I believe I do, woops! (Not that time travelling Buddhist historians wouldn't be fun, but I'd have to take it to a different subforum for that
)Μηδίζω! The World of Achaemenid Hellas
- Thread starter Daeres
- Start date
I believe I do, woops! (Not that time travelling Buddhist historians wouldn't be fun, but I'd have to take it to a different subforum for that
)
Laws of Empires
Μηδίζω! THE WORLD OF ACHAEMENID HELLAS
CHAPTER 6: NOMOS or DATA
THE MATTER OF CIVILIZATION BY DAIPHANDIS OF SIRAKUSE (870 CE)
ANTIQUE EMPIRE
CHAPTER 6: NOMOS or DATA
THE MATTER OF CIVILIZATION BY DAIPHANDIS OF SIRAKUSE (870 CE)
ANTIQUE EMPIRE
There are few things to truly bring together the great nations of antiquity besides their power and prominence as a quality of its own. One could list the ten largest Empires of such times and find twenty different cultures, thirty different philosophies of governance, forty ideas as to what nationhood and an ordered society should be. An exception to this rule is the matter of their legal basis, their justification to the world and to themselves as to why they should exist, what right they had to exert their dominion over others. With some notable exceptions these powerful nations based their existence on one of two principles; the idea of spear-won land, and the belief that the Gods had ordained their actions.
The notion of spear-won land is that the act of conquest bequeathed the right of governance to the conqueror in question. For example, by conquering the Achaemenid Empire Agnimitra asserted the legal right, obligation even, to govern the domains he had seized. Likewise the competing petty-kingdoms of the Hellenes justified their existence, upon the collapse of the Amavadatid dynasty, on this basis.
Divine ordination, on the other hand, was based on the principle that the Gods always showed their hand by determining the victor of a contest for power, or by a lack of opponents to a course of action. By Cyrus the Great’s acquisition of the throne, his conquest of multiple other kingdoms, and his creation of the Kingdom of Asia, he demonstrated the will of the Gods. His successors, the rest of the Achaemenid dynasty, were acting by accordance with the Gods’ wishes by attempting to expand their domains further, and by ruling Asia.
There is certainly some overlap between these two ideas. One could argue that the Gods were the source of authority over spear-won land, or that ultimately the wisdom of the Gods was shown by matters of direct conquest. What truly differentiates these two principles is their emphasis- the one on rights to authority derived from human action, the other as authority passed on from a divine source. When the Tinians claimed that all was as fate decreed, for better or ill, they were stating the primacy of divine agency. When Lycaon declared all that he had won by arms to be his territory, he was asserting rights he believed himself to possess as a human being.
Neither approach has concern for written, codified law. They appeal to innate qualities to the universe, and fundamental principles of ownership that go beyond a constitution or a law inscribed on stone. But there has always been consequences for those great conquerors who chose to ignore ordinary law entirely. Not even the earliest of the great Achaemenid kings were above codified law entirely. The earliest assertions of spear-won land or divine right were usually, sooner or later, intruded upon by more codified restrictions, rights, and responsibilities, but never without contest.
This uneasy relationship between innate right to lordship and prescribed laws persisted throughout the ancient era. Some emergent nations simply wiped the slate clean upon their arrival, treating the great transitions as a moment of renewal for all laws. Others asserted continuity between themselves and their predecessors, gaining ownership of an entity they recognised with defined boundaries and institutions. The Achaemenids did not assert a body of law to accompany the King’s divine authority, the King’s command was enough. Nor did they claim to be an extension of a past state, but a new and particular state to Cyrus’ descendants that was also the legitimate ruler of all in its aegis. But there was enough of a codified framework that Agnimitra was able to legally claim a continuity of Asia that he had taken ownership of. He was not creating an Empire of Agnimitra in the same way that Cyrus had created an Empire of Cyrus, he was asserting rights of conquest over that which Cyrus had already built.
It was from these moments of definition that notions of precedent, definition, and boundary began to really intrude into the two great laws of ancient conquest. The most well known was the creation of Asia, whereby a series of conquerors were not truly creating things of their own but taking command of something that had come before. Asia even began to build the procession of conquerors and the march of dynasties into its legal basis by establishing the principle that impious dynasties would naturally be replaced over time, and that a successful rebellion or conquest would demonstrate the passage of one legitimate Asian dynasty to another. One can claim that this is simply a version of the ancient notion of divine ordination, and it is. But with Asia the principle was written down, made official policy, and tamed. No more was this something to be asserted over the lands of Asia but something that Asia would declare, could choose to acknowledge or to reject.
Neither was this the only part of the world where codified practice intruded. One of the earliest examples might in fact be Amavadatos. Despite his widespread (and deserved) reputation as a conqueror who created his realm by the sword, he did not justify his rulership with his conquests or by the authority of the Gods; he simply asserted the continued legality of his rule based on his position as satrap, whilst simultaneously asserting that his previous overlord was no longer worthy of holding this kind of authority over Hellas. His coronation as King was one resulting from acclimation by his Hellenic subjects, and his further conquests of Achaemenid land were notably asserted on the basis of his membership of the Achaemenid dynasty. It was not only Agnimitra who had come to recognise an Achaemenid state as having come into a defined existence.
Likewise the Italiote Leagues were constituted on the basis of confederation and its members’ territories. The Gods were invoked by all of the oaths binding these poleis together, but they were the guarantors of an otherwise human creation brought together by willing association. Any territories brought into the League by conquest, outside of treaty or negotiated submissions, had to be justified by their stated principles and basis for existence. This need to reconcile conquest with their stated limitations would drive much Italiote political and legal development.
In the end we can say that the Italiotes, Amavadatids, and inheritors of Asia pointed the way. History has never entirely escaped from conquerors solely justifying their actions by their power to achieve them. But the trend has been that even the most powerful nations of the world have developed complex legal justifications for their existence, however spurious their genesis might have been.
But we must also recognise how much of our history has been shaped by those operating on these simple but potent justifications for mass conquest. When peers express admiration for these larger than life figures they are partially expressing admiration for such unapologetic appeals to might and sagacity. We have never entirely escaped their legacy. Go back far enough and, for many of us, our current states and cultures owe their current locations and possessions to such legality as this. Untamed force and civilization, paradoxically, go hand in hand, but not in the way that many have suggested. It is the fearful legacy we must acknowledge. Much blood and ink and thought has been spent on the matter of taming the instinct to conquer. For good or ill, there is a reason for that.
ON ETHICS BY LADIKOS OF DIKAIA
SPEAR-WON LAND
SPEAR-WON LAND
It is a fierce and dreadful thing to take land as spear-won. It speaks of a time when arms were wielded and wars were fought by the sons of Gods, when spears were the length of a ship’s mast and shields were as heavy as anvils. We are a people of constitutions, and laws, and oaths. To take only those oaths between yourself and your followers as valid, to recognise only your strength and those of your battalions as your master, it a commitment to dominion by whatever means. These mighty men are using the heroes of ancient days as models for behaviour, and probably see themselves as those heroes reborn into mankind. But who would really choose to live their life as Herakles or Perseus?
To be Herakles in our times is to take that which has been constructed by hard labour and smash it to pieces in the hope that your boundless strength allows you to remake it to your liking. And imagine knowing that your sole recourse is to potency of arms and will, with no other means of protecting yourself and your family, no lines of defence when you are wronged or attacked by the wicked. There are no archontes for the spear-plunging conqueror, no courts to shield him, no laws to restore that which has been lost, no guarantee that an enemy will be punished by justice beyond hoping for some divine sanction. You have taken by the spear, and so you shall inevitably perish.
And to think what must be done to free men to create and hold such lands. Entire nations under arms, musters pulling farmers from fields not through defence of fatherland but to defend the honour and prowess of their master. All are reduced to followers, those that aid the hero on his quest to glory, usually with their lives cut short at the hand of some monster or another.
When we gather together and assent to our nations and our leaders, we are gathered together in a cause that will outlast ourselves and outlast those whom we serve. The purpose of policy and the purpose of the poleis are one, and we will always know why we fight and that it is our fight in service to our brotherhood of citizens. We are not followers but confederates, in service to one another as much as we are in service to the metropolis. This is the proper order of things.
