ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1252 Treatment of Athletes in Thurii
Although Meccakids is young, but his mind is relatively firm, he is not a person who can be easily persuaded, but at this moment he is also a little hesitant.

At this time, a cry came from behind him: "Megakides, it's time for us to go back!"

The shout was made by an official of the Cretan delegation and the leader of their archery team. It is also interesting to say that in various sports games held in mainland Greece in the past, the contestants basically went to the competition venue on their own, and few city-states specially organized groups to participate. .But this time when Dionia sent out an invitation, he required in the letter that each participating city-state and region must have officials lead athletes to form delegations and participate collectively, so as to facilitate management.

At the same time, Dionia will also make a special list of medals based on the number of awards won by the participating regions and city-state delegations, and post them at the entrances and exits of each arena. It will be updated every day. By the end of the games, Dionia will Generous rewards will be given to the top three regions and city-states in total medal count.

This is not only a matter of money, but also involves the honor of the city-state and the region. Therefore, it greatly mobilized the enthusiasm of the officials of the Cretan city-states to participate in the games. These Cretan nobles who had never cared much about local Greek affairs have Sign up to join the athlete delegation and go to Turii. Because there were so many people who signed up, a running race was actually held to select the team leaders. The person who made this suggestion had a good reason: to lead the team to Turii. Yi's Cretan officials are role models for athletes, and of course they must have a good body that is good at competition.

These selected officials were not able to perform their duties very well at the beginning. They only cared about themselves and did not take care of the daily diet and daily life of the athletes. After arriving at the training ground, they even participated in the training themselves, and sometimes had conflicts with the athletes... But , No matter in the training ground or in the athletes' hotel, players and officials from other regions and city-states can be seen everywhere. Competition is everywhere. Under the pressure, the officials of Crete have gradually completed the transformation of their identities and began to devote themselves to serving the athletes. .

You must know that the leader of the team who is shouting is also from the motherland of Megakides. As a nobleman, he initially ignored Megakides, a commoner, but now he is able to teach Megakides on the training ground. After some care and help from the Cretan archery players, it was already a very big change. Of course, Megakides would not be unappreciative, and he reluctantly returned the bow and arrow to the target shooter.

According to the regulations of the Games, for the sake of fairness, bows and arrows will be provided by the Games during the competition. This is the set they used in training. The quality is obviously much better than that of McGakis's own bows. He is now more and more advanced. The easier it becomes to use, the more I wish I could take a set home.But he knew that a bow and arrow with exquisite workmanship and high quality was definitely expensive, and he couldn't afford it unless he could win the championship and get the generous reward.

"May Hades bless you and help you get a good ranking in the competition!" The target reporter smiled and expressed his blessing to him.

"Thank you!" Megakides felt warm in his heart. Since he arrived in Thurii, the Dionysians he met have been friendly to him, which made him feel very kind, and even treated Dionysius for this reason. Hades, the patron saint of the Kingdom of Asia, had a good impression, so he responded: "May Hades bless you and keep you safe throughout your life!"

When he returned to the team of Cretan players, the team leader Flax said impatiently: "We have to go back to the hotel quickly! Just now I heard from the management here that the Thurii City Hall is trying to ensure the success of tomorrow's sports meeting. Convened, a curfew will be implemented in the entire city starting from this evening. In order to avoid trouble, we have to return to the hotel quickly!"

At his urging, the Cretan players quickly packed their packages, left the archery range, and hurried eastward.

Although the archery range is a newly built venue to hold the archery competition of this sports meeting, it does not cost as much money and time as the swimming pool and racecourse, because archery is an open-air competition and only needs to be built around the archery range. For the fence, just place long wooden benches in the form of steps for spectators to sit and watch behind the players.It is built to the west of Turiyi, next to the Turiyi Military Camp. Logically speaking, it is a bit remote from the city, but the roads nearby are busy and lively every day, and many people often enter the archery range to watch training. .

But when the Crete archery team set foot on the return journey, they obviously felt that there were fewer pedestrians on the road, and they frequently encountered inspection teams after entering the outer city, which delayed a lot of time.By the time they returned to the Sportsman's Hotel, it was already dark and candles were lit in the lobby of the hotel.

Already dripping with sweat, Megakides and the others did not go to dinner immediately, but went to the hotel's bathhouse.The athlete hotel in the western outer city is built next to the Ramallah-Sewanee Arena. It is composed of four 6-storey large "Hui" buildings, and the bathing place is in the middle of these "Hui" buildings.

