Achaemenid Triumphant - an Alternative History of the Mediterranean World

[scholar]

Achaemenid Triumphant
an Alternative History of the Mediterranean World

Part 1.01
The Flight From Salamis
​

As the Battle of Thermopylae raged on into its third week of battle, the Allied Greek Armada under Eurybiades was slowly being eroded by the composite fleet of Phoenicians and Ionians. Earlier, it appeared as though much of the Persian Fleet would be destroyed by winds and storm, but the almost divine sign of favor caused little damage to the Persians. While the Greek Wheel formation was able to prevent their smaller numbers from being overrun by a much larger Persian fleet, Themistocles and Eurybiades often fell into conflict with one another on naval tactics and overall strategy. When a Greek detachment under Queen Artemisia of Cara, leading five ships from Halicarnassus and a score of other Greek vessels, threatened to cut off the allied detachment’s route to the rest of the Aegean, the naval force withdrew after Peloponnesian and Corinthian admirals threatened to abandon the war effort entirely if they could not withdraw.

Though Leonidas had just barely been able to reinforce a secondary footpath through the Hot Gates of Thermopylae, his seven thousand men were helpless against maneuvers in the sea had not only cut them off from naval support, but allowed Persian forces the ability to freely move behind his fortified lines. Heralds brought forward a cry that reinforcements were on their way, but Leonidas realized that the venture was now hopeless. All but the Spartans were dismissed from fighting contingent, as Leonidas prepared for his death. A few of the allied Greeks would remain behind with Leonidas, and die with him in the ensuing days ahead. With the defense force at Thermopylae destroyed, the Persian Army rapidly followed up its invasion south. All greek settlements agreed to medize to the Persian King Xerxes. His vast army descended upon the city of Athens, and burned it to the ground. Much of its population had moved to the island of Salamis, but staunch defenders who had entrusted themselves to the wooden walls of Athens died in flame.

The Persian Fleet moved south as well, maintaining one large cohesive mass of vessels as they approached the isle of Salamis. Islands in the Aegean, upon seeing the power and massive size of the Armada, likewise agreed to Medize to the Persians. The remnant forces at Thermopylae scattered in the retreat, with many going to Thebes and many others tying themselves to the main expeditionary force that was assembled in Corinth. The army had been marching north, and Pausanias had advanced hastily in order to support the city of Athens before it fell. The allied Greeks came upon the city of Athens when it was already burning, and in the battle that ensued was not done in the best of discipline by both parties. While the Spartan contingent of Hoplites were able to array themselves properly for battle, many of the others were unable to do so. Likewise, while the Persians were not completely defenseless, many of their forces were participating in looting and razing the city. The more the battle waged on, however, the more clear it was that rear force Persians who had not engaged in the looting were able join the fray. While the Greek line firmed up after an hour or two of combat, the strategic placement became dangerous and Pausanias ordered a withdrawal when night fell.

Over the next week, the Greek navy at Salamis debated whether or not to follow Pausanias and the main Greek armed forces as they headed towards the Isthmus of Corinth. In an attempt to force a pitched naval battle around Salamis, the Athenian Admiral Themistocles threatened to take his naval forces and what Athenians he could with him on an expedition to Sicily if the Greeks refused to stand firm with Athens. While this ploy had initial success, when the Persian army moved south towards the Isthmus, and the Persian navy refused to engage on the advice of Artemisia and the Ionian Greeks who had grudgingly gave her respect following her role in securing victory prior. At the next meeting when the Greeks once more argued about whether or not to go home, Themistocles’s announcement backfired upon him when the other Greeks refused to stay and risk isolating themselves from the real war. The captains derided Themistocles as a man without a city, and thus someone with no say in the alliance’s affairs. Themistocles reminded the assembly that so long as Athens had its fleet and its people, Athens would remain.

The Athenian detachment of triremes abandoned the alliance and gathered what people it could in order to leave Athens behind. Many on the island of Salamis would be left behind, and some would surrender to the Persian forces, while others committed suicide in order to free their relatives of the guilt of leaving them behind. Themistocles and his fleet set out for Sicily less than one week after the main allied armada moved south. While Eurybiades and Themistocles nearly came to blows in the days leading to the division, both realized that such a move would leave them helpless against the Persians. Attica fell shortly after the withdrawal of the naval forces at Salamis, and while the island itself would continue to offer resistance for some years later, Athen's great navy would play no further role in the Persian invasion of Greece. With winter fast approaching, Xerxes left command of the Persian forces in the hands of his clansman and general Mardonius. Thebes, which had never been a fully trusted member of the alliance, switched sides to the Persians following the destruction of Athens. Some 160,000 Persians and their Greek allies would soon face off against some 85,000 of the Alliance’s last defenders.

 

[scholar]

Achaemenid Triumphant
an Alternative History of the Mediterranean World

Part 1.02
The Battle of Corinth​

When winter turned to spring, the situation inside of the Peloponnese was becoming increasingly tense. Mardonius held command of a vast Persian army, while the Greeks in sum total across their entire fighting population was just half of their size. Of that number, far less could be centered in any one place given the relatively unchecked freedom of the Persian navy. While Pausanias could ensure that no Persian would be able to cross the Isthmus so long as his army of some 40,000 Greek Hoplites remained, an equal number of Greek fighting men were stationed throughout the Peloponnese and many of them could not be counted among the Hoplites. Perhaps most grating of all, was that some 8000 of the allied Greeks were stateless Athenians who had not gone with Themistocles’s break away fleet. These Athenians were constantly viewed with suspicion, and yet they made up the third largest contingent out of all the Greek fighting forces behind Sparta and Corinth. Leadership among the Athenians was hotly contested, and local captains and leaders fell under the sway of other city states.