FAREWELL, O KING author unknown
One day you set yourself up in your high palaces with painted walls and tall towers, master of all you surveyed. How your delight must have shone like the shimmering sea. Your triumph was perhaps short-lived, however, as other strong men sought to contest your newfound stature. In your struggles we eventually caught your eye. You placed your grim, bronze-coated men among us, and you told us that you were come to govern as the Gods had decreed, and it was their wish that we should be governed. You put your mark on gold and silver pieces, our fingers grasping for the tokens you made to pay for our needs and wants, the idea of you and your power seeping into our lives. You took the good wheat and the fine fruit and the best cows. You told us our God-given land was now owned by your servant, in lieu of your own presence and name of course. Your servant who never once saw these fields and houses with his eyes, but who made sure his share of our treasures was paid in full at the arranged times. He was guaranteed never to spare us any displeasure or criticisms over the particulars of our lives. Then, at the time of your greatest need, you gathered our young, strong men together as your harvest, told them to come with spears and bows and to come to war to defend their king. Off they marched with their songs and their laughter, boasting and thinking little of the fear that seized us as we saw them disappear from sight. You ground these boys, our boys, under the stone of battle. They were milled, mercilessly, together with the boys of a hundred other places gathered together to protect your royal dignity. Those that returned to us bore broken husks, the very life of them threatening to spill out. Such was the harvest that you cast aside and left to us. So we take such treasures as we still possess, we bundle up our lives, we take our families and our leave. We quit our lives as your subjects, we relieve you of your responsibility as our guardian. We go to find lands where the Gods shall find our voices without need for an intermediary, where a crown is gauche and unnecessary, where we are considered dull and unworthy of interest. We shall dance in the fields, laugh without cause, and spend the deep hours singing our songs to the heavens above for our own pleasure. Farewell.
TELEO or AKUNAVAM: END OF CHAPTER 6
This remains spectacular. I find the idea of the Agnimitra as an inheritor of sorts rather satisfactorily plausible - rather like the Makedonians, his center of power is so extremely distant from the center as to make such accommodations necessary.
The last segment raises some interesting implications as well - especially if it references any sort of distinct event.
The last segment raises some interesting implications as well - especially if it references any sort of distinct event.
Interesting, a sort of Mandate of Heaven situation developing here (unless Asia here is referring to China and not the classical definition of Asia). The last bit also seems interesting, if it's a major migration to flee a king.
Chapter 6: Epilogue
Μηδίζω! THE WORLD OF ACHAEMENID HELLAS
CHAPTER 6: NOMOS or DATA
EPILOGOS
CHAPTER 6: NOMOS or DATA
EPILOGOS
The interview begins now.
I must tell you, it is no easy thing being separated from my people. I appreciate that you are only performing your role in justice, and with just manner, but they have suffered so much, and there was still so much I could have done for them. It has been a perilous thing these past years, balancing the rule of Xerxes and his satrap with the needs of a polis wounded by war and driven to a fearful frenzy. I have exerted all possible energies and wisdom to finding the most just path for them to follow, which has required my constant supervision, the sapping of all strength that I possessed. Now I think about it, this has probably reduced the span of my life. I do not find I regret this, except perhaps that I could have served my polis for longer in other circumstances, and could have spent more time among the exiled Athenians who had finally begun to open up to us.
In a way, I envy those who took the choice of exile. It cannot have been easy to turn their backs on homeland, to our way of life, but they were also taking control over their lives. They had the chance to begin anew, to retain sovereignty, to act in whatever way they saw fit. More than once, I wished I had joined them in those early days. But somebody had to rebuild Athenai’s ruins, to protect those who could or would not leave, to give all Athenians a metropolis to return to one day. So thus I laboured. I worked to keep Persian interference in their daily lives to a minimum. As onerous as the Arkhon ton Medikon was the Persians were never more visible than that. I worked to continue what Kleisthenes had started; the end of strife between the noble families of Athenai. I worked to give them hope that there was a life after submission to Xerxes. I do not know that I succeeded at this last objective. I did restore the ties between Athenai and the exiles, however, something I did not expect was even possible until the final years of my life. It was good to see that they had taken their chance at independence and made the most of it, and to spend time with Athenians free from fear as we were in the old days. My hope is that they shall restore the faith of Athenians in good fortune and that the Gods watch over them.
But still, my abiding memory is of Athenai in those years after the disaster at Salamis, and my efforts to keep our polis from sinking into the abyss. Was it pride that made me insist on personal involvement at every step, that made me believe that I had a particular role in steering Athens through this crisis? Now I consider it, I feel the honest answer to the question is no. I did not consider myself the basileus of my fellow citizens, nor their superior in any other fashion, but one who had the power and influence and drive to take responsibility when nobody wanted to. I did not seek to make myself indispensable, or to establish my family’s power beyond its existing levels, I sought the opposite. I sought to end the dependency of Athenai on such efforts as mine, and as free from dependency on Persia as much as possible. I wanted to restore Athenai as a living polis that could think about the future with something other than fear for what it could hold. I did not even have particular self belief that I could manage these things, only that I had to make the attempt for the love of my fellow Athenians.
And what is it we all feared, really? It was not the Persians exactly. I knew cruel and vicious Persians, I knew noble and generous Persians. It was submission. Particularly unwilling submission to a power far greater than our own, that of Xerxes and his Empire, and one that had come after our resistance had been defeated in war. How was justice to be created and ensured in such an unequal relationship, with such disparate powers of the two parties? Even before the Persians ever came to our shores we had seen such things, between Hellenes and other peoples in both directions, and among fellow Hellenes. We have seen what people armed with such power can do when given temptation. Xerxes was one man, armed with such an array of arms, supporters, and wealth. How could one trust that he would remain equitable on a day to day basis? How could we guarantee that any successor of his would keep the word of Xerxes? How could we predict what conflicts of Xerxes would drag us in and put us at even greater danger? Is this what it is like for anyone subject to any king in such a fashion?
And more than that, this is a conflict a slave has already lost, with little hope of redress. The fear we felt, we were still free men with arms and ships and a city and a brotherhood. All of those slaves across the world, with no power to guarantee themselves justice in any matter except by aligning themselves with those they fear the least. What dread they must feel, what powerlessness. Now I think of it, how can we feel this fear over submission and ignore those that have been cast into this role? It is not just or correct to believe that any human being is naturally made to be subordinated. Now I consider it, I have never believed that such a thing was just, but I have never allowed myself to truly consider the implications of such a thing. To be raised from birth to consider slaves a natural part of society… how many other injustices are we inculcated to ignore, I wonder.
I feel ashamed to have lived so many years in this world and to have been blind to such things. To have considered myself a man who worked for justice while such things were treated as no more unnatural than building a house or growing a field of crops. Even in Dikaia, the land of the free Athenians, there are those under bondage who probably fear for their bodies, lives, and souls every single day. I would hope that in this, of all places, those who have been slaves have a chance to speak their thoughts and receive true justice. If they do not, then I shall advocate for them. I am resolved to this, and cannot be dissuaded. And if such a thing is not permitted, then I shall find a way. In either case, I am ready to encounter the law, and to depart on the rest of my journey. Fear no longer has any hold upon me. Aristeides, son of Lysimakhos, is ready for your justice.
The interview is over.
I must tell you, it is no easy thing being separated from my people. I appreciate that you are only performing your role in justice, and with just manner, but they have suffered so much, and there was still so much I could have done for them. It has been a perilous thing these past years, balancing the rule of Xerxes and his satrap with the needs of a polis wounded by war and driven to a fearful frenzy. I have exerted all possible energies and wisdom to finding the most just path for them to follow, which has required my constant supervision, the sapping of all strength that I possessed. Now I think about it, this has probably reduced the span of my life. I do not find I regret this, except perhaps that I could have served my polis for longer in other circumstances, and could have spent more time among the exiled Athenians who had finally begun to open up to us.
In a way, I envy those who took the choice of exile. It cannot have been easy to turn their backs on homeland, to our way of life, but they were also taking control over their lives. They had the chance to begin anew, to retain sovereignty, to act in whatever way they saw fit. More than once, I wished I had joined them in those early days. But somebody had to rebuild Athenai’s ruins, to protect those who could or would not leave, to give all Athenians a metropolis to return to one day. So thus I laboured. I worked to keep Persian interference in their daily lives to a minimum. As onerous as the Arkhon ton Medikon was the Persians were never more visible than that. I worked to continue what Kleisthenes had started; the end of strife between the noble families of Athenai. I worked to give them hope that there was a life after submission to Xerxes. I do not know that I succeeded at this last objective. I did restore the ties between Athenai and the exiles, however, something I did not expect was even possible until the final years of my life. It was good to see that they had taken their chance at independence and made the most of it, and to spend time with Athenians free from fear as we were in the old days. My hope is that they shall restore the faith of Athenians in good fortune and that the Gods watch over them.
