the hill before the dockyard where the whole Greek fleet had anchored after leaving Artemisio, he stood still for a moment in surprise, hearing a strange noise and feeling the earth tremble under his feet. He raised his eyes, puzzled, and looked across the sea straits. A white cloud of dust several miles long was rising from the mainland opposite.\n\nThen he understood why Eurybiades had suddenly summoned the war council in the middle of the night.\n\nThe Persian army was leaving ruined Athens and marching south.\n\nTowards Corinth and Sparta."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 69", "text": "On Eurybiades' ship there was clamoring and great passion. Greeks shout and wave their hands even if there are only two of them together. Now there were twenty Greeks talking all together in a space only forty yards long, the length of a ship.\n\n\"In this situation we cannot delay. We must leave at once.\"\n\nAdeimantos, the admiral of Corinth, the city just forty miles to the south, spoke curtly and decisively. His eyes shone like lightning, his face was wrinkled with anger and suspense.\"\n\n\"We agreed to\u2026\"\n\n\"I haven't recognized you, Themistocles!\" Eurybiades stopped him angrily, striking the wooden deck with his staff. \"You cannot interrupt someone who is talking whenever you want to!\"\n\n\"I can when what he says is the opposite of what we agreed.\"\n\n\"The Persian army has started out from Athens. You saw it yourself as you came here. Corinth and Sparta are in danger. We must leave at once\" Adeimantos shouted, upset.\n\n\"My city was also in danger, and it was lost. But I sacrificed it because I believed in doing what we agreed, in anchoring here and fighting the decisive naval battle in the straits of Salamis.\"\n\n\"Circumstances have changed. And when circumstances change, agreements must change too,\" Eurybiades said drily.\n\n\"Correct\u2026\" Themistocles answered him ironically. \"Anyway, for you Spartans agreements don't have any meaning. You did not send your whole army to Thermopylae and that's why the Persians were able to get through the pass and destroy Athens unopposed.\"\n\n\"The Athenian envies us because we still have countries. We must not listen to him. And a man without a country cannot insult us in this way\" raged Adeimantos.\n\n\"I sacrificed it to protect yours! If the Persians had not slowed down to plunder Athens, you would not have had time to build a wall at Isthmos and defend yourselves!\" yelled Themistocles, beside himself, and rushed at Adeimantos.\n\nCimonas grabbed him by the shoulders and held him back. And that was a good thing, because at that moment the commander of the ships from Mycenae lunged at him to protect his friend Adeimantos. Spirits were suddenly inflamed and the famous curse of the Greeks, discord, had taken control of their irritable minds.\n\nThe other commanders shouted, cursed and swore, each trying to be the loudest in defending the interests of his own city. The admirals from Corinth, Sparta and Mycenae wanted to leave at once and meet in front of their army, which was defending Isthmos. The admirals from the island of Aegina and the city of Megara wanted the fleet to stay at Salamis, since a withdrawal would surely condemn their cities to the Persian yoke. The admirals of other cities and islands were divided. Some wished to remain and fight the sea battle before Athens as they had agreed and others asked to return to their areas at once, to be near their families.\n\nIn its hubbub and confusion, the war council resembled a quarrel at a symposium. Everyone shouted without asking to speak, some squabbled and others had already come to blows. Eurybiades thumped the wooden deck with his staff in vain, trying to get them to calm down and continue the council so they could vote on tactics. The face of the Spartan, unused to such unrestrained behaviors, had become as red as his cloak and his knuckles had turned white.\n\n\"The Persian army has destroyed Greece, it is marching towards the few cities that are still free, and we are fighting among ourselves!\" he shouted fiercely, trying to calm the exacerbated tempers.\n\n\"Correct. We must think about defense and not fight among ourselves like roosters\" said Ablemonas, the admiral of the ships from the island of Naxos, in frustration.\n\n\"That is why our fleet must fight here, at Salamis as we agreed\" shouted Themistocles, taking advantage of the momentary pause in the quarrel. \"The sea straits between\u2026\"\n\n\"It's not your turn to talk yet. I haven't recognized you\" Eurybiades cut him off abruptly.\n\n\"I don't need your recognition. The gods in whose name we took our oath recognize me and everyone will listen to me. You too, Spartan.\"\n\n\"This is mutiny\" Eurybiades shouted, beside himself, and raised his admiral's staff with the intention of bringing it down on the Athenian's head. \"You will have the chance to speak when it is your turn!\"\n\n\"Hit me, but listen to me first\" Themistocles said, and grabbed his wrist.\n\n\"You know what happens to those who start the competitions early, Themistocles. The judges whip them!\" taunted Adeimantos.\n\n\"And those who start late never win!\" he answered, holding Eurybiades' arm in a tight grip.\n\n\"Let me go\u2026\"\n\n\"You will listen to me first.\"\n\n\"Let him speak.\" The voices were heard from one end of the ship to the other. Admirals and commanders from all the cities and islands demanded that Themistocles should be given the right to speak. \"We want to hear what he has to say before we vote.\"\n\nEurybiades thought for a little while and then nodded his head. \"Very well, since the leaders themselves ask it\u2026 But after that, Adeimantos will speak\u2026\"\n\nThe admiral sat down again, putting down his staff. Themistocles let go of his hand and climbed to the highest point on the ship, right next to the stern, where everyone could hear and see him.\n\n\"Greeks\u2026 My fellow warriors\u2026 We fought hard together at Artemisio, that is how we managed to defeat the Persian fleet even though it was three and four times our size. Unity, decisiveness and spirit led us to victory all three times we clashed with them on the sea. But out of those three, the most important is unity. Without that, there would not have been any spirit because each of us would have felt alone and weak, or any decisiveness because everyone knows that weakness gives birth to fear and that gives birth to doubt, which is the great enemy of decisiveness.\n\n\"My brothers\u2026 Think\u2026 I ask you\u2026 Would it be good to break up now? Can we do more if some of us stay in Salamis and others leave? Or would that be an unexpected gift to the Persians? I say that it would be an unexpected gift to our enemy, and he would take advantage of our disunity to destroy us all. That is why I will vote to stay here. You should vote with me too, for unity, so that you will not see your cities destroyed, as mine was. So that you will not see your temples plundered and your wives sold as slaves. Because if we break up, that is the future that awaits you!\"\n\n\"He is saying all that out of jealousy\" Adeimantos shouted immediately. \"From pure jealousy for those of us who still have cities, since he lost his own and is without a country. Without rights, house or fortune, which we have! That is why we will leave tomorrow, to defend our cities and our goods. That is also why you must vote to withdraw from Salamis.\"\n\n\"Fool!\" shouted Themistocles passionately. \"We Athenians abandoned our houses and our fortunes because we believe it is not worth becoming slaves to save dead things like houses and lands. Because for us, freedom is more important than gold and wealth!"}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 70", "text": "North of Salamis, along the coast of Athens, the army of Xerxes continued to march all the next day, the shuffling of tens of thousands of feet in the dry ground raising a cloud of dust. That was the sight that made the hearts of the men from Corinth and Sparta sink. They had gathered on the north coast of Salamis and were worriedly watching the Persian hordes march against their cities.\n\nThe Athenians were gathered on the east side of the island. Across from them lay the ruins of their own city. Smoke was rising from the temples of the Acropolis, the hills of the Nymphs and the Muses, the market and the neighborhoods, everything. It was a heavy weight on the breasts of the warriors, who watched the terrible vengeance of the Persians without being able to do anything.\n\n\"That Adeimantos was right. We don't have a country anymore.\"\n\n\"We don't have a city, Cimonas. It's not the same thing.\"\n\n\"Soon we won't have a country either. Not even the earth will be left to us to rebuild our city. We will have to abandon it. You heard it with your own ears, Themistocles. Adeimantos said it, even though we haven't voted yet. The ships from Corinth and Sparta will leave, their commanders are having a hard time keeping them here already. And if that happens, we won't be able to face the Persian navy on our own. We'll have to withdraw too.\"\n\n\"What did you say?\"\n\n\"That the ships will leave. They would have left already if Eurybiades hadn't broken up the council.\"\n\n\"Not that. After that. What did you say after that?\"\n\n\"That we will have to withdraw too if they leave.\"\n\n\"That, yes, that might convince them to stay.\"\n\n\"You didn't manage it yesterday with your fiery, passionate words, even though you tried all night. You spoke in the name of our common country and common gods. What makes you think that today you will be able to\u2026\"\n\nBut Themistocles was not listening any more. He was thinking. Thinking of how sometimes cold-blooded blackmail is more effective than thousands of heated words.\n\nWithout saying a word, he turned and began to walk quickly towards the shore, to the cove where the Spartans' ships, including Eurybiades' flagship, were drawn up on the sand.\n\nPitiful, disgusting, bleak sights met his eyes as he climbed the hill and walked towards the dockyard, making his heart sink with sorrow and foreboding. He walked faster, lowering his head, but he could still see them. Women were pulling up the few edible plants remaining on the hillside, hungry children ran behind the rowers begging for a mouthful of the ration the fleet gave them, old people lay weakly in the sun because their strength had left them, lines of people as long as rivers stretched out from the places where drinking water was distributed, and people implored, weeping, before the stores of food and supplies.\n\n\"Whatever happens, it will have to happen soon. Otherwise we will all die of hunger or disease. The island is too small to feed so many people and our supplies are dwindling. The Persian might not defeat us, but if we don't do something soon, hunger will\" he said to himself as he arrived at the flagship of the Greek fleet.\n\nThe Spartan guard blocked his way.\n\n\"Inform your admiral that I am looking for him\" he told him curtly.\n\n\"He is sleeping.\"\n\n\"Wake him up. He will have time to sleep when it's time for the boatman of souls.\"\n\n\"I cannot break his orders.\"\n\nHe did not wait to hear more but pushed the man roughly aside, climbed into the ship and started to walk towards the bow, where Eurybiades' sketchy accommodation was.\n\nThe guard ran behind him but did not dare to touch him. He was a Spartan, brought up from childhood to obey his superiors and respect hierarchy.\n\n\"Eurybiades!\" Themistocles' voice sounded like a drumbeat in the enclosed space of the bow. \"Eurybiades!\"\n\nWhen the little wooden door opened slowly, a grim and weary Eurybiades appeared. His eyes were red and sunken in their sockets and his face more wrinkled than the leather coverings of the oarlocks on his ship.\n\n\"I tried to stop him, admiral, but\u2026\"\n\n\"I know, he's too pigheaded\" muttered Eurybiades, and slowly stretching out his hand, he sent the guard away. Then he turned his attention to his visitor. \"What do you want, Themistocles?\" he asked icily.\n\n\"I want us to make a decision together. Everyone who is alone is lost.\"\n\n\"I know. That's why I didn't get a wink of sleep last night.\"\n\n\"I'll be brief then, the way you Spartans like it. If you withdraw from Salamis, we will come with you.\"\n\nEurybiades jumped in amazement. \"You can't do that\" he protested loudly. \"We are still in alliance. We have sworn before Zeus.\"\n\n\"We have sworn to be united in war and protect our countries together. But if you abandon Salamis, there will be no more country for us. Therefore there will be no alliance and no oath.\"\n\nEurybiades looked at him carefully. He studied him. He weighed him. The Athenian was not a soldier like himself. He was a politician. A politician notorious for his cunning and his bluffs.\n\n\"What do you mean?\" he asked him, looking at him intently. \"The oath is still an oath, you cannot break it.\"\n\n\"The oath I gave when I took the title of Athenian General is the most important of all. To protect the citizens of the democracy. And I will do that. I will embark them on our one hundred and eighty triremes and we will leave Greece at the same moment you leave with your ships for Isthmos\" Themistocles answered him in a strong voice, and then made one of his famous rhetorical pauses, of which he was a master. \"Think about it, Eurybiades. We have a hundred and eighty of the three hundred and ten triremes of the fleet. The best and strongest. And the best trained crews. What chances will you have without us? The Persians will crush you. Your name will go down in history as a synonym for disaster. Xerxes will rule the sea and will disembark his army wherever he wants, bypassing the useless wall you built at Isthmos.\"\n\nEurybiades was an undecided man, but he was neither stupid nor slow. He saw the deadly danger at once.\n\n\"Come inside. These matters should only be discussed behind closed doors\" he said, and stood to the side to allow him to enter."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 71", "text": "All the commanders of the Greek fleet were on Eurybiades' ship for the new war council the admiral had called. But Themistocles remained on the shore. He walked back and forth on the sand nervously, his head turned anxiously toward the path from the interior of the island.\n\nHe was alone. This time he had refused to have Cimonas keep him company, in spite of the fact that his friend and fellow warrior had offered to accompany him in the difficult struggle he would have to face again, to convince the war council to accept his proposal and fight as one at Salamis.\n\n\"General?\"\n\nThemistocles turned suddenly, before he even understood the word he had heard. The person he was waiting for would never dare to call him by his official title.\n\n\"Ameinias? What are you doing here?\" wondered Themistocles, seeing the Athenian captain in the Spartan camp.\n\n\"Don't be afraid, I haven't become a Spartan\" he answered with a smile. \"I'm coming back from the watchtower. I was on duty at the cape of Kynosoura.\"\n\n\"Any news?\"\n\n\"No. Their fleet is waiting at the coasts. They don't aren't moving because they want us to come out on the open sea, they don't want to come in and fight here, in the straits.\"\n\nThemistocles looked at the straits between the shores of the island and Athens.\n\n\"Don't look at it\" continued Ameinias, guessing his thoughts. \"It's not even half a mile wide and only two long. No admiral commanding such a large fleet as the Persian one would go into battle in such a narrow space.\"\n\n\"That is the problem\" murmured Themistocles thoughtfully. \"How can we convince them to do it?\"\n\n\"Why don't you go and talk to their war council, too?\" said Ameinias with a ringing laugh. \"What are you doing out here? Why aren't you up there with the other commanders of the fleet?\" he asked, pointing at the Spartan ship with the high porphyry stern, a signal that their council had started.\n\n\"I'm waiting for someone.\"\n\n\"Cimonas?\"\n\n\"No.\"\n\n\"Aristeides?\"\n\n\"No. He left this morning for the island of Aegina to bring the sacred statues of the Aiakides, and he hasn't come back yet.\"\n\n\"Well then? Who are you waiting for?\" he asked.\n\nHis question was answered by itself.\n\n\"Master\u2026\"\n\nAmeinias and Themistocles turned their eyes together high up the hill, to the place where they heard the voice. Sikinos ran, almost tumbling down the hill, gesturing and shouting.\n\n\"What do you think he wants? Has something bad happened?\" asked Ameinias worriedly.\n\n\"No. Not yet\u2026\"\n\n\"He acts as if lustful Pan was chasing him with his phallus raised like a stick\" he joked.\n\nThemistocles did not even answer. He waited for Sikinos to come close, then turned and started to climb the rope ladder of the ship.\n\n\"Was it him you were waiting for out here, general?\"\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\"Why?\"\n\n\"I want him to be with me at the war council.\"\n\n\"A slave?\" asked Ameinias.\n\n\"He is not just a slave. After he has stood beside me faithfully for so many years, he is more like a friend.\"\n\n\"A friend from Persia, though\" said Ameinias gloomily.\n\n\"Exactly. He is Persian, he speaks their language and he served in Darius' army when he was young, so he might be able to answer some of our questions\" Themistocles answered hastily.\n\nBut he did not wait to give more explanations. He climbed up to the deck and walked quickly, with Sikinos following close behind.\n\nHe found the other commanders in animated conversation, as Greeks usually are. They shouted, waved their arms and interrupted each other passionately.\n\nWithout waiting for Eurybiades' permission, he climbed onto the stern and raised his voice, determined to say what he had to say as quickly as possible. A message must be given with decisiveness. A threatening message must be given with decisiveness and without hesitation.\n\n\"We've come to a place where fine speeches won't help us, brothers. I won't waste my time today in words for closed ears. What I have to say to you, I will say once in front of you for all to hear, and I won't repeat it. If you withdraw from Salamis, we Athenians, together with our ships, will leave the fleet and the alliance and we will sail for Italy to found a new city.\"\n\nA stir went through the commanders of the fleet. There were anxious and fearful whispers, since they all knew that without the Athenians the fleet would be lost.\n\n\"Let us vote\u2026\" said Pedaritos, the commander from the city of Mycenae, trying to prevent panic and find a solution. \"If you are as democratic as you say, Themistocles, you will respect the decision of the majority.\"\n\n\"You are an honorable man, Pedaritos, I know that. But fear is making you talk wildly. I serve democracy, but first of all I serve my country. Especially when it is in danger.\"\n\n\"That is exactly why we want to leave!\" shouted Adeimantos, annoyed, and then he climbed up on the rail and raised his voice. \"Our brothers at Isthmos will be attacked by the Persians soon. We must be with them, we must help them!