Only one man was left in Greece that could still claim the mantle of Athenian leadership, and that man was Xanthippus of the great clan of the Alcmaeonidae. A lifelong rival of Themistocles, there was no chance that he would allow himself to let Athens fall, nor to allow himself to follow his enemy on what could only be described as a misadventure in the far west, halfway to the Pillars of Hercules. Such was nonsense to him, and Xanthippus remained closely tied to King Leotychidas of Sparta. While the Greek Navy had been dramatically reduced with the flight of the Athenians, the combined Greek armada could still count some 150 in its ranks, with more being produced, albeit at an irritatingly slow pace. Many of the Greek forces that had medized were not naval powers, and those that were had contributed little to the Persian numbers. While their force was some six times that of the Allied Greeks, ultimately the Greeks remained in a position where they could prevent the complete collapse of naval defenses. The Persian Navy’s relative tendency to keep itself grouped together in large forces was almost merciful to the remaining defiant Greeks.

Pausanias remained firm in his defense of the Isthmus of Corinth right at the city of Megara for most of the spring. Mardonius stationed more than half of his army in Beotia, shoring up his alliance with Thebes and playing the role of diplomat in the broader Greek world. Several Greek city states did go over to Mardonius. Without a powerful navy to defend them, and with the Persian fleet being in a far more domineering position with respect to naval might, many of the smaller island city states would agree to medize if the allies could not come to their defense. This slow, but steady erosion of the Greek alliance had resulted the allies outside of the Peloponnese slowly evaporating. While some remained with Sparta and Corinth, the rest began to abandon the cause outright. Of the seventy odd city states that had originally been part of the alliance, 27 remained with the alliance. Yet, Mardonius could not secure Corinth, nor any other powers of the Isthmus to change sides. While Mardonius may have thought himself appearing a fool, and having his own sense of honor impinged in those last rather fruitless ventures, they had succeeded in sowing suspicions among the political elites about the loyalty of others inside of the Peloponnese.

These suspicions began to interfere within Pausanias’s army in the summer months, resulting in Pausanias needing to coordinate between factions that increasingly no longer began to trust one another. A Corinthian detachment of Hoplites attacked the Megarians when a rumor that the city of Megara was going to betray the alliance to the Persians. The conflict between the two rapidly spilled over into a full scale attack as misinformation began to spread across the entire army, with the Megarian force of some 4000 hoplites being killed almost to a man and the city put under siege. Pausanias was unable to effectively control the hysteria of his allies, and could only keep the Spartan contingent in fit order as the chain of command broke down in the system that was always more of a peerage than a hierarchy. A few others did not take part in the fighting, among them could be counted the Athenian regiment. The Athenians actually played a part in defending Megara itself, and the allies nearly completely collapsed upon themselves. It is hard to say whether or not Megara was intending to go over to the Persians before, but after this skirmish the city of Megara surrendered to the Persians and agreed to medize. Corinth and her allies, believing themselves vindicated, sieged the city for almost a month until the Persians themselves arrived to relieve the siege.

The allied army withdrew in short order to an encampment outside of Corinth, where they hoped to reestablish a line of defense with the ten thousand stationed there, but this only brought their numbers back to where they were before the attacks. The Persians, sensing an opening, pursued the fleeing greek forces and forced a battle shortly after the allied forces arrived at their encampment. The Persian army, composed of hoplites, light infantry, and the finest cavalry in the ancient world, put the out of order Greeks into one of the most difficult positions they had been in since the start of the war. Thousands died in the Battle of Corinth on both sides. Mardonius withdrew after the fourth day of fighting to Megara, where he was welcomed with open arms as a hero of the city. Corinth remained secure, as did the Peloponnese, but the allied army lost a third of its total fighting men. To make matters worse, Pausanias died on the third day of fighting and the Corinthians attempted to take over leadership of the military forces there. Adeimantus of Corinth challenged Amompharetus, who was the most senior commander among the Spartans, but was ultimately recalled to Corinth for his questionable actions near Megara. A new regent would soon be appointed and take control of the landforces here, while Leotychidas sought to make a bold attack upon Persian supply lines, but the fate of the allies could hardly be described as anything other than grim.

 

[Death's Little Helper]

I'm a sucker for a good Achaemenid Wank.

 

[aegis03florin]

I will follow!

 

[scholar]

Achaemenid Triumphant
an Alternative History of the Mediterranean World

Part 1.03
The Peace of Mardonius​

With the Battle of Corinth, the allied forces of Greece were fundamentally isolated to the Peloponnese. While the city state allies were breaking off one by one before, now none remained following the betrayal of Megara. Even the erstwhile states along the western shore, far from Persian threat of aggression, bowed out of the conflict often without a word. One might have assumed that the Greek position would have been simply to make the Peloponnese into a fortress, as had been suggested by Pausanias’s earlier command structure, but the Peloponnese was not unified behind in alliance. Those among the Achaeans who did not join in the alliance were small, and without note. The largest among them was Patras of Doric lineage, and in total could not muster more than a spare thousand hoplites with all its resources, with the rest of Achaea offering little better in total sum. The Argives, however, were another matter. Though dealt a seriously damaging blow by the Spartans a generation prior, Argos had not been rendered completely helpless. Alone they could do nothing against Sparta and Corinth, but openly they called for Mardonius.