But still, my abiding memory is of Athenai in those years after the disaster at Salamis, and my efforts to keep our polis from sinking into the abyss. Was it pride that made me insist on personal involvement at every step, that made me believe that I had a particular role in steering Athens through this crisis? Now I consider it, I feel the honest answer to the question is no. I did not consider myself the basileus of my fellow citizens, nor their superior in any other fashion, but one who had the power and influence and drive to take responsibility when nobody wanted to. I did not seek to make myself indispensable, or to establish my family’s power beyond its existing levels, I sought the opposite. I sought to end the dependency of Athenai on such efforts as mine, and as free from dependency on Persia as much as possible. I wanted to restore Athenai as a living polis that could think about the future with something other than fear for what it could hold. I did not even have particular self belief that I could manage these things, only that I had to make the attempt for the love of my fellow Athenians.
And what is it we all feared, really? It was not the Persians exactly. I knew cruel and vicious Persians, I knew noble and generous Persians. It was submission. Particularly unwilling submission to a power far greater than our own, that of Xerxes and his Empire, and one that had come after our resistance had been defeated in war. How was justice to be created and ensured in such an unequal relationship, with such disparate powers of the two parties? Even before the Persians ever came to our shores we had seen such things, between Hellenes and other peoples in both directions, and among fellow Hellenes. We have seen what people armed with such power can do when given temptation. Xerxes was one man, armed with such an array of arms, supporters, and wealth. How could one trust that he would remain equitable on a day to day basis? How could we guarantee that any successor of his would keep the word of Xerxes? How could we predict what conflicts of Xerxes would drag us in and put us at even greater danger? Is this what it is like for anyone subject to any king in such a fashion?
And more than that, this is a conflict a slave has already lost, with little hope of redress. The fear we felt, we were still free men with arms and ships and a city and a brotherhood. All of those slaves across the world, with no power to guarantee themselves justice in any matter except by aligning themselves with those they fear the least. What dread they must feel, what powerlessness. Now I think of it, how can we feel this fear over submission and ignore those that have been cast into this role? It is not just or correct to believe that any human being is naturally made to be subordinated. Now I consider it, I have never believed that such a thing was just, but I have never allowed myself to truly consider the implications of such a thing. To be raised from birth to consider slaves a natural part of society… how many other injustices are we inculcated to ignore, I wonder.
I feel ashamed to have lived so many years in this world and to have been blind to such things. To have considered myself a man who worked for justice while such things were treated as no more unnatural than building a house or growing a field of crops. Even in Dikaia, the land of the free Athenians, there are those under bondage who probably fear for their bodies, lives, and souls every single day. I would hope that in this, of all places, those who have been slaves have a chance to speak their thoughts and receive true justice. If they do not, then I shall advocate for them. I am resolved to this, and cannot be dissuaded. And if such a thing is not permitted, then I shall find a way. In either case, I am ready to encounter the law, and to depart on the rest of my journey. Fear no longer has any hold upon me. Aristeides, son of Lysimakhos, is ready for your justice.
The interview is over.
The epilogues of each chapter are... different. There's been quite a lot of speculation from folks about what exactly is taking place in them which I couldn't possibly comment on.
Because Halloween is the most intense time of year for my workplace, I'm having to squeeze what time I have available for creativity. This timeline has already suffered from some long patches without updates, for October/November they're likely to come either closer together than usual or fairly irregularly.
This is definitely referring to the classical definition of Asia. I'm a bit of a tease about some details in this timeline but this is no secret; the creation of a Mandate of Heaven style system for an 'Asian' nation with continuity and self identity is what's going on here, which other updates have also hinted towards. 'Asia' becoming a construction akin to Egypt or China was one of my ideas from the very genesis of the timeline as a concrete idea.
Love of the Sea
Μηδίζω! THE WORLD OF ACHAEMENID HELLAS
CHAPTER 7: DRAYA or THALASSA
NAUTILOS: A HISTORY OF THE GREAT SEA by ANBAL HSH (1796 CE)
LOVE OF THE SEA
CHAPTER 7: DRAYA or THALASSA
NAUTILOS: A HISTORY OF THE GREAT SEA by ANBAL HSH (1796 CE)
LOVE OF THE SEA
Crossing the boundaries of time and space, there is a fundamental link between all those who have fallen in love with the sea and the ocean. Its beauty, its power, its endless treasures, its ability to take you wherever you wish to go, how does one even begin? This indescribable connection to the brine is what binds the modern mariner to those who first discovered the means of moving upon the water’s surface for long distances. It is the principle quality that binds together the greatest of the peoples featured in this volume, where the love of the sea and love of senulogia meet. It is certainly the principal quality shared by the Qanane and Elene peoples in remote antiquity, the binding agent between these two great civilizations. In a time before time, when the Qanane found a poor but expressive people on the shores of the Aigean Sea, perhaps it was this that drove them to share the fruits of their earlier civilization, for even in this time the Elene told stories of heroic mariners, expeditions across the seas, and it would have been clear to Qadmos that this was a people born to the seas. Though we shall encounter many peoples of imagination, expression, and potency, it is these two peoples and their joint achievements which shall likely shine the brightest among this collection of jewels. But the love of the sea has struck many peoples of fame and achievement; Qors and Zard, the Tartiy, the Idonians, the Razna, the ‘Arni, Mazzile, the sea Ghotiy, and not forgetting the Maziqe. Let us begin our voyage through the past.
COINAGE OF THE ARKHAIT WORLD VOL. III: ILLYRIA (1601 CE)
ISSA
Founded by Syrakousai in the early *4th century BCE, as a practical means of bleeding off excess population. Issa was intended to control trade in the Ionian Sea, but was at first one of the poorer of the Illyrian Greek colonies due to the hostility of mainland Illyrians and the relatively small scale of Ionian traffic compared to other major trade routes. Its early issues were exclusively bronze, showing a basic coinage with the local hero Ionios and a dolphin bearing the characters IS, a number of these being overstamps of Korinthian coinage, or even Akhaimenid satrapal darics. Its first silver issues started to appear soon after the Amavadatid expedition into Italia, with the establishment of closer commercial relations between Hesperia and the Amavadatid dominions. These issues continued to feature the head of Ionios, alongside dolphins or nautiluses, until later issues were introduced with the head of Hermes and an image of falling Ionios, though the earlier silver issues were periodically revived.
As Issa’s mainland territorial acquisitions grew, and the Tinian Empire’s commerce expanded, the number of dies exploded along with the frequency and diversity of issues. Poseidon, Hermes, Ionios, Artemis, and Zeus all began to appear as obverse designs, with the nautilus, dolphin, octopus, tuna, falling Ionios, winged Nike, and seated Zeus all appearing as reverse designs. Shells, waves, curviform loops, glyphs, and celestial objects are all used as control marks. These *2nd century BCE-1st century CE issues have been found on dig sites and in hoards throughout Hesperia, Illyria, the southern parts of the Amber route, and the depths of the Istros regions. From the addition of new mint marks we can also see that, for the first time, Issa controlled more than one mint, likely having taken over the existing facilities at Herakleia and Pharos. This was the height of Issa’s territorial power.
The collapse of the Tinians does not at first appear in the coinage, and it was shortly afterwards that gold issues first started appearing from Issa’s mints, suggesting that Issa’s wealth was not impacted by the otherwise devastating end to the Tinian Empire. But it was not long before Issa’s territory was subordinated into the Koinon Hellenion, and at this time it began to issue federal Hellenic coinage. Its native habits did not entirely disappear, as its federal issues continued to use Ionios and the nautilus on the reverse, the latter often as a control mark, but this is the most immediate and visible change to Issa’s coinage in its history, its prior diversity of issues vanishing almost overnight, and a foreign symbology imposed on its coinage. In addition to IS its federal issues bore the legend TON HELLENON, and the obverse always bore the federal symbol of the Commonwealth, crowned Poseidon, either seated or in portrait. This continued with little variation until after the *3rd century CE collapse of the Koinon Hellenion. After two centuries of subsumation into the Commonwealth there was an interregnum for the polis, during which Issa’s native coinage was reissued, frequently overstamping federal coinage. Unlike poleis that continued to issue federal currency in this period, there seems to have been little in the way of fondness between Issa and their departed Hellenarkh overlords. Then the western Gothi made their serious incursions into Illyria and Far Makedonia, marking the next phase for Issa’s coinage.
