alternatehistory.com
The Possibilities of the Sea
Both designs have become particularly evocative of certain times; the trieres of great individual contests when the Great Sea was first settling into its Golden Age- the Hellenes against the Persians, the Syrakousai against the Italiotes, the Italiotes against the Tyrsenoi, the Carthazines against the Hellenes; the penteres is instead emblematic of the Great Sea as increasingly dominated by numerous potent sea powers in their prime. But even as the penteres was a more potent boarding ship than its predecessor, both continued to use their rams as their primary method of sinking an opposing ship. The skill required to manoeuvre to a ship’s weaker side, and to safely extract from a rammed vessel, would have been extraordinary. There is a reason that all ancient vessels were rowed by free, trained men as opposed to slaves. We are not privy to as much information as we would like; the fundamentals of sailing were so common to the Hellenes and other ancient peoples that they didn’t feel like writing much of their craft down. We know that these ships needed to be beached each night, that particular timbers were chosen for their balance between lightness and strength, that the average trieres was around forty meters long and crewed by almost two hundred men.
MY EXPEDITION BY IJIRE OF KWAKA (1601 CE)
…
When we finally came upon Port Finiqi, at long last, I could see that it had seen better days. The Port was still filled with sails from all shores but its walls were tired and old, with mansions rotting in ruinous states on the city outskirts as I rode by. It was certainly not the peerless metropolis as our grandfathers knew it, though the memory of greatness was still here. The decorations were faded but visible if one paused to check, the vibrant colours chipped but not gone. Magnificence was but recently taken from this place, not the result of a long malaise brought about by impiousness and inaction. Being curious, and having heard no news of the Port since my departure from Kwaka, I asked around as to what had happened. It was generally told to me by locals that this sorry state was the result of war among the western kingdoms, with Salu having emerged the victor but at significant cost. Port Finiqi had been besieged twice in the past decade, though it had rebuffed both attempts at capture there had been much devastation to the walls and the surrounding city, a number of its great and good had fled to Salu and not yet returned. But whilst the city looked damaged and battered, the people continued to thrive and bustle through the streets. Gold, spice, slaves, fruit, oil, devices, scrolls all still teem through the markets of Port Finiqi, not to mention the salt as brought by my faithful companions. I took my leave of them, but not before gifting them for their protection, companionship, and piety. I was confident that Port Finiqi would soon, through its industriousness and determination, restore its prior glory, and felt heartened.
Μηδίζω! THE WORLD OF ACHAEMENID HELLAS
CHAPTER 7: DRAYA or THALASSA
EXTRACT FROM HERODOTOS OF HALIKARNASSOS’ HISTORIA
RESISTANCE TO THE PERSIANS IN HELLAS
CHAPTER 7: DRAYA or THALASSA
EXTRACT FROM HERODOTOS OF HALIKARNASSOS’ HISTORIA
RESISTANCE TO THE PERSIANS IN HELLAS
Due to the complexity of terrain and political matters in Hellas, there were lands that at first escaped the attention of the Medes, as it was not reckoned that the conquest of Hellas necessitated their capture in order to resolve the campaign satisfactorily. In most cases this was resolved at a later time by treaty or by conquest, accomplished simply as these were predominantly isolated, individual polis with no allies to come to their aid. Exceptional defiance to the conquest, long after it had gained general control over Hellas, did continue and has continued to occur. The Hellenes of Kimmeria and Krete both required substantial campaigns by the Royal Army in order to be subdued, and even now the League of Ithaka continues to remain independent. I will describe how it was that the League of Ithaka came about and how it managed to effectively resist the arms of the Persian King and his subordinates.
