ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1143 Alice City State

Although the Greeks did not know the destination of this large-scale fleet, they were familiar with the "black hair entwined with double forks" symbol on the sails, but in the past they were on the Dionian merchant ships coming for trade. Seeing it now appear on the warship, does this mean that the barbarian kingdom on the other side of the Adriatic Sea is finally going to launch an attack on the Greek mainland?

Regardless of the panic and suspicion of the Greek people, the Dionysian fleet headed south unabated and soon crossed the entrance to the Gulf of Corinth and entered the waters on the west coast of the Peloponnese Peninsula.As dusk approaches, the fleet must land early to prepare for camping.This is because the southern coast of Messenia cannot be reached today, and the coast further south is steep and narrow, making it difficult for ships to dock and the crews to get no rest.

The place where the entire fleet docked was the northwest corner of the Peloponnese Peninsula. The terrain here is relatively flat. It has been called the Elis region since ancient times. It is very famous throughout the Greek world because of the Olympian Games. It is held here, and there is also the famous Temple of Zeus. Of course, there are also two famous city-states, Alice and Pisa, who have always been mortal enemies in competing for the right to host the Olympia Games.

The location where the Dionians landed happened to be within the territory of Ellis. Seeing densely packed ships rushing to the coast and thousands of soldiers rushing to the beach, the neighboring Greek people were frightened and took their families with them. They ran inland.

The people of Ellis City quickly received the news and were also very panicked: although they had little contact with the Dionians, they had never provoked this behemoth in the west. There was no sign. Why did the Dionians send The army has come to invade their territory? !
While conducting emergency military mobilization for the citizens in the territory, the council negotiated urgently, and they even finally came to a conclusion: It is said that the Dionians believed in Hades and did not recognize Zeus as the king of gods. Could it be that this time it was for Come to destroy the temple of Zeus?

The members of Ellis made a sad discovery: if this was really the case, the people of Ellis would have to fight to the death in order to defend the patron god Zeus.

Just when the Ellis people felt that their prospects were pessimistic, they received an urgent notice from the city guard: the Dionian envoy was visiting.

Tisias, a citizen of Dionia and a native of Tyndares, had served as general of Tyndares for several terms. He had a high prestige among the people of Tyndares. Later, in response to the people's request, he convened and presided over the citizens' meeting. The conference finally made Tyndaris merge into the Kingdom of Dionia smoothly, and he became the elder of the kingdom.

When the news that "Davos approved the Dionian army to attack the Peloponnese and rebuild Messenia" reached the Senate, he took the initiative to see King Davos, hoping to follow the army because he His ancestral home is Messenia...

At this time, Tisias walked to the center of the Elis Council with his head held high, looking at the angry but frightened eyes, he felt a sense of pride in his heart as a citizen of a great country, but he Suppress this pride and try to make your expression as sincere as possible: "Descendants of Zeus, respected citizens of Ellis, on behalf of the Kingdom of Dionia, I would like to express my most sincere apology to you! Our ship During the voyage, because it was getting late, in order to prevent accidents, the team had to temporarily dock and rest, so it entered your territory. But please don't worry, we will only rest for one night and leave tomorrow. We will not damage this land. and the people on the land, and based on the inconvenience caused to you by our reckless behavior, we Dionia will also pay a certain amount of gold and silver as the army's overnight expenses for this night to compensate Alice... …”

Tisias's words made the members of Ellis feel doubtful, but their hanging hearts finally dropped.

There was a commotion in the venue, and the MPs discussed in whispers for a while before someone stood up and asked: "Dionians, your reckless actions have indeed caused a lot of trouble to Ellis, but if things are like you As we said, we are still willing to forgive your reckless behavior..."

Ellis is not an easy city-state to talk to, let alone its decades-long conflict with Pisa, and during these decades it has had several wars with the Spartans, but Senator Ellis is now So they became so reasonable, but it was because the Dionysians came so suddenly and the army was so large that they felt that they were unable to defeat them, so they wanted to send this plague god away as soon as possible.

Then, another congressman asked curiously: "I wonder where your army is going?"

Tisias was waiting for this question, and he immediately asked: "Have you ever heard of the city of Tyndares in Sicily?"

"Tindaris... was probably a city-state established on the northeastern corner of Sicily with the support of Dionysius, the original tyrant of Syracuse. It is said that more than half of its citizens came from Messenia. Later, Tyndares surrendered to Dionia..." said a councilor.

