alternatehistory.com

Kings of Kings: Persia is Victorious TL

Part One: The Hellenic Campaigns

Chapter 1: Conquest of Macedonia and Athens

The Hellenic city states remained a annoyance to the eastern satrapies of Persia, specially Athens. After winning the battle of Marathon, Athenian confidence boosted, finding the Persian threat a great excuse for expanding their influence through Hellas. That of course meant sponsoring actions against Persian rule in the Ionian Satrapy, including piracy and fostering embargoes and rebellions against Persia. According to contemporary sources, Great King Xerxes sought invasion only after peaceful attempts to incorporate the cities states to the Empire were refused: indeed, several cities like Argos and Aegina declared themselves in favor of Persian rule, as long as their kept their government. Xerxes acceded, receiving his token of Earth and Water and began negotiations for full incorporation into the Empire.



Not all cities were so agreeable. Sparta, a warlike culture, simply threw the Persian emissaries down a well, their king Leonidas famously saying “You'll find plenty of Earth and Water down there”, effectively declaring war against Persia. Athenians also refused to send their token. Indeed, they didn't consider them a huge threat; in 483 BCE, the politician Themistocles proposed using a recently found silver vein to finance a navy to kept Persia at bay; the Athenians decided to instead to ostracize Themistocles and share the silver between themselves [1]. Athens' new leader, Aristides, trusted that the newly formed Hellenic league would keep Xerxes away. However, as the threat became more obvious, he unsuccessfully encouraged citizens of Athens to finance a new army and navy. Seeking a compromise, he pleaded to the cities of the Hellenic league to embargo Persian goods. Xerxes', trying to keep its trade in Hellas, bring glory to the Empire and, according to Hellenic sources, avenge Marathon, proceeded to invade Hellas. By then, Aristides pleas to the League were too little and too late, and all they could do is to organize a defense.


The army of Xerxes numbered (by contemporary estimations) around 220.000 men and 40.000 sailors. Despite their delay by the Babylonian rebellion of 484, in 480 this huge army crossed the Pontus into Thrace, passing across allied Macedonia, which was incorporated into the Empire together with the cities of Thessaly. Thebes and Argos also pledged their surrender to Persian forces after the war was over, amongst other neutral cities. Even the cities of Magna Graecia proclaimed their future loyalty.
After preparations and collecting supplies, in spring the army advanced south to Thermopylae, that was defended by a small garrison commanded by Spartan king Leonidas, who died in the battle. After several movements around Euboea the Hellenic fleet severely wrecked by storms was critically defeated in the Battle of Chalcis, the few surviving triremes retreating to the port of Salamis. The combined allied armies finally met the Persians at the Battle of Plataea, which is considered the turning point of the war. Over 100.000 Hellenic soldiers met 200.000 Persians. At first, tactics were in favor of the Hellenes, but by then, the Persian Navy had broken through Salamis, bringing reinforcements and invading the Athenian port of Piraeus. The Athenian soldiers fell back to defend their city, leaving their allies behind who where massacred by the Persians. When the Athenians returned to Athens, they found themselves between the victorious armies from Plataea to the north and the invading marines to the south.


The Battle of Athens was prolonged, but eventually and despite superior tactics, the Athenian hoplites finally surrendered and opened the gates of Athens. The Persians marched victorious through the city, and despite Athenian chronicles of looting and rape, modern historians confirm that they were mostly fair in their dealings with the civilians. King Xerxes marched towards the Acropolis, were Athenian political leaders and other personalities had their meetings. He met Aristides, and asked to the members of the People's Assembly who didn't flee the city: “You selected this man amongst yourselves to lead you to victory: he has clearly failed. Now you must choose his fate”. According to Dagudu** “The crowd, which was silent in the presence of their conqueror, suddenly became frenzied, and demanded Aristides death. After a few moments, Xerxes ordered silence and told Aristides that he pardoned him. The crowd again became frenzied, and Aristides bowed before Xerxes and said “I have to die. Athens does not need me anymore, and I shall not serve any man that I cannot defeat.” Xerxes then saluted him, and ordered a executioner to kill him. He did not watch the execution. According to some of the politicians in the crowd, the last words of Aristides were “Democracy has failed us, but it will not fail others””


After the execution of Aristides, Xerxes put the city under military occupation and decreed that all of the citizens who escaped the city were welcome back. The armies took with themselves the riches of the Athenian treasure, ironically also the decorations made with Themistocles' Silver. Athens' politicians gave Xerxes the tribute of Earth and Water, and he promised to allow them to have elections after the end of the war. By the end of 480, Thebes and the rest of the cities of Attica surrendered, and new elections were to be held in Athens. Meanwhile, the Persian Army marched south, to Corinth and eventually Sparta.


[1] This anecdote is quite familiar to modern audiences because it is the backdrop of the classic comedic play The Silver Cup, which was written by Hellenic writer Aristophanes in 425 BCE and features the brothers Athes and Prosiles traveling through a highly satirized Persian Empire to recover a silver cup looted by a Persian general. This piece is considered a landmark work in comedy, and has been adapted and translated countless times thorough history.


*(OOC: For the reader's commodity, I'll use OTL's dating system. Also the English language... just assume this is written in New World Aramaic :p)


**(OOC: Not a person from OTL: sort of this world's Herodotus.)


So... Whoops... It seems I just killed off western civilization. Let's see how this goes, alright? Please comment!
Top