The Glory of Greece: An Athenian Empire v2

Hello all! My previous thread died out, mainly because I didn't like a. where it was going and b. some nitpicks in the story. So, I'm reviving it. The story will mainly follow the same TL until around where I stopped, but with more detail. However, here are a couple of things you won't see:
- An Athenian wank. Although it might seem like one at first, I promise it won't be.

- Shameless advertising. Except for Xamm Anim, Isaac's Empire, Apple products, and AH.com in general. And, without further ado...

Chapter 1 - The Peloponnesian War

In 429, the Spartan armies under Archidamus II returned to Attica. They plundered the rich peninsula again, but this time they were lucky enough to strike while the Athenian navy and their leader, Pericles, was off on a naval expedition. Seizing the opportunity, the Spartans laid siege to Athens. Brokering a deal with Artaxerxes of Persia, the spartans sold their Asian holdings in exchange for a navy to blockade the Port-city of Piraeus, cutting Athens off from her overseas colonies and preventing and extra food from being shipped in. Athens was under siege.

Pericles received word of the siege while he was off the coast of Crete. He immediately packed up his men and sailed off to relieve his city, picking up Cretan and Ionian warriors along the way. As Pericles sailed around to Athens, his worst fears were realized: the Spartans had sealed off the city from all outside contact. He managed to sail around to the opposite side of Attica before the Spartans discovered his presence, but rumors of approaching Athenians spurred the Spartans into action. On April 9th, they stormed Piraeus. Battering their way inside, the Spartans managed to take the port, but they failed to get into Athens before they closed the gates. The siege was only memorable for one man, an Athenian captain who facilitated the retreat and evacuated most of he Athenian army once he knew the battle was lost. For now he remained unknown, but one day, Persians and Greeks alike would tremble at the name Zeno of Piraeus.

Operating out of his base on the coast of Marathon, site of a great Athenian victory 61 years earlier, Pericles was beginning to formulate a plan. While lesser men would have retreated or thrown their men in a last-ditch charge, Pericles crafted a devastatingly cunning plan. Aware that if Athens fell, the Delian League would crumble, Pericles played all his cards in a desperate gamble. In the early hours of May 13th, 429, his plan was set in motion.

Around midnight, a force of about 400 Cretan mercenaries surrendered to the Spartans at the gates of Piraeus. Tired and inattentive, the Spartans allowed their prisoners to hold on to their swords as they led them inside. Once the gates closed behind them, the Cretans killed their Spartan experts and spread out across the port. They systematically slaughtered the sleeping Spartans, and opened the gates for the rest of the Athenian army. Euboean raiders stormed the Spartan ships, capturing them too. By the time the sun rose, Pericles had brought his full armed might into Piraeus.

Athens was no longer cut off from her allies and Pericles had returned at the head of the full armed might of the Delian League. Bewildered, the Spartans turned around and retreated to the Peloponnese. Pericles, however, was not in a forgiving mood.Gathering the armies of Athens, he sailed around to Corinth, which he promptly stormed and captured. He had arrived before the Spartans, and it was there that he would lay his trap.

While leading his army to Sparta's ally, corinth, Archidamus II was approached by a breathless messenger only a mile out of Corinth.The messenger told him that the Athenians had captured the city, but the populous had rise up against them and that, if he hurried, Archidamus could drive out the Athenians and kill Pericles. The Spartans ran to Corinth, where the gates were promptly thrown open. The spartan contingents spread out sweeping through the city. However, there was no fighting going on. One by one, the spartans were picked off and killed. By the time Archidamus figured out what was going on and managed to pull his army out of the city, only a fifth of the Spartan force remained. Realizing the peril he was in, Archidamus continued his retreat to Sparta, but was cut off by a newly raised force from Knossos, Samos, and Rhodes blocked his path. Trapped between the two Delian armies, the spartans attempted to fight their way out, but the tired, bloodied, outnumbered Spartans were no match for the fresh Delian troops. After a brief display of resistance, Archidamus was captured, and the rest of the Spartans surrendered. In the wreckage of famed Spartan courage, Archidamus was brought before Pericles, who executed his great rival.