\"\n\n\"We will help them better by fighting here. Everyone can see that the straits of Salamis are the best field of battle for us\" insisted Themistocles.\n\n\"Exactly! But the Persians can see the same thing. They're not fools!\"\n\n\"Like yourself, you mean?\" Themistocles mocked him, unexpectedly and unprovoked.\n\nAdeimantos seized him by the chiton and pulled him toward him in a rage. \"Take back the insult!\"\n\n\"It's not an insult, it's the truth\" insisted Themistocles, completely out of character.\n\nAdeimantos raised his hand to strike him.\n\nEurybiades raised his staff to prevent the use of force.\n\nBehind Themistocles, Sikinos stood as if struck dumb. His master was not the kind of man who let himself be swept away by rage. He knew very well how to make compromises, to maneuver and sometimes retreat to get what he wanted. Without those virtues, he would never have survived in a system like democracy.\n\n\"We will vote now!\" shouted Eurybiades, ending the brawl and raising a storm of whispers.\"\n\n\"I want to speak\u2026\"\n\n\"No.\"\n\nAdeimantos was dumbfounded by the refusal of the man who, until the day before, had been his ally. He looked at Eurybiades with his eyes starting out of their sockets. \"I want to speak!\" he repeated imperiously.\n\n\"You had your turn. You had many turns. Now the time has come for us to vote and make decisions. We don't have long\" Eurybiades responded, and he stood up. \"How many vote to remain in Salamis?\" he cried loudly.\n\nThemistocles raised his hand before Eurybiades had time to finish his question.\n\nHesitatingly at first, but then with more and more confidence, hands were raised one after another. It was not a majority, but it was a number that worried Adeimantos.\n\n\"We are representatives of free cities here\" he shouted, interrupting the vote. \"Those who do not have a country do not have the right to vote\" he screamed at the top of his lungs, looking at Themistocles.\n\n\"Fool! Do you think I don't have a country because I don't have a house and land?\"\n\n\"He is without a country! He may not vote!\"\n\n\"I am without a country because I accepted to sacrifice for our common cause! I am without a country because for me, as for glorious Leonidas, it is not the battle that is important, but the final victory! I am without a country because I love freedom more than earth and stones!\" howled Themistocles. \"And I do not intend to sacrifice that here, for the sake of some blockheaded fools like you!\"\n\nAdeimantos smiled nervously, seeing his excitement. He thought it was his chance to push Themistocles into leaving. So he ignored the insult and continued: \"Only the rest of us will vote! Those who still have a country and want to protect it!\"\n\nThemistocles appeared to be seething with rage. His broad forehead was wrinkled like the surface of the sea in winter, his eyes flashed like the furnace of the god Hephaestus. He stared at Eurybiades with those eyes, trying to see his nod of consent.\n\n\"That's the end!\" he shouted as soon as he saw it. \"I won't sit in the council and listen to your insults any longer. I'm leaving now!\"\n\n\"We're not staying either. We're not interested in your votes. The ships of Corinth will leave Salamis tonight!\" Adeimantos shouted, beside himself.\n\nThat was what Themistocles was waiting for. After making sure that Sikinos was behind him and had heard the words of the commander from Corinth, he turned towards the prow and started to walk away with a quick, determined stride.\n\n\"The Athenians withdraw from the fleet and the alliance. Vote and decide among yourselves! Let's go, Sikinos\u2026\"\n\nWith a quick stride, paying no attention to the entreaties of the commanders of the fleet, he went towards the stern of the ship, hearing Eurybiades' words behind him: \"We are interrupting this council to calm our spirits and give Themistocles' rage time to pass. We will meet again after dinner for the final decision\u2026\"\n\nThey got off the ship and walked to the cape of Kynosoura without exchanging a single word.\n\nThemistocles walked to the edge of the narrow peninsula and stood near the steep cliffs at its coast.\n\nHe looked at the grey afternoon horizon and then at the sea before it. Then he looked towards Athens and the fires lighted on its coast, at the Persian anchorage.\n\nSuddenly he turned and grasped Sikinos tightly by the shoulders. He looked him in the eye and spoke in a low voice, just as if he had not been shouting at the top of his lungs until then:\n\n\"My friend\u2026 I have made my decision\u2026 Your time has come\u2026\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "The Trap", "text": "The little boat moved silently over the dark waters. Its oars were buried in the water and raised with care because they had to reach the shore without attracting the attention of the Persian outposts. Its keel was rubbed all over with black pitch, and its boatman was naked and covered in dark mud to soak up the sweat so his body would not reflect light. The single passenger was wrapped in a dark cloak given to him before he left Salamis.\n\nSikinos was lost in thought. He hands grasped the wooden rail firmly, but his eyes moved continually back and forth over the endless Persian camp. Inside him, the sense of duty wrestled with his fear and his emotions. His heart fluttered like a bird from one nest to the next. His master's message was clear. By bringing it he would be helping both his master and his own country at the same time, but there was no way to tell if his countrymen would believe him.\n\nHe had grown up in Persia and he knew very well what a terrible punishment would be waiting for him if they decided he was a spy or a traitor. He would be buried in the sand under the sun until his body dried out and he died of thirst in the best case, and in the worst case they would impale him on a sharp stick and he would die slowly, his guts dripping out with unbearable pain. But in spite of that, his spirit pulsed with excitement. He would speak his mother tongue again, the one with which he had grown up, the one in which he always prayed to Ahura Mazda, the Great Judge and his god.\n\n\"May his will be done\u2026\" he murmured to himself, and opened his closed hand to scatter a little of the aromatic incense he carried with him in his pouch into the night air, finishing his ritual. \"No one can stand against the will of the Great Creator\u2026\"\n\nWhen he stepped on the shore, his feet wet with sea water and his hands moist from anxiety, he would not have time to do more than shout an invocation to his god in official Persian before the guard pierced his breast with a javelin. That piece of advice was given him by Themistocles, and it saved his life. Hearing their language and the name of Ahura Mazda, the Persian soldiers lowered their spears and looked at him curiously. Then they took him gently by the arm and led him to their commander.\n\nFrom commander to commander and from officer to officer, giving explanations in flawless Persian, Sikinos reached the Persian war council one hour later. The council was in session, setting the strategy for the fleet the next day.\n\n\"I wish to speak to Artemisia\u2026\" he said, looking with awe at the high-level Persian officers with their painted faces, colorful uniforms and expensive jewelry.\n\n\"Me?\" the queen asked, surprised.\n\n\"Yes, my lady.\"\n\n\"Who are you?\"\n\n\"Do you not recognize me\u2026\"\n\n\"The question is where you know Artemisia from\u2026\"\n\nSikinos turned to the back of the great tent to look at the person asking. He turned and was speechless. His face went white, his heart stopped beating and his legs trembled. The golden throne and the scepter with its precious stones and winged lion did not leave any room for misinterpretation. He fell to his knees, bent at the waist, lowered his head and touched his forehead to the ground. He was breathing with difficulty and his mouth had gone dry.\n\n\"Great Emperor\u2026 King of Kings\u2026 My lord\u2026\" he managed to stammer out.\n\n\"Who are you?\" asked Mardonius curtly.\n\n\"Now my name is Sikinos. But I was born with the name Mithranis\u2026\"\n\n\"Are you Persian?\"\n\n\"Yes. I was once a warrior in the Spanda, the imperial army. I was taken prisoner in the campaign of the Great Darius in Macedonia and sold as a slave in Athens.\"\n\n\"If you had a Persian mother and father, how do you know Artemisia?\" asked Admiral Achaimenes, who was standing to the emperor's right.\n\n\"I don't know her, I said that before, master.\"\n\n\"Then why are you asking for her?\"\n\n\"I have a message for her.\"\n\nBefore Achaimenes could ask his next question, Artemisia came forward and approached the prostrated Sikinos. \"From whom?\"\n\n\"From my master\u2026\" he answered her in broken Greek, making her breast swell with suspense.\n\n\"Who is your master?\" she asked him, waiting for the answer with longing.\n\nShe did not get it. \"Throw him out. Take him to the eunuchs. He is a Greek spy\" shouted Mardonius when he heard the words in Greek from Sikinos' mouth.\n\nXerxes raised his hand. \"No. Let him speak.\"\n\nMardonius turned sullen, but he could not ignore the emperor's command.\n\n\"Who is your master?\" Artemisia repeated her question.\n\n\"His name is Themistocles.\"\n\nFreezing cold. And smiles. The first on the face of Mardonius. The second on the faces of Artemisia and Achaimenes.\n\n\"Has the right time come?\" the second asked.\n\n\"Yes. It seems it has\" the queen answered.\n\nMardonius looked at them with obvious hostility. Especially at Artemisia, his great competitor for the emperor's favor. \"The right moment for what, woman?\" he asked fiercely.\n\n\"If we let him speak you will understand\" Artemisia answered him with a boldness it was hard for her to hide.\n\n\"Speak better, woman!\"\n\nXerxes abruptly raised the scepter to impose silence. \"Speak, Mithranis\u2026\" he said slowly.\n\n\"My master says that the right moment has come\u2026\"\n\n\"What does that mean?\"\n\n\"He says that Artemisia will understand his words and that more explanation is not needed.\"\n\n\"What does that mean?\" repeated the Great King, now watching Artemisia with his jet black eyes.\n\nShe looked at Achaimenes and waited. If she had managed to acquire the title of queen and a coveted place in the Persian war council, she had done it by flattering her superiors and showing absolute respect to the hierarchy of the Persian fleet. Now, in spite of the fact that she had made the agreement, the honor of announcing it must belong to Achaimenes, the brother of the emperor, the first level under the Great King.\n\n\"The Athenian is ready to come over to our side, together with his ships. The Athenian division,\" Achaimenes explained immediately. \"The largest, strongest and best trained in the Greek fleet. Themistocles is the\u2026\"\n\n\"I know who he is\" the emperor stopped him. \"He is the one who humiliated us on the sea.\"\n\n\"He is capable, intelligent and brave. If he comes to our side, nothing will be able to stop us anymore. If the Athenians secede, the other Greeks will not be able to last even a day on the sea\" answered Artemisia.\n\n\"And what is he trying to do? Why has he changed his mind at the last moment?\"\n\n\"It is a trap, Great King\" shouted Mardonius. \"The Athenian is cunning, everyone knows that, Hippias has informed me of him.\"\n\n\"He does not want anything, my lord\u2026\" continued Artemisia, ignoring Mardonius. \"He will be my husband\u2026\"\n\nThe eyes of Xerxes gleamed. From enthusiasm or jealousy, no one could tell. \"You are relatives\u2026\" was all he said.\n\n\"Yes. In our veins flows the same blood. My father and his mother were brother and sister.\"\n\nSlowly, calmly, Xerxes smiled. \"Interesting\u2026 Treachery at the right moment is the best and shortest way to win a war\u2026\"\n\n\"It is a trap!\"\n\nXerxes raised his scepter to stop Mardonius' cries. \"I have already lost too many ships and too many men. I do not want to lose more.\"\n\n\"I usually do not agree with Mardonius, but this time I have to. It might be a subterfuge. It is strange how that man got here so quickly, a simple slave on such an important mission\" said Hydarnes, who had been silent until then.\n\n\"He is not a slave. He is a Persian like us\" said Achaimenes.\n\n\"Even so. He has lived with the Greeks for many years. He has even learned their language\u2026 Perhaps he has changed\u2026 Perhaps he is playing their game\u2026\"\n\nAchaimenes came forward, opened the slave's heavy chiton and pushed his chest forward into the light of the lamps and torches. On Sikinos' chest, rough and scarred by the whip and hardships, hung a worn fire amulet, such as hang on the chests of all those who are faithful to Ahura Mazda from birth.\n\n\"He is faithful to our god. He cannot lie. Everyone knows that on the bridge of the Great Judge, a single lie can send you to eternal darkness. No one who is faithful would risk it.\n\n\"That many years living next to a lying Greek could have changed his habits\" insisted Mardonius.\n\n\"No. He cannot lie. I myself made the arrangement with Themistocles. He will come over to our side\u2026\"\n\n\"You yourself?\" wondered Hydarnes. \"Why would he do that? Why would he betray his country?\" he asked.\n\nInstead of Artemisia or Achaimenes, Sikinos gave the answer: \"Because the Greeks are continually fighting amongst themselves. Their morale is low and there is dissent. At every council they swear at each other and almost come to blows\" he said, making everyone else stop talking.\n\n\"How do you know that?\"\n\n\"My master takes me with him to the councils.\"\n\n\"Why?\"\n\n\"Precisely because they quarrel all the time. For his safety. With my own eyes I saw Adeimantos, the admiral of Corinth, attack him this afternoon. The Greeks are always fighting. And now\u2026\"\n\n\"Now, what?\"\n\n\"They have dissolved the alliance and are going to abandon Salamis.\"\n\n\"When?\"\n\n\"Tonight. Just before daybreak. At the darkest hour of the night.\"\n\n\"Are you sure?\" asked Xerxes.\n\n\"Yes, Great King. I was there. Half of the commanders of their fleet saw our glorious army marching towards Isthmos and panicked. They want to leave so they can protect their cities. The ships from Corinth will leave this evening. I heard it with my own ears.\"\n\n\"Are you telling the truth?\" insisted the emperor, his gaze already on the relief on the great table depicting the island of Salamis and its two straits, one to the east and one to the west.\n\n\"I swear by the Great Judge\u2026\"\n\nSilence fell. The news was shocking. Suddenly, as if the gods had blessed the Persian war effort, everything seemed to have been solved in the best possible way. With treachery. Effortless, quick and without loss of blood or money.\n\n\"What do you say, wise Ariaranes?\" Xerxes turned to the taciturn man, his most trusted councilor.\n\n\"I say that we must test the reliability of this man before we decide on anything.\"\n\n\"He is Persian\" said Achaimenes.\n\n\"Right. But he could also be greedy. Which one would prevail if the Greeks filled him up with gold to come here and tell us what he has told us?\" Ariaranes answered him, and then he turned back to his emperor, repeating his proposal. \"We must test his reliability.\"\n\nXerxes nodded his head in agreement. \"Take him and give him to the black eunuchs to whip him. Then we will see if he still says the same thing. After that we will decide.\"\n\n\"The Greeks will escape before dawn\" said Achaimenes uneasily.\n\n\"No one can endure the hand of the eunuch and the whip of wire for more than an hour\u2026\" the emperor said slowly. \"If he still says the same thing after the whipping and the torture, we will surround the Greeks on the island in the night, secretly draw up our ships before them and drown them in their own sea as soon as the god of the sun starts out with his chariot\" he added.\n\n\"No.\"\n\nDozens of eyes turned towards the voice that dared to dispute a decision expressed by the lips of the emperor himself, and to his face.\n\n\"This time you have overstepped the bounds, woman!\" shouted Mardonius at the same moment that Hydarnes ordered the imperial guards to intervene and punish this unbelievable insolence.\n\nAnother \"no\" was heard. This time from the mouth of Xerxes. \"Let her speak\u2026 Last time she was right\u2026 Speak, Artemisia\u2026\"\n\n\"Everything you said, my great king and lord, was right. But it is not good to take the fleet into the sea straits. It is enough to block the two passages and wait. That many thousand people will not be able to find food for long on such a small island. Sooner or later they will have to leave and then they will fall on our ships alone, and they will have to fight on the open sea. And without the Athenian ships, they will be certain to be crushed.\"\n\n\"What you say is not wrong, queen of Halicarnassus, but we cannot wait either\" the emperor's advisor said calmly. \"We are too far away from our supply bases. We have hundreds of thousands of soldiers. We cannot maintain them for a long time without conquering new territory.\"\n\n\"Ariaranes is right\" Mardonius agreed immediately. \"If we wait too long, the morale of our army will collapse. What will our soldiers think of an emperor who stands and waits fearfully?\"\n\n\"We will not wait very long\" replied Artemisia. \"When Themistocles defects with his ships, the rest of the Greeks will panic.\"\n\n\"No\u2026 If we wait as you say, we will merely have a victory. If we crush them all together, we will have a triumph. The Great King will be crowned with glory for all time\u2026\"\n\n\"But if we have a defeat?\"\n\n\"Merely saying that insults the emperor, woman!\"\n\nAt that moment Xerxes raised his scepter and everyone was silent.\n\n\"Enough! I have made my decision!\" said Xerxes in a loud voice. \"It is enough if the hostage is telling the truth\u2026\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 73", "text": "No trumpets sounded. No horn was blown. There were low-voiced orders from the officers and quiet nudges from the petty officers. The oars had been dipped in fresh fat to slide easily in the oarlocks. The sails were tied tight to the masts to avoid rustling. No lamps were lighted on the ships.\n\nIt was not yet midnight when the rowers from the Persian army got tiredly up from the dry ground after a few hours of sleep, their hands still red from the rowing of the day before, their shoulders aching and their legs numb. After they received their half-dry oars and smeared them with fat, they drew up in two lines, one behind the other, stumbling in the darkness.\n\nThe petty officers under the hanging rope ladders waited to give the signal to board. Messengers brought it in low voices from one ship to the next all up and down the four miles of coast where the Persian fleet was drawn up. To the east were first the first divisions of Phoenicians, then the divisions of Ionia, then of Lycia, of Egypt, and of Cyprus. Dozens of different languages, dozens of different uniforms, dozens of different kinds of prayers. There were all different builds and makes of ships: the Phoenician ships with their high and wide decks to accommodate more marines, archers and spearmen, the Ionian ships, smaller, lighter and more maneuverable, with their great power of speed for ramming, and finally the Egyptian ships with their elongated prows and their heavy equipment, constructed for drawing alongside other ships and boarding them.