Sparta and Corinth could do little to deal with Argos in the time of the Persian invasion. A good fifth of their combined allied army was devoted to containing Argos, and that number was probably more than was needed. At best, Argos could call up seven thousand hoplites, and a few thousand other fighting men. Unable to attack, but more than capable of defending. So long as the bulk of the Persian army remained outside of the Peloponnese, Argos would be unable to fully align with the Persians. The Battle of Corinth changed this. The already weakened Greek naval forces became weaker as city states left behind the armada. The majority of them were of Corinth, but Megara had been among the top suppliers of Triremes, and King Leotychidas could not keep them after their city was nearly destroyed by their allies. A collapse among his naval forces would only have resulted in the end of the alliance, and as a result they were allowed to leave. To the credit of the Megarians, some captains remained true to the cause that they had sworn to when the alliance was first formed, but his naval forces would almost be halved in the following months. Without another battle, the alliance’s martial capabilities were crumbling.

The alliance had been a uniquely peculiar event in the history of the Greek people, not since the last days of Troy had so many willingly bound themselves to one another in an alliance against a foreign foe. Yet, loyalty to an abstract ideal like Greece were unable to truly survive a stagnating war with defeat seeming certain, especially when those city states who had medized remained in control of their own affairs and their own laws, and often had less onerous demands placed upon them than that of the alliance in order to maintain and resupply their armed men and naval forces. Fearing that the alliance would end, perhaps without so much as another battle, King Leotychidas and Xanthippus attempted to cut off the Persians from the mainland empire. First these naval raids were fought out in the Cyclades when the alliance could still count many of the island cities among them, and later fought among the Dodecanese. The massive Persian fleet often followed them, relieving the Peloponnese somewhat.

In the months after Corinth, Leotychidas positioned the navy along the shores of Euboea and began raiding Persian vessels there, and at Cape Artemisium succeeded in luring the Persian fleet into dangerous waters. While some Phoenician vessels were destroyed, the Greeks were not in a position to put up a battle, particularly since the region had long since lost its strategic usefulness, and moved northward. Along the shores of Thrace and Ionia, Xanthippus utilized all of his rhetorical power as a man of Athens to call upon his Ionian brethren, but his calls were almost completely unheeded. Athens was destroyed, most of Greece surrendered, Ionia’s finest men serving in the Persian fleet, such a call seemed like madness to the Greeks and Xanthippus could do little. While attempting to destroy the pontoon bridge Xerxes created in the Hellespont, the allied armada became trapped in the narrow waters by Persian naval forces. Greek fought against Greek along those narrow shores, and the allied armada was dealt a critical blow. Of the hundred triremes that went north, only 38 would return. While they had succeeded in destroying the bridge, without their wooden walls the allied forces were all but doomed.

Ten thousand Persians and Greeks would land along the Argive shores, with the city of Argos proudly proclaiming their allegiance to Persia. Some fifteen thousand troops then made their way north to Corinth, and Spartans moved to meet them. While in battle these fifteen thousand could do little more than harass the alliance, the existence of Persian troops within the Peloponnese had a critical mental component that made those within the alliance lose heart. This time Mardonius was approached by the Corinthians, who offered terms of peace. Mardonius was originally lenient in his terms, but both Thebes and Megara demanded blood and negotiations nearly broke down. The Spartans, disgusted with Corinth, ultimately abandoned the alliance and informed Mardonius that they would end hostilities unilaterally. Now almost alone, Corinth capitulated under harsh terms, as Megara gained massive concessions. Otherwise the terms were generally lenient, even to the few diehards that remained in the alliance after Corinth and Sparta made peace with Persia. The thirteen years that followed would be a period of relative quiet for the battered and exhausted Greeks. The Peace of Mardonius would remain until the death of King Xerxes.

 

[Patukov]

So the Greeks live to fight another day? In the meantime I assume that Greece is the high water mark of the Persian expansion? There doesn't seems to be anything else worth taking

 

[scholar]

So the Greeks live to fight another day? In the meantime I assume that Greece is the high water mark of the Persian expansion? There doesn't seems to be anything else worth taking

For now, but expect the scale of this timeline to get gradually bigger. The Peace of Mardonius is just the conclusion of the Persian invasion, and far from a resolution to any of the underlying pressures boiling among the Greeks.

 

[Patukov]

For now, but expect the scale of this timeline to get gradually bigger. The Peace of Mardonius is just the conclusion of the Persian invasion, and far from a resolution to any of the underlying pressures boiling among the Greeks.

Considering the amount of betrayals and defections that happened during the war, I'm sure the Greeks will have a lot of grudges to settle among themselves once the Persians aren't in position to keep the peace

 

[scholar]

Achaemenid Triumphant
an Alternative History of the Mediterranean World

Part 1.04
The Satrapy of Greece​

Mardonius was chosen to be the Satrap of Greece even before Xerxes began his invasion of Greece, and when Xerxes returned to Persia, Mardonius assumed full authority of the Greek satrapy. With peace finally established after three years of fighting, Mardonius began the large effort of consolidating Persian power inside of the Greek mainland. Though Mardonius had been heavily reliant upon Ionian Greeks and mainland exiles for council in dealing with the Greeks, the course of the war had opened up new loyalties to the Persians. Thebes was the most decisive of the early Greek city states to ally themselves to Persia, and their armies had contributed greatly to the defeat of Sparta and Corinth. The premier aristocratic families of Thebes had familial connections throughout Greece, and Thebes often proclaimed itself to be the eldest of the Greek cities with a history of one thousand years. Many of these Thebans bought into the Persian system, and used that system to become the premier Greek city state in all of the mainland in the process. It would be at the Theban’s urging that Mardonius would make offerings to the Gods of Greece in an effort to legitimate the regime, and Thebe’s patron deity Dionysius would sometimes be associated with the Persians.