Now desperate and leaderless, Sparta forged a last-ditch alliance with Persia, promising all conquered Athenian land in exchange for military assistance. Persian Shah Artaxerxes agreed, and gathered an army at the Satrap of Sardis. Compared to the previous Persian armies that had entered Greece, Artaxerxes's was relatively small and undertrained. Perhaps it was all Artaxerxes could scrape together for an external operation, but many believe that he had learned the lessons of Darius and Xerxes, and was wary of sending large armies to Greece. Sparta sent their remaining armies over to Sardis, and prepared for an invasion of Greece.

It is unknown how Pericles got word of the invasion plan, but in September 429, he gathered his armies and sailed over to Sardis. He surprised the gathered Spartan-Persian army, and in a bloody, 8-hour battle, smashed all resistance. The Persians tried to retreat into Sardis, but in the confusion the Athenian took control of the gates and sacked the city. Pericles now reigned victorious.

The terms of peace imposed on Sparta were harsh. All of the helots were to be freed, and each was to receive 50 drachmas. All military leaders were to be exiled or killed, and Spartan men were to be available, at any time, to assist the Athenian strategos. Finally, all territories north of Corinth were to be ceded to the Delian League. Spartans cried out in protest, and a pretended set up a new Spartan kingdom in Syracuse, but in early 428, when Syracuse was sacked, the Spartans realized that Pericles's offer was better than continued war. Pericles could congratulate himself on a job well done crippling Sparta.

His terms of peace with the Persians were much more generous. A bit of gold and far-reaching trade concessions were all that was needed for peace. It is unknown why Pericles chose to be so lenient, but maybe it was because he had been fighting his whole life, and hoped for a lasting peace. At 67, Pericles's health was in decline, and he was able to live out his last year in peace. Before he expired, however, Pericles would leave two more marks on Athens.

First, he adopted Nike as his personal patron Goddess. In her honor, Pericles constructed a great temple, called the Niketheon, on the Acropolis. Although it was only about half the size of the Parthenon, Pericles made sure that it was no less beautiful. Built in the shape of a six-pronged marble star, it housed beautifully rendered sculptures in five of the "prongs". Each was a bronze statue of a famous Athenian victory, those being Marathon, Salamis, Piraeus, Corinth, and Sardis. In the center, there was a silver statue of Nike, with a statue of Pericles bowing beneath her. Pericles poured gold and workers into his final project, and it was finished within the year.

Pericles's second contribution was less of his own devices. In 427, Zeno of Piraeus was elected Strategos to replace aging Pericles. While construction of the Niketheon was going on, Pericles instructed Zeno on every matter of state that Athens needed him to guide. 68-year old Pericles tutored 27-year old Zeno right up until the day the Niketheon was completed. Upon seeing his two great temples, the Niketheon and the Parthenon, he exclaimed "Wisdom and Victory bless the Athenians!" And with that, he passed away.
 
Chapter 2 - The Athenian Empire

For a week after the death of Pericles, the city of Athens was in a general mourning. His statue in the Niketheon was draped in a golden cloak, and the road from his estate to the Acropolis was covered in rose petals. Thucydides was commissioned to write a eulogy and history of Pericles, which was inscribed on Pericles's marble casket. His body was lain into the casket, with a spear in one hand and a chisel in the other, symbolizing his victories in war and in architecture. He was laid to rest within the Parthenon, a mighty figure now descending into his first triumph. For the Athenians, it was the last view of the man they dubbed "the Mighty."