\n\nThe stones the petty officers held in their hands began to beat out their muffled rhythm when everything was ready. The hundred and fifty thousand oarsmen waiting in lines under the rope ladders began to go forward silently. Two by two, they climbed up the ladders, came on deck and took their assigned positions. Behind them came the petty officers to inspect their position on the rowing benches. Then came the signalmen and the helmsmen, taking their places at the bows and sterns, respectively. Then the warriors boarded. Then archers and spearmen with their weapons, enormous bows of horn and ivory with dozens of yards range, javelins of osier and dogwood with sharp bronze points, swords, daggers and axes for hand to hand combat.\n\nLast of all the captains boarded. They inspected the state of their ships, spoke to their officers, gave their orders in low voices, made arrangements with the petty officers and steersmen, and sat on their raised pedestals at the stern of the ships.\n\nOne hour after midnight everything was ready.\n\nThe slaves on shore pushed hard and the ships slid into the water.\n\nThe Persian armada sailed for the most important battle in its history."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 74", "text": "\"It is unbelievable\u2026\" murmured Cimonas in a trembling voice.\n\nBefore the east turned grey he had climbed high on the island's hill with Themistocles, Aristeides, Eurybiades and Adeimantos and they were looking, impressed, at the arrival of the whole Persian navy.\n\nFirst the Phoenician vessels arrived from the east. They were large and tall, like huge rocks scattered in the sea. Without wasting time they entered the straits, sailing past the coast of the mainland, across from the island, and took up position on the west side. Immediately after that, the ships of the Egyptians appeared and took up position at the center, next to the Phoenicians. And finally came the ships from Ionia that looked exactly like the Greek ships. They sailed into the strait lasts and took up position on the east side, completing the Persian formation that stretched out in three lines with the last line almost touching the rocks of the opposite shore.\n\nBut the show of force put on by the Persian fleet was not yet over. As soon as their formation had drawn up, the ships of Cyprus, Lycia and Samia appeared around the curve of Piraeus and drew up at the exit of the eastern straits to cut off any chance of retreat and sink any Greek vessel that might try to escape. To the west, from the other side of the island, right on the horizon, they could see the ships from Pamphylia closing off the other exit.\n\n\"It is just as Aristeides said\u2026 They have surrounded us from all sides\u2026\" Adeimantos admitted.\n\n\"I had a hard time passing between them, coming back from Aegina this morning. I told you.\"\n\n\"Then we decided right to have the sea battle here, at Salamis. Any other maneuver would have meant disaster\" said Eurybiades.\n\n\"Exactly. It was difficult but I convinced you\" said Themistocles.\n\n\"You forced us, you didn't convince us. You delayed so long that the Persians were able to surround us and we can't sail\" retorted Adeimantos.\n\n\"Don't start again. The decision has been made. Now is the time for unity in battle, the time for reconciliation in service of a common goal\" Eurybiades scolded them. \"What I am worried about is why the Persians decided to sail at night.\"\n\n\"They thought they could surprise us.\"\n\n\"Why would they think something like that?\"\n\n\"You are too much of a Spartan to understand,\" Themistocles told him with a smile.\n\n\"Why are they in such a rush? Why did they not wait and fight on the open sea where they have the advantage?\" Eurybiades insisted.\n\n\"Because human nature is impatient and greedy. And an emperor is much more human than anyone else\" Themistocles said enigmatically. \"But the reason why is no longer important. Everything happened as it should. Now the sea battle will be in a place where we have the advantage. We only have to strike a decisive blow to win.\"\n\n\"With a fleet like that arrayed against us?\" Cimonas was still in doubt.\n\n\"Yes\u2026\"\n\n\"How can you be so sure?\"\n\n\"I am sure because a battle, my brothers, is won before it is fought\u2026 And this one was decided yesterday evening\u2026\"\n\nAristeides raised his eyes to the sky, which was turning grey. \"But we are wasting precious time with this chatter. The crews and the marines must board the ships.\"\n\n\"Not yet\" murmured Themistocles.\n\n\"No? You were impatient to give battle.\"\n\n\"Impatience\u2026 It's even worse than cowardice\u2026\"\n\n\"Now what are you trying to say?\"\n\n\"One of the most difficult things in the world is to be patient and wait for the right moment. A hasty man is worse than a fool. And I am neither.\"\n\n\"It's a tiring thing, democracy. I don't know why they voted for you\" mocked Adeimantos. \"Your words are harder to understand than those of the Pythian oracle. What are you trying to say?\"\n\n\"We will start the battle when the sun is all the way up over the horizon. Neither sooner nor later.\"\n\n\"Why?\"\n\n\"Because we need allies. And the best ally on the sea is the wind. The wind always blows in the straits soon after the sun rises. Our ships have low decks, while the decks of the Phoenicians are high out of the water. This wind will catch them on their sides and their ships will have difficulty holding their places in the formation. Also their archers will have a hard time shooting straight.\"\n\n\"How did you know all that?\" wondered Aristeides, who could hardly hide his admiration.\n\n\"From the fishers of Salamis\u2026 The lowly people, my friend\u2026 The people whom you aristocrats despise. They know many things. Perhaps after the war you will finally understand\u2026\"\n\n\"We do not despise the people. We want to govern for their good.\"\n\n\"But without listening to them\u2026\"\n\n\"Stop. We are standing right next to our crews and our marines\" said Eurybiades, who was allergic to Athenian verbiage. \"Aristeides is right. We must board the ships so that the trumpets and our martial hymns can sound!\"\n\n\"No.\"\n\n\"No? No again?\" asked Eurybiades and looked at Themistocles in confusion. \"Why?\"\n\n\"It's better to let their arrogance swell up inside them.\"\n\n\"Arrogance and courage go together. What will we gain if we let courage strengthen their spirits?\"\n\n\"Surprise, Adeimantos. If we surprise them, their arrogance will collapse and the courage you are afraid of will turn to fear and then to panic. And a fleet in a panic is like a herd of frightened deer. They run in every direction without thinking. If that happens to their ships, our victory will be easier.\"\n\n\"I'm afraid I don't understand.\"\n\n\"As I said before, Eurybiades, you are too Spartan to\u2026\"\n\n\"Will you finally stop making that joke!\"\n\n\"The admiral is right. A little respect for hierarchy wouldn't hurt. Besides, it's not the time for jokes\" said Aristeides seriously. \"Just explain your plan to us, Themistocles.\"\n\n\"Every war is started by envy and deception and continued by courage, or at least that's what Homer and the Odyssey teach us. So if we are capable of attacking, we have to appear incapable. When we are near them, we must make the enemy think that we are far away. Offer bait to tempt them. Pretend you are weak and you will stimulate his arrogance. Attack when he is unprepared and appear when he does not expect you. Pretend to be afraid, rush in with heroism and destroy him. Pretend to be disorganized, strike with organization and crush him.\n\n\"You, Aristeides, will gather up all the oldest soldiers and have them run up and down on the beach for no reason. And as for the women that are still in the city, put them on the hillside facing the Persians and command them to kneel, tear their hair and wail so loud they can be heard all over the straits. And you, Adiemantos, follow the plan we made earlier and sail with your ships to the west before our crews take their places on our ships. Make it look like abandonment and disorderly flight. You will turn your prows back again and return quickly when you see my ship raise the white flag with the olive branch and hear our martial hymns. Thus, my brothers, we will first put the giant to sleep and then strike it at the right moment, unexpectedly.\"\n\nSpeechless.\n\nThey were all speechless.\n\nSome from admiration and others from jealousy.\n\nWithout another word, the four men turned and took the path down the hill, towards the camps of the Athenian army and the anchorage of the Greek fleet.\n\nThe great hour had come."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "The Noose Tightens", "text": "Themistocles looked at the eastern horizon, where the sun had just risen. Then he turned his gaze to the empty sea stretching out for half a mile before him, in front of the first ships in the Persian armada. He looked at it carefully, searching for the signs the fishermen had told him about. When he saw dark bands begin to come up and the surface began to look like the back of a fish with silver scales, he immediately sent his messenger to the other divisions of the fleet. The wind rustled in the masts of the ships. The hour they were waiting for had come.\n\nWithout losing time, he went to the Artemis' rope ladder, climbed up to the deck and stood at the stern, with his face to the shore. He raised his hands to the heavens and waited for a moment, silently, while his sailors and rowers gathered in front of him. Then, suddenly, he broke his silence and addressed the men in a passionate voice, as Greek always do before sending them into battle.\n\n\"Free citizens of Athens! Rowers of our fleet! My brothers!\" he shouted in his stentorian voice, famous from his rhetorical speeches in the assembly of Athens. \"Our hour has come! Either we will live free or we will die. Today we will fight with self-sacrifice and courage, we will crush the invaders and throw them back to Asia, to their arid steppes and tyrannical emperors!\n\n\"Citizens of Athens! Rowers of the fleet! You are the ones the aristocrats look down on. You are the ones they call the most and the worst. Today you can prove that you are not only the most, but the best. Today you have the chance to prove that the democracy gives birth not only to thinking citizens, but also to heroic soldiers. Today is your day, and you will never get another chance like this, to fight and defeat the proudest and most haughty of all tyrants. Today is the day you can humiliate him before his slaves and win glory like our ancestors, the heroes who conquered Troy! Do you want to do that today, citizens of Athens? Are you ready for glory?\"\n\nA buzz and clamor sounded from end to end of the gathering. Their chests, exhausted from pulling the oars, swelled as if filled with the winds of winter. Reddened hands were clenched into fists and raised. Mouths flayed by sun and salt were opened wide. Cheers, shouts and cries of derision filled the air.\n\n\"My brothers!\" shouted Themistocles, and he raised his open palms to the delirious crowd. \"Look at my hands. Look at them well. Look at the calluses on my palms. They are hands like yours, although you all know my wealth could have given me hands as soft as the hands of Apollo. Since I was a boy I have pulled the oars in my father's ships and I still pull the oars along with you in the exercises of the fleet. I am one of you, my brothers. I am you. Not from need, but by choice. Because I believe in the power of democracy and the power of democracy is you, its simple people, its citizens and fighters.\n\n\"Fight bravely with me today, citizens! Fight with manly courage, but also with your mind and with passion! Fight to humiliate the proud barbarians!\n\n\"Forward, citizens of Athens!\"\n\n\"Forward, children of Greece!\"\n\n\"For democracy and freedom!\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 76", "text": "Artemisia was taking her place on the east side of the Persian formation when she heard the voice of the lookout from the bow.\n\n\"Nothing yet, my lady. All their ships are still on shore.\"\n\nShe turned and looked over the mass of Persian ships. Behind her not an inch of sea was visible. The ships were crowded closely, in some places rail to rail and in others stern to stern. In some the oars had been raised to make more room, and in others the rowers had pulled them in so they would not break.\n\nAnd yet Achaimenes had still not sent ships into the straits. The Persian vessels kept coming in, one after another, like thirsty camels coming to a well. Even more ships had drawn up on the nearby eastern exit of the straits, forming a dense line of rams to cut off any chance of escape from the trap.\n\n\"The trap for whom?\" she murmured skeptically to herself.\n\nShe sighed and pressed her lips together. If the Greeks attacked first, as had happened three weeks earlier at Afetes, they would fall on their closed lines and be torn apart like soft flesh falling on iron spears. But if the Persians had to attack first, it would be hard to maneuver in such a dense formation. Then the danger would not come from the Greek ships, but from their own.\n\nShe had warned the emperor. But Xerxes decided like a proud king, unable to withstand his own vanity, and not like a wise general. He had drawn his entire enormous fleet up and now he was admiring it, seated on his throne, on the side of the mountain behind them. He had chosen the risk of resplendent triumph over the safety of patient victory.\n\nIf Themistocles kept their agreement and the ships of Athens left at the right moment, the Greek fleet would look like a little rabbit before a huge bear and the triumph of Xerxes would be certain. And it would have been made on her advice. Then the emperor's gifts would exceed all her fantasies and her rise in the hierarchy of the Persian court would be swift. The Great King was famous for the harshness of his punishments, but just as famous for the generosity of his rewards.\n\nBut if Sikinos was lying and Themistocles, a man for whom intrigue was second nature, did not keep to their agreement, then victory was not so certain. There was a danger of becoming involved in a conflict at sea in which their numerical superiority would become a great disadvantage. The only comfort she had was that the Greeks were fighting amongst themselves. Of that she was certain because, all the way through the whippings and the torture, the Persian slave swore to Ahura Mazda that he had seen them arguing, swearing and fighting with his own eyes.\n\n\"How well can an army fight if it is panicking? How can officers work together if they are torn by strife and coming to blows with each other?\" she wondered, optimism coming back to life inside her and dispelling her fears. \"That stupid democracy of theirs\u2026 It will destroy them\u2026\" she murmured finally, and it was as if she could see Themistocles himself again, as he was that night in her bedroom at Halicarnassus.\n\n\"They're leaving! They're leaving, my lady!\" sounded the voice of the lookout at the prow.\n\nShe abandoned her thoughts, jumped up and climbed onto the pedestal at the stern.\n\n\"Some of their ships are leaving from the western side, my lady\" the lookout explained.\n\nYes. From the west. She could see them herself, even though her ship was on the eastern side. In the clear morning air, she could easily make out a division of about forty Greek ships that had set sail and were withdrawing, taking advantage of the wind that had just started to blow.\n\nA broad smile was carved on her face. She had been right. Sikinos had told the truth. The ships were withdrawing. The Greeks were breaking formation, abandoning their alliance, escaping.\n\nShe climbed down from the pedestal at the stern and walked quickly down the corridor to the stern.\n\n\"What city are they from?\" she asked her lookout anxiously.\n\nHer heart was in agony. At the other exit there were a hundred Persian ships from Pamphylia, waiting like a spider in its web until their victim was ready.\n\n\"I cannot make it out, my lady. Their sails are white, like the sails of Athenian ships.\"\n\nShe sighed heavily and returned to her place.\n\nIt was no longer important whether the ships leaving were Athenian or whether the Artemis, the ship of Themistocles, was among them.\n\nIn a little while the battle would start and the gods would decide victory and defeat, life and death."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 77", "text": "Xerxes sat on his shining throne on the mountainside and looked at the sea straits with shining eyes. He saw the retreating Greek ships as well, and his mind was already carried away by the brilliant victory and the glory awaiting him.\n\nNext to him, General Mardonius amplified his enthusiasm, trying to increase his share of the coming triumph. Good words never do any harm, and neither does flattery, especially to ears that are used to hearing them.\n\n\"The lookouts I placed on the cliffs confirm everything the slave has said. The signalmen on our ships report the same. There is panic in the Greek camp,\" he had said earlier, in a voice trembling with enthusiasm.\n\n\"And now their ships are leaving. I hope they don't all leave and I have someone to crush\" the emperor said cheerfully.\n\n\"Even if they want to, they can't all leave. Our trap has closed. All the sea routes will throw them on our rams\" Mardonius answered conceitedly.\n\n\"Wonderful\u2026\"\n\n\"They themselves know it, my king. They are trapped. Our messengers and lookouts inform me that their women are already wailing on the sides of the hills and in the temples of the island\" he explained, before adding with even greater arrogance \"and their men are in despair. They are running up and down on the coast without a plan and without discipline, in total panic.\"\n\n\"That is natural, Mardonius. Even their god, Poseidon, would be frightened if they saw our fleet and our hundred and fifty thousand rowers and marines\" said Xerxes, even more arrogantly. \"Really\u2026 What about their rowers?\"\n\n\"Their rowers are paralyzed by fear. They do not even dare to board their ships yet.\"\n\n\"Anyone would hesitate.\"\n\n\"Do you think this is our time to attack and strike their ships on dry ground? The Greeks won't have time to board.\"\n\nXerxes leaned back in his throne and looked silently at Salamis opposite.\"\n\n\"No\u2026 We cannot, their shores do not have room for that many ships\" he said finally. \"Besides, it would be too easy of a victory. Not worthy of me at all. No\u2026 It is better to wait for them to go out on the sea so we can crush them.\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 78", "text": "On his ship, the tallest and heaviest of the Persian fleet, Mervalos looked in puzzlement at the forty Greek ships sailing to the west.