One Raginareik established himself as the ruler of Issa, declaring himself to be Reik af Esha in *254 CE. The city, having been abandoned by its federal garrison, and in no position to defend itself, had surrendered willingly, and in the subsequent squabbles over Illyria Raginareik had emerged victorious. This established city with its mint played well into the Gothi desire to establish successor states to the Koinon, and Issa continued to issue its traditional currency, albeit with a legend on many of the coins saying BASILEOS RAGNARIKOU. This practice survived during the reign of Raginarith, Raginareik’s nephew. However, the Koinon of Ellenereik had now established itself out of Moisia, and it was not long before Raginarith’s small kingdom was absorbed into this growing imperial power. This again resulted in only small changes to the issue designs, with BASILEOS ELLENRIKOU replacing the prior legends, but it had a major impact on the scale of issues. Whilst the city itself was not grievously damaged by its capture, the traditional trade routes the city had relied upon had all been disrupted. Connections between Illyria and Hellas proper had been severed by the division of the Koinon Hellenion between Ellenereik and the Middle Iranian Empire, all of the interior of Europa was in flux through continued migrations, and Hesperia was now the only real trade partner that Issa retained, principally with Italia. Only a few silver issues, and no gold ones, are known between *270 and *316 CE.
This low ebb came to an end with the splintering of the original Germanik Koinon of *316, with the western Kingdom of Ellur gaining dominion over most of the Illyrian coast. This made Issa, now generally known as Isha, the commercial capital of a smaller polity once more. This was shortly followed by the foundation of the High Voii Kingdom in Hesperia, which gained dominion over the old Weneti lands. This re-established regular, secure trade across Middle Europa. Isha issues are once again found all over nearby regions dating to this period, and it was during this period that the nautilus became fixed as the symbol of the city and its power. The birth of the Europan rum trade in the late *4th century CE was what elevated Isha’s coinage from a regional currency to the status of pan-Europan ubiquity; the city was ideally placed to transmit rum refined in Sikilia, Kypros, and Kriti into the heart of Europa, along with the sugar itself. The issues of this period, high quality silver and gold, are found almost everywhere in Central and Eastern Europa, and contemporary sources frequently refer to the ubiquity of the nautilus coin, found wherever rum would flow.
It is this point that we cease speaking of the coinage of Issa/Isha as a Hellenic polis in the traditional sense, or of the Arkhait era. By the transition into the *5th century CE the Gothi and Hellenes of Isha had mixed enough that their early Helleno-Gothic patois had begun to develop into something more organised, and Isha’s identity began to align to what is now termed the Sea Gothi or Blue Gothi. Their civic and individual identity would remain strong, but they were now part of something neither Hellenic nor Gothic, though rooted in both cultures. It is still worth remarking, however, that the nautilus issues continued for many centuries afterwards, and a number of imitations emerged throughout Central Europa, particularly of the high quality *6th century issues designed to compete with the high quality coinage of Gothika. The ancient heritage of Isha, now generally known as Ish, has never been forgotten, in the realm of numismatics or elsewise.
FRAGMENTS OF POTAMOKLES OF THEBAI BY IREMINVOE OF ADRI (1335 CE)
THE SEA
11- ...know that the Athenians debate, in secret, whether their navy is their salvation or their oppressor, whether … against the Persians or abolish it and rid…
15- Flow like water through the troubles of life, for all its twists and turns a river will always reach the sea no matter what attempts to get in its way.
20- … the real power of the Akhaimenids in the Great Sea, more than the (king?), more than … armies was its naval power taken from the Hellenes and (Phoenicians) which rendered any… that sought to rebel cut off at… one could no more rebel against the King of Persia than a grain of (sand?) can rebel against a beach.
33- The Great Sea brings in congress all peoples that dwell upon and alongside it, and I wonder that one day it might be the seat of a new power instead of the ancient lands of Babylon and Assyria, for the nations that dwell in these regions are countless, strong in war, and bonded together through shared experience of the sea.
THOUGHT OF AKHAIMENID HELLAS (1590 CE)
POTAMOKLES OF THEBAI
Potamokles is chiefly important to history as one of the ministers of the Amavadatid bureaucracy between *c.332-320 BCE, but is more famous for his ascerbic and forthright remarks on Hellas, Persians, and policy in general. It is believed that the quotations and fragments we possess originate from a work that emerged in the late *4th century BCE, either written by Potamokles himself or compiled by someone attempting to take advantage of his famous wit. His blunt tone has come in and out of fashion many times across history, contributing to the fragmentary survival of the ur-Potamokles text. It was particularly unpopular with the Koinon Hellenion and the Middle Iranian Empire. His most recent revival was in *14th century Hesperia, where the Realist skhola was highly responsive to his direct manner, and his considerations of power on the Great Sea which aligned with their own ambitions.
The extant fragments of the time were brought together by Ireminvoe of Adri, who was at that point patronised by the main Realist players. His work fit with the desire of his patrons, to have a collection of Potamokles’ quotes for a given theme or occasion. This is why, despite assigning collection numbers to each fragment, he organised these by theme. This was a relatively early project from this famous arkhaist, deeply impressive in its scope and in his dedication to hunting out fragments of this nearly-lost arkhait voice. His translations fit with the general approach at the time, and with what his patrons wished to hear; though Ireminvoe’s skill as a skholar was immense, there are parts of his translation that we felt needed a fresh hand.
In the time since the collection was published there have been a number of important discoveries. Forgotten archives and libraries, misattributed quotations, a greater confidence with identifying ancient source material by authorial voice, all of these have contributed a number of additional quotations of Potamokles, and additional context for previously fragmentary ones. These are collected here for the first time.
We continue to utilise the numbers to which these quotations were assigned by Ireminvoe, basing them as he did on their rough date of discovery, though a number of these formerly fragmentary quotations are now more substantially attested, and have continued to use this skhema for new material uncovered these past centuries. The collection by theme, however, is particular to the esteemed Teuvoi’s methodology, and we instead prefer to utilise a khronologically organised list.
…
32 Anyone who trusts to the good behaviour of the Thessalians is a fool, anyone who rejects the assistance of the Thessalians is an utter idiot. Any mischief these men can and will produce is more than made up for by the skill of their cavaliers and their boldness in war, invaluable to any seeking to utilise the resources of Hellas in campaign. Anyone who provides them with equitable treatment, grazing rights, and the opportunity for warcraft will be their master, any who treat them poorly will wake to the thundering of hooves.
33 The Mesogeios, that great conduit between nations and peoples, may well one day become an equal to the ancient kingdoms of Babylon and Assyria in might and prosperity. Its multitude of peoples are warlike and hardy, and are disposed towards co-operation at suitable times. It would take a willpower of unparalleled determination, with force to match, but it can be done. See how Hellas’ resources, once organised and marshalled together, were enough to allow Amavadatos to take the Akhaimenids head-on and emerge victorious. The difficulty, of course, are the existing powers of the Mesogeios; Massalia, Karkhedon, Italia, Syrakousai. The naval might that would be required to overcome all of these simultaneously is scarcely possible to imagine, even the Great Kings’ navy would have been incapable of conducting the task. Perhaps it is better attempted over the long duree, overcoming one power at a time whilst the others are occupied with more pressing matters, so that by the time they realise their peril they are already outmatched and incapable of winning the campaign that follows.
34 In my humble opinion, kinnamon is the most overrated ingredient that has ever come into Hellas. The way it is added in mounds to recipes, you would think it was made of pure gold. In modest amounts it is an acceptable seasoning, but the desire to demonstrate wealth and taste produces kinnamon infused dishes which are scarcely edible, the spice sticking to the back of your throat like sand. The amount of treasure we would save were it not for the belief that this spice can cure all ills, and improve all dishes…
UNDERSTANDING BUDDHISME BY TORIC mp YULIO (1295 CE)
THE LOTUS
Of all the strange and wonderful things which links this community of ascetics, mystics, and skholars, the most unexpected to many is the image of the lotus. Eguept, Amide, Hinde, even in the heart of the Alfine mountains this symbol is common to them all. It is most common in the crescent connecting Eguept and Hinde through the Iranian lands, with Eguept considered to have the most beautiful of the sacred lotuses. They symbolise creation and purity, and also help indicate Buddhiste communities and families from disparate nations to one another. This likely originates in a traditional Hinde veneration of the natural plants that possess singular beauty. The active use of this symbol to demarcate Buddhistes specifically is also common practice in Hinde to indicate that the teachings of the Buddhe are respected a particular temple or household. In those other nations with a profuse quantity of Buddhistes, it is common even for those who do not follow the Buddhe to revere this symbol in a similar fashion. It is the idea and the image of the lotus that is considered sacred, the living plants are willingly consumed at times of need and want. To return to Eguept, as we have understood already it was by the sea that Buddhisme first arrived into these lands, primarily from the activities of their merchants alongside those of Arabia and the Hinde. But it was greatly remarked upon by the earliest missionaries to Eguept that it already possessed its own lotuses, distinct and different from those of Hinde but equally beautiful and native to those lands. It was taken as a sign that this nation would be particularly receptive to the message and way of the Buddhe, and Eguept is indeed the Kingdom of the Twin Lotuses, the most devoutly Buddhiste nation aside from Makidonia. The twin lotuses symbolise Eguept, its unity, its devotion, and its monarchy. It is thought that when the Earth was separated from the Seas, the Land of the Lotus was divided, so that part of it became Eguept, and part became Hinde, and part also became Han where the lotus is also found.32 Anyone who trusts to the good behaviour of the Thessalians is a fool, anyone who rejects the assistance of the Thessalians is an utter idiot. Any mischief these men can and will produce is more than made up for by the skill of their cavaliers and their boldness in war, invaluable to any seeking to utilise the resources of Hellas in campaign. Anyone who provides them with equitable treatment, grazing rights, and the opportunity for warcraft will be their master, any who treat them poorly will wake to the thundering of hooves.