Behind Thebes, Megara and Argos most benefited from the Persian invasion. Both cities greatly expanded their lands and holdings, but both suffered tremendous demographic losses. Argos itself had been almost crippled offensively before the Persians invaded, while Megara lost most of its finest fighting men when Corinth turned on Megara. Under the Peace of Mardonius their demographics would begin to recover as their financial and political positions were greatly elevated. Mardonius personally provided Megara with the funds necessary to rebuild one of their temples to Apollo that had been damaged in the chaos. These two cities, along with Thebes, were given special dispensation for the next hundred years to be excused from giving taxes to the Persian crown in the form of tribute. Like Thebes, the clans of Megara and Argos who held sway in their cities and around Greece would become consistent supporters of Persian rule, and their networks became the chief means by which the Greek Satrapy would be operated at a local level. Several hundred Persian officials, and several thousand Ionians would be used to establish and operate the governance of the satrapy, but otherwise it was through the Poleis and the Aristocratic families of Greece that the region was governed, and many would not be too highly remiss to not realize that they were no longer “free” and not part of an empire.

The clearest losers in the Persian invasion were the city states of Athens and Corinth. It was at Corinth where some seventy of the Greek Poleis gathered together and formed the alliance opposing Xerxes. While Mardonius had been most keen to win over Corinth over the course of the war, Corinth had refused categorically until the war had all but been won in the Persian’s mind. Furthermore their paranoia and rough treatment of allies had made the city unliked, and their betrayal of Megara had made the city its eternal rival. Even after the initial loss of lands to the Megarians, Megara continually attempted to eat away at Corinth’s borders, forcing Corinth to rely upon its rather extensive network of colonies to provide some measure of assistance to them. When taxes upon Corinth were placed at excessively high levels, Corinth appealed to its status of mother city in order to gain support from Syracuse and Corcyra. What they received was not as much as they might have hoped for, but it was enough to prevent their complete collapse as a major Poleis, even if they became second tier under the Persian system.

Athens was a far more curious case, however. It had been the great instigator of this conflict, and was the subject of Darius and Xerxes’ hatred. Themistocles left with most of the Athenian fleet and a number of Athenian citizens, and went off to Sicily. Athens there would live on, but it would also live on in Greece as well. Thousands of Athenians remained in Samos, only fully surrendering after the peace was established. Some seven thousand Athenian hoplites remained a fully functioning military force, and they retained their loyalty to their state. The Athenian’s role in defending Megara had won the city state sympathy within the Persian system, and there was a man well positioned to attempt to revive the Athenian state. Xanthippus had stayed with the Spartans till the very end, and was a member of a well-connected aristocratic clan with ties to others in Thebes, Argos, and Megara. Having earned a reputation as a trustworthy man, he gathered together what little of his city remained and made an embassy to Mardonius one year after the peace was established. He appealed to rebuild Athens, and this appeal was accepted under a number of extensive conditions. Athens was to have an army no greater than five thousand hoplites, could hold no more than thirty triremes, and had no control over its foreign policy with a council of Persians and their Greek allies having a position over the Athenian assembly with the ability to veto any resolutions passed by them. An even harsher fate than Corinth’s, but Athens endured because of Xanthippus. After his death some years later, his son Pericles would balance the Athenian will to its current situation, preventing the city’s permanent destruction.

The exact borders of the Satrapy would be hard to determine. The Greek world extended across the Mediterranean with Poleis as far west as Iberia, with the lines dividing the extent of Persian control being blurred at best. Macedonia and Epirus were nominally part of the system, as were many of the islands and large swaths of the Greek mainland, but apart from some offerings of earth and water the Persians had no control over them. Only in northern Peloponnese, Attica, Beotia, and those cities along major trade and army routes would be loosely integrated into the system and be expected to provide taxes, which was set at 300 talents of silver for Mardonius’s entire administrative reign. Sparta would remain the largest question of the regime, and one could rightly question whether Sparta and Persia were still at war. The Council of Elders had voted to cease hostilities and leave the alliance, but Mardonius’s demands of receiving offerings of subjugation were never followed. Mardonius knew that the Spartans would eventually have to be subjugated to prevent any threat to Persian authority, but his administration was still in its formative stages and restarting the war seemed an unwise move. Other frontier satrapies had similar issues, and Mardonius was more than content to push the question on a later Satrap. Even with its disjointed and very loosely run structure, the satrapy was more than rich enough to rather easily provide its tribute in taxes.

 

[Olligarchy]

Extremely well written AND deals with the Persians?

Sign me up!

 

[scholar]

Achaemenid Triumphant
an Alternative History of the Mediterranean World

Part 1.05
The Death of Xerxes

​

Xerxes returned home to Persia as a conqueror of a large amount of new territory, and as having succeeded where his father Darius had failed. Athens was punished, Greece was captured, and Persia had reached, perhaps, the end of landed civilization. Some low level contact was carried out with Phoenician cities, such as the great city of Carthage, but beyond Greece there was little left for the Great King to conquer. He had bridged the Hellespont, but he was not mad like his distant cousin Cambyses. There would be no expeditions to conquer Libya, no naval expeditions into Sicily or Carthage. Such made little sense to Xerxes, especially considering the far closer targets at his disposal. Following his success in Greece, Xerxes led an expedition to Bactria and put down a revolt there. He would spend the next year fighting in Central Asia, extending Persian power deeper into that region of the world. Over the next decade of his life, Xerxes would deal with several rebellions of varying size. While Xerxes had been a conqueror and inspired loyalty among many, among others he inspired hate and fear. Officials who feared for their lives would often stoke local loyalties and raise a banner of revolt, but many of these were put down effortlessly.

