ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 229 Those Things in Sparta

"Diobettis, are you really a Spartan?!" Lysander sneered: "Don't forget Demaratos!"

The elders were in an uproar, Demaratos - that was the long-lasting disgrace of the Spartans.

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Although Spartan warriors advocate killing and despise pleasure, it is not that they do not dislike beautiful women. While the best criterion for judging a future wife is easy childbearing, whether a Spartan woman is beautiful is also a judgment on whether a future mother is moral or not. Noble off-the-shelf standards.Participating in training with men since childhood also gave Spartan women their own unique beauty. They have long blond hair, a fit body, and elegant calves.Giving birth to an ugly daughter will make its parents feel depressed, but there is still a chance to change, that is to come to an ancient sanctuary next to Helen's grave and pray to the bronze statue of Helen, which is said to make the child grow up and become beauty.

A hundred years ago, a pair of Spartan parents prayed to Helen for their ugly daughter. The ugly priestess in charge of the sanctuary grabbed the child's long hair, saw the child's appearance, and made a prophecy: She would become Lacedaemon The loveliest woman.

As time passed, the girl became a famous beauty. Her charm fascinated the King of Sparta, so he used his royal rights to snatch her away from her husband. Just over seven months later, the new queen gave birth to a child. son.Is the child's father a king or a commoner?The Spartans did not go into details. The child grew up and eventually succeeded to the throne as king. He was Demaratus.

When Demaratus succeeded to the throne, another Spartan king, Cleomenes, had already reigned for five years. His initial succession was much more difficult because his father could not allow himself to succeed. His wife was pregnant, and the law enforcement elders asked him to divorce her and remarry. He hesitated and chose bigamy. Soon after his second wife gave birth to three sons for him, his first wife gave birth to Ke Leomenes.However, the king already loved his second wife deeply, and naturally he also liked the children she gave birth to. Cleomenes was not favored by his father, and his half-brother Dorius was specially trained by the king and was designated As the legitimate heir, Dorius was also considered the best of his generation.However, after the king suddenly died in battle, the conservative Spartans believed that Cleomenes, who was born to the king's first wife, had the right to inherit the throne first, so the successor Cleomenes sent Dorius On the pretext of colonizing the Western Mediterranean, he exiled several of his brothers.

Cleomenes was quick-thinking, capable of making decisions, ambitious, and power-hungry. How could Demaratos, who had just succeeded to the throne, be his opponent? Cleomenes was soon ignored.Cleomenes held sole power in Sparta for more than 20 years, defeating Argos, controlling Arcadia, interfering in Delphi, and interfering in the political situation of Athens...Sparta's power expanded to northern Greece.At this time, King Xerxes of Persia was preparing to invade Greece again. He learned from Darius's lesson. He sent a large number of spies to Greece to divide and alienate various city-states. Aegina - east of the Peloponnese Peninsula An island city-state not far away donated earth and water to Persia. Cleomenes angrily denounced this treachery and decided to punish Aegina.

The Aegina people hurriedly asked Demaratos, another Spartan king, for help. Demaratos was happy to cause trouble for his political opponents, so he secretly united with the elders in the Council of Elders who were unwilling to go to war with Persia. Actively provide support.This angered Cleomenes, and he finally decided to get rid of this intolerable collaborator once and for all. So at the meeting of the Council of Elders he initiated, he questioned Demaratus's life experience. Not only did he win over Demaratos' tribesmen and most of the elders, he also bribed the Delphic priests, so that the oracle he sought was also unfavorable to Demaratos. As a result, Demaratos, who had been in power for 24 years, was dismissed. Deposed the throne, defected to Xerxes, and became a traitor who led the way.

But the victorious Cleomenes could not be proud for long. His bribery to Delphi was leaked. The Spartans were extremely angry. He was found guilty. He first fled Sparta and then came back, but was removed from power. , from then on he drank, beat people, yelled and cursed, and everyone said he was crazy. His two half-brothers, Leonidas and Cleomebrotus, declared him insane and sent him to prison. Locked in the temple.The next day, people found him dead, with his flesh cut off piece by piece, and a knife in his hand.

This caused quite a stir!It was rumored by everyone that it was the blasphemous punishment of Cleomenes, and generally accepted by the public: suicide.

Leonidas soon became king.But privately, rumors spread from time to time: Cleomenes died at the hands of two brothers.

The reason why Leonidas led [-] king's guards to Thermopylae to defend against the Persian army was firstly because of the situation, but also because he wanted to prove his innocence to the Spartans.

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It was a turbulent history for the Spartans, and it could even be said to be a shame for Sparta.There was silence in the venue for a while.