Despite Pericles's death, the office of strategos remained firmly in the hands of Zeno of Piraeus. Young, energetic, and brilliant on the battlefield, Zeno seemed to be the incarnation of brilliance and victory. Having seen firsthand the weaknesses of the slow, inflexible Spartan phalanx, Zeno's first order of business was reorganizing the Delian armies. The long, sturdy rows of phalangites were replaced with flexible, 49-man squares. Although they could always utilize the traditional strengths of the phalanx by blending squares, the smaller groups meant that they could detach and take advantage of weaknesses in the enemy lines. Likewise, Zeno created a standing division of light cavalry. Although they wouldn't stand up to the chariots or horse archers of Persia, they added strategic variety to the Delian armies and would, one day, become the backbone of the army.

Diplomatically, however, Zeno was notoriously heavy-handed. He bribed officials in the Delian league to raise taxes on other major cities in the League, but Athens remained exempt. Corinth was hit the hardest. Zeno, remembering that Corinth was once a Spartan ally, raised taxes on them the most, ignoring the fact that their lands had been devastated during the war. When Zeno was accused of corruption, he had the accusers thrown in prison, and the ringleader was ordered to death by hemlock. Soon afterwards, he used the same methods to raise a draft across the league, exempting only those in Attica. For now, the rest of the League remained silent, but one day their fury would boil over.

For a moment, however, let's turn away from the burgeoning power of Athens and look at the old power of Persia. Persian losses in the Greek wars weren't necessarily crippling, with the silk road supplying plenty of money and the populations of the vast realm ever expanding. Even the ill-fated expedition of Xerxes into Greece had been recovered from, and Artaxerxes's choice to send few troops into Greece to assist the Spartans had ensured that the Persian army remained a formidable fighting force. These defeats, however, beckoned a larger and infinitely more deadly enemy: civil war.

Trouble started, naturally, close to Greece. The prosperous and semi-autonomous cities of Western Anatolia, led by a fiery young man named Calisthenos, rose up in revolt in 427, only a few months after the death of Pericles. In a riveting speech, Calisthenos won over the populous of Halicarnassus, saying, "Generations ago, our forefathers lived in prosperity and freedom under Mausolos. Now, let us return to that vision of greatness!" Obviously overlooking the fact that Mausolos had been a Satrap of Persia, Calisthenos managed to rally the people of Halicarnassus, Ephesus, and Nicomedia to his cause, and soon his forces captured depopulated Sardis. Furious, Shah Artaxerxes gathered a large army and prepared to bring these rebels to heel. Unfortunately, he was stalled by another threat. The Parthian nomads invaded the Iranian plateau in early 426, and Artaxerxes was forced to send his large army out to the empire's heartland to defend against the nomads.

Still wanting to bring the rebellious province back under Persian rule, Artaxerxes travelled to Egypt, seeking to gather an army. Unknown to the Shah, the Egyptians had also thrown off the Persian yoke. They had appointed a new Pharaoh, a man named Inaros, who had promptly allied himself with Zeno and Calisthenos. Upon arriving in Egypt, Artaxerxes and his retainers were promptly arrested. Every one of them was killed, and Artaxerxes's severed head was sent back to Calisthenos, the first rebel. Grateful for helping him avert the coming storm, Calisthenos formed an alliance with Inaros, and the two became close friends.

With the death of Artaxerxes, the Persian world broke down altogether. Three half-brothers, Darius II, Xerxes II, and Sogdianus, all claimed the throne. Xerxes managed to shatter Darius's army in a battle in central Mesopotamia, but Darius II and the remnants of his army managed to evade capture or death until they were trapped at Nineveh by Xerxes's army. Desperate, Darius II hid on top of a building as Xerxes II's army spilled into the city. When he saw his half-brother, Darius leaped down and killed Xerxes. Claiming to now have control of Xerxes's army, Darius tried to stop the slaughter, but the army that had just seen their leader killed by a cowardly ambusher cut down the young Shah.

