ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1149 Sparta faces danger
These Helot village chiefs were already grateful to Dionia for being able to gain their freedom. They were even more overjoyed to be able to become the top leaders of this new city-state. There were no more considerations, not only for those from Dionia. The Asian compatriots all agreed with the suggestions, and also took the initiative to propose that the candidates for the general committee should be composed of compatriots from Dionia, because they are well-informed and have more experience in governing the country.

Of course, the people from Dionia would not be delayed. Five generals were quickly selected, and Tisias, the patriarch of the Kingdom of Dionia, became the chief.

Ionicus watched all this, and although he saw a few clues, he did not dare to mess with it. He witnessed with his own eyes the extremely powerful military power of Dionia in both the navy and the army, and even its complete military Logistics made him realize the horror of this kingdom from the Western Mediterranean.

Unexpectedly, Tisias quickly found him and made it clear to him that as long as he was willing to join Messenia, he would have a seat in the council.

Ionicus thought about it for a while and finally agreed. Although he grew up in Elis, he did not have much influence in the Parliament and never held an important position. The reason was known to everyone but not announced to the public. Mouth: Because he is a Messenian immigrant.

However, he also put forward a condition: he hoped to bring several well-connected Messenian immigrants from Ellis to join the new city-state and become members of the council.

Ticias agreed.

Ionicus immediately requested a fast ship from the 1st Fleet and hurried back to Ellis.

The laws promulgated by the new Messenian government headed by Ticias are in full swing: not only will all Helots in Messenia be free, they will also become citizens of New Messenia, and The land will be obtained, and the councilors from Dionia will confirm and register the population and land of each village with the assistance of the village chiefs for the next distribution;
In order to protect this hard-won freedom and independence, the citizens of New Messenia must undergo rigorous training as Dionian soldiers in order to defend their city-state when the Spartan army attacks; New Messenia is established and also It was necessary to have its own city, and the assembly quickly decided to rebuild the city of Messenae. It would serve as the center of the new city-state, and no other towns would be built besides it, so that the citizens could be more united.In this way, it is the turn of the soldiers of the 1st Legion of Dionia to be busy. They will lead the new citizens of Messenia to expand the original Spartan military camp into a town;
A Greek city-state also needs a patron saint. The original patron saint of the Messenians was Zeus, but Tisias and others easily persuaded the village chiefs to no longer believe in it, because the Messenians had lost their faith three times in the past. They all failed in the war, which shows that Zeus did not bless them at all.Out of gratitude and trust in Dionia, the citizens of New Messenia finally unanimously decided to ask Hades for blessing.At the same time, the Parliament also decided to erect statues to worship the heroes Aristodemus and Aristomenes who once led the people to resist Sparta;

The Parliament also decided to send envoys to various city-states in the Peloponnese Peninsula to inform them of the news of Messenian independence in order to gain their support, of course Sparta was not among them...

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The Messenian plains were filled with joy, while the Spartan territory across the Taygetos Mountains was gloomy.The impact of the defeat at the Battle of Leuctra on the Spartans had not yet passed, and now a greater disaster suddenly struck - Messenia was taken away.

Messenia is extremely important to Sparta. Sixty percent of the entire city-state's agricultural output comes from there, and half of Sparta's citizens' land is also there. In addition, most of Sparta's labor force also comes from Messenia. ...With the loss of Messenia, Sparta's strength was at least reduced by half.

But after learning the news that it had been captured, the Spartans, who had always been vengeful, did not immediately organize their troops to attack Messenia as usual, because Sparta was already in a precarious state.Previously, Sparta was determined to send troops to attack the Arcadian League led by Mandinia, but only a handful of Peloponnesian allies responded to the call. Therefore, until now, the coalition forces attacking the Arcadian League have not yet The formation was not completed, and there was still a big shortage of military food and equipment. In such a bad situation, how could Sparta still have the strength to confront the more powerful Dionysian army.

At the Council of Elders, the inspectors and elders scolded Dionysia for his treachery, but they were helpless about the difficulties facing Sparta.

Agesilaus, who attended the meeting while ill, also got angry and scolded them for being short-sighted. Even though he knew that Dionia was already hostile to Sparta, he still refused to listen to his repeated dissuasion and ended the friendly agreement signed with it ahead of schedule. , as a result, Thebes took the opportunity to form an alliance with Dionia, which led to the threat of Davos to Sparta more than ten years ago coming true (Messenia was captured).