33 The Mesogeios, that great conduit between nations and peoples, may well one day become an equal to the ancient kingdoms of Babylon and Assyria in might and prosperity. Its multitude of peoples are warlike and hardy, and are disposed towards co-operation at suitable times. It would take a willpower of unparalleled determination, with force to match, but it can be done. See how Hellas’ resources, once organised and marshalled together, were enough to allow Amavadatos to take the Akhaimenids head-on and emerge victorious. The difficulty, of course, are the existing powers of the Mesogeios; Massalia, Karkhedon, Italia, Syrakousai. The naval might that would be required to overcome all of these simultaneously is scarcely possible to imagine, even the Great Kings’ navy would have been incapable of conducting the task. Perhaps it is better attempted over the long duree, overcoming one power at a time whilst the others are occupied with more pressing matters, so that by the time they realise their peril they are already outmatched and incapable of winning the campaign that follows.
34 In my humble opinion, kinnamon is the most overrated ingredient that has ever come into Hellas. The way it is added in mounds to recipes, you would think it was made of pure gold. In modest amounts it is an acceptable seasoning, but the desire to demonstrate wealth and taste produces kinnamon infused dishes which are scarcely edible, the spice sticking to the back of your throat like sand. The amount of treasure we would save were it not for the belief that this spice can cure all ills, and improve all dishes…
UNDERSTANDING BUDDHISME BY TORIC mp YULIO (1295 CE)
THE LOTUS
The Possibilities of the Sea
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...
Hm, don't remember seeing it before, but it looks like monotheism isn't going to catch on in this world, based on the mention of gods in the last passage. Unfortunately, I've always been bad at identifying names in this timeline, so I was kinda lost in the last part, too. I'm guessing Finiki = Phoenician, so I'm assuming it was in that region.
So the native tongue of our author in that last segment, Ijire, is a stone's throw away from OTL Yoruba, and Kwaka is within walking distance of OTL Timbuktu. Malaghanu covers part of modern Nigeria and Mali, and its name has both local and Punic etymologies, along with Kwaka. Idonia as the 'classical' Mediterranean name for the West African coast/Niger river watershed has been introduced in a prior update but it's only really appeared once previously to this. Port Finiqi doesn't quite have a real equivalent but it was founded as the staging point for journeys through and beyond Cape Bojador by the Carthaginians and their successors. Salu is OTL's Sala, and a number of the other African toponyms relate to real Berber speaking/Carthaginian foundations in Morocco.
What the last segment is introducing is the Phoenician connective tissue that's radically altered West (and North, of course) Africa's development in this timeline. This now gives you the shape of a Carthaginian/Phoenician network connecting the European Atlantic coast and West Africa with the Mediterranean. The West African segment is the most difficult because of the winds/currents past Cape Bojador, which stimulated similar trans-Saharan trade routes to that of OTL but a few centuries earlier, and also gave more of a whip hand to the 'Idonians' than you might otherwise expect with a potent maritime power like Carthage.
This is a bit more of a direct explanation than I usually give, but I appreciate that sometimes the 'who is this new name referring to' game can obfuscate some of what's going on, and there's a line between coy and obscure that I'm constantly striving to maintain.
Also, a slight confession; I feel like Akarnania has somehow become my 'favourite' in the post-Achaemenid conquest era, with earlier references to them resisting the Persians for a time probably being quite surprising. I guess I just tend to gravitate towards the neglected and obscure... I've always wanted to show my work, as it were, with powers/regions/states that do exceptionally better than OTL in some way, so this update was a chance to catch up on that. I feel justified that a coalition of Epirus, Corcyra, Akarnania, and other nearby poleis would be capable of resisting a satrapal level threat, at least for a time. Later updates have already referred to Akarnania eventually falling but I wanted them to have their day in the sun as the Indomitable Yauna resisting the enormity of the Achaemenid Empire.
What the last segment is introducing is the Phoenician connective tissue that's radically altered West (and North, of course) Africa's development in this timeline. This now gives you the shape of a Carthaginian/Phoenician network connecting the European Atlantic coast and West Africa with the Mediterranean. The West African segment is the most difficult because of the winds/currents past Cape Bojador, which stimulated similar trans-Saharan trade routes to that of OTL but a few centuries earlier, and also gave more of a whip hand to the 'Idonians' than you might otherwise expect with a potent maritime power like Carthage.
This is a bit more of a direct explanation than I usually give, but I appreciate that sometimes the 'who is this new name referring to' game can obfuscate some of what's going on, and there's a line between coy and obscure that I'm constantly striving to maintain.
Also, a slight confession; I feel like Akarnania has somehow become my 'favourite' in the post-Achaemenid conquest era, with earlier references to them resisting the Persians for a time probably being quite surprising. I guess I just tend to gravitate towards the neglected and obscure... I've always wanted to show my work, as it were, with powers/regions/states that do exceptionally better than OTL in some way, so this update was a chance to catch up on that. I feel justified that a coalition of Epirus, Corcyra, Akarnania, and other nearby poleis would be capable of resisting a satrapal level threat, at least for a time. Later updates have already referred to Akarnania eventually falling but I wanted them to have their day in the sun as the Indomitable Yauna resisting the enormity of the Achaemenid Empire.
The explaination really helps with orienting oneself geographically in the alternate West Africa - it will be very cool to see what you do with that region.
Holdouts in Hellas help complicate the picture of Achaemenid rule nicely.
I'm curious, what sort of purpose is Gothapolovi writing for? It's cool that there's an audience for a treatise on ancient shipbuilding in the tenth century CE - and that this treatise is actually somewhat historically accurate and critical of other sources and works. It seems to speak to a much more advanced scholarship in the west than existed at that time in our world.
Holdouts in Hellas help complicate the picture of Achaemenid rule nicely.
I'm curious, what sort of purpose is Gothapolovi writing for? It's cool that there's an audience for a treatise on ancient shipbuilding in the tenth century CE - and that this treatise is actually somewhat historically accurate and critical of other sources and works. It seems to speak to a much more advanced scholarship in the west than existed at that time in our world.
So Gothapolovi belongs to a period of patrons commissioning works on ancient wisdom. By this point the Goths that moved into the Balkans, plus other German friends that followed in their wake, have formed distinct cultures in fusion with those that came before. Think France but with Greek speakers instead of Romance. Moesia and nearby is now an 'ancient' seat of power, being one of the heartlands of various Greco-Gothic kingdoms/Empires. However, the entire thing that drew them into Greece in the first place was its power and wealth, relatively speaking, and this plus their mixing with Hellenic peoples has made them rather starstruck with certain periods and aspects of ancient Greek culture. They are interested in both truisms and genuine lessons from the ancient Hellenes, in the same way that medieval Europe OTL instinctively reached towards Latin laws, tactical lessons, bureaucracy and such.
However, they have a complicated relationship with 'modern' Hellenes of Hellas proper, who are frequently outside of Goth-descended states and can be as mixed in their reactions to the Moesia-sphere as any group of states are to someone of a different culture but some shared ancestry. Likewise, the Hellenic cultures of the western and eastern Med have definitively sundered by this point, recognising one another as kin but not close kin, along with a bevy of more localised Hellene-descended cultures. All of these Hellenes lay claim to the ancient legacies of their culture, and Gothapolovi is dealing with maybe centuries' worth of accrued cultural posturing and reinterpretation between these differing schools of thought and cultural perspectives, let alone other cultures and parts of the world that lay some kind of claim to Hellenic heritage. What this segment doesn't include are the large chunks of Naval Warfare which are directly trying to take moral and practical exemplars from ancient Hellenic practice.