When they first moved in and took a bath in the bathhouse for the first time, they were confused by the cumbersome procedures, but now they have fully adapted to it and enjoy it.

By the time Megakides came out of the bath, he felt refreshed and exhausted. Even the pain in his arms had disappeared without a trace.

If only there were such a bathhouse in Heracleion! ...McGacides had such an idea in his mind, but then he thought: If that's the case, there must be many people going to take a bath, and the cost will definitely not be low, unlike here where it is free!Hey, the Dionians are so happy!

This envy lasted until they entered the restaurant.

There is a row of tables neatly arranged on one side of the restaurant. On each table is a large wide-mouthed clay pot, which contains steaming food: stewed chicken, egg custard, roast beef, fried fish, grilled food. Lamb shank, haggis soup, honey bread, sweet porridge...even wine, beer and sherbet.

The dinner in the hotel is so rich and delicious every day, and they can eat and drink as they like without any restrictions. When the dishes in the clay pots are finished, the waiters in the restaurant will add more to them at any time.

Many civilian contestants like Megakides have never enjoyed such food and treatment in their lives. When they walked into the restaurant for the first time and heard the waiter say that they could eat and drink for free, they thought I had heard it wrong, and until I confirmed it was true, some people started eating and drinking so much that their stomachs became bloated, and they had to call a doctor urgently for treatment, which made it a joke.

Some players have speculated: This is a welcome banquet, which is why it is so special, and they will not be so generous in the future.

Unexpectedly, every breakfast and dinner after that was like this (lunch is not provided in the athlete's restaurant, but athletes are allowed to take a little breakfast out of the restaurant so that they can eat it during training at noon), which shocked all the players. I have arrived at the Elysee Paradise, which is often mentioned by Dionysians.

"Dionia is so powerful and rich! You should be very happy to be a citizen of this kingdom! You are so lucky to be able to participate in this sports meeting!..." After seeing the prosperity of the giant city of Turii and enjoying Turii After the various benefits provided by Yi to the athletes, the athletes recalled the bitterness they experienced in participating in other sports games, and felt even more valuable about the Dionysian Games, especially when they learned from the waiter of the athletes hotel that the Thurii Municipal Government The Hall did not do this intentionally to please them. In fact, the athletes who come to Thurii to participate in the rugby and football finals every year also enjoy such treatment, so they are even more certain that Dionia is a paradise for athletes.

Before the games were held, Dionysia had captured the hearts of almost all the athletes. All that Thurii had done was already worthwhile, because it had achieved one of the purposes of Daves holding the games.

Athletes continued to enter the restaurant, and by the time Megakides was carrying a wooden plate filled with the food he wanted to eat, the restaurant was almost full of people.

"Here, Megakides!" Someone waved to him.

Megakides hurriedly walked over: "Silitaeos, you came back very early!"

Siliteos was also a young nobleman from the city of Heraklion in Crete. He signed up to participate in the running competition of this sports meeting. After more than 20 days of getting along, the two people from the same city-state have become friends.

"I didn't do much training today. I just wore the...shorts they provided and tried running a few times. I felt okay. Starting, swinging my arms, stepping, and sprinting were all unaffected." Silitaos just finished speaking. Another Cretan runner next to him immediately complained: "I feel very affected. The fabric rubs against my thighs when I run, which is very uncomfortable! Sports games have always been naked, but Dionia insists on changing it." Tradition, let everyone wear this thing, this is blasphemy to the gods!"

Silitaos glanced at him: "Since you are dissatisfied with this sports meeting, you can withdraw and not participate."

The man said naa-naa: "The competition starts tomorrow. It's not good to quit at this time..."

"Come on, I see you, you are reluctant to part with the free food and comfortable services here." Silitaos directly exposed his thoughts, and then said half-jokingly and half-seriously: "Dionia is now the whole of Greece. The overlord of the world is much more powerful than Sparta back then. Even Olympia and Delphi had to surrender to it. Let alone wearing shorts, I don’t think any city-state dares to understand that even if everyone wears boltons to compete, I don’t think so. Stand against it!

Moreover, think about it, Dionia allows women to watch the game. It is said that the princess and princess of Dionia will be sitting in the audience at tomorrow's stadium ceremony, so it is okay for us to wear shorts to compete. Understood. "

(End of this chapter)