His three royal sons would gain notoriety as men on campaign, chief among them was his eldest son Darius. Sometimes the aftermath was a lenient return to the status quo, sometimes steep penalties were placed upon the rebels. A distant relative, Artapanus, rose to power as an adviser to the Great King at this time, and became an active party in the dynastic succession. It is unclear whether Artapanus corrupted Darius, or if Darius corrupted Artapanus, but it is clear that there was an assassination attempt upon the life of Xerxes while his sons were on campaign throughout the empire. When the attempt failed, Artapanus blamed the attempt on Darius. Xerxes refused to believe that his eldest son and heir would betray him, but pretended to be in critical condition and on the verge of death in order to lure his son back to Pasargadae. Darius, who was at Babylon, returned to Persia in order to be crowned Great King. Upon discovering that his father was in perfect health, Darius panicked and attempted to flee. Xerxes believed that this was an admission of guilt, and at the prompting of Artapanus Xerxes ordered his eldest son removed from power and seized. Darius, not knowing that Artapanus had betrayed him, was tricked by the councilor and would die inside of one of the imperial gardens. Xerxes, succumbing to mounting paranoia, placed his trust in Artapanus and looked towards his other royal sons with suspicion.

Artaxerxes and Hytapses were naturally in a position that was unenvied. In the next year, Artapanus married a daughter of Xerxes and became associated with imperial favor. Both sons attempted to appear as loyally as possible, with Hytapses leaving military service and associating himself with the Magi and Priests of Ahura Mazda. It may well have been hoped by the youngest prince that a spiritual calling may well alleviate his father’s suspicions of him, but Xerxes grew wary of his youngest son. The religious classes inside of the Persian Empire were powerful, and though many were not actively involved in military service, their relatives could be counted among the most prominent of generals. Hytapses, who had devoted himself to quiet seclusion, was seized while inside one of the Paradise Gardens outside of Persepolis. Hytapses would inevitably die in his captivity. Whether it was by his own hand, or by murder, is hard to say. The exact date of his death is even more impossible to determine, but it was clear that he predeceased his father. At this point only Artaxerxes remained, and soon began refusing orders from his father. Artaxerxes was unaware of Darius’s treason, and feared that Hytapses was dead as soon as he was seized. As the last trueborn son of Xerxes’s royal wife, he became a target of intense rivalry at court. To Artapanus, Artaxerxes was the last real threat to his own seizure of power.

It may have been possible that Artapanus had intended to follow the path to power that Xerxes’s father Darius had followed in order to achieve power, with the collapse of the direct royal line leaving an open door to a more distant Achaemenid clan member. Having married a royal daughter of Xerxes, his claim would have been a difficult one to dismiss, as the various brothers and uncles of Xerxes were being slowly distanced from imperial power. This may have had a sliver of success, but Artapanus had seriously overplayed his hand. If the crown prince and master of some of Xerxes’s largest armies could fall from grace, so too could Artapanus. Artapanus stoked his King’s suspicions about all except himself, but it would not be too long before all others pointed their accusations towards the man who had most benefited from the decline of Xerxes’s own sons. Xerxes had many brothers, and several uncles besides. Unlike with Cyrus’s line, Darius had kept his clan well stocked with royal princes and lesser princes of all kinds. Artapanus’s own rise to power had made him greatly despised, and it was Xerxes himself that was the main force preventing his own violent end. When Xerxes became ill in 466 BC, Artapanus attempted to have Artaxerxes killed, but the plan was discovered. Artapanus then attempted to claim that Artaxerxes had aligned with Xerxes’s brothers and uncles to seize the crown, but this immediately led to open rebellion.

Artaxerxes used the forces of Judea and Babylon to rise against Artapanus, and denounced the treachery of the royal court. Using misinformation and confusion to his advantage, Artapanus claimed that his father was already dead and that Artapanus soon planned on seizing the throne for himself. Many regions of the empire soon followed their prince, and Mardonius himself would contribute a little over half of his forces in Greece to Artaxerxes’s rebellion. Most substantial of those who joined Artaxerxes was his uncle Achaemenes of Egypt, who soon brought the Egyptian army to bare alongside his nephew. While Artapanus had managed to win over some of the satraps to support him, many had no love for him at all and merely supported the current king Xerxes . Artapanus and Artaxerxes faced each other in battle, and in this regard at least Artapanus could not be called a coward. He led a cavalry charge against Artaxerxes’s position along the shores of the Tigris River where the rebel army was gathering for a march on Susa. Artaxerxes and Achaemenes were more than a match for the would-be Great King, and their triumph resulted in power in Persia falling to Artaxerxes. Xerxes died around this time. Like Hytapses, the conditions of his death were highly suspicions: perhaps succumbing to illness, perhaps assassinated by either Artapanus or Artaxerxes, or perhaps even he committed suicide believing that his last true champion had perished in battle. Artaxerxes, in order to legitimate his rebellion, blamed Artapanus for his father's death, and none disagreed too loudly. Artaxerxes was crowned Great King in 465 BC, but peace would not be completely restored for some time.

 

[Patukov]

I wonder how long the Empire can hold. There may be no Alexander to come kicking the whole thing down but a gradual decline is still very possible. Even though I admit that Persia still looks strong enough to be the top dog of the civilized world for quite a while

 

[scholar]

I wonder how long the Empire can hold. There may be no Alexander to come kicking the whole thing down but a gradual decline is still very possible. Even though I admit that Persia still looks strong enough to be the top dog of the civilized world for quite a while

Persia is going to be a constant presence in this timeline. There will eventually be a gradual decline, all empire's must, but not for a long time.