As for the development of scholarship, this timeline's multipolar 'classical era' has decentralised certain kinds of knowledge in the long run. As with the Greeks and Romans, multiple regions have taken on board the wisdom of the 'classical' societies like Hellenes, Carthaginians, Etruscans, and Persians, and they are kept somewhat closer together by the more heterodox Eurasian environment compared to OTL. There are things which have been lost to varying degrees- scholars like Gothapolovi are having to return to Herodotos and contemporaries because later sources actually start to blend history and legend about the Achaemenid military (a problem which other scholars have referred to previously), there's a large chunk of the Greek past that's still as mysterious to them as it is to us, there are poleis which were considered obscure whose histories have been preserved only as epigraphy and occasional citations in preserved historical works. There are also great libraries which have come and gone. But this has been tempered by the lack of a true social collapse as an equivalent of the Western Roman Empire's collapse OTL, or as massive a cultural gamechanger as Christianity or Islam doing a number on reception of the past for a long time.
In case this is sounding like a land of milk and honey, I don't regard this as a 'better' place to live than OTL, not in my taste and certainly not intentionally. There's a specific chapter for dwelling on the nasty parts of life in the world of Achaemenid Hellas. However, it's certainly a different one.
Massalia and Syrakousai
Μηδίζω! THE WORLD OF ACHAEMENID HELLAS
CHAPTER 7: DRAYA or THALASSA
EXTRACT FROM HERODOTOS OF HALIKARNASSOS’ HISTORIA (c.440 BCE)
GELON ESTABLISHES HIS RULE
PHAIDRIAS SON OF PHAIDRIPPOS’ LETTERS
LETTER 11: MASSALIA
Massalia is become a ruin of a city, infested with barbarians that have been granted citizenship and Hellenic wives by craven elders. Its attempts to keep its numberless Keltoi neighbours at bay are increasingly desperate, and in their time of weakness they turn to other barbarians to achieve what their own Hellenic citizens are incapable of. I do not know whether to blame their ignorant rulers or the weakness of the general population, but Massalia is no longer a polis of Hellenes, it is a breeding ground for savages to satiate their lusts on civilized women, the strength of its walls compromised by allowing the enemy within. Within a generation what little remains of its citizen body and civilization shall fall, this I guarantee.
THE HISTORY OF SIKELIA BY PHADINAMOS (292 BCE)
INTRODUCTION
In all respects, against all comers, I declare Syrakousai to be the Queen of Cities. Where Athenai was founded on the wisdom of Apollon, Mykenai on the strength of Poseidon, Syrakousai was founded on the waters of Arethusa, the Ortygian sigh. It is this which set Syrakousai apart from the beginning of its foundation, even when Gela was once its superior, and heralded its mastery over the seas, for where Athenai produced learning, and Mykenai once ruled over all other Hellenes by virtue of its strength, Syrakousai would come to possess command over the waters. But this is an illustration of might, and is not the sole metric by which I determine Syrakousai to be the greatest among all cities. Instead I also turn to the size and strength of its walls, the numbers of its citizens, the perfection of its demokratic constitution, the quality of worship to which the Gods are accustomed to receiving from the citizens, and the wealth that is collected here. It is said that a slave from Syrakousai would be considered a king in most cities, and from my experience I would be inclined to agree.
THESAUROI BY PERICLES TANTINU (1390 CE)
SIRACUSE
SYNTHESIS BY DEOCINGE OF MASELIA (1639 CE)
MASSALIA
CHAPTER 7: DRAYA or THALASSA
EXTRACT FROM HERODOTOS OF HALIKARNASSOS’ HISTORIA (c.440 BCE)
GELON ESTABLISHES HIS RULE
When he had made Syrakousai his own possession, he rated Gela as a less important subject of his attention, which he then awarded to his brother Hiero; over Syracuse Gelon was king, and all his care was for Syrakousai.
That city immediately grew and became great, as not only did Gelon bring all the citizens of Kamarina to Syrakousai and give them its citizenship instead, having destroyed the township of Kamarina, but he then did the same thing to more than half of the citizens of Gela, and when the Megarians in Sikelia surrendered to Gelon after a siege he took the wealthiest part of the citizen body, who had warred against him and had expected to be put to death for this, and brought them to Syrakousai to be citizens there instead. As for the common people of Megara, who had had part in the war and expected that no harm would befall them, these he also brought to Syrakousai and then sold them for slaves to be taken abroad.
He dealt with the Euboians of Sikelia in almost exactly the same way, making the same distinction both times. The reason for his treating the commoners of both places in this way was that he held the common people to be horrendous to live with.
PHAIDRIAS SON OF PHAIDRIPPOS’ LETTERS
LETTER 11: MASSALIA
Massalia is become a ruin of a city, infested with barbarians that have been granted citizenship and Hellenic wives by craven elders. Its attempts to keep its numberless Keltoi neighbours at bay are increasingly desperate, and in their time of weakness they turn to other barbarians to achieve what their own Hellenic citizens are incapable of. I do not know whether to blame their ignorant rulers or the weakness of the general population, but Massalia is no longer a polis of Hellenes, it is a breeding ground for savages to satiate their lusts on civilized women, the strength of its walls compromised by allowing the enemy within. Within a generation what little remains of its citizen body and civilization shall fall, this I guarantee.
THE HISTORY OF SIKELIA BY PHADINAMOS (292 BCE)
INTRODUCTION
In all respects, against all comers, I declare Syrakousai to be the Queen of Cities. Where Athenai was founded on the wisdom of Apollon, Mykenai on the strength of Poseidon, Syrakousai was founded on the waters of Arethusa, the Ortygian sigh. It is this which set Syrakousai apart from the beginning of its foundation, even when Gela was once its superior, and heralded its mastery over the seas, for where Athenai produced learning, and Mykenai once ruled over all other Hellenes by virtue of its strength, Syrakousai would come to possess command over the waters. But this is an illustration of might, and is not the sole metric by which I determine Syrakousai to be the greatest among all cities. Instead I also turn to the size and strength of its walls, the numbers of its citizens, the perfection of its demokratic constitution, the quality of worship to which the Gods are accustomed to receiving from the citizens, and the wealth that is collected here. It is said that a slave from Syrakousai would be considered a king in most cities, and from my experience I would be inclined to agree.
THESAUROI BY PERICLES TANTINU (1390 CE)
SIRACUSE
Siracuse, known to the ancient Hellenes as Syrakousai, Pentaple, Thusa, and Surcusa to the Brontosards, and Phenda to the Ligurians, is a city of antiquity and grandeur. Sited on the southeastern coast of Sicana, it is estimated to have been founded in *732 BCE by a combination of colonists from Korinthos and Tenea, though it is also commonly said that this was a refoundation of a town peopled by the Murgi, particularly among those people who identify Sicana by the name of Morga. The ancient heart of the city was the Ortygian isle, upon which stood its original citadel and dwellings, but even in ancient times it had spread across to the coast of Sicana proper to the district of Acradine, and further spread into the districts of Neapoli, Tici, and Epipoli. The city now additionally encompasses the district of Pantali, a site of equal antiquity, and its centre is now Tici and its port, more commonly known in my time as Adupoli. Even through the many years and adventures of the city, its successes and its sorrows, its streets still follow the same ordered layout as originally set out by the oikists, a fact that is much admired throughout Hesperia. It is a city much loved by its citizens, and greatly envied for its many illustrious achievements elsewhere. Piety, industry, and a desire to excel are all to be found here in great measure.
The metropolis houses a number of splendid buildings and apartments. The theatre of Siracuse, the tombs of Pantali, and its sanctuary of Arithuse are all survivals from the city’s original, ancient foundation, which to this day have been kept in scrupulous condition. The theatre of Siracuse in particular has rarely been bettered in aesthetic or acoustic quality in the many centuries since it was first constructed, and is one of the largest surviving examples of an ancient Hellenic theatron. Until the sack of *882 CE the city’s original Temple to Apollo was also still standing, and its loss still bitterly remembered by its citizens. The holy site for the Redeemer was refounded by *920 CE during the city’s period of recovery, and it is quietly believed that the more modern refoundation is even more sumptuous than the original, though many consider such notions impious. Another foundation not quite as venerable, but with an antiquity of its own, is the Pantheon of Laron, believed to have been founded by the eponymous king in *390 CE, a splendid example of the early Hesperian style of Olican foundation. None of the ancient palaces of the kings of Syrakousai have survived to the present day, though many fine elements from those grand houses and chambers have found their way into the homes of prominent citizens, and indeed the palaces of many latter rulers over the city. The oldest such set of apartments are the Houses of Tolunuro, which once belonged to the Tolumuridai family of nobles until their disgrace, and are now the official quarters of the Kosmarkis. They are likely to date to *661 CE or thereabouts, as Heracle Alaliu Tolumuro is first said to have wandered to Brontosardi Sicana in that year. They incorporate a mosaic from the late *4th century BCE (a particularly fine piece on the Titanomachia) and a painted fresco of the 1st century CE believed to be the first representation of a citrus tree in Hesperian art. Should the office of the Kosmarkis be amenable, it is an excellent place to visit.