Sogdianus had allied himself with a successful general named Tissaphernes, who in turn defeated the remnants of Xerxes's army. Victorious, Sogdianus returned to Babylon and took power, but was only confronted with more bad news. Armenia had risen up under a grizzled old veteran, now claiming the title King Petra I, while the cities in Phoenicia had revolted and joined with their cousins in Carthage. Worse, the army Artaxerxes had sent to combat the Parthians had been crushed, and without any more support Persian Iran had crumbled. Gathering what remained of the now badly bloodied Persian armies, Sogdianus had Tissaphernes take them to the Iranian plateau and drive out the Parthians. No one knows if Tissaphernes had designs of the throne when he allied with Sogdianus, or simply decided to take power when full control of the armies was offered to him, but either way Tissaphernes killed his former ally Sogdianus one night. Slipping into his room with a team of Immortals, Tissaphernes woke Sogdianus and ordered him to duel. Sleepy and relatively untrained, Sogdianus attempted to fight, but was quickly overwhelmed by Tissaphernes. Bloody and injured, Sogdianus cried out to his former ally to stop, but Tissaphernes had come too far to turn back. With one stroke of the sword on a cold winter night in 424, Tissaphernes had ended the Achaemenid dynasty of Persia.

Tissaphernes could congratulate himself on masterfully taking over Persia, but he had snatched the supreme power of a dying empire. In 424, a man named Apollodorus of Damascus created a "Second Kingdom of Israel". Claiming that Tissaphernes had thrown out the sons of Cyrus, who had freed the Jews from Babylonian captivity, Apollodorus took the southern Levant for his own. Central Anatolia, although it had never rebelled, was now a lawless plain, inhabited by the descendants of the Hittites. Worst of all, on July 30th, 424, the Parthians captured and sacked Persepolis. Tissaphernes, widely blamed for the wreckage that had befalled Persia, was killed by an angry mob in Susa, and with him died the fourth Persian Shah in 2 years.

The entire time, Athens and the Delian League were profiting from the fall of Persia. Having assisted with the removal of Persian troops from most areas in revolt, Athens gained trading posts from Crimea to Arabia, and far-reaching trade rights. Emerging at the head of this new power was one man: Zeno. However, Zeno's popularity was in a massive decline outside of Athens. And in 423, the rest of the Delian League found a man to compete with Zeno: a Byzantine aristocrat named Kleomenes.

Klomenes, at 43, had a considerably greater reputation across Greece than Zeno would have were he not Strategos. An accomplished orator and administrator, Kleomenes proved to be an easy man to rally around, and soon had an army of rebel at his side. Confident, he began to sweep down into the heart of Greece, with one goal in sight: Athens. Zeno, however, remained largely in control of the army. A military man himself, Zeno had won the love of the army, if not the people. He spoke to the soldier's sense of duty and heroism, claiming that they fought more nobly than the Mycenaeans who had sacked Troy or the Spartans that had defended Thermopylae. He told them that they were the successors of Miltides and the brave men that had won at Marathon. Marching out against Kleomenes, Zeno was confident in his newly-reformed and professional army.

Unfortunately for the rebels, Kleomenes was an infinitely better orator than he was a general. Stumbling into a loyalist ambush, Kleomenes managed to get his army badly bloodied and lose a good deal of his rebel troops that were repulsed at the sight of fighting their fellow Greeks. Beating a hasty retreat to his native Byzantium, Kleomenes ran across Zeno and his army. At the sight of the well-trained and well-equipped Athenian army, Kleomenes promptly surrendered, while the rest of his army fled. Once the rival of Zeno, Kleomenes was brought before him. In a rare act of generosity, Zeno spared Kleomenes, preferring to keep him as a hostage for later.

The rebels retreated to the pass of the Hot Gates, where they set up defenses to prevent Zeno from reaching Byzantium,the rebel base. Zeno arrived, and the situation settled into a depressing stalemate, neither side willing to make the first move. The situation remained this way until the rebels got word that the majority of Zeno's army had sailed around the rebels and sacked Byzantium. The Delian League was now at Zeno's mercy.