 

[scholar]

Achaemenid Triumphant
an Alternative History of the Mediterranean World

Part 1.06
The League of Argos
​

The Greeks soon began to reap several major benefits as a part of the Persian Empire in the years leading up to the coronation of Artaxerxes. Greek Hoplites began seeing widespread use throughout the Persian Empire as mercenary forces employed by the Great King and the Great King’s rebels alike as Artaxerxes and Achaemenes employed several thousand Greeks in their overthrow of Artapanus. Greek forces had always made up a part of Persian western military forces, but as several city states began to be more connected with the broader Achaemenid world, like the Ionians they would be drawn to the lucrative pay offered by the Persians. Soon both the Poleis who fought with the alliance and fought against the alliance began sending their young men as soldiers overseas. Given Mardonius’s rather broad peace within the Greek mainland, the aggression and demographic pressures that had led to extensive wars before the Persian Invasion soon channeled into a largely legitimate tool of conflict overseas. Warfare amongst the Poleis, particularly as one moved outside of Persian centers of influence such as Attica and Beotia, continued, but they were unable to become larger scale conflicts without resulting in Persian intervention.

Many of these Hoplite Mercenaries found themselves fighting increasingly in the areas around Armenia and Egypt. Jewish military forces fiercely loyal to the Achaemenids had been among Artaxerxes’s primary supporters, and the demographic pressures found among the Greeks were likewise present among the Judean populations. Others, too, likewise saw a rise in service in the Persian armies in times of rebellion, moving from place to place within the empire as old rebellions were ended and new rebellions were started, also came to prominence. Cavalry forces from the northeast also saw extensive use, particularly as Artaxerxes began to reestablish Persian control in the rather chaotic last few years of Xerxes’s reign. Over the first ten years of the Artaxerxes’s reign, these mercenary forces began touching almost every region of the Empire. The traditional levies and conscript forces of local rulers remained in place, and the core Persians and Medes remained a highly integral part of the military, but it would have been hard to notice that the nature of the Persian military was beginning to change. It would be some time until the effects of this were completely realized, but for now they proved instrumental as a stabilizing force within the Persian state.

Thebes, Argos, and Corinth were the largest contributors of foreign Hoplite mercenaries in the various foreign wars. Argos’s population had all but recovered from its previous defeat at the hands of Sparta a generation and a half later, and their militarily focused regime had blossomed into a lucrative mercenary arrangement. Given their earlier dispensation on providing taxes and tribute to the Persian crown, this resulted in a massive influx of wealth into the region. Temples to Argive Hera built with all the splendor Persian gold could buy sprouted up across the countryside of their new lands. Poseidon and Mars used to be the principle deities worshiped in the Peloponnese as they were the patron gods of Corinth and Sparta respectively, but now that Argos had seemingly reclaimed its ancient heritage and birthright, Hera would have her due in the Greek mainland. Theban mercenaries would soon follow Argos, and even though many among the Thebans would take part in various misadventures in the western Mediterranean, Thebes nevertheless became a prominent supplier of men to Persia. When Mardonius sent much of his forces to Artaxerxes, a full third of them were composed of Theban Hoplites and their various allies.

Corinth was another matter entirely. Though the Polis had been able to utilize its position as a mother city for aid and support, this eventually dried up as Corinth continued to struggle. Syracuse soon fell into war with Themistocles’s new settlement, and affairs in Sicily were threatening to become a little too interesting for the liking of any hoping for a peaceful economic growth and recovery for the Corinthian traders. Corinth appealed to have its taxes lessened, but the hatred of Megara would prevent any substantial relief. The only thing Corinth could count among its assets were its still substantial population, and its rather significantly large Hoplite population. Perhaps most of all of the Greek city states, Corinth was the one that was most uniquely positioned to take part in the mercenary forces in the Persian army, quickly sought to alleviate its economic pressures with Persian gold. What resulted was an almost tragic occurrence for the city state, as what would allow Corinth to temporarily pay off its debts and taxes, had eventually placed it on a collision course with the Persian state. What’s more, the initially mercantile and naval focused city state became increasingly militarized for surprisingly little gain. Corinth should have received far more funds than Argos or Thebes, but because of their privileged station, and Corinth’s heavy burden, Corinth never became significantly wealthy. Unable to become successful and wealthy as citizens of a damned city, many Corinthians began to emigrate, radicalizing the regime.

Persia was far from blind when it came to the increasing use of Greek mercenary forces in their various local conflicts, and pressure was soon placed upon Mardonius to create some form of localized order to the inherently laissez-faire nature of the Greek mercenary initiative. Argos, as the primary driver of the early pioneering of the legitimated use of greek warfare, soon became the primary vehicle through which the Persian government itself would contract its forces. Following an Olympian game, a meeting was held in Argos by the Greek city states most actively involved inside of the wars in Persia. Some 23 of the Poleis from around Greece gathered at Argos, including three that were outside of the borders of the Persian administrative satrapy. The outcome of meeting was the creation of the League of Argos, or the Argive League. The League’s purpose was to organize and make provide standards of Greek Hoplite mercenary activity, including standardizing pay. Little in the way of formalized command structure was made in the Argive League, but as Argos became the primary dispenser of military contracts for overseas war with Persia, many of these city states would have permanent representatives in Argos. As Persia was the most lucrative front for the use of mercenaries, Argos became second only to Thebes in the Greek mainland within a generation of the League’s foundation.