The Korkyraioi and their neighbours had, as I have previously said, refrained from providing naval forces to the Hellenes in the campaign against Xerxes. This, and their remoteness from the rest of Hellas, caused Xerxes, Mardonios, and many others to ignore them. Xerxes in particular had reckoned that they might be made to treat with him once the Peloponnesos had been gained, and was entirely convinced that no further effort was required. It was not an unreasonable estimation, as this possibility was precisely one of those factors which had delayed their naval aid to the point where it was too late. However, the nearby region of the Akarnanioi had similarly been overlooked by the Persians, again due to its remoteness but also additionally the primitivity of many of its inhabitants. Gathered together in their league, the Akarnanioi were resolved that they would not be made slaves of the Persian King. They were convinced that a pitched battle between themselves and the Persians, particularly with the departure of Xerxes and the main part of his army back across the Hellespont, could certainly be won. What worried them was their weakness at naval matters, and they did not have the connections nor wealth to access those powerful navies belonging to the Italiotes or Syrakousiai.
Phillipos of Stratos, however, realised that the Korkyraioi had been neglected by the Persians as well, and that they possessed a formidable navy that might be supplemented by such ships as the Akarnanioi could construct and crew. Accordingly, an invitation was given to the leading men of the Korkyraioi to come to Stratos and negotiate an alliance. There was some doubt among the Korkyraioi with regards to whether they had done the right thing, and what might become of them if they submitted to the Persian King. They therefore sent ambassadors as requested. It is not known what passed between the Akarnanioi and Korkyraioi at this meeting, for both parties refuse to say. What is known that, by the end of negotiations, both parties swore an oath of alliance by the statue of Zeus Stratios, and thus was founded the League of Stratos, as the League of Ithaka was originally titled.
This did not instantly resolve the matter of common defence, however. Whilst the Akarnanioi and Korkyraioi were now resolved, many of the smaller and surrounding poleis were not so convinced as to the purpose of this action, when instead they might simply submit to the Mede. It became clear that this would only be resolved if the League of Stratos could prove its worth in the field. Once news passed to Mardonios of the League’s foundation, this confrontation became only a matter of time, for the conquest was still fresh and it was not necessarily clear that Hellas would remain under his control. He accordingly sent a satrapal army to nip this particular problem in the bud, under the command of Artabazos the Mede. Artabazos, having already demonstrated his ruthlessness at executing the royal will, was the ideal choice. What the Persians had not reckoned with was the precise size of the forces available to the confederates. For one, their relative obscurity to the Persians prior to this campaign worked in their favour, along with a general Hellenic insistence that the Akarnanioi were barely Hellenes and practically barbarians. For another matter, this stand against the Persians convinced a substantial number of Korinthioi who were displeased at the coming of the Mede to join the forces of the League, whereas previously they had only been evacuating in the direction of Syrakousai and Epeiros.
Thus the army of Artabazos was met at the crossing of the Akheloios river at Agrinion Agrios’ city, having had a difficult march through mountainous terrain to even reach the lands of the Akarnanioi. Awaiting them were the forces of Akarnanioi, Korinthioi, and Korkyraioi that had been gathered for this momentous battle, led under the command of Phillipos of Stratos in the centre, Timodemos of Korinthos on the right, and Maiandrios son of Maiandros on the left respectively. Artabazos had with him nearly 20,000 men, this having been deemed sufficient to defeat the members of the League, but he was confronted by almost 5,000 hoplitai and as many again of lighter equipment. However, Artabazos still had good reason to believe that the battle would favour him; he possessed finer cavalry, greater numbers, and had experience in dealing with Hellenes in combat. He was not, therefore, unduly concerned. However, Mardonios had neglected to provide a naval component to this campaign, either through rivalry with Artabazos or because Hellenic crews were still considered unreliable whilst much of the Persian King’s navies were still occupied on fighting piracy and pacifying Kimmeria and Krete. This gave the Korinthioi and Korkyraioi a free hand to sail around to Pleuron, gather those Aitolians nearby who were favourable to the defeat of the Mede.
