ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 363 Mission to Syracuse
"Young man, don't be so angry." Ansitanos sat still and comforted his student gently. He pointed to a clay pot on the table next to him: "Here, have a taste. Try the mare's milk honey water from Carthage to quench your thirst. This water tastes good, sour and sweet, very special. I just asked my entourage to buy it at the Syracuse market."

"Don't drink!" Henipolis sat down on the wooden chair angrily, and the wooden chair creaked painfully.

"Herni." Ansitanos knew the student's temper, so he was not upset at all. Instead, he said in a coaxing tone: "You will be the consul of Laos in the future, so you can't do things based on impulse." . If we go back without even meeting Dionysius, not only will our mission not be completed, but we will also be blamed, and the people of Syracuse will also laugh at us for not knowing etiquette—— "

"It's obvious that Dionysius didn't understand etiquette and didn't receive us in time. How can he blame us instead!" Henipolis shouted unconvinced, interrupting Ansitanos.

"They can say, 'Because they are busy negotiating with the Carthaginians, they can't get around to meet us for the time being...'. After all, for the people of Syracuse, Carthage is more important than our Dionia Much more." Ansitanos said calmly.

Henipolis snorted coldly and looked at Ansitanos: "Teacher, in fact, Dionysius just wants to snub us and make Dionia look embarrassed, right?!"

"If Dionysius is really such a narrow-minded person, he will not be able to sit as the tyrant of Syracuse. I'm afraid it's just that he treats different things with different emphasis." Ansitanos touched himself and felt a little gray. beard, with a wise light shining in his eyes: "So we don't have to worry at all, wait slowly... just in time to see what weight the Dionysian Alliance holds in Dionysius's heart."

Although Henepolis is young and energetic, he is not a fool.On the contrary, his talent is the reason why Ansitanos is willing to let this student accompany him and go to Syracuse together: "Well, let's have a patience competition with Dionysius and see who can I can’t stand it anymore! In the afternoon, I went to the theater in the city to watch a play. To be honest, although the city of Syracuse is larger than Turii and has a larger population than Turii, it does not have the lively vitality of Turii. . There are no football games to watch and no food to eat here, so we can only go and watch dramas." Henipolis said jokingly, picked up the clay pot on the table, took a sip, and then he " With a pop, he vomited it all on the ground: "This stuff is sour and fishy. It tastes too bad. It's much worse than beer!"

"Young people don't know how to taste." Ansitanos quickly took the clay pot, fearing that he would spit out all the syrup inside: "You have to know that this syrup was brought by the Carthaginians from the Numibians. I learned it and made some small improvements to make the taste more suitable for sailors at sea. In Numbia, this thing is not only used to quench thirst, it is part of the food..."

"What does Numibia have to do with us? From your tone, it seems that you want to study the history of this race." Henipolis said disapprovingly. He thought he knew his teacher better.

"It's not me, it's the owner of the house where you usually stay who is very interested in this. He has asked me about Numbia many times." Ansitanos took a sip of syrup and said.

"You mean Master Davos?!" Hennipolis immediately became interested: "What did he ask Numibia for?! You must know that the Dionia Alliance and Numibia are separated by the ocean, Sicily, There is no direct contact with Carthage."

Ansitanos pointed to his chest and said slowly: "There are always one or two people in this world who think about problems from a height that others cannot reach, because their place is extremely vast."

"Lord Davos is indeed a great man!" Henipolis said sincerely. Suddenly he remembered something and said: "Teacher, now that the Carthaginians have chosen to cease the war, I am afraid that we will not meet Dionysus." It’s not good for Hughes, and it’s even more bad for Dionia!”

Ansitanos looked at his student with admiration and asked, "Why?"

Henipolis knew that the teacher was testing him again, so he carefully straightened out his thoughts and then said: "In the Western Mediterranean, Syracuse has always been the most powerful Greek city-state, but it has always been limited to the island of Sicily. , the biggest reason is the Carthaginians. The powerful power of the Carthaginians on Sicily not only keeps the people of Syracuse on alert, but also threatens its survival many times. Syracuse only dealt with Carthage It's very difficult. How can I still have the energy to care about things outside Sicily?