 

[scholar]

Achaemenid Triumphant
an Alternative History of the Mediterranean World

Part 1.07
The Devastation of Corinth
​

The fall of Corinth became almost inevitable with the creation of the League of Argos. Corinth had been in the midst of a transformation on a number of levels since the Persian invasion. By the 14th year of Artaxerxes’s reign (451 BC), Corinth had become a thoroughly militarized state. The preferred occupation of a male landed citizen with enough wealth to afford Hoplite arms and armor was to take up service in the employ of a far flung distant lord serving the Great King of Persia. Opportunities out west were less numerous, but Corinth’s unique ties to the region had made their Hoplites a top choice in the area out west. By sheer numbers, Corinth had contributed the greatest share of its wealth of manpower to foreign wars, and this had indeed allowed Corinth to receive a number of returns. Oppressive Persian taxes had made life for the city state difficult, but overall Corinth was still in a moderately decent position. Given the time many Corinthian male citizens would spend overseas, a number of them became sympathetic towards the Persian state. While never to the extent of Argos or Thebes, Corinth had steadily softened its stance against the Persian state since Artaxerxes became Great King.

This warmth would later be betrayed by the Satrapy’s continued and steady refusal to alleviate the tax burdens placed upon the city. While Corinth’s character had changed, the perception of it had not. Megara had only just recovered its fighting male population around this time, and their grandmothers and mothers spoke tales of the betrayal of Corinth and the massacre of their fathers and brothers. Eventually as Mardonius surrendered more authority to his young nephew Ostaxes - the expected successor to the satrapy - he alleviated some of the Tax burden in favor of military service to Artaxerxes, but it did little to allay the concerns of the Corinthian, especially as the city’s barely managed to avoid a deficit. Many Corinthians simply abandoned Corinth itself. Those that found themselves living in relative luxury serving the various satraps and client kings of Artaxerxes later found that they did not want to return to a city where their wealth would be destined not to have any reasonable amount of staying power. Many Corinthians who could not make full peace with the idea of living with the very people destroying their city simply decided to move to the colonies of Corinth, such as Corcyra and Syracuse – both powerful cities engaged in war. A profit and a decent livelihood could be made there, and distant clansmen could be reconnected with since the cities maintained close ties.

That alone would not have destroyed Corinth, but as the League of Argos expanded and a greater supply of Hoplites could be provided to serve in the Great King’s armies something curious began to happen. The previously large sums of money that were provided to Corinth by the Persian state began to ebb. An individual could still make a fortune, but a man needed a fortune just to get by in a city like Corinth. Along with declining prices, Argos began to more selectively discriminate against who would be first in line to receive contracts from Persia. Argos may not have had much individual resentment towards Corinth, but Corinth was not an Argive ally either. Though Corinth had a massive population willing to go to war, perhaps the only occupation keeping itself viable as an entity, contracts through the city began a steep decline. The Persian mercenary business was by far the lion’s share of the Corinthian’s economic dynamism, but in just a few years the Persian trade was about on par with the Western Mediterranean trade. With this the already present problem of demographic flight became exacerbated as many of the sons of Corinth simply did not return. Forced to make due, Corinth resorted to even harsher methods to meet with the tax demands by Persia. Ostaxes promised that upon his official assumption of control that Corinth’s position would be reevaluated, and this had convinced the ruling classes of Corinth to suffer in the short term.

While Corinth had shifted to becoming more sympathetic towards the Persians in the previous generation, the conservative element within Corinth never quite disappeared. At the hands of such outrageous treatment, the conservative elements within Corinth began to resurface with a startling amount of power. Haemon, son of Kebalinos who fought against the Persians, was a veteran of many contracted battles across the Mediterranean. He had no great clan ties and his family was brought to power only in his generation. He blamed the situation in Corinth upon the aristocrats and the wealthy citizens of Corinth who retained much of their status, even though Corinth itself was on the verge of collapse. Their close familial ties with the families of other city states made their loyalty’s suspect in his eyes, and Haemon aroused an assembly of Corinthians that they had betrayed Corinth to the Persians – those who should be the enemy of Corinth, of all Greeks. The Pro-Persian and the Anti-Persian parties struggled for power inside of the city of Corinth, and violence erupted shortly after an attempt on taxes was made by the city magistrates. In the turmoil, Haemon seized power as a demagogue and renounced the city’s allegiance to Persia.

Those Corinthians sympathetic to Persia fled north to Beotia and met up with the Persian regional forces. Mardonius and Ostaxes gathered together some thirty thousand Greek and Persian soldiers and soon marched south from Beotia. Argos contributed another ten thousand to the conflict from the south. Haemon and Corinth would resist for a year, utilizing every resource at his disposal, but eventually Corinth inevitably succumbed to the overwhelming forces of Persia. Haemon had stoked the national sentiment of the city, and in their frenzied defense had forced the Theban army to nearly burn Corinth to the ground. The eastern harbor was lit ablaze for well over a week, and extinguishing that fire proved impossible during the siege. When the city itself was breached, Haemon died with six of his eight children while fighting in the agora of his city, having sworn to defend the city to the last breath. In that last regard he had almost succeeded in taking all of Corinth with him. Corinth was devastated, more than half of its population had been displaced or killed. Were it not for the pro-Persian party clique and their followers serving inside of the Persian army, Corinth may well have been completely torn down. Instead the city was somewhat revived, though in a situation similar to Athens. Corinth would be expelled from the Argive League, and it would take almost a century for the city to recover.

 

[aegis03florin]

Would the Persians adopt Hoplite warfare for themselves? In OTL they did to a some extent, after the defeats.

 

[scholar]

Would the Persians adopt Hoplite warfare for themselves? In OTL they did to a some extent, after the defeats.

Maybe, but not at the moment. Hoplite formations are not the most easy to adopt, and Persia is less pressured to go through all that work at the moment. Greek Hoplites, however, are becoming more and more common among the Persian armies. That could potentially result in a defacto adoption, even if the Persians themselves do not.