\n\n\"They are leaving, master\" said the helmsman standing behind him. It was difficult for him to hide his joy. \"They are running like rabbits!\"\n\nThe Phoenician admiral did not share his helmsman's enthusiasm. \"Exactly as you say\u2026 Rabbits run\u2026\" he murmured, looking thoughtfully at the Greek ships, with their sails spread and their oars pulled in. \"But these ships are sailing slowly, they look like they are going on a journey. Who runs in panic like that?\"\n\n\"Maybe they are doing it to provoke us. But we could overtake them easily and strike them from the back.\"\n\n\"Maybe that's exactly what they want\u2026\" murmured Mervalos, looking at the Greek ships drawn up on the shore. \"To weaken our east side by taking off some of our ships.\"\n\n\"We can strike quickly and return in time.\"\n\n\"No.\"\n\n\"We are in no danger from them, that's obvious\" insisted the helmsman and pointed at the Greek anchorage. \"Look, master\u2026 Look at their women\u2026 Look at their rowers running back and forth\u2026 They are frightened and disorganized\u2026\"\n\n\"The truth is that they look that way\u2026\"\n\n\"Well then?\"\n\n\"But are they?\" wondered the Phoenician, thoughtfully rubbing his beard, which was fluttering in the breeze that had suddenly started up. \"Are they?\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 79", "text": "Adeimantos and his division have withdrawn\" said the messenger sent by the lookout on the hilltop.\n\n\"Is the Persian formation complete?\"\n\n\"Some of their ships are still in the middle. All the rest are in position.\"\n\n\"Good\u2026\" Themistocles looked at the white clouds on the surface of the sea, where the water was not protected by the long cape of Kynosoura that stuck out like a thumb into the sea on the east side of the straits. Then he turned his eyes to the waiting rowers. \"Then we're ready\" he said calmly.\n\n\"Ready\" confirmed Cimonas, standing under the stern of the Artemis and waiting for his orders.\n\nSlowly but decisively, Themistocles nodded his head. Then he climbed onto the pedestal at the stern and raised his right fist.\n\n\"May the goddess Athena be with us\u2026\" he said, and put on his helmet.\n\nThe trumpets sounded and the fifty thousand rowers and marines of the Greek fleet climbed into the ships and took their places at the oars and on the decks, behind the oiled leather of the oarlocks and the protective shields on the rails.\n\nOld men, women, even little children pushed at the wooden scaffolding. The keels, smeared with sheep fat and supported on boards, slid into the sea.\n\nThousands of oars were plunged into the water and hundreds of prows sailed against the enemy.\n\nThe trap was closed.\n\nNow it was time for battle and bravery."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 80", "text": "What is happening, Mardonius?\"\n\n\"They have boarded their ships and started, my king.\"\n\n\"Finally\u2026\"\n\nThe emperor leaned forward, full of excitement.\n\nThe hour he had been waiting for so many years, had arrived.\n\n\"Finally\u2026\" he repeated and ordered the imperial scribes to open their papyri and record his triumph in detail."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 81", "text": "From the west end to the center were the ships of Athens, exactly opposite the Phoenician formation. If that broke, the rest of the Persian fleet would break up.\n\nOn the east side were the sixteen ships of the Spartans and next to them the ships from the island of Aegina. In the center of the Greek formation were the ships from the other cities and the islands.\n\nThe Artemis sailed ahead with all the speed her rowers could give her. To the east was the cape and to the south was the land mass of Salamis. Between them the water was calm, protected from the southeastern wind that came howling into the straits and stirred up the waters off the coast of Athens.\n\n\"Straight ahead, attack speed\" shouted Themistocles. The petty officer gave the command to the rowers and the signalman transmitted it to all the ships of the division.\n\nTo the right of Themistocles sailed the Aisia, Cimonas' ship. To his left was the Ischys, the ship of Ameinias who was shouting passionately at his crew, as if they were on seats of the stadium at Olympia watching the athletes in the Olympic Games.\n\n\"Even more power to the oars\" shouted Themistocles, seeing the white clouds on the surface, a sign that they were coming out of the protected waters.\n\nThe high rails of the Phoenician ships were a hundred yards away. The forty marines and twenty archers on their great decks could be seen clearly. On their own decks there were only ten marines and four archers, which made the ships lighter, because Themistocles believed that a sea battle is won or lost by maneuvers and by ramming, not by swords and arrows.\n\nThe Artemis bucked wildly when it hit the wild waters. A wave hit her on the side of the bow. The bow reared up and then fell, slapping the water. The ship shuddered from bow to stern like a house in an earthquake. Many of the marines were shaken and grabbed on wherever they could, and the helmsman threw himself on top of his great oars to hold the ship steady.\n\n\"Avast!\" shouted Themistocles suddenly, and the rowers slowly reversed the direction of their rowing, slowing and then stopping the ship.\n\nThe trumpets sounded slowly, giving the message. The ships of the Greek fleet, one after the other, slowed down and stopped near the center of the straits, tossed by the waves. The maneuver looked like a dog throwing itself onto its prey, only to find that the prey was not a rabbit but an enormous bear.\n\n\"Now what do we do?\" asked the petty officer.\n\n\"We stay still.\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 82", "text": "\"They are afraid. That's logical\" said Xerxes, and laughed out loud. \"Fear holds empires together. It destroys armies and fleets.\"\n\n\"That is true, my lord\" Mardonius agreed cheerfully. But his eyes remained fixed uneasily on the western side of the Greek armada, where the ships of Athens were drawn up with their rams ready to go. That could only mean one of two things: that their hostage was mistaken or that Artemisia had lied.\n\n\"Give the command to attack, Mardonius. When a wild beast hesitates in fear, that is the best moment to strike,\" Xerxes commanded."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 83", "text": "\"They are afraid, it's obvious\" muttered Mervalos, looking at the low Greek triremes bobbing up and down on the waves like walnut shells, and then at their own heavy vessels with the raised rails and the dozens of marines on their decks. \"We'll make one mouthful of them\u2026\"\n\n\"They are afraid, my lady.\"\n\n\"How can you be so sure of that, Diomedes?\"\n\n\"They underestimated our power. Now that they are close to us, they have realized their mistake and they're stopping. What else could it be?\"\n\n\"Only the mind of that cursed Themistocles knows\" Artemisia answered her helmsman, her heart boiling at the thought of the Athenian's betrayal. He had made a fool of her and the emperor at the same time. Xerxes was famous for his rage and if there was no glorious victory after this, then she herself was sure to be one of the victims. \"By Artemis, if we win and I get out alive, I'll tear him to pieces with my own hands,\" she swore to her protecting goddess.\n\nIn vain, because as everyone knows, the oaths of pride always give way before the commands of love."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 84", "text": "The Greek ships stayed still at the center of the straits, a position which is very difficult for a ship to hold without dropping its heavy anchor and with the wind hitting it from the side. The rowers did not pull the oars out of the water at all, but moved them back and forth in a short, rapid motion, their hands and shoulders numb from the uninterrupted effort.\n\n\"If we have to do this much longer, the men will be exhausted before we attack.\"\n\n\"Who told you we were going to attack?\" Themistocles calmly answered his anxious petty officer.\n\n\"Well then what are we going to do?\"\n\n\"Go backwards slowly\u2026 Softly\u2026 Without turning, stern first\u2026\"\n\nHis order was transmitted soundlessly through the little white cloths stretched at the sterns of the Greek fleet, in accordance with the plan Themistocles had laid out in the last war council they held before they sailed.\n\nVery slowly the Greek ships started to row back again, towards Salamis. They were retreating, it was obvious that they were retreating. And without any coordination, giving the impression that they had been overcome by awe and terror. Exactly as Themistocles wanted.\n\n\"Are we leaving? Are we giving up?\" asked the helmsman with his great oars raised.\n\n\"It is wise to known when and how to retreat\" he answered him. \"Isn't that what bulls do before they charge?\"\n\nThe ill-organized retreat of the Greek fleet continued for about two hundred yards, until the ships had got back to the calm waters and slowed their pace.\n\nThat was the moment when the great horn and the drums were heard from the other side. The Persian ships had been ordered to attack by the emperor and their drummers began to give the rhythm to their rowers. The marines and archers took up battle position at the prows and the rails to the side. The captains raised and put on their armor and their helmets. The drummers quickened the pace and the black Phoenician ships lunged forward in pursuit of the terrified Greeks."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 85", "text": "\"Avast and battle position!\"\n\nThe white flags were taken down from the sterns and red ones were hung in their places. The Greek ships stopped abruptly and with the help of the helmsmen and the calm waters, they quickly drew up in a straight formation, one next to the other, with their rams pointing forward.\n\n\"Avast! Stay still again!\"\n\nThemistocles' order seemed at least paradoxical, since the enormous Phoenician ships were bearing down on them from the end of the straits at full speed, with their short, heavy rams tearing through the water. Everyone knew that standing still at the moment of clash and ramming could be fatal for a ship. It wouldn't have the speed to maneuver, and it wouldn't have built up the momentum to strike.\n\n\"Avast? Are you sure?\" shouted Cimonas from the deck of the Aisia. \"In a little while they'll hit us!\"\n\n\"You're too much of an aristocrat to know the secrets of the sea\u2026 And it's time for you to learn\u2026 Avast!\" Themistocles repeated with certainty, looking straight ahead and calculating the speed and the distance.\n\n\"May the god Poseidon help us\u2026\"\n\nAs the Persian ships continued relentlessly on course, the great biconvex bows on their decks were strung and hundreds of arrows were shot up almost vertically and in bursts, like a sudden summer storm. At that angle of shooting they would fall from a great height, killing the marines on the Greek decks as well as the unprotected rowers on the highest bench.\n\nBut that did not happen. The wind took the arrows and pushed them aside while they were still high in the air. At the same moment the Persian archers lost their footing and could not aim right, because the Persian ships had now reached the center of the straits, the point with the strongest wind.\n\nAs the wind blew through the black rigging and the curly-horned goats at the prows, the raised decks of the gigantic Phoenician ships changed from an advantage against the enemy to a disadvantage against the wind. With their high sides exposed to the strong wind they rose and fell uncontrollably, while at the same time leaning to the right.\n\nThe farther they sailed the more difficult it was to keep to their original course. And it was even more difficult to stay in formation. They started to turn in spite of all the will of their captains and the best efforts of their oarsmen. After a few minutes of exposure to the strong wind their rams were turned to the side and they drifted to windward. But in spite of their unusual and dangerous position, they did not change course. That would have looked like fear and retreat, and it was unthinkable to show fear under the eyes of the emperor, who was watching the attack from his throne. From the moment they received his order and started out, there was only one choice. Forward and only forward. That was what they did, hoping to cross the dangerous center of the straits as quickly as possible. Luckily the Greeks were panicking and terrified. And anyway, not even Ahura Mazda himself would be able to protect them when they were exposed like that.\n\nThemistocles waited. He watched them and his heart felt like it was pounding on top of his metal armor. His plan had unfolded exactly as he wanted it to. Now the great moment had arrived. The moment that would decide everything.\n\nWhen he saw the first Persian ships enter the smooth waters, he raised his hand high. Then he brought it to the side of his mouth. He waited one or two moments and then shouted in his stentorian voice.\n\n\"Full speed ahead! Attack speed!\"\n\nAt the same instant blue cloths were raised on all the sterns of the Greek ships. From their decks sounded the piercing trumpets and pipes playing the martial hymn of the Greeks. The captains of the whole fleet gave the command to attack, while from the mouths of the rowers came the passionate verses:\n\n\u2003Forward, children of Greece\n\n\u2003set your country free, set your children free,\n\n\u2003your wives, the temples of your ancestral gods,\n\n\u2003the tombs of your ancestors\n\n\u2003now the struggle is forever\u2026"}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "The Final Clash", "text": "Before the Artemis could get up to full speed, the Ischys, the ship of Ameinias, shot by them and plunged ahead. The Athenian captain stood in the stern and howled like a madman to urge on his rowers, his officers and his marines.\n\n\"Quickly! With power and speed!\" shouted Themistocles, who did not want anyone else to have the honor of striking the first blow.\n\nHe didn't make it. The crew of the Ischys rowed paroxysmally, like a Dionysian troop in an ecstasy. He smiled faintly as the politician in him took over.\n\nInspire the people with your vision and let them lead the way, but keep them under control, he thought.\n\nAnyway, the important thing was not one blow, but the triumph itself. No one could take that from him, since everyone knew that he had prepared for it for many years, patiently, insistently, sacrificing even his personal fortune for that goal.\n\nWhile the Artemis sailed at full speed towards the scattered Phoenician ships, Themistocles turned his eyes to the west. There, at the end of the straits, the ships of Corinth appeared. They had turned their prows east again and were approaching relentlessly. Adeimantos had heard the pipes and the martial hymn and he was now returning to carry out every last detail of their planned flanking attack.\n\nEverything was ready. The noose was closed, and now he only had to draw it tight around the Persian neck. Themistocles leaned forward again, trying to make out the prow with the great Phoenician goddess Astarte as its figurehead. The prow of the ship of Mervalos, the king of Phoenicia. He could not find it. The choppy sea, the strong wind and the Phoenician rowers who had been caught by surprise in the Greek's sudden attack, had turned the Persian formation into a flock of sheep just before being attacked by wolves.\n\nHe stopped searching. They were already coming up on the first Phoenician ship. Her prow was turned to the west, her keel at an angle, the ideal position for ramming. Her high deck shuddered dizzyingly from the side wind and most of the marines she carried were seasick. In spite of that, her size looked terrible as they approached. She was painted entirely in black, with a great winged fish as a figurehead and an enormous blood-red eye painted underneath it.\n\n\"Ramming speed, diekplou and helm to starboard!\" yelled Themistocles.\n\nThe Artemis increased her speed as the distance with the enemy ship decreased to fifty yards.\n\n\"Ri \u2013 pa \u2013 pie! Ri \u2013 pa \u2013 pie!\"\n\nThe demonic cry of the rowers, who increased their speed every time they raised their oars, sounded from end to end of the Artemis, drowning out everything else.\n\nExcept for the pandemonium coming from its starboard side. Ameinias' Ischys had mercilessly rammed her first victim and her men were passionately avenging the sacking and burning of their city by the Persians. First came a rhythmic crackling of snapping oars and gruesome cries from the rowers as their bones were crushed. Then, before the wailing faded away, came the thunderous crash of impact. The ram hit the undefended side of the Persian ship with terrible force and there was the sound of splintering wood and cracking joints, the cries of wounded men and cheers from the attackers.\n\n\"Glory be to Athena the Triumphant!\" shouted Themistocles enthusiastically.\n\nThe Greek fleet's first ramming had been successful. It was a good omen. Everything seemed to be according to plan and proving the correctness of the prophecy of Eufrantides, the diviner, who had made sacrifices and libations before the battle and had declared that the will of the gods agreed with the plan of the Greeks.\n\n\"Ri \u2013 pa \u2013 pie! Ri \u2013 pa \u2013 pie!\"\n\nHarder.\n\nLouder.\n\n\"Diekplous! Marines to the bow!\" Themistocles had time to shout before the helmsman slammed the double oar to starboard and the Artemis turned abruptly, bringing her ram around to strike the exposed side of the enemy ship.\n\nAbove them the Persian marines ran feverishly carrying ropes and hooks. They understood what the Greek ship planned to do but their rowers did not have time to avoid it. The only solution left was tie the enemy ship to their own after the ramming. Then they could board it and capture it with spears and swords in a hand to hand combat, in which they would have the numerical advantage over the Greek marines. That was the only way to avoid sinking along with their ship.\n\n\"Ram!\"\n\nThere was an unbelievable crash as the Artemis struck with all its force. The whole ship shook with the impact and there was a deafening sound of breaking wood as a huge hole was opened in the side of the Phoenician ship. The enemy ship rolled all the way to starboard, its mast almost touching the surface of the water. Half of the marines on deck lost their hold on the rails and fell into the wild sea.\n\n\"Back!\"\n\nThe Athenian rowers immediately reversed the direction of their oars, trying to pull the Artemis out of its dangerous embrace with the enemy ship. The backwards movement after a clash is the most critical moment in the maneuver of ramming, and the most difficult. They had to detach their ship before it sank along with one that had been rammed, and also before the enemy had time to jump onto their decks.\n\nWhile the petty officer passionately urged on his rowers, the Persian spearmen threw their thick ropes attached to hooks onto the Greek ship and tried to keep it in place.