Some elders also retorted, pointing out: Agesilaus was also an active promoter of Sparta seeking support from Persia and ending the war with Thebes as soon as possible. Then it should be understood that if Sparta did not cooperate with Theo Niah's severing of diplomatic relations would definitely not gain the trust of the Persian king, and the Council of Elders had no choice but to make this decision.

Except for the censors, the elders were all elderly and would not waste their energy on meaningless insults and arguments for a long time. It didn't take long for everyone to regain their composure, and they intensely discussed how to solve the huge problems facing Sparta. threaten.

As the city-state in Greece that has the most dealings with Dionia, they know to some extent the strength of the kingdom on the Italian peninsula, and do not think that Sparta today can compete with it. They naturally turn their attention to Persia for help.

Therefore, Datis, the Persian envoy who was still in the city, was invited to the meeting place.

Datis felt nervous after learning the news that "Dionysia sent troops to capture Messenia". Instead of being arrogant, Datis behaved very actively. After all, he came to Sparta with a mission, but now he has no The ability to realize Sparta's plan to unify the entire Greek city-states led to the Dionians' premature invasion of the Peloponnese, which was likely to ruin the Persian king's strategic vision, so he must work hard. save.

Datis first comforted the Spartans not to be too nervous. A large amount of food baggage and 50 talents of Dalik gold coins were on their way from Persia. Then he also promised that he would submit an application to the King of Persia and plead for his help. Sponsored more gold and silver to Sparta, and at the same time allowed Sparta to recruit soldiers in Asia Minor so that it could form a large army as soon as possible and repel the incoming Dionian army (the Battle of Leuctra was shaken Spartan hegemony, coupled with the establishment of the Arcadian League, most of Sparta's allies no longer responded as actively to Sparta's call as before, so the Spartans had to go to Macedonia, Thrace, regions such as Ionia and Asia Minor to recruit soldiers, which obviously cost money).

The inspectors and elders calmed down a little, but soon they discovered the biggest problem: it takes time to recruit soldiers and form an army, and now the Dionian army is to the west of Taygetos Mountain and is available at any time. Possible invasion of Spartan territory.

Agesilaus made a serious analysis of this: if the Dionian army wants to attack Sparta, it has three options.One is to take the middle route and cross the Taygetos Mountain, but the Taygetos Mountain is steep and the pass is controlled by our own side, making it difficult for the Dionysian army to pass through; the other is to take the northern route through Arcadia region, invaded Sparta, but the city-states in the Arcadia region have never had contact with Dionia, and now that they have established an alliance, they may not easily allow a large foreign army to pass through their territory; The only option is to take the south route and let the army enter the Gulf of Laconia by boat and land on the coast of Sparta. According to the information obtained from the soldiers who had previously returned from Messenia's defeat, there were many Dionysian transport ships and their troops landed quickly. Swift and violent, this route was the greatest threat to Sparta.

Everyone thought that what Agesilaus said was reasonable. After some discussions, the Council of Elders finally made a decision: to temporarily cancel the military action against the Arcadian Alliance and send envoys to express goodwill; at the same time, urgently deal with The territory carried out military mobilization, strengthened the defense of the coast, and rushed to build facilities to prevent landings; young Pilians and Helots in the territory were recruited to join the army...

And regarding Helots, the Council of Elders also passed a resolution: Only Helots who perform well in the war will be freed.

Agesilaus also requested the Persian envoy Datis: He hoped that Persia could send a fleet to help Sparta defend the Gulf of Laconia.

Datis fully agreed and promised to convey Sparta's request to the King of Persia.

In addition, the Council of Elders also decided to send an envoy to Messenia. In addition to taking the opportunity to find out the next move of the Dionian army, more importantly, in the name of consultation, it delayed the Dionian attack as much as possible. , buying time for Sparta to form an army.

This important meeting concerning the life and death of Sparta lasted until the afternoon. Agesilaus dragged his tired body back home and immediately summoned Xenophon, who had been waiting at the mansion, to tell him the contents of the previous meeting. I told him briefly.

That night, Xenophon felt very uneasy when he learned the news that "the Dionian army had landed on the coast of Ellis" at home. He rode to Sparta at dawn. Unfortunately, he lived far away from Sparta. By the time he arrived at Agesilaus's mansion, the Spartans had already received the news that "Dionia's huge fleet had invaded the Gulf of Messenia", but Sparta had not had time to send reinforcements. The Dionian army has already landed on the coast of Messenia.

(End of this chapter)