Grain was the foundation of the city’s initial prosperity and remains one of its most vital industries. However, its modern prosperity is strong precisely because of its multiple sources of wealth. In terms of commercial enterprise the export of Siracusan wine and olive oil from the nearby fertile lands is a prosperous venture, both being highly reputed abroad for their quality. The port is also key to the wider distribution of Idonian and African wares into Hesperia and beyond past the Alphes, though it competes most vigorously with Catania and other Sicani ports in this matter, this all having been caused by the abolition of the Zankeli Grant. The city’s great size (having an estimated population of 50,000 in the city proper and an additional 200,000 in its hinterland), antiquity, and tranquility also guarantees a large and regular tax revenue, and a great deal of its income and duties remains in the hands of its local magistrates, rather than making its way to a distant army and an even more distant ruler. The holy site of Arithuse also attracts many pilgrims from across the Great Sea, come to pay homage to the breath of the goddess and seat of Apollo. The city is particularly blessed with the kind of pilgrim generous enough to leave a small foundation and endowment behind, and the foundation pillars of Siracuse are some of the most numerous outside of Elefsi, Memfi, and Micenai that I have witnessed.
The city’s history is one of turbulence, ambition, and brilliance. Even a jaundiced, partial account of the city would describe it as one of the most important protagonists of ancient times, and even in our own times the city retains rank and importance, given that it is considered the second city of Sicana after Catania, and the title of Siracusan Kosmarki thought of as desirable and prestigious. Perhaps it would no longer be called the Queen of Cities, but the end of a dynasty is not the end of glory or legacy, as indeed the history of Siracuse illustrates perfectly, and we must credit it as formerly possessing this title with more than ample justification. In both ancient and present times Siracuse has always been defined by the industry and will of its inhabitants, and also the struggle to define where this mighty assembled force would be most effectively used.
Ancient Syrakousai is one of the most enigmatic nations found in our history. Demokratic in one moment then ruled by kings in another, at times a leader among equals and at others the head of a mighty Empire, friendly towards fellow Hellenes in one generation and utterly hostile towards them in another. Many have struggled to conclude to Syrakousai’s true character as a result, being confounded by its many changes across even short periods, and among some the city in its ancient form has come to be associated with impiety and moral degeneracy. I have come to think of these shifts as the Ortygian Sigh, and the vastness of these changes as being themselves attached to the grandeur and power of the city in these times. For anyone with ambitions to change the world, even for specious reasons, Syrakousai was an ideal launching point for these goals, its commercial and military reach being beyond nearly any other of the ancient Hellenic poleis. When it was not the subject of such adventures and gambits it was often at war with itself over its mode of government and general objectives in the theatre of politics, so it is not surprising that between generations it experienced volcanic shifts in temperament and desire. It was also a city of enormous pride, particularly after the Akhaimenids came to conquer Hellas proper, and with that came a gnawing instinct that it should be leading and not led.
Syrakousai had three periods of imperial status. The first was immediately after the defeat of the forces of Karkedon and its allies in the early *5th century BCE, where its Deinomidai rulers expanded their already mighty domains to encompass the entire island, aided by the swell of Hellenic exiles come to escape the Persians. This came to an end with War of Akrai in *458-455 BCE, fought between Deinomidai claimants, which led to the establishment of the first demokratic regime in Syrakousai. It is in this period that the polis was a faithful ally to the First Italiote League, even after the abortive tyranny of Phylakes in *402 BCE. The second Empire was formed under the Second Demokratic Constitution of the *4th century BCE, where Syrakousai and her citizens maintained control over cities in Italia and even colonies as far away as the coast of Dalmatia, having taken advantage of the First Italiote League’s collapse. This came to an end with the seizure of the throne by the Heraklids in *282 BCE, and a series of wars between rival dynasties seeking to claim the entire island, eventually resulting in the complete conquest of Sikelia by the Second Italiote League in 90 BCE. The third and last was under the Deinarkhids of the *1st and 2nd centuries CE, who having recovered the independence of the Sikelian cities from the Italiote League in *17 CE once again expanded a Siracusan royal dynasty to cover much of the island. This final empire of Syrakousai came to a slow decay from *112 CE onwards with the slide into civil war between rival dynastic claimants, and from *170 BCE men of Cursici and Sardinia used this opportunity to gain a foothold in the prosperous island.
I would not consider myself partial or unsupported in declaring Syrakousai the greatest of the ancient Hellenic polis in strength and majesty when taken as a whole across this era. Even in those periods where it did not possess an imperial sway Syrakousai remained one of the most populous of all the Hellenic cities, and was never one to be trifled with, even as a possession of such a mighty assembly of powers as the Second Italiote League. One could simply never count Syrakousai out of the equation; the Second Italiote League had thought the city finally tamed under its rule, only to find the ancient metropolis throw off their garrison and authority with newfound strength. Time and time again the city and its people would reassert their strength and courage in the face of adversity, and this is a quality that should be admired and recognised. Syrakousai was responsible for the foundation of Akrai, Kasmeni, Akrille, Elor, Kamarine, Ish, Ancon, Aphroditia, Zephyrian Philadelphia, Tormenio, and indirectly that of Poseidonia-on-Cinyps. Under the dynasty of Gelon the city could reliably equip an army of 10,000 men at arms and as many again armed in light order, and possessed hundreds of warships. It adapted to the shift from push to maneuver warfare haphazardly, and retained a traditional phalanx as late as the Third Italia-Syrakousai war in the early 3rd century BCE, but maintained its top rate military strength in this period with judicious use of foreign mercenaries, from Italia, further Hesperia, Africa, Illyria, and even from Celtica. These mercenaries were also the means by which successive rulers overthrew demokratic regimes and maintained their supreme power.
This, however, was the weakness by which the Second Italiote League slowly overcame their dominion over Sikelia, and then the city itself, across the 2nd-1st centuries BCE, culminating in the *91 BCE Siege of Syrakousai in which the city’s defenders, shorn of the mercenaries by lack of coin, proved insufficient to defend the length of the city’s walls against the assembled Italiotes. The Deinarkhids, having thrown out the Italiotes, and determined to resist any incursions of the Tyrsenoi under the expansionist Third Golden Generation, conducted a wholesale reform of the military of Syrakousai, and by extension Sikelia. Exiles and malcontents from the Tyrsenoi were brought in to the kingdom to drill men-at-arms and cavaliers in the modern forms of warfare, and the Deinarkhids possessed the wealth to maintain a standing army of considerable size, with their contribution to the Battle of Poseidonia stated at 30,000 strong. The battalions of this army were named for kings of Syrakousai across the ages, with the Men of Gelon considered the most skilled and prestigious. It was not force of arms which would break the Deinarkhids, in the end, but the dynasty’s own civil wars.
SYNTHESIS BY DEOCINGE OF MASELIA (1639 CE)
MASSALIA
Massalia began as a city under siege. The ancient Hellenes planted many scions across the Great Sea, some in less or more friendly territory as we have seen, but Massalia was in perhaps the most unfriendly landscape of all of the many places in which Hellenes came to live. When they first arrived in the *7th century BCE they were hotly beset by the Ligirienes, an ancient people with no love for incursions into their perceived territory, which once extended across all of what is now Aohnia, Masselia, and the upper parts of Iperissa, possibly extending past the Alfin peaks into Foia. The Farfarines of the region were not welcoming for the most part either, though they were most often concerned with their own wars between themselves. The end result was that Massalia planted fortresses on their borders and trade routes in order to protect themselves and secure their fortunes, and through this slowly expanded the territory that they controlled. Despite the hostility faced by the Massaliotes they managed to accrue wealth by their trade inland, even founding colonies in Iberia, but until the Parsine conquest of the Hellene homelands they were always struggling to maintain their garrisons and fortresses properly, relying on it being the second line of defence which would actually repel determined invaders. With the Parsine Conquest of *479 BCE a flood of Hellenic refugees headed straight for Massalia, some of them being the adventurous type, others simply being willing to help in any way they could. This newfound surge of power allowed the Massaliotes to express their will over the surrounding peoples, but also made them more attractive as an ally to the Farfarine tribes, who were constantly calculating everyone’s relative strength and advantages.