\n\n\"It was a crushing blow. Only half of the Persians are left. We can attack first and kill all of them\" shouted the Artemis' lookout from the prow.\n\n\"No. Full speed back!\"\n\nThemistocles had explained everything in detail to the other Greek captains. They must not waste time boarding the enemy ships to take prisoners or trophies, but strike like lightning, like the bull that sinks its sharp horn into its opponent and retreats immediately. Their goal was to sink or immobilize as many enemy ships as they could as soon as possible, spreading panic and chaos through the immensely superior Persian fleet. The marines on the decks would be finished off by the raging sea, since it was impossible to swim in their heavy armor.\n\nWhile the rowers fought to detach the Artemis, the Athenian marines tried to cut the enemy's ropes with axes, knives and swords and to throw the hooks away. A hail of stones fell on the deck and Persian arrows were shot at close range. Two marines and the piper of the Artemis fell writhing in pain, one with a crushed foot and the other two with arrows buried in their flesh.\n\nThemistocles grabbed his shield and spear and ran towards the bow, calling all the men except the helmsman to come with him. If the Persians dared to board, they had to throw them back before they could set foot on the ship, because their numerical superiority might be fatal and victory might turn into defeat.\n\nBut it was not necessary. With an ear-piercing cry from the rowers and a sudden jolt, the ram came out and the Artemis was propelled rapidly backwards. Themistocles looked at the breach they had made and smiled in satisfaction. The added weight of the marines at the bow had sunk their ram eighteen inches below the surface of the water, so the breach was under the enemy ship's waterline. Now that their ram was no longer there, water poured into the gap. The Phoenician ship had no chance. In a few minutes it would sink with all its crew.\n\nThemistocles turned on his pedestal in the stern and looked around to assess the situation, select the next victim and attack without delay. But it was not so easy. The sky had suddenly darkened, covered by thick clouds that slid across the heavens like his own rapid, agile ships. Beams of sun pierced the clouds in places, slicing the moist, dark air. They might be fighting in the kingdom of Poseidon but the scene resembled a landscape from the kingdom of Hades. That was a good sign, because the Persians would give it the worst possible interpretation. They worshipped the god of the sun. If it disappeared while they were fighting, their morale would suffer. Their confusion and panic would get worse.\n\n\"Full speed ahead!\" he shouted when the Artemis had fully disengaged from the sinking Phoenician ship.\n\nHe continued to observe his surroundings. The Ischys of Ameinias was already headed towards another exposed enemy keel, while the Aisia of Cimonas was getting into position across from the exposed side of a Phoenician ship. Since they were on the right side of the formation, he could not make out any details farther on. The ships had broken their lines and were now engaged in fragmented, ship to ship combats, where individual initiative and decision played the decisive role, and where the free citizens of the Greek ships would have the greatest advantage against the passive slaves of the Persian ships.\n\nUproar and confusion. The water had sprung up into the air from the hundreds of clashes and a moist curtain like thick fog covered the field of battle. All that could be seen was the masts of hundreds of ships, looking like a forest, and the emblems on the few sails that were spread. The chaos and complete disorganization were strengthened by the thunder of ships crashing into each other and the lamentations of men who were being crushed together with their oars and their hulls.\n\n\"All according to plan\u2026\" murmured Themistocles in satisfaction, and turned his gaze back to the waters near him.\n\nThe Aisia had completed her maneuver and was going forward at ramming speed. The Phoenician ship was between his own ship and that of Cimonas. The heavy enemy ship was trying to turn to port to protect its vulnerable side from the attack of the Aisia, but that left its other side unprotected, open to the Artemis' ram. Themistocles decided without a second thought.\n\n\"Hard to starboard!\" he shouted to his helmsman, while signaling the petty officer to increase the rhythm for the rowers.\n\nThe low Greek ship, easy to maneuver and light because of the small number of marines it carried on its deck, turned quickly and came into ramming position. Now the Phoenician ship was between two rams.\n\n\"Ram!\" he shouted as soon as he saw Cimonas' ship increase its speed to attack.\n\nThe Artemis and the Aisia struck almost simultaneously. The Phoenician ship was raised several yards above the surface and then fell again with a crash, broken in the middle. The stern was separated from the bow and the two pieces detached violently, sending bloody parts of the bodies of marines and rowers flying through the air in all directions, crushed by the collision.\n\nWhile the spearmen and the archers of the two Athenian ships finished off the few sailors that had survived the crash, Themistocles and Cimonas raised their fists triumphantly.\n\n\"Courage\u2026\" murmured Themistocles, justifiably pleased with himself. \"We have courage, a soldier's most important weapon\u2026\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 87", "text": "On the Cassiope, Artemisia was trying in vain to maneuver her ship into battle position. To port and starboard her other four ships were crowded, before her was the stern of a ship from Lycia and behind her the bow of another from Cyprus. If she rowed backward so as not to ram the ship in front of her, she was in danger of being rammed by the one behind her. The situation was hopeless and the only thing she could do was to keep a safe distance so as not to suffer damage without even being in the battle.\n\nBut that would not last long, and she knew it. The lookout high on the mast had informed her that the Greeks had sunk many ships of the first line and that they were putting pressure on the whole eastern side of the Persian formation. She looked back unconsciously toward the mountainside where the emperor sat on his throne, surrounded by his generals, his advisors and his mages.\n\n\"Foolish, by Artemis, foolish and incompetent in sea warfare. All these ships will cripple each other without the Greeks having to lift so much as a finger.\"\n\nShe climbed up to the curved ornament of the stern and tried to watch the course of the battle to the west, where the elite divisions of the Phoenicians were drawn up. If those managed to beat the Greek divisions across from them, the Greek formation would break and an empty space would be created, relieving the pressure on the center and the east side.\n\nShe could not make much out. The atmosphere created in the battle by dozens of clashing ships caused a haze that was impenetrable to human eyes. Also, the heavens were covered by black clouds and the clear morning light was lost. So she could not even see which Greek ships were battling in front of her. She hoped though, hoped with all the strength of her spirit, that they were Athenian. She wanted to find him in front of her. She wanted to make him pay for his betrayal. Themistocles. Cunning Themistocles. Devious Themistocles. Charming Themistocles.\n\nShe cursed herself because even now, even after his betrayal and the trap he had set for her, her heart still yearned for him. She was very young and she was a woman, but she was already a famous warlord. She was an amazon who did not hesitate to throw herself into the fire of battle. And she did it in the Greek way: not looking on from the rear and giving orders, but leading her troops and ships herself. And yet, when she was with Themistocles she still thought like a simple-minded woman, destined to melt with love and lose her head at the thought of a man.\n\n\"But whatever happens, we have something in common. That cannot change. Maybe that's why sometimes\u2026\"\n\nShe stopped her monolog, spat in disgust and got down from the stern. The heartbreaking cries of the Persians and the triumphant shouts of the Greeks were growing stronger and stronger. It was a sure sign that the Greek ships had broken the Persian front line at several points and were now approaching their second line. She had to take precautions before they came within ramming distance. She had to order her ships to take up a defensive position to repel the attack. But it was not at all easy to do that in these unbelievably crowed conditions.\n\n\"Raise the oars!\" she shouted to the captains of the ships next to her, to gain space for the rowers to push the Cassiope forward as soon as she gave the order. \"Stay like that and when my ship leaves, each of you in turn take up my position to extricate yourself and follow me. First the two ships to port and then the two to starboard\" she finished her orders to her captains.\n\nThen she put on her helmet and grasped her sword tightly.\n\n\"Hands on the handles of the oars, everyone in readiness!\" she shouted to her petty officer, who immediately relayed the order to the rowers in the hold.\n\n\"Row forward?\" asked the petty officer.\n\n\"Not yet. When I give the order\" shouted Artemisia and she began to climb the mast to watch the course of battle with her own eyes.\n\nShe did not need to climb to the top. The wake of a tremendous collision shook every board of the Cassiope."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 88", "text": "Eyes narrowed.\n\nLips hermetically sealed.\n\nXerxes watched the sea battle with increasing discontent, unable to believe his eyes. His ships were crowded together and they were retreating, leaving an empty space to the Greeks, a space that was very useful in this narrow strip of sea.\n\n\"Who commands the Phoenicians?\" he asked at a certain point, through his teeth.\n\n\"Their leader is their king, Mervalos.\"\n\n\"And the Persian admiral?\"\n\n\"Your brother, Ariavanis.\"\n\nXerxes sighed heavily, trying to rid himself simultaneously of his worry and of the rage that overwhelmed him. Then, feeling somewhat calmer, he scanned the sea battle before him once more.\n\nOn the eastern side, the Ionians were under great pressure from the Greek advance, but they seemed to be holding out and in some cases, sporadically, to be counterattacking. They had a huge advantage in weaponry and sooner or later they would prevail, since they could afford to lose many ships without reversing the balance of forces. In the center things seemed to be proceeding just as steadily, with the Persian lines holding in spite of the fierce attack they had sustained. But on the west side of their formation, the situation had reversed itself and things looked dangerous. That was the point where his brother Ariavanis was fighting, the point where the elite divisions of Phoenician ships were drawn up against the Athenian ships.\n\nThose divisions were almost torn apart. Some of their ships had been completely destroyed, and nothing remained of others except some broken boards and oars floating on the waves. There were many ships that continued fighting, but they retreated constantly and were in danger of being crushed on the rocks. The longer the emperor watched, the more clearly he saw that the situation was not just dangerous, it was almost desperate. The Phoenicians were being attacked on two fronts simultaneously, from the front and from the side. The forty Greek ships that had withdrawn before the battle had now returned and were striking from the vulnerable starboard side. No matter how well trained and well armed a fleet is, it is still difficult for it to fight off a coordinated double attack. That is true of battles on land and even more true of battles on the sea, as the enraged Xerxes now saw.\n\n\"And yet\u2026 It is impossible for us to be defeated. Impossible\u2026 The Persian army is invincible\u2026\" he murmured and raised his eyes to the heavens in a plea to the god of the sun. But the god of the sun had hidden himself behind a thick veil of clouds as if he were abandoning them at the critical moment."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 89", "text": "With the help of the ships of Adeimantos that had suddenly returned, the Phoenician fleet was rapidly pushed back to the east. The last lines ran aground on the rocks off the coast and were smashed to pieces. The Persian marines sank straight to the bottom in their heavy armor, while the Phoenician rowers who tried to swim away were mown down by javelins and arrows from the decks of the fast approaching Greek ships. The frothy sea was died red and severed hands, feet and heads bobbed in the water along with intestines and pieces of wood from smashed ships.\n\n\"They are leaving. The Phoenicians are running for the eastern exit.\"\n\n\"They don't have any other choice\" Themistocles answered his helmsman. \"If they stay, they won't have a single ship left.\"\n\n\"Shall we pursue them? Full speed ahead?\n\n\"No.\"\n\n\"No?\"\n\n\"Let them go. They cannot escape. The exit from the straits is blocked. They will fall on their own ships trying to get away.\"\n\n\"Then the battle is over for us?\"\n\n\"The second line of our ships will stay. The first line, advance to the center to help the ships from Megara. Helm to starboard.\"\n\nThe Artemis leaned far over and made the turn.\n\nAfter the Phoenicians they had to deal with the Egyptians and the Ionians."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 90", "text": "It was the last thing she expected.\n\nHer gaze was fixed forward, trying to make out a Greek ship, but the sudden jolt came from the starboard side, the side protected by one of her other four ships, the Nymphi. The two ships from Halicarnassus shook spasmodically as they collided, but fortunately they had pulled in their oars or the beams would have broken and the ships would have been impossible to steer.\n\n\"What is happening?\" she shouted in an alarmed voice to the captain of the Nymphi.\n\n\"I don't know. The Phoenicians are crowding us from the west.\"\n\n\"The Phoenicians?\" Artemisia's mouth fell open. It was unbelievable. \"Why?\"\n\n\"They are retreating.\"\n\nThe fire inside her was lighted in an instant, worse than it had been when she was young and Sardis burned. If the Phoenicians had lost and were retreating, then everything was lost.\n\nThey had to leave. They had to extricate themselves from this destructive jostling as quickly as possible.\n\n\"Full speed ahead!\"\n\n\"Where?\" asked the petty officer, looking around him in confusion.\n\n\"Ahead!\"\n\n\"That's difficult.\"\n\n\"Why?\"\n\n\"Our stern is involved with the Nymphi's stern. There is no room for us to put our oars in the water, except at the bow. And the bow oars don't have enough power to get us out. The rowers are exhausted, they've been rowing continuously since yesterday evening.\"\n\nBefore the desperate petty officer had time to finish explaining, Artemisia jumped up and ran down the ship's corridor. She reached the bow and jumped into the hold, where her rowers were. She was immediately immersed in its choking atmosphere. A heavy odor of sweaty male bodies, urine and decayed corpses assaulted her nostrils in spite of the aromatic oil of lily with which she had anointed herself earlier. She put a scented linen scarf to her nose and stood at the side of the hold, looking her rowers in the eye.\n\n\"I know you are exhausted. But we have only one chance to save ourselves and go back to our city, and that chance is now. We must push the ship forward. Even if it's against the gods and against nature, we must do this. Otherwise we will find ourselves at the bottom of the sea and in the kingdom of the underworld. Forward! All together!\"\n\nWithout waiting for an answer she rushed forward, pushed the first rower from his bench and sat in his place, grasping the oily, dirty handle with both hands.\n\n\"Forward, all together! Petty officer, give the rhythm!\"\n\nWith a loud cry that ended in a cheer, dozens of hands pulled together with the queen. A hollow splash was heard and then a long-drawn out screech of wood rubbing on wood. The hull shuddered, the bow lifted, but the Cassiope stayed in place.\n\n\"Again!\"\n\nAgain they raised the oars, buried them in the water and pulled with the same force.\n\n\"Again!\"\n\nAnother fruitless attempt followed.\n\n\"Throw ropes with hooks to the ship in front and pull with us!\" she yelled her order to the officer of the marines on deck.\n\n\"Strongly, oars and ropes together!\"\n\nThe Cassiope groaned, shuddered, dragged slowly forward with a blood-curdling sound and then suddenly leapt into the space of water before it.\n\nThe cheers of the men filled the hold, but Artemisia did not stay for single a moment to celebrate with them. They had taken the first step towards saving themselves, but there were many more. She climbed up on the bench and from there jumped to the deck and looked around her. She saw pandemonium on the sea, ships clashing and ramming each other at will from one end of the field of battle to the other. Arrows, javelins and rocks shot from the decks fell like rain. All around her she saw flanking movements of ships and desperate marines charging with swords and axes in their hands. But behind her the space left by the Cassiope was enough to allow her other ships to maneuver and follow her out. She ordered her signalman to tell the Nymphi and her other ships to move into the empty space and escape their deadly embrace, and then turned to the petty officer.\n\n\"Full speed ahead. We have to get out of this bloodbath right now.\"\n\nShe went back to the stern, to the captain's position and threw a quick glance around the ship to check its condition. The back rails on one side were crippled, but they were quite a bit higher than the waterline and that meant that the damage did not require immediate attention. Many of the oars had been snapped, but they had a store of oars in reserve and could replace some of them in order to build up enough speed to escape. The marines were in their positions, unharmed, and her helmsman gave her a nod to indicate that the two great oars of the rudder were still working perfectly.\n\nShe sighed in relief and threw a quick glance at the sea around her to choose the best and safest way out. Then she ordered the helmsman to turn the Cassiope toward the east, the only way out of that well-laid trap. That meant fighting the Spartan division, but as everyone knew, the Spartans were only famous for their prowess in war on the land. On the sea they were inexperienced and weak. That was the best solution, she decided quickly.\n\n\"Hard to port, attack speed\" she ordered her petty officer.\n\nShe looked behind her. The Nymphi, the Amphitriti and the Triaina, three of her four ships, were now sailing in a straight line. The Areti had not managed to extricate herself. It was still in the same place, being hit by other Persian ships and half sunk on the starboard side.