There was not, it must be said, as many Aitolians gathered as might have been possible; the relationship between Akarnanoi and Aitolians was already a bitter one, and they were not disposed towards aiding those they saw as barbarians. However, at length, some of them were persuaded to do so for a greater good, and so a small force was sent across the mountains to ambush the Persian forces in the baggage train, causing as much mischief as possible. However, they had reckoned without the precise motions of the battle, which had been underway for some time by the time that this band arrived. Instead of finding themselves near the baggage of the Persians they instead were faced with the flank of the Persian line. At the size of the Persian forces many would have wavered but, so hotly that the Persians were unable to respond, these brave men instead charged the Persians straight away. This immediately caused confusion among the Persians as to whether they were being surrounded, their scouts not having accounted for passage of hostile arms from the surrounding mountains. This, at length, allowed the Akarnanioi to start a push under Phillipos, folding the Persian line and buckling it towards the centre.
Artabazos recognised that the day was lost, and so began an attempt to withdraw as much of his forces in good order as proved possible. The presence of cavalry prevented any harsh pursuit of his retreating forces, but the Persians had still lost half of their number in the fight, and it was rightly considered a great victory over the Persians by the League and its allies. This convinced the men of Pale, Kranioi, Zakynthos and Leukas to join the League, and to pool their naval resources together. This defeat also convinced the men of Epeiros that it would be advantageous to support the League in a subtle manner, so as to provide a buffer between itself and the Persians. Nonetheless, the most important result from the battle was the assembly of such a large number of warships, particularly trieres, as this would be the factor guaranteeing the League’s long term security from the Persians, just as the loss at Salamis was disastrous to the allies gathered against the Persians before them.
NAVAL WARFARE BY GOTHAPOLOVI OF MOEZA (981 CE)
TRIEREIS AND PENTEREIS
TRIEREIS AND PENTEREIS
Something no play, and few enough books, will tell you about ancient naval warfare is how reliant it was on ramming. If you are used to theatrical depictions of naval battles then it always consists of boarding actions, so that speeches and dialogue and combat scenes might occur. But the ancient warship was a weapon in its own right. We believe, from the accounts of Herodotos and similar ancient authors, that a particular improvement of the Hellenes made to the trieres design was that of strengthening the ram, altering its shape and bolting it more securely to the hull. This was not ultimately effective at the battle of Salamis but would prove effective elsewhere, and it is believed that the Hellenic trieres design replaced that of the Sidonians in the Persian Empire some time prior to the reign of King Ariabignes, though by the end of Amavadatos’ reign as usurper-king of Hellas these fearsome warships were being replaced by the penteres as the main ship of battle.
Both designs have become particularly evocative of certain times; the trieres of great individual contests when the Great Sea was first settling into its Golden Age- the Hellenes against the Persians, the Syrakousai against the Italiotes, the Italiotes against the Tyrsenoi, the Carthazines against the Hellenes; the penteres is instead emblematic of the Great Sea as increasingly dominated by numerous potent sea powers in their prime. But even as the penteres was a more potent boarding ship than its predecessor, both continued to use their rams as their primary method of sinking an opposing ship. The skill required to manoeuvre to a ship’s weaker side, and to safely extract from a rammed vessel, would have been extraordinary. There is a reason that all ancient vessels were rowed by free, trained men as opposed to slaves. We are not privy to as much information as we would like; the fundamentals of sailing were so common to the Hellenes and other ancient peoples that they didn’t feel like writing much of their craft down. We know that these ships needed to be beached each night, that particular timbers were chosen for their balance between lightness and strength, that the average trieres was around forty meters long and crewed by almost two hundred men.
The expense of constructing and maintaining these ships was immense. There is a reason that potent navies and rich polities seem to go together. In Athenai rich citizens would annually sponsor a particular trieres, and eventually this was the responsibility of two such citizens of Athenai when the Amavadatids introduced the penteres to their main naval poleis. The undisputed master of naval forces was for some time the Achaemenid Empire, but its navies were always divided between the Great Sea and the Wider Seas on the other side of its domains, limiting the number of ships it could bring to bear on any one front. But its wealth was unmatched and, accordingly, even so divided the Achaemenid fleet of the Great Sea was a match for any that dared challenge it. Not until the days of the Imerians would any have claim to surpass the raw naval might of the Achaemenids. Yet ultimately the two peoples most closely associated with the naval actions of these times are the Phoinikes and the Hellenes, the Phoinikes for inventing the trieres and the Hellenes for perfecting it, and spreading it throughout the Great Sea.