This resulted in the Cauan and Wocont tribes allying to the banner of the Massaliote cause, and an infusion of both peoples into Massalia proper as they were planted in important garrisons. Of course many of them brought families with them, and needed lands in which to settle. Being considered barbarians but needing them close to hand, a segregated part of Massalia was constructed for a large portion of these allies and their need for abode. The Etekhronikos of Massalia consistently refers to such peoples as ‘allies’ rather than anything more, but there are indications that many of the Farfarines of smaller towns and garrisons were already being treated as de facto citizens by the *440s BCE. The Farfarine district of Massalia proper steadily grew across this period, and as the largest concentration of the Farfarines next to the actual hub of political life were more actively kept from the echelons of full citizen life. However, from the moment the alliances were drawn up eventualities were being set in motion to bring these two parts of Massalia together. A number of prominent Farfarine allies soon gave great service to Massalia, the most famous among these being Atecnatos across the *470s-450s BCE, also known as Diodoros, and Wocontorix from *456-439 BCE, also known as Ocontos. Their deeds set their families on the path to becoming full citizens of Massalia through their loyalty, dedicated service, and courageous deeds, and where prominent leaders gained citizenship this set the example that other Farfarines might be able to achieve the same thing. It was the hostility of the Ligirienes that allowed all of this to happen, granting the Cauan and Wocont warriors many opportunities to render needful service alongside smaller bands and individuals from other Farfarine tribes attracted to Massalia. These were usually extended raids or attacks on particular forts and towns, sometimes in concert with Farfarine allies, but following a reasonably predictable pattern. Slowly, but surely, attitudes were softening towards the ‘barbarians’ in the Hellenes’ midst.
The moment that changed everything was the attack of King Ligirix in *419 BCE. This represented the most potent and viable threat to Massalia in the city’s nearly 200-year history. Tens of thousands of Ligirienes and Farfarine allies marched directly against the city, aiming to rid Ligirix of the threat against his kingdom for all time, but also to strengthen Ligirix’s kingdom against the continuing migrations of unfriendly Farfarines to the lands surrounding his territories. The Massaliot army had already been out on campaign, and had to hurriedly return in order to confront this enormous assembly of arms. The army that ultimately confronted King Ligirix in the field was led by one Phoxinos, grandson of Atecnatos, and the second generation of Atecnatids to possess full citizenship. He had already gained enough reputation and good opinion so as to head the intended expedition, but this was the first time he had been tested in a battle of such immense proportions. He and the Massaliot army caught up to and confronted the Ligirienes in the Battle of Afenio, a chaotic affair where both sides charged in confused order due to ill-discipline and long running intertribal feuds. Through ingenuity and sharpness, Phoxinos had the day, mostly by reacting far quicker to this unplanned charge than his opponent. But the threat to Massalia was not ended yet. Whilst many of his allies had deserted him most of Ligirix’s faithful Ligirienes had survived the battle, and would in short order be able to attack Massalia once again, maybe even in that same campaign season. Realising that it was necessary for Massalia to try end this threat in finality, and that this was a golden opportunity to expand her power, Phoxinos gave chase to Ligirix all the way to Ligiris proper. There the armies met at the battle of the Rodano, which was the fiercer and more closely fought battle, the Ligirienes fighting bravely to defend their homeland where the Massaliotes fought for their future. It was bloody day for all concerned, but with the death of Ligirix by spear the battle was decided, and the Ligirienes overwhelmed.
It was this battle that confirmed to all Massaliots the value of their Farfarine allies, and not only that but their rightful place as equal partners in all things going forward. Whilst the Farfarine districts of Massalia remained, their walls separating them from the rest of the city were thrown down, and their residents granted citizenship, being added to the existing genoi in a manner of equal distribution. When, accordingly, Phoxinos planted garrisons of Farfarines in the newly conquered parts of Ligiris, these were not foreign mercenaries but fellow and loyal citizens, and Phoxinos was sewing the seeds for Massalia’s growth into new territories as much as he was securing its borders. This new Massalia, as a joint enterprise between Hellenes and Farfarines, was not unprecedented in the Hellenic world but it was the first time such an enterprise had been conducted on such a large scale, in such a powerful polis. Though many other Hellenes at the time responded with derision or predictions of dire consequences for Massalia, this political compact would prove to be durable, winning Massalia valour through arms and surviving first Tursene, then Aohni conquest. and indeed coming to culturally dominate Aohnia from the *1st-4th centuries CE.
But what forms did this synthesis take, how did the two cultures begin to blend together? As with many other places, it began with the simple fact of sharing daily life together as equals, but swiftly became more complex as participation in civic life escalated, and complicated further once civic life began to alter to accomodate the new nature of the citizen body. The most visible early signs of the emerging Farfari-Hellene culture in Massalia are the increasing reference to Hellenic deities with Farfari epithets, which themselves often refer to what had previously been distinct Farfari deities. The two most popular deities in Massalia were Aplu Maponu and Artimi Dinna, combining aspects of both cultures by aligning the city’s most important traditional deities with Farfarine deities of popularity and similar qualities. This represents an understanding of one another’s most intimate beliefs, and a recognition of their equality. We also find material indications of the cultural synthesis even as early as the *420s BCE, with the adoption of Farfari weaponry as visible on illustrations and arcaiteric remains. Not long afterwards a more Farfari strain of material design becoming visible in jewelry and pottery from Massalia, mainly as an incorporation of curviform fascination into decoration and the replacement of some traditional Hellenic imagery with Farfarine imagery in a Hellenic style.
As the city grew greater still, the synthesis deepened. Hellenic literacy extended into the Farfarine population by this period, as demonstrated by references to Massaliot authors with Farfarine names, grave inscriptions of Farfarines written in Hellenic letters and signed by fellow Farfarines. Tellingly, Hellene letters are also used to render Farfari words and sentences from the early *3rd century BCE onwards, reflecting an increased relevance and acceptance of Farfarine language and a use for rendering it in writing. But this was also the period in which this cultural mixing began to extend outside the city’s walls, or those of its other towns and fortresses. Hellenic architectural styles and practices become more widely adopted throughout the Massaliot territories and indeed in parts of the Aohni lands. These are often found in locations associated with emerging Farfarine cities, where Massalia was acting as a model, or attached to chieftains attempting to enhance their status by the construction of monumental structures. The presence of the Tursene occupiers from 238 CE onwards, their own culture a product of a synthesis with Hellene culture, provided a new element in the environment of Massalia, though the wealth and population of Massalia restricted their settlement compared to other border provinces of their Empire. The connection to the Tursene military system and commercial network, however, enabled the Farfari-Hellene culture to spread further and faster than previously, whether by the movements of Massaliot troops in Tursene armies, the passage of Massaliot traders through cities, or the occasional settlement of Massaliots in other Tursene border regions. By the time the Aohni occupied and conquered Massalia in *29 CE, a precursor to the massive conquest of the Tursene not much later, the synthesis between Farfarine and Hellene in Massalia was almost complete; festivals were held in common, a Farfari-Hellene dialect had become the everyday language and was in the process of developing its own literary corpus, names of Farfari and Hellene origin were used freely by the population with equal weight. It is this that has been termed the Hellenistic culture.
The city was an important asset to the Aohni kings, and its power was relatively preserved despite the massive impact of the Aohni invasion on other former Tursene lands, along with its power structures, though of course a confederate chieftain was given nominal control over the city to secure it for the Aohnix. Instead it was the Massaliots that began to radically alter the culture of their invaders. The land of the Massaliots was itself transforming Aohnia forever, through being the largest and oldest city under its control, through its immense commercial impact and continued cultural prestige, and through the importation of its skilled artisans by Aohni kings and chieftains. When the Aohni Confederacy crumbled one of the most important splinters was based on the city of Massalia as ruled by one Roudorix, Roudorix having himself assimilated into Massaliot culture in order to gain control over the city properly. Roudorix was seen as a legitimate ruler of Massalia according to its laws and constitution, albeit its first monarch. The Roudanidai dynasty built on their forefather’s legacy, and the small chiefdom of Massalia expanded to become the Kingdom of Rodano across the 2nd-4th centuries CE. By the foundation of the kingdom the Massaliots were now considered Farfarine, but they had already transformed wider Farfarine culture into something vastly more Hellenic than previous, creating the wider Hellenistic culture of the High Farfarines. They were the originators and propagators of the more complex, bureaucratic Farfarine culture of Aohnia and Aticania that weathered the Germani invasions where many other Farfarines were swept up. Not only was Massalia itself a showcase of the triumph of synthesis, it was also itself an engine of synthesis across entire neighbouring regions.