\n\nShe did not stop to mourn. She merely swore to revenge her lost men and then concentrated all her energy on escaping. Fortunately she had the best crews in the fleet. Their continuous training the summer before was now bearing fruit. The Cassiope, the Nymphi, the Amphitriti and the Triaina maneuvered with the precision of a dancer through the crowded straits, avoiding clashes with out-of-control Persian ships as well as with the Greek ships that lay in wait and made lightning attacks, taking advantage of the high morale of their crews and the haze of battle.\n\n\"Full speed ahead to port. Go!\"\n\n\"I hope the emperor can't see us in this mist\u2026 Otherwise we'll save our ships and lose our heads\u2026\" murmured Diomedes, the most trustworthy of her men.\n\n\"I'll think about that problem later\" she answered him curtly. \"Now we just have to get out of this shambles without being killed\" she added with her eyes on the exit from the sea straits to the east, at the cape of Kynosoura.\n\nYard by yard they came closer to the exit, avoiding battle so as not to delay. Now they could clearly see their destination: the open sea behind the cape. But now they could also clearly see the Persian ships drawn up there on Achaimenes' orders to prevent the Greeks from escaping. As things had turned out, they had closed their own trap on themselves.\n\n\"We're getting nearer, my lady\u2026\"\n\n\"I see that, Diomedes.\"\n\nIt was now a matter of time before they got there, and with relief Artemisia gave the order to stretch the porphyry sail with the white and gold horns on the small mast. It was the symbol of the Persian fleet and she hoped that the lookouts would recognize it in time to let them pass out of the straits.\n\nHer relief suddenly evaporated when she heard her lookout cry \"Greek ships to starboard! And behind us!\"\n\nArtemisia jumped in place, terrified, and turned first to the prow and then to the starboard rail.\n\nShe saw two ships rowing towards them at high speed. One of them, the one coming up from behind, was very far away and would probably not reach them in time. But the other, with the figurehead of Medusa on its prow, was already rowing towards them at ramming speed. The worst thing was that, behind that ship and a short distance away, there followed two others that were also ready to attack. She might be able to fight off the first, but she would have no chance against all three of them.\n\nShe looked to the east, feverishly trying to judge the distance. The exit was near, but not near enough to for them to reach it before the Greek ships got to them.\n\nThemistocles' words came to her mind: \"They have put a price of ten thousand drachmas on your head\u2026\"\n\nThat would explain the manic pursuit. She looked up and down her ship for some emblem of Halicarnassus. On the prow was the wooden statue of her beloved Artemis, the goddess who had given her her name. That was what had betrayed her.\n\n\"Take down the figurehead!\" she yelled to her lookout. \"Chop it down with the axes and throw it in the sea!\" she added, internally promising sacrifices and libations to the goddess to abate her wrath over the sacrilege.\n\nThen her eye fell on the porphyry sail her petty officer was holding, getting ready to tie it to the mast.\n\n\"No! Throw the Persian emblem back into the hold!\" she shouted.\n\nShe looked quickly back over the starboard rail. The Greek ships were relentlessly closing the gap. Getting rid of the emblems had not worked, and she had very little time. She had to find another solution, a quick and effective one, and she had to find it immediately.\n\nPanting like a runner racing towards the finish line, she looked around her. Greek and Persian ships were fighting to port and starboard, creating pandemonium, but to starboard she could make out two Persian ships rowing undisturbed towards the exit, raising the porphyry sail with the white horns to get past the Persian navy.\n\nShe didn't think about it another moment. She gave the order to turn to the left and told the marines to go to the bows.\n\n\"Ramming speed!\" she shouted to her petty officer, who was looking at her in astonishment. \"Now!\"\n\n\"They are ships from Caria and Lycia. Ours\u2026\"\n\n\"Ramming speed!\" she repeated, screaming like a madwoman.\n\nThe petty order did not dispute her order again. He bent to the deck and transferred it to the rowers immediately.\n\nThe Cassiope turned to port and plunged forward with her prow vertical to the direction of the waves, not at top speed but steadily and with her ram making a firm straight line.\n\nThe ship in front of her, the flagship of Caria, the ship of King Damasythymos, was moving at a slow pace towards the exit, waiting for the Persian ships to open a passage.\n\n\"Ram!\" shouted Artemisia without hesitating for a second.\n\nThe Cassiope dealt a crushing blow. Its ram found the Persian ship almost at a standstill and struck it at an angle of forty five degrees, opening an enormous rift under the waterline.\n\nCries of pain from the wounded rowers and the yells of surprise from the marines on the deck followed the crackling sound of crushed wood. Damasythymos turned his head in astonishment and his mouth fell open when he saw the queen of Halicarnassus at the stern of the ship that had hit him.\n\nThe rowers of the Cassiope received the order to row backwards and detach the ship while Damasythymos, beside himself with rage at Artemisia's treachery, shouted to his marines to throw out ropes and hooks and storm its decks before his ship sank. At the same instant, a rain of arrows and stones was shot against the Cassiope by the desperate Persian marines on the deck of their rammed ship.\n\n\"Weapons in your hands! Everyone at the bow!\"\n\nArtemisia looked behind her. The Greek ships had slowed down their rhythm and some had stopped completely, watching the strange spectacle of the ramming. The attack on the Persian ship confused them, and now they assumed they had been chasing the wrong prey. Before Artemisia turned her eyes away, the first of the Greek ships that had been pursuing them had maneuvered to starboard and rowed away.\n\nShe smiled in satisfaction. But not for long. In front of her a battle was raging. Her crew was trying to cut the ropes thrown by the Persians, while her marines had raised their spears to repel their attack. She sought out the captain and ran forward, snatching the sword from the sheath hanging at her side. As she ran down the passageway the first Persian warriors set foot in her bows, which had not yet detached themselves. Fortunately there were not many of them, most having fallen from the deck into the sea at the moment of impact.\n\n\"Single file!\" she shouted, running. \"Form lines! Lock shields! Raise spears!\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 91", "text": "\"It is the Cassiope, the ship of Artemisia.\"\n\nThe messenger had just returned from the eastern lookout, bringing the answer to the question the emperor had asked a short time earlier.\n\nXerxes nodded and told his personal scribe to note down the name on his papyrus.\n\n\"Why?\" asked Mardonius, who had expected her to finally get the punishment her insolent and disobedient character deserved.\n\n\"She shall inscribed in the Orasagon\u2026 She deserves it\u2026\" the king answered him.\n\n\"The role of imperial benefactors?\" asked Mardonius, stunned by the unexpected answer. \"Her treachery is undeniable.\"\n\n\"It was not treachery.\"\n\n\"The ship she hit was not Greek, Great King. It was ours. It was the ship of Damasythymos, king of\u2026\"\n\nXerxes raised his hand tiredly, commanding him to stop. \"I know. But again, I believe it was not treachery. It was a struggle to survive, to save her life and the lives of her men. And in such a struggle, everything is allowed. If we had more commanders like Artemisia, we would have avoided this disaster\u2026\"\n\nThe words of Xerxes faded inside the bitter taste of defeat in his mouth as red-hot iron fades in ice water. His hand went limply to the armrest of his throne and his body reclined in a posture of exhaustion and resignation. But his gaze remained fixed on the straits before him which were full of oars, planks, broken sterns, half sunk keels, human limbs and broken bodies. He took a deep breath and sighed, breathing out forcefully in an attempt to release all of his pent-up frustration.\n\n\"My men fight like women and my women like men\u2026\" he murmured slowly and tonelessly."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 92", "text": "As the hours passed, the victory of the Greek fleet grew more and more certain. Those Persian ships that remained unharmed and were still fighting, were attacked many times in ways that were difficult to resist. Most were crowded together at the exit of the straits, trying to escape. Many were smashed against the rocks on the coast while others were torn apart when they fell on friendly prows, rams and oars. The Persian ships that managed to escape the straits sailed quickly to Faliro and Piraeus where the Greek ships could not follow them, and where they were protected by the Persian army.\n\n\"Do not try to take plunder, or to capture the enemy's ships to tow them to Salamis as trophies!\" Themistocles ordered, looking down from his high stern at the battlefield, the sea covered with debris, its waves dyed red with blood. \"Just sink them and kill the crews\u2026\"\n\nAnd that is exactly what most of the Greek ships did. Leaning over the rails, their hearts full of hatred after the painful days and nights they had spent in Salamis watching their city burn, the marines spied out Persians who were still swimming or clinging to the wreckage of their ships and finished them off with javelins and arrows, like fishermen who have come upon a school of fish.\n\n\"Prow to the east!\"\n\nThemistocles had no desire to become involved in that slaughter. He left the others to carry out their horrible duty. Besides, his resourceful mind was not used to thinking about revenge. It was absolutely concentrated on results. Small purposes did not interest him at all. Only the great purpose mattered. And now, the great purpose was to sink as many Persian ships as they could, to prevent them from getting away and to remove the Persian threat from the sea once and for all.\n\nThe Persian ships crowding the exit of the straits resembled a flock of sheep being attacked by wolves. The ships in front pressed forward with whatever oars they had left, those in the center were crushed by the pressure, and those behind had turned their rams backwards in a hopeless attempt to cover their weak points and repel the attacking Greeks.\n\nAround the Persian formation, in a great semicircle, sailed the ships from Aegina and Megara. They circled the flock, thirsty for blood, but could not find any gap which would allow them to attack with their rams. The Persians had learned from the tactic the Greeks had invented at Artemisio, and they were using it now.\n\n\"There is no other solution\u2026\" murmured Themistocles as he stretched out his hand and grasped his helmet, his sword and his spear.\n\nHe placed his marines in the bows in battle position and gave ropes to the rest of the crew on the decks, ordering them to climb the masts so they could throw the ropes more easily and hook the enemy ship.\n\n\"There are too few of us to take the ship by storm. We only have ten soldiers and the Persian ships have forty. It will be one against four. They'll win,\" objected Sosikles, the officer in command of his marines.\n\n\"Counting me, there are eleven of us. But that doesn't matter. You don't win just by capturing ships. You win by dominating the enemy's mind. You win when you have made him accept his defeat. And the Persians know they are beaten. That will paralyze their hands and weigh down their weapons.\n\n\"But they might react like a cornered animal. They might fight tooth and nail like a wild thing that doesn't have a way to escape. If we get close to them, it's likely they'll try to board our ship to save themselves.\"\n\nThemistocles thought about that for a moment. He knew about democracy, and he knew that the most important thing any politician or general can do is not to speak with confidence, but to listen with understanding.\n\n\"You are right. Tell the rowers. Since we're not ramming, we don't need three banks of oars. The first line of rowers will come on deck together with the marines\" he ordered the petty officer.\n\n\"But they're not soldiers. They don't know how to do anything else but row.\"\n\n\"That's what they're going to do now too\u2026\" Themistocles said enigmatically, and he put on his helmet and gave the command to approach the enemy vessel, ready for hand to hand combat.\n\nThe air was filled with the war cries of the Persians and the battle hymn of the Greeks, the shouts of the petty officers and the groans of the rowers, the clashing of swords on the metal of shields and the thunder of running feet on the decks.\n\n\"Lock shields! shouted Themistocles. \"Everyone forward!\"\n\nAs the two ships came closer together, he climbed onto the tip of the prow in front of all his men, ready to leap onto the enemy ship. He was a riveting sight. High above everyone else, dressed in his bronze armor with the white crest of his helmet and his blue cloak fluttering in the breeze, he looked like Talus, the mythical supernatural warrior, or like a fearless sea warrior rising from the waves, sent by the god Poseidon himself.\n\nAs soon as the ships touched, ropes were thrown and arrows and stones were simultaneously shot from both sides. Persians and Greeks climbed up on the prows and the rails, ready to board. Then the rowers came forward, stretched out their long oars and started to sweep the enemy's deck, throwing down the Persian marines and creating gaps in their defensive line.\n\n\"Charge!\" shouted Themistocles, and with a bound, taking advantage of a gap in front of him, he jumped to the enemy's deck while simultaneously lowering his heavy sword on the body of a Persian and splitting it in two.\n\nBehind him the other Athenians poured in through the toothless Persian line onto the deck of the other ship. After the boarding, things were easier. The bronze armor of the Greeks and their long spears were more effective in hand to hand combat.\n\nFoot by foot, aided by the fatigue of the Persians after rowing all day and all night as well as by their sense of defeat, the Athenians advanced in formation from the prow to the stern, eliminating everyone who stood against them. At the very back, pressed up against the curved ornament of the stern, stood two enormous Persian warriors on either side of Daskylos, from the island of Samos.\n\n\"He's mine\" shouted Themistocles when he saw him, because he had tried many times unsuccessfully to convince Daskylos to enroll Samos in the Greek alliance. The Samians were famous for their greed, and they always put gold above honor. \"Now he will pay for everything\u2026\"\n\nHe plunged forward with two other men. The first buried the point of his spear in the breast of a Persian, but the second was not so successful. The Persian's ax sliced the spear in half, was raised, and then came down heavily on his head. The bronze helmet could not withstand the terrible blow from the ax. It was split in two along with his skull, and the blade of the ax did not stop until it reached the breastbone, making the Athenian marine resemble an animal prepared for sacrifice.\n\nThe first marine immediately turned and tried to strike the gigantic Persian with his bloody spear. He had no better luck. His spear was shattered by the heavy ax before it could touch the scaly armor. The Athenian took a step back to avoid the huge weapon on its way down, but his foot slipped on the body of his comrade and he fell to the deck beside him, looking up with terror at the approaching giant. The Persian raised his ax again, holding it firmly in both hands. His dirty, sweaty face was distorted with a grin of triumph. But before he could lower the heavy ax, his expression changed to doubt, pain and paralysis and he collapsed, shaking the wooden boards of the stern with his enormous bulk and still holding the ax in his hands.\n\nIn the moment when the Persian was standing with his arms raised and his breast uncovered, Themistocles had taken a step forward and buried his sword deep in the left side of his unprotected chest. He stooped over the lifeless Persian body, pulled out the sword and wiped off the blood on the colorful Persian trousers.\n\nThen he raised it and looked the well-fed Daskylos, who was shaking like a big fish caught in a net, in the eye.\n\n\"You betrayed the Athenians once when you accepted darian gold and ran from the battle of Lade. A few months ago you betrayed us again when you refused to join the Greek alliance and sent ships and men to aid Xerxes in his campaign against us. I begged you many times, but you didn't even take the time to give us an answer\" he said, in a tone that called to mind an orator much more than a warrior. \"Now the time has come for you to pay for everything, in the name of the people of Athens\u2026\"\n\nDaskylos fell to his knees and held up his hands. Golden jewelry glinted between his fingers. He held it out towards the Athenian and wept, begging for mercy.\n\n\"Take it, son of Neocles. I have more in the hold. And even more on Samos. It will all be yours if you let me live\u2026\" he said with lips trembling from fear.\n\nThemistocles took three steps forward and stood over Daskylos. Then he looked at his gathered men. Without a word, he brought down his sword on Daskylos' neck, cutting off the head which rolled all the way to the other side of the deck.\n\n\"Take it and nail it to the mast. And don't sink the ship. I want to tow it to Salamis so that everyone can see what happens to traitors.\"\n\n\"And the body with it?\"\n\n\"No\u2026\"\n\nBurial and respect for the dead were things the Greeks could not neglect.\n\n\"Throw his body in the sea.\"\n\n\"Without burial? He is Greek, he believes in the same gods as we do. It is hubris and sacrilege to throw him in the sea.\"\n\n\"Hubris, yes, but justified for a traitor\" said Themistocles coldly. He would hear those words again some years later, and he would remember them until the end of his life."}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 93", "text": "Night fell quickly, covering up the hideous scene. Bodies were washing up all along the shores and many more were anchored to the bottom by their armor. Human limbs were tumbled by the waves and the wind. Planks, oars, sail, broken prows and sterns. Catastrophe. Annihilation. Disgrace.\n\nYes, night fell quickly, but Xerxes did not rise from his throne on the mountainside. He sat without moving, his shoulders bowed, his face expressionless, his gaze fixed on the east, where the sky was already dark.\n\nHis thoughts were blacker than the deepest darkness. The sights he had seen that day weighed on him like a heavy burden. His breath came in slowly, like that of a person forced to his knees. It was a strange way for a King, a Great King, a King of Kings, to breathe.