ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 55 Byzantium

In 657 BC, Prince Byzantine of the native Greek city-state of Megara (next to Athens and southwest of it) was preparing to lead his people to establish a colony on the coast of Asia Minor. He asked Delphi for an oracle to choose a suitable site for building a city. The result was a vague answer: build a city opposite the blind man.

Byzantine did not understand the meaning of the oracle at first. When his ship arrived at the city of Chalcedon on the east side of the Bosporus, he suddenly understood the meaning of the oracle because Chalcedon's geographical location was too Too bad, I can't even see the Golden Horn on the opposite side. It's clearly a city that only a blind man could build.So, he built a colonial city on the opposite bank of Chalcedon and named it: Byzantium.

Since Megara was not a strong state and could provide limited immigrants, after hundreds of years of development, Byzantium was still a small city, but its location gradually became important.After the rise of Athens, food mainly came from the city-states of the Euonymus Sea. Therefore, Byzantium, which had conquered Chalcedon, as a hub city guarding the sea passage between the Euphoria Sea and the Aegean Sea, naturally became the focus of Athens. Later, Byzantium joined The Delian League became an ally of Athens.

After the Peloponnesian War, the victors, the Spartans, also took a fancy to Byzantium's geographical location. Not only did they support a puppet regime in Byzantium, they also stationed troops in the city to control the Bosporus.

One day in the early spring of 399 BC, Burkos's ship sailed into the Byzantine port. Standing on the bow of the ship, he saw more than 100 warships densely moored in the port. He felt temporarily relieved: It should be... Catch up.

Just as he was instructing the crew to slowly sail the ship into the designated dock in accordance with the instructions of the port management personnel, people who were busy at the port suddenly screamed. In the chaos, many people jumped on the ship in panic and untied the cables. About to leave the port.Without coordinated command, ships collided with each other and became chaotic. Some ships were even knocked over and the crew members fell into the water in panic...

Burkos hurriedly ordered the boat to be rowed back. Fortunately, he had not yet entered the dock and escaped the disaster.Reluctantly, he parked the ship outside the harbor and watched the events unfold.Many people had the same idea as him. After a while, hundreds of large and small ships were moored outside the port, floating up and down with the sea water.

Looking at the port that was busy before, it became deserted in the blink of an eye, leaving a mess.Bulkos was confused and asked a nearby boat loudly: "Hey, what happened?"

"They are damn mercenaries! Those mercenaries returning from Persia are going to attack Byzantium!"

"Mercenaries attack Byzantium?!" Burkos's heart jumped suddenly: "Why?"

"I don't know. I heard that the Spartans lied to them and said, 'As long as they come to Byzantium, they will be given provisions.' But after arriving in Byzantium, they did not fulfill their promise and even tricked them out of the city and closed the city gate. So These mercenaries became angry. Alas, in this world today, there are soldiers armed with shields and spears everywhere, acting like robbers and running rampant. The unlucky ones are all ordinary citizens like us!" An old man who looked like a captain took the words and said : "Brother, you are not a Byzantine. Where are you from?"

Burkos hesitated a little and said, "Thurii."

"Thurii...oh, I know that city, is it in Magna Graecia? I haven't been there, but I have been to Tarantum. It's a great place, so rich! I said...it's still you It’s great there! Now everything in Asia Minor is in chaos, and wars are possible everywhere!..."

Burkos didn't care to listen to an old man's nagging, and asked, "Who is in charge of Byzantium now?"

"Spartan General Cleander." The old man complained: "The Spartans only know how to kill people and don't know how to manage a city-state! It has only been a few years since they occupied Byzantium! Look, they are much worse than before. La...alas!"

Burx's heart moved and he asked: "Old man, what is your name? You have been a captain for many years! The ship owners here should all be familiar with it!"

"Pysilas of Byzantium. When Pericles of Athens became the chief general, I came out to run ships. At that time, he also led the Athenian fleet to the Euphoric Sea to buy wheat. I also met him. I am familiar with the captain and boatman here. I watched many of them grow up..." While bragging about his past, the old man asked seemingly unintentionally, "Why do you want to use a boat?"

"Hmm... it's possible." Burkos said vaguely.

"What is being transported?" The old man did not shy away and continued to ask: "Grain? Timber? Stone? Olive oil?..."

Faced with the probing questions from this old man who relied on his old age, Burkos felt helpless. After thinking about it, he said: "...Maybe it's a human being."

The old man's eyes widened, and the experienced man immediately thought of something: "Are they those mercenaries?! No wonder you asked me if I knew all the ship owners here! Okay! Great! Get them away quickly, we Byzantium Maybe it will be quiet for a while!"

Burkos neither admitted nor denied.

At this time, a signal came from the port: indicating that everything was safe and allowing the ship to enter the port.

"Hey, brother! If you want to use a boat, you can come to the port and say to any Byzantine at the port, 'Look for old Piri', and they will take you to me!" The ships drove into the dock one after another, and the old man continued At the stern, shout a message to Burkos.

"Okay!" Burkos replied, thinking in his mind: after landing, should he first visit the Byzantine Spartan governor Cleander?

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

There were some Thracian villages not far outside the Byzantine city, where Greek mercenary barracks stretched continuously. It was already dusk, and most of the soldiers had already rested. There was still a candlelight flickering in a large tent.

In the big tent, Davos was thinking hard, so much so that Kristoya didn't even notice when she came in.

"Dear, what are you thinking about?" Christoya stretched out her white arms to hug Davos from behind and asked softly.

Davos sniffed the fragrance of her hair, sighed, and said: "Today we arranged for the soldiers to perform a show, making the angry soldiers assume a posture of attacking Byzantium, forcing the Spartans to temporarily relent and agree. Give us some supplies, but this does not solve the fundamental problem.

Melsis sneaked into the city and got some news.The Spartan general Tibulon, who was appointed Spartan governor of Asia Minor, had arrived in Ephesus and began recruiting soldiers.It seems that your judgment is correct, Sparta is preparing to go to war with Persia!

Cleander of Sparta trapped us here and wanted us to help them eliminate the Thracians nearby. I'm afraid there is still the possibility of recruiting us to help them fight the Persians. "

"Don't Chrysops think highly of you? When I went back to report on my duties, I entrusted Anaxes to take care of you. It's a pity that you ignored Anaxes' attempts to win over you, and now he is having a heated fight with Xenophon. "Krystoya stroked his face and teased.

"Xenophon is good at this, but I'm not interested in Sparta." Davos scratched his head irritably: "If we keep fighting with Sparta, I'm afraid we won't even have a burial place when we die. It's a pity that we Now you are a fish out of the sea and can only be slaughtered by others!"

Kristoya kissed him gently on the face: "My dear, don't be so depressed. I met someone when I came here. He may be able to solve your troubles."

"Who?" Davos was shocked when he heard this.

Christoya turned back and shouted outside the tent: "Martius, let him come in."

　A new volume has begun!Don’t be surprised if I update in advance because I have to play football tonight.

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(End of this chapter)