Speaker Cleostida simply announced: "Start electing a new king!"

Regardless of Agesilaus or Leotizides, both candidates have their flaws and supporters. Therefore, the debate between the two parties is mainly a competition for neutral elders... and the final vote result- — Agesilaus won.

With tears of humiliation, Leotychides looked at the elders who congratulated Agesilaus with hateful eyes, and then quietly left...

Speaker Cleostida asked the guards to welcome the five censors who had been waiting outside the chamber and announced the results of the election to them.

So, the prosecutors came to Agesilaus. Agesilaus stood with a solemn expression and listened to them read loudly: "Great Zeus, according to the results of the election of the Council of Elders, we declare that the sacred Heracles Agesilaus, the bloodline of Leus, is the king of Sparta!”

Agesilaus could no longer maintain a calm expression. His voice trembled and he swore: "I swear in the name of Zeus that I, Agesilaus, will manage and rule Sparta according to the existing laws of the city-state!"

The censors responded at the same time: "As long as you abide by your oath, we will ensure that your royal power will last forever!"

In February 398 BC, Agesilaus became king of Sparta.

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At the southeastern tip of Sicily, Dionysius led Syracuse's 80000 infantry, 3000 cavalry, and more than 400 warships on the sea, marching westward along the southern coast of Sicily.

While easily liberating the city-state of Camarina, which was forced to pay tribute to Carthage, Dionysius received the news that "Dionia defeated Crotone". He was silent for a while, and then said to the man next to him The attendant said: "Write a letter to Philistus immediately and say that I agree with Locri's request and send them reinforcements as soon as possible!"

Then, he sent orderlies to urge the army, which was about to rest for a day, to continue marching west.

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"Crotone has sued for peace from Dionia!" Umarcas, the consul of Tarantum, said in surprise after receiving the news from Crotone: "I really didn't expect that Dionia would be here a year ago." Nea was still a small city-state that needed our protection to survive, but now it has rapidly developed into a powerful alliance in Magna Graecia!"

Dixitimas, the former consul and now the senator of the Senate, sighed: "Fortunately, we are allied with Dionia!"

"The safety of Tarantum cannot rely on the promises of others!" Umarchus shook his head and said firmly: "We should speed up the conquest of the Messapians and strengthen Tarantum's power as soon as possible, so that in the face of Only in Dionia can I have the confidence to speak!"

"The attack on Manduria has already caused a lot of casualties among our citizens! But if you still attack Brindisi, more Tarantum citizens will die! How could the Senate agree to your radical approach!" Di Sidimas accused angrily.

Umacus looked at Desitimas with a trace of contempt in his eyes: "Desitimas, my friend, haven't you figured it out yet! This is not only the wish of most senators in the Senate, but also The will of the people! Stimulated by the rapid rise of Dionia, the people are tired of the Senate’s decades of inaction! They even hate having to endure the harassment of the Messapians every year! They demand that we make changes! Although the citizens have There are casualties, but we have mastered Manduria, and it will be much more difficult for Mesapi to invade our territory again! Now, Lord Diomelas is about to return to Tarantum, and Archita continues to lead the army to attack Brindi West. I believe that after Archita learns that Crotone is forced to sue for peace from Dionia, he will step up his offensive against Brindisi without our urging!"

Dixitimas fell silent. After a while, he hesitated and said: "I am a little worried that such a large-scale attack will stimulate the Puchetti people in the north. They are from the same race as the Mesapi people..."

"Don't they hate us if we don't attack?!" Umarchus retorted: "As long as we capture Brindisi, we can not only cut off the Messapians' connection with the north, but also connect them with Ader There are many benefits to doing this for trade in the Sea of ​​Riya... If we really encounter the Puchetti people you mentioned seeing the emptiness in our city and taking the opportunity to attack, then we can still——"

Umacus looked at Desitimas, and Desitimas understood what he meant and sighed: "Ask for help from our ally Dionia!"

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Although Lysias tried his best to defend Myron, the Citizens' Assembly still made the sentence of "expelling Myron and not returning for ten years".

　After hesitating for a long time, I decided to write down this history of Sparta, not to cheat on the word count, but because compared with Athens, the Spartans did not have their own detailed history. They all came from historians or historians from other city-states. According to the narrative of the stone tablet, the history of his city-state is intermittent. I read several materials before I finally figured out the context of this period of Spartan history. I didn’t want my efforts to be in vain, and at the same time, I also wanted readers to know about Sparta. The dual-kingdom regime of Dara was also full of complex battles, and the Spartan king Leonidas who died heroically at Thermopylae as we know it may be far less majestic.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)