\n\n\"How many ships did we lose?\" he asked finally in a toneless voice.\n\n\"About two hundred and forty. Together with the desertions, perhaps two hundred and fifty.\"\n\nSilence.\n\nSilence and concentration.\n\n\"Men?\"\n\n\"Fifty thousand. But the nations are still counting them. Perhaps sixty thousand before the night is over.\"\n\n\"Sixty thousand men in one day\u2026\"\n\nIt was impossible to believe the number he heard. Even more than the number, it was impossible to believe the loss of the flower of the Persian nobility who commanded the divisions of the fleet and the marines on the decks. The slaves rowing the ships were expendable, but not the Persian nobles. Among them were two of his brothers.\n\nThe advisors and generals waiting on him were also silent in the darkness. The sorrow of the King was sacred, and at such moments no one had the right to speak to him without his permission.\n\nThe silence and the motionlessness lasted for hours. Hours that passed slowly, tortuously for the emperor, and anxiously for those waiting for his decisions and fearing his rage and his punishments.\n\nBut they were wrong to fear his rage. Rage had been replaced by disappointment, a more devious, more excruciating emotion. Rage is easy to satisfy but disappointment is not, it slowly digs holes in the spirit and snuffs out every hope as it gnaws away at the will and wears down morale. Even the morale of kings.\n\n\"Take the commanders of the Phoenicians and behead them. They have not kept their promises, they were not worthy of their reputation. They ran like cowardly women, betrayed my trust, and are more responsible for the disaster than anyone else\" said Xerxes after hours had passed, and he ordered the torches to be lighted to start the council of war.\n\n\"Here?\"\n\n\"Here, Mardonius. Before the field of catastrophe. Incorrect actions are the best path to correct thoughts.\"\n\nWhen the torches wrapped in resin had been lighted, reflecting off the shining throne and the gloomy faces gathered around it, Xerxes commanded that the great map of the sea between Asia and Europe should be brought before him and spread out.\n\n\"Our time is running out\" he said after he had looked at the map thoughtfully for a while. \"The days have grown colder and the nights longer. Winter is before us and our army will starve if it remains encamped here.\"\n\n\"Perhaps we could disperse it over Attica and Boeotia. It will be easier to find food\" proposed Mardonius.\n\n\"Those are areas we have already looted, ravaged and burned. They cannot support that many thousands of men.\"\n\n\"And now, without our fleet, it is impossible to bring the stores from Thrace and Macedonia here\" said Ariaranes, the emperor's advisor. \"But the state of the food for our spirits is even worse than the state of the food for our bodies. Soon winter will be here. The men are impatient to return to their country and their families. How can we keep their morale high when we don't have victory, plunder and spoil to offer them?\" he wondered at the end.\n\nXerxes nodded thoughtfully. Even an emperor could understand the correctness of the words of his wise advisor, no matter how unpleasant they sounded in his ears. One defeat can bring a man to his senses better than thousands of words.\n\n\"You are right, Ariaranes\u2026\" he murmured dejectedly.\n\n\"We can withdraw the army to Macedonia. There the lands and the cities are untouched, they can feed it. We can wait there until next spring and then start another campaign against Greece\" proposed Hydarnes.\n\n\"This many thousand men will need a month, maybe two to turn back. Why? Why should they stay on foreign ground all winter? And then they would have to turn south and go past Thermopylae again. With what courage? With what morale?\"\n\n\"With the courage given by fear. With their morale raised by the promises we give them. Because does our emperor not rule that way? With an iron fist and divine generosity\" retorted Hydarnes in support of his proposal. \"Our army never retreats, is never defeated!\" he shouted at the end, in a last attempt to raise the abject morale of the war council, and of the king himself.\n\n\"And yet, believe me, Hydarnes\u2026 All armies can be defeated\u2026 Even my father, the Great Darius, was defeated when campaigning in the land of the Scythians\u2026\" was the king's answer.\n\n\"But that did not stop him from ruling the empire for many more years with strength and decisiveness\" added Ariaranes.\n\nArtemisia took her gaze from the island of Salamis. During all those hours of waiting she had been looking intensely at the land across from the straits. There were fires burning everywhere on the shores and on the hills. She looked and wondered if the traitor, the devious, charming Athenian, was still alive, alive to enjoy the result of his cunning, his victory and his triumph. Perhaps, if he was alive, she could reveal her great secret to him now that everything was over. Should she keep the flame of hope alive inside her, her hope to have him alive near her one day, beside her and beside her son, waiting for them back in Halicarnassus?\n\n\"In regard to that\u2026\" she said, raising her voice suddenly, \"I would like to relate some thoughts that have passed through my mind\u2026\"\n\n\"The mind of a woman? By the god of the sun, I've never heard anything more paradoxical\" mocked Hydarnes.\n\n\"You again?\" Mardonius reacted more calmly, turning his eyes, narrowed in rage, toward her.\n\nXerxes raised his hand. \"Let her speak. She is the only one who gave me good advice on this campaign\u2026 Come forward, Queen of Halicarnassus\u2026\"\n\nArtemisia left the line, walked to the pedestal of the throne, and stood before the emperor.\n\n\"Lower your eyes\" said Mardonius curtly.\n\nXerxes smiled for the first time. \"She is the only one among us who has the right to raise them. Speak, Artemisia\u2026 I am listening\u2026\"\n\n\"My father and your faithful servant, the satrap Lygdamis, has told me that on that campaign the King of Kings and King of the Earth, Darius the Great, faced an even greater problem than defeat.\"\n\n\"What do you mean?\"\n\n\"The Scythian warriors cut the bridges he had built over the great river for his troops to pass. After the defeat and without the bridges, the return of that great army was made impossible by the river swollen with water. And thus many brave men, valuable to the empire, were lost. I wonder\u2026\"\n\n\"What?\"\n\n\"I wonder if the Greeks, now that they have become rulers of the sea, will cut off the sea routes\u2026 How will so many hundreds of thousands of men return? How will our troops return, Great King? And most importantly, how will you return with your entourage?\"\n\n\"Unacceptable! That is unacceptable!\" Hydarnes shouted in a rage. \"The emperor and his army do not run like rats from a sinking ship. They stay on the field of battle, they fight and they overcome! Your questions are Greek. Rhetorical, asked merely to make an impression. They are worth nothing!\"\n\n\"And yet\u2026\" aged Ariaranes said slowly \"They are questions of a prudent mind, not the cries of a conceited spirit.\"\n\n\"Do you agree with her?\" the king asked him.\n\n\"I agree that we must think very seriously about the concerns she expresses. Besides, the advice she has given, as you said yourself, my King, has all been correct. So why should we not listen to her now?\"\n\n\"We can build more ships over the winter. We can face the Greeks again and defeat them. We can become rulers of the sea again\" shouted Mardonius in support of Hydarnes.\n\n\"It is difficult to build that many ships in such a short time. And it is impossible to find trained crews to replace those we lost\" said Achaimenes, the leader of the crippled Persian fleet. \"For the next few months, unfortunately, the Greeks will be the rulers of the sea.\"\n\n\"Well then? What will stop them from cutting off our return by sea if we give them time to develop their fleet?\" asked Artemisia.\n\n\"Our return\u2026\" Xerxes repeated slowly.\n\n\"It is true that it is difficult to feed an army as large as ours in winter on enemy territory. But a smaller one? An army that is easier to move?\"\n\n\"What are you trying to say, Mardonius?\" asked Ariaranes, puzzled and uneasy, because he too believed that the Persians must avoid staying in Greece at all costs. The messengers who had arrived a few days before from Persia by the imperial road, had brought bad news from Susa. The Babylonians had rebelled again and Egypt was seething in the absence of the imperial army. \"What is your proposal, general? Speak clearly, not in riddles.\n\n\"I propose that the emperor and his entourage should return with half his army and that I should remain here with the other half, to offer him the conquest of Greece next year as a gift.\"\n\nThe lips of Ariaranes curved in a half smile of contentment. \"The emperor must return in any case. Half the army can remain without cost to the empire. The proposal of Mardonius, as I hear it, is a proposal that is wise and prudent.\"\n\n\"Besides, you have fulfilled your promise to your father, Great King. Athens has been destroyed\u2026\" added Artemisia.\n\nXerxes stretched out his hand and commanded his servant to bring him the golden cup with the sweet wine.\n\nHe brought the full cup slowly to his lips and drank a few sips. Then he suddenly turned it over and poured the rest on the ground.\n\nFinally, he raised his head and turned his gaze to the east, to the land of his fathers and the boundless territories of his empire.\n\nThe sun was just rising. Rosy-fingered dawn glowed faintly on the horizon.\n\n\"We are leaving\u2026\" he said slowly. \"The sun hid its face all day yesterday and it has come out again today, after the destruction. The god is telling us to return\u2026"}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 94", "text": "Day was breaking at the watchtower on Salamis, at the edge of the peninsula, in Kynosoura across from Athens.\n\nThis time without suspense.\n\nWithout fear.\n\n\"We are the rulers of the sea\" said Themistocles, unable to conceal his self-satisfaction.\n\n\"But victory on the sea cannot give us back our city\" Aristeides answered drily, looking sorrowfully across at the ruined Athens.\n\n\"We will take it back. We will rebuild it. Greater. More glorious.\n\n\"The Persians still rule the land. You cannot build cities on the sea.\"\n\n\"The sea was the decisive step. The first great blow to the arrogant Persian.\"\n\n\"What will the second be? Will we disembark troops in Faliro?\" asked Cimonas, who was standing behind them.\n\n\"No. that will be the third step. The second is to take advantage of today's victory and our mastery on the sea.\"\n\n\"Don't talk in riddles and enigmas to impress me. We're not the crowd. Tell us clearly what you're thinking.\"\n\n\"I am thinking we should go on campaign, Aristeides.\"\n\n\"Against Persia?\" asked Cimonas in astonishment. He had learned to expect anything and everything from the reckless Themistocles.\n\n\"No. On the beaches of Ionia and all the islands in between, to cut off their return. The Persian army will be shut in here, far from its supply bases and reserves. It is our great opportunity to be done with them once and for all.\n\n\"Great opportunities like that, Themistocles, are usually seen by small minds. Or by great minds that have become dangerously swollen by a triumph. You mind is not small, but it is probably very swollen. You are a masterful thinker, but you can be carried away by your abilities and end up in catastrophe\" Aristeides told him bluntly.\n\nCimonas started up at the insult to the man whom everyone admitted was the savior of Greece.\n\nBut Themistocles was not angry. He did not even reply to the insult.\n\n\"It is our chance for glory\u2026 Our chance to trap and destroy the whole enemy army\" he said simply.\n\n\"For glory\u2026 isn't the glory you got today enough for you?\" Aristeides asked ironically, before going back to his usual serious tone. \"If the only thing you want is glory, I don't have anything more to say. But what I want is to get back our city by driving the Persians out of our land. And there isn't a better way to fail in doing that, than by trapping them here.\"\n\n\"Why?\" asked Themistocles, honestly puzzled.\n\n\"Because everyone knows that a wild beast that loses all hope of getting out alive, will fight fiercely to the end with everything it has. We do not want to annihilate all the Persians. What we want is to force them to leave as soon as possible. That is precisely why we must not only not make their escape difficult, but make it easier if we can.\"\n\nThemistocles did not speak. He simply thought and listened. In any case, that was the great advantage that had brought him his victory. He always listened to good advice, forgetting his egotism and his stubbornness.\n\n\"Yes\u2026 Perhaps you are right, Aristeides\u2026\" he admitted after a little while. \"But\u2026\"\n\n\"But you want the glory.\"\n\n\"Haste is worse than stupidity sometimes\" he said, smiling. \"You are right. We must not cut off their retreat. But that is precisely why we must continue to say it as if we were certain to do it. It's a good idea to let all our Persian captives know that as clearly as we can, and then let them go back to their camp to tell their emperor what they have learned here. That the Greeks will cut off all the sea routes very soon\u2026\"\n\nAristeides smiled, understanding the trick. \"Sometimes you frighten me, Themistocles. I am afraid I will never manage to beat you in the assembly. One day I might have to ostracize you and exile you to get rid of you\u2026\" he said in a cheerful and light-hearted voice, as if he were making some joke to his soldiers.\n\nBut neither Themistocles nor Cimonas laughed. Both of them knew that Aristeides' memory was worse than a camel's, and so was his stubbornness.\n\n\"If we're going to use your trick, then we have to hurry\" said Cimonas to break the awkward silence. \"We can't be sure the captives will be alive much longer. Especially now that the soldiers on their side are setting fire to the few buildings that remain standing in the city\u2026\"\n\nThe three Athenians turned and looked darkly at the new fires burning across from them. The Persians that had survived the massacre had spent the night in contemptible revenge, setting fires to what remained of Athens.\n\n\"Yes, victory on the sea could not save our city\u2026\" repeated Aristeides with simultaneous rage and sorrow.\n\n\"It saved us though.\"\n\n\"You may feel great today, but you are nothing in comparison with your country. Not one of us is so great that he is worth saving at the price of Athens.\"\n\n\"Not one of us, no. But we, her citizens, all her people who have been saved, we can rebuild her gloriously just because we managed to save ourselves\" Themistocles told him sharply. \"A city is not her buildings or her streets or even her temples. A city is not her lands or the fortunes of her rich citizens, strange as that may seem to you, Aristeides. A city is her people. It is her citizens. And because of our victory on the sea, those are unharmed and no longer in danger.\"\n\n\"For all your pompous rhetoric, the Persians still have our lands. Where will we build this new city? On the water of the sea, perhaps? Is it your purpose that we should become followers of Poseidon? Or do you perhaps want us to live out the rest of our lives in boats, as fishers and oarsmen?\"\n\n\"You could never accept that, leader of the oligarchs, arrogant aristocrat.\" Themistocles answered, laughing sarcastically.\n\n\"I don't understand. What do you mean?\"\n\n\"That today's victory was not won by your kind, the supercilious aristocrats born into wealth, but by the poor, the illiterate, the humble and the despised, the worst, as you like to call them. The simple people of the earth and the sea. The fishers and oarsmen. The people of Athens\u2026\"\n\n\"They are necessary too, I'm not saying they're not.\"\n\n\"At least you admit it.\"\n\n\"Necessary for you, I mean. Necessary for a rabble-rouser demagogue who needs to manipulate the crowd to rule the city just as he likes, without any control!\" Aristeides raised his voice in indignation.\n\n\"I have never ruled without any control. I have always had the consent of the democratic assembly.\"\n\n\"Exactly. The assembly. The mob you control to ostracize and exile your opponents\u2026\" said Aristeides with a bitter note in his voice that was entirely personal.\n\n\"But I brought you back. I convinced them to repeal your exile.\"\n\n\"So you could win.\"\n\n\"It was not only me that won. We all won together.\"\n\n\"But before that, you convinced the mob to exile me. You decided that I had to leave the city so you wouldn't have me underfoot and you imposed on the assembly\u2026\"\n\n\"That's democracy, my friend. The people decide, the same people you call the mob. And their decisions must be respected because they are sacred. Even if they are painful, like exile\" Themistocles answered him easily and naturally. Just then, on the day of his great triumph, he could not know that he would hear the same words many years later, and he would remember them until the end of his life.\n\nCimonas, who had been listening to them without speaking all this time, shook his head sadly. Only a few hours had passed since their magnificent victory, and the two political opponents had already started arguing, mocking and threatening each other again, forgetting the few hours when they had stood united against the enemy.\n\n\"Greeks\u2026\" he muttered to himself downheartedly. Then, giving a bitter smile, he turned to go. \"They'll never change\u2026\""}