 

[Alpha Trion]

I am enjoying your timeline. Will you be giving any updates regarding the situation in the Western Mediterranean (Carthage, Sicily, Magna Graecia, and Rome)?

 

[scholar]

I am enjoying your timeline. Will you be giving any updates regarding the situation in the Western Mediterranean (Carthage, Sicily, Magna Graecia, and Rome)?

Yes, part 2 is going to be almost exclusively focused on Sicily and Carthage, with a few asides back to Persia, Magna Graecia, and Etruria.

Rome's still in its infancy, so that is further off.

 

[scholar]

Achaemenid Triumphant
an Alternative History of the Mediterranean World

Part 1.08
The Flight of the Greeks​

While Corinth had not completely been destroyed, the rapid collapse of the city state would have immediate and unhappy consequences for many of the Poleis under the Persian state. Corinth was the second most populous city in all of the Greek mainland, only Syracuse and Athens could have claimed to be larger. With the decline of Athens, and Syracuse in far off Sicily, Corinth had been an artery of the Greek world. Its two great harbors on both sides of the Isthmus that carried the name of Corinth had been focal points of trade for both sides of the Greek world. Though a Doric people, Corinth had been masters of trade and diplomacy in its older days, and had been a focal point of Hellenism. This is why the Hellenistic League of the Allied Greek forces against Persia was founded at Corinth. Though widely hated coming up to the sack of Corinth, once the Thebans, Argives, and Persians almost destroyed the city, few outside of Megara celebrated the new low for the once proud city of Greece.

Though little immediately changed apart from a somewhat noticeable decline in trade among the Greek city states, the mentality of many of the Greek people themselves began to change. Many had not noticed changes in their livelihoods when the Persians came, and apart from additional taxes in tribute that were rarely a hardship among the smaller Poleis – sometimes as small as a single talent of silver – many could rightly question if Persia had changed anything. Even when large scale warfare among the Greeks on the mainland stopped, local wars would largely go unnoticed and there were brooding larger conflicts just outside of Persia’s loosely defined controls. Even the Argive League appeared to be mostly a Greek invention, with Persia being a client to the participating states more than a master and they themselves a slave. Two generations into the Persian conquest, Greeks felt just as independent as they had been before, and many were even growing richer under the general peace that had been imposed upon them.

Now they realized that such a peace was imposed on them. The destruction of Corinth had revived in the minds of every free thinking Hellene that Greece was under the control of Persia, and that Thebes, Argos, and Megara were more than just powerful and influential peers, but collaborators who would rule Greece. Haemon had not declared war upon Persia, he only demanded independence. He had done so with the popular asset of the people of Corinth, of an assembly of citizens: free men of Greece. Men may not have respected Corinth, but they respected the Assembly, they respected the aspiration to be controllers of their own fate. For the first time the Greeks finally realized that they were not free, at least not free in the way they had been in the days of Old. Perhaps Sparta, curious and ancient, remained free. Perhaps those in the greater Greece of Italy, Sicily, and other places remained free. Perhaps Themistocles and his now legendary fleet remained free. But they were not.

There would be no great rebellions, no organized resistance. That is not the way the Greek world worked against an idea. Especially an idea realized far too late. They did not become broken, but there was a realization that they were beaten. The Ionians had learned to live with this fact, and the mainland Greeks would do so as well. The Persians granted them almost every freedom, apart from the freedom to be free of Persia. The aristocracy maintained a peaceful and ordered city, and occasionally clan rivalries, or rising demagogues, and even the rare tyrant would rise up and stir the pot a little, but they would quiet down. Far more than ever before, the great clans of the city state had been interconnected with one another, and it took no more than five or six degrees of separation for even the small Poleis to find some connection with Thebes. Yes, these disruptions would happen, there were hundreds of Poleis in the Satrapy of Greece and it was hard to go more than a year without one of them having a problem that manifested itself in violence. Eventually order would be restored, and either the old families would come into power, or new families would be absorbed into the old system.

Faced with such stagnation, there was little to do but leave Greece. The population of the mainland continued to rise, and there were only a limited number of ways to resolve such pressures. Those that could would join a Hoplite contingent. The larger city states could maintain a single platoon, but the smaller ones would contribute individuals that would be absorbed into other, larger units and thus lose their individual city loyalties. While at first many would return, the numbers of those that did steadily declined to just under half by the time Ostaxes became Satrap of Greece. Many would go out east into the Persian hinterland, and be well fed and provided for until their dying days in the service of some lord or another. Many of these vassal kings would become quite enamored with the Greeks, sparking the rise of Philhellenes that further drew men east. Out west, free city states waging wars and behaving as old Greece used to behave also drew a romantic allure and many tens of thousands of Greeks moved west. Greece would remain highly populated, as they would continue to prosper financially, but a second mass wave of colonial fervor was manifesting itself – this time on an individual, rather than the Polis level.

 

[Patukov]

So Hellenistic culture still finds way into the East. Though this time apparently on a much more subdued level

 

[scholar]

So Hellenistic culture still finds way into the East. Though this time apparently on a much more subdued level

Its starting to, but right now the situation is only a few degrees higher than what it was during the Peloponnesian Wars. Alexander the Great was continually angered to find Greek soldiers fighting and settling in the Persian Empire and opposing him, and it has been recorded that the last loyal forces to Darius were Greek soldiers in his command. The main differences are that Greece is now officially part of the empire, and that many of those who would have died in the wars between Sparta and Athens, and later Thebes for the position of top poleis in greece are instead being exported to fight, live, and die outside of Greece. The decline of freedom here is just another take on the decline of freedom that had occurred with the rise of various leagues and the outright domineering nature of Athens, Sparta, Thebes, and others.