But in fact, the people of Syracuse have always been interested in our Magna Graecia.I remember that decades ago, Hieron, the tyrant of Syracuse, had sent troops into Magna Graecia.But in recent years, the situation in Sicily has been very different from before.Carthage's two large-scale military operations suffered disastrous defeats. I heard that this time it also suffered more than 2 casualties, so it had to propose a ceasefire. I am afraid that it no longer has much power to pose a threat to Syracuse. "

Ansitanos nodded in approval of the students' opinions, but he did not think that Syracuse would carry out military operations in Magna Graecia, so he said: "The Carthaginians were defeated because it seemed to be fighting against Syracuse. The war against the people was actually a confrontation with the power of the entire Greek city-states. How could the Peloponnesian League, led by Sparta, and Naples in Campania and other city-states allow foreigners to completely occupy Sicily? Thus cutting off the trade routes between the East and West Mediterranean and even threatening their rear (referring to Sparta). I believe that after experiencing these two disastrous defeats, the Carthaginians will become smarter and will not easily provoke a war in Sicily. Its strength in Africa, it will remain the biggest threat to Syracuse."

"You are right, teacher! However, at least for now, it seems that Syracuse is much more powerful than Carthage. After their peace talks with Carthage this time, I am afraid that the Carthage will definitely It will retreat significantly to the west of Sicily, and Syracuse's unification of Sicily is something that everyone can see and may happen in the near future." Hennipolis said worriedly.

"Yes, this is an issue that our alliance will continue to pay attention to." Ansitanos said thoughtfully.

"You can't just pay attention. I don't think Dionysius will be satisfied with dominating Sicily. Dionysius is a greedy man. The two wars with Carthage were caused by his initiative to expand his territory. If Sicily becomes stable, he may target Magna Graecia.”

Although Ansitanos did not agree with Henepolis's exaggeration of the threat of war in Syracuse, as a scholar he enjoyed debating with students, which was beneficial to his inspiration.So he frowned and asked, "Why does it have to be Magna Graecia?"

"Because to the south of Sicily is Carthage, and no matter how arrogant Dionysius is, he would not dare to go wild in the real territory of Carthage; to the east is Sparta's sphere of influence; to the west is the Iberian Peninsula. Not only was the voyage a long one, but I heard that there were many colonies established by the Carthaginians there. Unless Dionysius was crazy, he would never have gone on an expedition and made the same mistake that Athens made. Therefore, it could only be Magna Graecia to the north. , separated from Sicily by only the narrow Strait of Messina, Dionysius could send 10 troops to the land of Magna Graecia in half a day.

And I think Dionysius has long coveted Magna Graecia, otherwise he would not have married a Locle woman and formed an alliance with Locle.Now, when he was fighting Carthage, he did not forget to send spies to disturb Dionia. His ambition for Magna Greece was already very obvious! "

"Herni, you have to understand that being ambitious is one thing, being able to launch a war is another matter. Dionysius may have coveted Magna Graecia, but Magna Graecia now has our Dionysian Alliance." Ansitanos said, and a strange thought suddenly arose in his mind: If Thurii was still the same Thurii as before, what prospects would the city-states of Magna Graecia face facing the behemoth Syracuse? It's really unimaginable.Thanks to Hades for sending Davos, he established the Dionysian Alliance and almost integrated the power of Magna Greece, making Dionysius have to treat this with caution!

"And Syracuse has been at war every year. I heard that the treasury has been unable to make ends meet, and the people are also very dissatisfied. I believe you have felt it when you wandered around the city these days. In such a bad situation, Syracuse can launch Is it the same large-scale war as the previous one against Carthage? I think it is impossible. Moreover, this time we come to Syracuse to let Dionysius know the determination of our Dionysian alliance , completely dispel his unrealistic ambitions!" Ancitaros said confidently.

Henepolis was infected by him and nodded cautiously.

At this time, the attendant walked into the guest room and said: "Lord Ansitanos, someone is looking for you outside, saying that he was sent by Philistus."

Philistus, Dionysius's chief minister?Ancitanos and his student looked at each other...

...............................

Ansitanus is invited to the banquet hosted by Philistus tonight.

Just after dusk, the carriage sent by Philistus had arrived at the hotel, and Ansitanos took Henipolis into the carriage.

The envoys of Ansitanos lived in the center of Syracuse.The original colony of the Syracuseans was the island of Ortygia. Until a few decades ago, Dillon became the tyrant of Syracuse. He led a large number of immigrants and began to expand inland. The expanded city is Syracuse. In the current central area of ​​the city, most temples, theaters, markets, etc. are concentrated here.But this already large area only accounted for a small part of the city that the Syracuseans subsequently expanded.

In the decades after the reign of the tyrant Dillon, the Syracuse people extended the city to the northeast and included an area near the coast that was three times larger than the central area into the city of Syracuse, called "Akradina", this coastal area also includes a rich quarry.

　Thank you Zhonghua Longqian for the reward!Your support is my biggest motivation for writing! !

　　
　
(End of this chapter)