{"book_title": "300 The Empire", "author": "Theo Papas", "genres": ["historical fiction", "Greece"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Epilogue", "text": "[ 459 B.C. ]\n\n[ \"I, Themistocles\" ]\n\nThe man walked up and down with hesitant steps in the half-dark room which was lit only by the faint, flickering light of oil lamps. He went to the great window on the east side, pushed aside the linen curtain that kept out the heat of the sun during the day, and looked at the view that lay before him, all silver under the full moon. There were fig trees and vineyards next to the great farmhouse, then olive trees and wheatfields, the cut stalks of harvested wheat gleaming in the silver rays.\n\nHe let out the stale air he had been holding in his chest and longingly breathed in the warm evening breeze, as the scents of the countryside surrounded him. The scents that were familiar to him from his childhood years. The scents of his country. The heavy, sweet odor of the figs first of all, then the slight sourness of the vines with their maturing grapes, the delicate but piercing tinge of the olive trees and the hot, choking smell of the harvested wheat.\n\nIt was all an illusion he stubbornly cultivated here in Magnesia on the coast of Asia, where he had lived for ten years now. He was a journey of months away from Athens and Greece. A sea separated him from his country, a sea that the Athenians had controlled for many years now, thanks to him. The one they had sent away, the one they had condemned for treason and exiled.\n\nIn one hand he held the papyrus with the golden border and the imperial seal, and in the other the full cup he had been holding for a long time now without drinking a drop. His mind travelled through images, words, triumphs, praise, accusations, persecution. The first few years after they defeated the Persians had been years of acclamation and increasing power. Then followed accusations and a fall. It was the usual tactic in Greece, and he did not blame anyone. He knew the rules. Before he suffered from them, he had taken advantage of them himself.\n\n\"Artemis, my goddess and my protector\u2026\" he murmured, looking at the dark forest covering the mountainside opposite. \"Guide me, give me strength.\"\n\nIn his life he had enjoyed everything it was possible to enjoy. He had had victories in the beginning. It had all started with that first time when he saved Lambrias in their training. Then he had won distinction in politics, was elected to the position of general, had resolutions voted on in the assembly of the people, created the fleet, made the agreement with Leonidas, led the navy, won victory with his tricks and strategies, and triumphed over the Persians. Immediately after that came the best years of his life. He had held the first place in honor among the Greeks who fought against the Persians, there had been eulogies and the crown of olives was awarded him by the Spartans for his wisdom and bravery in battle. And finally there was his best moment, the height of his glory, when he entered the stadium during the Olympic Games and thousands of spectators from all over Greece had stopped cheering the athletes and applauded him, the hero and savior of their country.\n\nYes, in his life he had enjoyed everything. And right after that, he had suffered everything. Plots, accusations, condemnation, exile, persecution. The assembly of the people that he himself had supported with all his might against the scorn and oppression of the aristocrats, decided to exile him from the city he had made glorious. Then began his great persecution, the worst period in his life, the merciless pursuit from one end of Greece to the other. He lived every day in fear and with the bitterness of ingratitude, the most painful of all emotions. He was persecuted, humiliated and condemned as a traitor by his own country.\n\n\"As a traitor\u2026\" he muttered to himself in a heavy voice, and looked at the papyrus in his hand. \"I\u2026 Themistocles\u2026\"\n\nHe left Greece by night hidden in a merchant ship to save himself, before the soldiers could arrest him. Because the only helping hand stretched out to him in his time of trouble was the hand of his beloved, whom he had mocked and betrayed. Artemisia, who received him in Halicarnassus. Artemisia, who generously offered him refuge and hospitality worthy of a hero.\n\n\"And of a father\u2026 The father of our child\u2026\" she murmured, and for a moment a faint smile played on her lips.\n\nThe memory of the queen filled his mind for a little while. She was a relief and an embrace for his troubled spirit. He could still see her warm eyes and feel her smooth skin, enjoy her delicious body after so many years. But most of all, it was her warm-hearted words that he remembered now, in his sorrow. And even more than that, he remembered their son looking at him from a distance in the stadiums and gymnasiums. He had a strong body and a sharp mind. He's a worthy son, he had thought then, worthy of the mother who raised him. They were a great comfort, both of them, Jason and Artemisia.\n\n\"I can't do this\u2026\" she told him six months after he came to Halicarnassus, and Themistocles saw what he had never expected to see, tears in her fearless eyes. \"I can't keep you here any longer. My legal husband demands that you leave\u2026\"\n\n\"Where can I go?\" he asked, and his surprised mind was unable to find a solution.\n\nBut a solution was found, unexpectedly, that same night of perplexity and despair, after he prayed to the goddess Artemis. Later that evening he had a dream which was clearly send by the goddess to give him advice. He saw a great snake wrapped around his belly and gliding towards his throat. But as soon as it touched his face, it became a winged lion that enfolded him in its wings, picked him up and carried him far away in the direction of the sunrise. There, suddenly, a rod appeared like the ones held by messengers, but this one was made of gold and carved with a winged lion at its top, and he supported himself on it. Then he woke up and felt calmer, as if he had been released from the terrible turmoil and anxiety he had felt since hearing Artemisia's words.\n\nThe next day he left for Persia to the east. Royal chariots accompanied him and ambassadors from Halicarnassus traveled with him to present his case at the court of Artaxerxes, who ruled the empire after the death of his father, Xerxes.\n\nHe was astonished when the emperor greeted him warmly, spoke to him as a friend and presented him to his councilors and his courtiers. He welcomed him in his court and expressed the wish in front of everyone that Ahura Mazda would always give such minds to his enemies that they would send away their most competent leaders in peace and in war.\n\nThat was how he became the friend of the king he once defeated and humiliated. He sat at his side at symposia and gave him advice, when he asked, on questions of war, especially war on the sea. And the Persians did have many problems on the sea, since they had never managed to become familiar with it. And he was always his favorite and first on the list of his friends.\n\n\"I, Themistocles\u2026\"\n\nAnd later, when many years had passed and the pursuit had died down, he asked to be allowed to withdraw from the Persian court and to live quietly, far away from his country, but also far away from other people, since the things he had lived through could not be experienced by anyone else, even if given the gift of immortality by the gods.\n\nThen large territories were granted to him by his friend, the Great King Artaxerxes, the son of Xerxes, his enemy. They were located on the coast of Asia near the sea so that he could gaze towards his country from the tops of his hills, the country that had covered him with glory as its hero and condemned him as a traitor.\n\n\"I, Themistocles\u2026 Glory and shame together\" he murmured slowly and sat on the ledge of the open window, filling his lungs with the clear air of morning and the nostalgic scents of the countryside.\n\nHe opened the papyrus he held in his hands and read the command of his benefactor, sent officially by ambassador from Persepolis, now the capital of the Persian empire. At its top, in decorative golden letters, was the name of the Great King. Then the imperial emblems, the winged lion and the white hawks crowned with the rays of the god of the sun, the Great Creator. Then the letters forming words which could be counted on the fingers of two hands, but which were heavy as anchors that reach the bottom of the sea in one breath.\n\nAnd that was where Themistocles the Athenian was now. At the bottom. In his mind was Nemesis, the goddess of punishment. The time had come to pay for the good things he enjoyed from his friendship with the Great King. In the worst way. By really betraying his country. By making war against the fleet he himself had created. The one now commanded by Cimonas, the terror of the sea.\n\nThe Great King was asking his friend for help. Egypt had revolted again and the Athenian fleet was sailing to its aid. The king was asking him to make war against the fleet he knew so well. To take up command of the Persian ships and lead them with a steady hand and decisive spirit in the sea battle to victory over the Athenians, since he had no equal anywhere in the world in the art of naval warfare.\n\n\"Shall I really become a traitor to my country that bore me and raised me?\" he had asked himself when he read the papyrus. \"Or shall I become a traitor to my benefactor, who saved my life when everyone was persecuting me and denied me aid?\"\n\nIt was a terrible dilemma. A terrible impasse. There was no answer. Both choices were the worst choice.\n\nTraitor or ungrateful?\n\n\"Aren't those two the same thing?\"\n\nJust before the full moon reached the middle of its path, after praying to Artemis for hours, a thought came to his mind with the suddenness and clearness of lightning in the night sky.\n\n\"I have reached the age of sixty-five\u2026 I have seen many things in my life and experienced much more\u2026 My name will go down in history because of the things I have achieved in peace and in war, I, the unimportant son of a simple merchant, the hybrid citizen of a city that at that time was pretentious. Those things are not small\u2026\"\n\nAll the rest of the night brought images of glory and greatness to his mind.\n\nHe saw Artemisio and Salamis, the battles on land and sea and the victories. Then the distinction for bravery, the honorary crown from Sparta, the apotheosis in Olympia.\n\nHe looked first to the east, to his savior the Great King, two thousand kilometers away. And then to the west, to his great love, the sea. And beyond that, to his country. Athens. Greece. Crowned by the rosy and golden light of dawn.\n\n\"The time has come\u2026\" he murmured, smiling in satisfaction. He raised the silver cup he had been holding all night and drank the poison down in one gulp.\n\n\u2042\n\nNotes:\n\n- The Panathenaia was an ancient Greek festival in Athens dedicated to the patroness of the city, the goddess Athena. It took place every four years and for the citizens of Athens it was the most important event of the year, but it was not considered to be as important as the Olympic Games.\n\n- The Taurobolion were sacred rituals conducted with sacrifices, which were very common in the ancient world. They were carried out to honor the Great Mother Goddess, the personification of the fertility of the earth, like the Egyptian Isis, the Phrygian Cybele, the Phoenician Astarte and possibly the Greek Dimitra in the Eleusinian mysteries. The Taurobolion was later transferred to Rome, mainly by the emperors Claudius and Hadrian.\n\n- The Fates were three ancient Greek deities who determined the destiny of humans. Lachesis distributed the good and the bad, Clotho spun the thread of life, and Atropos cut it causing death.\n\n- When the ancient Athenians became 18 years old they had to serve as soldiers for two years. In a formal ceremony they presented themselves to the democratic assembly of the city, were registered in the lists of adult citizens, and were given a spear and a shield. This ceremony was often accompanied by theatrical events. Then they climbed up to the Acropolis as armed soldiers and gave the Ephebic Oath holding a shield.\n\n- The Hetaeras of Ancient Greece were a socially accepted institution. Although they were paid for their recreational and erotic services, they were very different from the simple prostitutes of the streets. They usually offered their services at symposia or banquets. The symposia were the prototype of male recreation and sociability. They were not open to reputable women, mothers, wives and daughters. In the symposia the men conversed, ate and drank, usually until they fell over and until dawn. After the philosophical dialogs and the political discussions there were dances, singing and games. They were the main area of activity of the hetaeras, who offered entertainment with conversation, jokes and finally with sexual intercourse, all paid for by the man who organized the symposium.\n\n- Nemesis was an ancient Greek deity and simultaneously the personification of the goddess of justice, who gave everyone the happiness or the unhappiness that he or she deserved. She was the personification of vengeance, like the Furies, but she punished not only crime but also all garrulity and arrogance. The goddess's symbols were the ruler and the bridle. With these symbols she measured human thoughts, emotions and actions and put a limit on the rampant promiscuity of human egotism. Thus the conceit of mortals before the laws and their gross indifference to the common good were kept in check by the activity of Nemesis.\n\n- The Agora of ancient Athens was the open area located next to the Acropolis and to the northwest of it. In ancient times it was the administrative, philosophical, educational, social, political and, above all, the economic center of the city. Its most important buildings were the Parliament, the Pyrtaneum (the seat of government), the Mint and the Court.\n\n- Delphi was a Greek city where the most important oracle of the ancient Greek world was located, the Oracle of Delphi. It was dedicated to the god Apollo. The Pythia was the seeress who fell into a sacred ecstasy and gave her predictions, which were usually ambiguous and enigmatic and required interpretation by the priests of the oracle.\n\n- The two great political parties of ancient Athens were the Democrats who spoke for the simple people and the Oligarchs who spoke for the aristocrats and noblemen. During the years of the Persian wars, Themistocles would become leader of the former and Aristeides leader of the latter.\n\n- The Battle of Marathon, which was fought in August or September of 490 B.C., was a clash between the Greeks (Athenians and Plataeans) and the Persians during the first invasion of Greece by the Persians. Under the command of Datis and Artaphernes, the Persian army of fifty thousand foot soldiers, ten thousand cavalry and five hundred ships invaded Greece and encamped at Marathon about twenty five miles northwest of Athens, where they were met by a force of ten thousand Athenians without cavalry or ships. The battle ended in a decisive victory for the Greeks, owing to the military genius of General Miltiades, and the Persians were forced to go back to Asia in defeat, leaving thousands of dead on the field of battle. When the Olympic Games were revived in 1896, the organizers were searching for a contest that would commemorate the glory of Ancient Greece and Pierre de Coubertin suggested that the Marathon should be included. The distance of 26.23 miles was determined, exactly the distance from Athens to the battleground near Marathon.\n\n- Greece was not a unified state, nor a compact empire. Each of its cities was its own little state, autonomous and unbound, with its own economy, institutions and army. The link that united all of these city states was their common origin, common language and common religion. The feeling that they belonged to the same people.\n\n- Ostracism was a practice in the democracy of Athens that had the purpose of protecting the democratic system. It was used to deliver the Athenians from citizens who had accumulated excessive political power and had become dangerous. Once a year all the Athenians gathered in the assembly and every citizen, according to the tribe to which he belonged, left a piece of a clay vessel on which was written the name of a citizen whom he wished to ostracize. For someone to be ostracized, his name had to be found on more than 6000 of the clay pieces. Initially ostracism from the city lasted ten years, but later it was reduced to five.\n\n- Black Broth was the main food of the warriors of Sparta. The dish consists of pig's blood, salt, vinegar, honey and crumbs of barley bread boiled all together so as to form a watery gruel. It gave strength and energy to the warrior, but it was completely tasteless.\n\n- The Apella was the assembly of the citizens of Sparta, but it was not completely democratic as in Athens. Its democratic nature was significantly limited by the process, which did not allow the citizens to submit a proposal or counter proposal of a law or candidates for election to any office. The Apella was only competent to approve or reject proposals from the Senate, a council of wise old men, and its members were only allowed to speak if approved. Essentially, the wise old men of the Senate made all of the city's critical decisions such as treaties, alliances or declaration of war, and then they asked the Apella to accept or reject their proposals.\n\n- The daily wage of an unskilled worker in Ancient Athens was 1 drachma, which would buy about ten kilos of wheat or a rich meal in a tavern at the market. A skilled worker received 1.5 drachmas as a daily wage and a senior judge received 3 drachmas. A simple, frugal meal with meat cost about half a drachma and a pair of shoes of pig leather, about 8 drachmas.\n\n- Sparta had two equally powerful kings. In the case of a military campaign, one of the kings went out with the Spartan army, while the other remained behind to govern the city and defend it if it was attacked. In war, the king had the powers of a commander in chief over the other generals. He could negotiate a truce and he fought in the first line of the right flank, surrounded by his honorary royal guard of three hundred men. He had the power of life and death over his soldiers, including the citizens.\n\n- The basic warship at that time was called a trireme, so called from the three banks of rows it had, one above the other, on both the right and left sides. It was constructed from fir, oak or pine wood, and was about 130 feet long, 15 feet wide, and six feet high. It also had a central mast with a large sail to take advantage of favorable winds, but for military maneuvers and in sea battles, only the oars were used. The crew consisted of 170 rowers in the thee banks, the petty officer who gave orders, the lookout who guided their course, the signalman who controlled communications, the officers, the soldiers on the deck who protected the ship, the captain who commanded it and the helmsman. The latter was perhaps the most important member of the crew since, with his large double oars, he steered the boat from the stern. The trireme had a raised, curved stern to look like the tail of a fish. To the fore, on its prow, it usually had a statue or emblem with two large eyes painted below it so that it looked like a sea monster, to frighten the enemy. Its most important weapon was the ram, a pointed metal extension about 2 yards long attached to the bottom part of the prow, pointing in the same direction as the line of sailing. The ram weighed about 450 pounds and was made of metal, usually copper or bronze, and was used in the famous ramming technique, i.e. to hit the other ship, open a hole in its wooden side, and sink it.\n\n- The usual travelling speed for a warship of that era was about 2 nautical miles an hour with the sail and 4 with the oars. If the wind was favorable, they could get up to a speed of about 7 nautical miles with a combination of oars and sail. But when they had to attack, the rhythm of rowing increased and, without the sail, the ship could go at 8 miles an hour. For a few yards, just before ramming, the ship could reach a speed of 10 miles an hour with only the oars and in a calm sea, but this exhausted the rowers.\n\n- Ten thousand drachmas corresponded to ten years of wages for a senior public servant or thirty years of wages for an unskilled worker."}