MY EXPEDITION BY IJIRE OF KWAKA (1601 CE)
To reach the Great Sea is an undertaking of some forethought. One must either take a caravan across the desert (most directly accomplished by passing through the ruined Gamana lands), or follow the road to the harbour of Finiqi and sail, or find a captain who is skilled at dealing with the Seas of the Sun and so sail the entire route. The latter is a more easily accomplished task now than it was in ages past, before the discovery of the Island of Dawn or the Farther Continent, because now one can do a reasonably reliable circuit without ever fighting against the wind or the currents, but this ease comes at the expense of travel time. In order to make this journey in any timely manner, the more ancient and difficult method must be utilised if one wishes to go the entire way on water. In the interest of my survey, and reliability, I decided to take the middle course of action, that of going to Port Finiqi and sailing the rest of the way, seeing that it would allow me to encounter as many peoples as possible en route.
I took the preparations for this great voyage extremely seriously. My passage was carefully timed to avoid sandhaze, and I had chosen my companions carefully. I was following a salt caravan heading to Port Finiqi, extremely capable, sociable, and well provisioned. We embarked at in the 3rd Month, travelling at a steady pace. The route from Great Kwaka to Port Finiqi retraces, in part, the ancient land trade between Fiqra and our ancestors, and even within the homeland there are traces of ancient trade posts along the desert paths, from when the rains were kinder. Thus many kingdoms have lived and died along these roads, and one cannot be careful enough when travelling upon them, even within our own nation. When townsteads or villages were not available to shelter us, we mostly stayed in these same ruined sites, wondering at their signs of past grandeur and placating any Gods that were still angry over the fate of the locals. One such site that left a particular impression upon me were the ruins of Go, half buried in sand, stripped of all but the hardiest materials by the action of the sand. The spirits of the dead were with us, and we left them offerings as we left, to thank them for their protection and hospitality.
I took the preparations for this great voyage extremely seriously. My passage was carefully timed to avoid sandhaze, and I had chosen my companions carefully. I was following a salt caravan heading to Port Finiqi, extremely capable, sociable, and well provisioned. We embarked at in the 3rd Month, travelling at a steady pace. The route from Great Kwaka to Port Finiqi retraces, in part, the ancient land trade between Fiqra and our ancestors, and even within the homeland there are traces of ancient trade posts along the desert paths, from when the rains were kinder. Thus many kingdoms have lived and died along these roads, and one cannot be careful enough when travelling upon them, even within our own nation. When townsteads or villages were not available to shelter us, we mostly stayed in these same ruined sites, wondering at their signs of past grandeur and placating any Gods that were still angry over the fate of the locals. One such site that left a particular impression upon me were the ruins of Go, half buried in sand, stripped of all but the hardiest materials by the action of the sand. The spirits of the dead were with us, and we left them offerings as we left, to thank them for their protection and hospitality.
After a week we departed the lands of the Malaghanu entirely and embarked on the Balil road proper. All nations along this route must respect the caravan, for all ultimately depend upon the goods which they bring. Salt in particular is so vital and necessary that even in times of war we would have been certain of our safety. Nonetheless, it struck me just how far we had yet to go, how distant Port Finiqi really was from our nation. We would not make our westward turn until much later, the road to Port Finiqi not diverging until the crossroads at Soga. Even if nations respected the caravan, there were those that might have been more willing to chance their luck. These lands can be unsafe when the Fugaru play at war, or there is conflict between the Vati and the northern Kwa, who all live hard nomadic lives and will resort to plundering caravans when times are hard. When I was travelling it was a time of peace, however, and we had only the desert to fear.