"It's not a surrender, but the citizens of Tyndares collectively decided to join Dionia!" Tisias corrected him loudly, and then said: "When the Tyndares people joined the Holy Kingdom of Dionia, King Davos once made a promise, 'One day he will help Messenia gain independence and free the Messenians who have become slaves'... But shortly after that, due to the impact of the war, Dio Dionysia and Sparta signed a long-term peace agreement, and this commitment was temporarily shelved until this year when the Spartans tore up the peace agreement with our Dionysia——"

Tisias showed a gloating smile on his face and said loudly: "King Davos finally has a chance to fulfill his promise, so the Dionysian army you see is heading to the Messenian region to rush Walk away from the Spartans who have occupied it for hundreds of years, and make Messenia the home of the Messenians again!”

At the end of the speech, Tisias's mood became intense, as if a flame was suddenly lit in the venue, which shocked and excited all the Eleans present: This news is so amazing!Dionia, the overlord of the Western Mediterranean, declared war on Sparta! !
Why are Ellis people so excited?Wasn't it also a member of the Peloponnesian League? !
Elis was indeed a member of the Peloponnesian League, but since the Spartan king Agis (father of Leoticides) led his army into Elis, defeated it and forced it to surrender. , and even took part of its territory as their own, the Eleans gradually drifted away from Sparta. In the subsequent military operations led by Sparta, the Eleans contributed very little. In order to punish It was so disobedient that the Spartans even handed over the hosting of the Olympia Games to Ellis's mortal enemy, Pisa.

In the Peloponnesian League, Elis was gradually being marginalized.What worries the Ellis people even more is that in the Spartan Armistice Conference they participated in not long ago, in addition to Thebes, Ellis was the second city-state that did not sign the contract, because according to the contract, each city-state They must be independent, and it is impossible for the Alice people to allow the several towns they control to gain independence. Therefore, Alice also refused to participate in the previous oath-taking action held in Athens. In this way, Alice The western part of the Nyssa Peninsula seems too isolated.

Therefore, after the Arcadians had a stalemate with Sparta over the establishment of an alliance during this period, the Eleans were overjoyed. They even sent envoys to Megalopolis a few days ago to prepare for the attack on Acres. The Dia people expressed support, and now the Kingdom of Dionia's declaration of war on Sparta is undoubtedly another shot in the arm for them.

In this boiling noise, someone suddenly shouted: "Dear Dionian envoy, you just said that the Dionian Kingdom will let the Messenians rebuild their homeland. The Messenians you said What do you mean?"

Ticias took a closer look and found that the speaker was the one who had answered the story of Tyndaris before. He probably had a clue in his mind, and he said loudly: "Everyone who was enslaved by the Spartans and lived in Messenia and Largo The Messenian slaves in the territory of Dionysia, all the Messenians who were forced to live in exile in other city-states and their descendants will be regarded as citizens of the Messenian city-state to be established by our Dionysian holy kingdom, Dionia welcomes them back to the homeland where their ancestors lived and rebuild a home that truly belongs to them!
In fact, I am a Messenian. This time I will witness with my own eyes the Dionysian army to drive away the Spartan bandits who have invaded our homeland for hundreds of years, and will personally liberate those compatriots who have become helots, so that They regain their dignity and freedom, and let the land of Messenia regain its vitality in the hands of true Messenians! "

After listening to Tisias's words, the congressman's eyes suddenly turned red. He couldn't help but opened his mouth to sing: "Under the towering and steep Taygetos Mountain, the clear and gentle Parmisus River flows, protected by the majestic Ittom boulder. Looking at the beautiful city of Messenes, countless cattle and sheep are running on the plains with fertile water and grass, and countless farmers are working in the fields..."

Tisias was stunned for a moment, and then sang along: "...the Spartans, who are like evil wolves, have seized our land and enslaved us like cattle and sheep. We are still unable to bear the heavy burdens, and their cruel whips The beatings continued, and most of the fruits of labor harvested from the intensively cultivated land belonged to these vicious bandits..."

At this moment, several more Ellis members joined in and sang passionately: "...Gods of Olympus, if you are willing to protect Messenia, I am willing to be like the hero Aristo Like Demus, he sacrificed his daughter and then fought to the death;

Gods of Olympus, please give me your blessing. I will be like Aristomenes, fighting non-stop throughout my life. As long as the people can be saved, I am willing to go through hardships, be covered with bruises, and have nothing..."

At the end of the song, the singing voices of seven or eight people actually overwhelmed the din of the venue. Tears were streaming down everyone's face at this moment.

Since the fall of Messenia, this ballad composed by an unknown person has been quietly sung among the enslaved Messenian people, and it has also been remembered by the Messenians who fled their homeland and were scattered across the Mediterranean. the sufferings experienced by our ancestors.

(End of this chapter)