…
When we finally came upon Port Finiqi, at long last, I could see that it had seen better days. The Port was still filled with sails from all shores but its walls were tired and old, with mansions rotting in ruinous states on the city outskirts as I rode by. It was certainly not the peerless metropolis as our grandfathers knew it, though the memory of greatness was still here. The decorations were faded but visible if one paused to check, the vibrant colours chipped but not gone. Magnificence was but recently taken from this place, not the result of a long malaise brought about by impiousness and inaction. Being curious, and having heard no news of the Port since my departure from Kwaka, I asked around as to what had happened. It was generally told to me by locals that this sorry state was the result of war among the western kingdoms, with Salu having emerged the victor but at significant cost. Port Finiqi had been besieged twice in the past decade, though it had rebuffed both attempts at capture there had been much devastation to the walls and the surrounding city, a number of its great and good had fled to Salu and not yet returned. But whilst the city looked damaged and battered, the people continued to thrive and bustle through the streets. Gold, spice, slaves, fruit, oil, devices, scrolls all still teem through the markets of Port Finiqi, not to mention the salt as brought by my faithful companions. I took my leave of them, but not before gifting them for their protection, companionship, and piety. I was confident that Port Finiqi would soon, through its industriousness and determination, restore its prior glory, and felt heartened.
I stayed in an inn for one night before finding a suitable ship. I mention this because I have never eaten better lamb and rice in my life, and have rarely slept better outside of a princely residence, and this wonderful place deserves to be memorialised. It was a three storey building with perhaps twenty rooms, and an atrium that would have been fit for any royal palace. My room had a sturdy, comfortable bed, a carpet (not a genuine Irani but a skilled imitation), shelving, a storage chest, and even a desk and chair for those of such needs. All the furniture was made from Adras wood, and the walls beautifully painted. The inn was owned by Amba, and the structure itself was one of the most charming examples of Fiqra architecture I witnessed. Having since encountered such buildings more widely I recognise this as a style distinct to Port Finiqi; the particular incorporation of wood ceiling beams into the abode, the use of orange, white and blue to vibrantly paint adobe walls, particularly around doorways.
The next day, I soon found passage on a ship captained by a man of Mur named Bhran, a tall fellow with firey hair and indomitable countenance. His was a crew of many nations; Ili, Fani, Fugari, Pruna, Tika, and countless more. This diversity is always common among ship crews, and in this part of the world even more so. The crew principally traded in spice, dyes, and oil, and on this part of their journey were returning with their haul of spice, their oil having been gratefully received by the locals who use it for cooking, libations, cleaning, and medicine. As for the spices, it was strange to see something so common to us being treated with such reverence and expense, but I had always imagined this was the case with the trading wares we ourselves consider exotic that are common elsewhere, and my later experiences would confirm this hypothesis. The oil, for instance, made from olives, that we and Port Finiqi value so highly is actually commonplace throughout the Great Sea, where the oilfruit grows in great groves maintained for centuries.
This meeting with Bhran’s crew, and subsequent journey, was my first introduction to the peoples of the Great Sea so close to their native lands. They laughed at my shock over the overwhelming paleness of much of the crew, and told me that they were considered dark for their peoples, having darkened under the sun. I could not imagine such a thing at the time. Their common language was Adrassi patois, used because of the many languages spoken on board at great benefit to myself being familiar with this tongue, but on board this was of course spoken with many slang terms taken from their own native tongues. Conversation with these men was the first time I was ever called Idonian, an ancient name that I have not yet identified the source of, it has apparently been used to refer to the lands around the Green Coast since time immemorial, not distinguishing between those of Malaghanu and those of other kingdoms, other peoples, other creeds. I realised then that I would be an equal target of misattributed wisdoms as the Great Sea frequently was in my homeland. I knew, however, that no amount of time spent among these men would fully prepare me for the Great Sea, its differences, its cultures, its Gods, so I could only take this as a small token of things to come, and committed to learning what I could. It was with both excitement and trepidation that we set out from Port Finiqi towards the Blue Gate that guards the Great Sea from the rest of the world.
Our first major port of call was going to be Busa, founded by the Finiqi some two thousand years ago...
- Daeres
- Word Count: 3.5k