On June 25th, 422, Zeno of Piraeus met with three rebel generals in the no-man's-land between the two armies. The two sides both refrained from animosity, mainly because both had brought bodyguards. However, as Zeno killed a sheep to offer to Athena, in hope of a blessing of wisdom to both sides, one of the rebel bodyguards drew his dagger and rushed up to Zeno stabbing him. The crazed rebel was quickly cut down by both sides, but the damage had been done. Zeno was unconscious, and he was rushed back to the Athenian camp to be tended for. Luckily, the doctors in Zeno's camp were able to stop the bleeding, and declare that Zeno was still alive.

The next day, Zeno again rode out to negotiate. This time, the was supported by two courtiers and his personal scholar-retainer, Aronopheses. Zeno, aware that the rebels had killed his attacker as much as his own men had, hammered out a mutually beneficial peace with the rebel generals. In hindsight, it is unknown how many of Zeno's ideas were truly his, and not Aronopheses's, but either way, the conversations over the next three days would change the world. The Delian League was dissolved, to be replaced by an Athenian Empire. The cities of the empire would remain semi-autonomous, led by a locally elected Strategos and an Athenian-appointed Hegemon. The two would rule together, acting with the advice of a local senate and Athenian wishes. The cities could rule themselves as long as they enforced Athenian laws and met certain quotas on tax income, fresh troops, and other amenities necessary for running an empire.

Only a week after Zeno was stabbed, he dies, while on his way back to Athens. As his son and heir, also named Zeno, was only ten, he appointed a trusted retainer to rule in his place - Aronopheses. Zeno, who had never bee loved like Pericles had been, was buried in an obscure tomb outside of Athens. After a day of mourning, his tomb was forgotten, and to this day it is unknown where his body resides. Perhaps he still lies in an unfound resting place, remembering Athens in its Classical age.
 
Nice update;)

wondering what the differences will be with the old TL

annything interesting in mind for my second best favorite barbarians??
(Thracians)
 
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wondering what the differences will be with the old TL
annything interesting in mind for my second best favorite barbarians??
(Thracians)

Hope the reprisal will go more far, however i enjoyed the v1. ;)

Thanks guys! The Thracians were actually in the next part of v1, and will return. Also, the main reason I'm rebooting it is because I didn't talk about some other effects of the PoD (Britain and Japan mainly, but also Sub-saharan Africa.) I'll try to get another chapter posted today about the reign of Aronopheses an the Greco-Phonecian war.
 
Thanks guys! The Thracians were actually in the next part of v1, and will return. Also, the main reason I'm rebooting it is because I didn't talk about some other effects of the PoD (Britain and Japan mainly, but also Sub-saharan Africa.) I'll try to get another chapter posted today about the reign of Aronopheses an the Greco-Phonecian war.

Yeeeeyyy:D

I am certainly going to read it;)
 
Very minor nitpicks (it's a much better T/L this time around)

Phalangites is normally a name reserved for pikemen (e.g. Macedonian pikemen with 18+ ft pikes) not Athenian or Spartan soldiers of the phalanx who were usually referred to as hoplites

Central Anatolia hadn't really any connection to the Hittites for hundreds of years - most likely candidates for a tribal grouping there would be Phyrgians or Cappadocians

Parthians are also somewhat anachronistic - they didn't really get established until 150 years later in OTL (although they did exist). Possibly a better candidate would be Scythians if they were an outside invader.
 
Phalangites is normally a name reserved for pikemen (e.g. Macedonian pikemen with 18+ ft pikes) not Athenian or Spartan soldiers of the phalanx who were usually referred to as hoplites

Central Anatolia hadn't really any connection to the Hittites for hundreds of years - most likely candidates for a tribal grouping there would be Phyrgians or Cappadocians

Parthians are also somewhat anachronistic - they didn't really get established until 150 years later in OTL (although they did exist). Possibly a better candidate would be Scythians if they were an outside invader.

1. According to my dictionary, phalangite refers to a member of a phalanx, something the Athenians and Spartans most certainly had.

2. Unless I'm mistaken, those groups are descendants of the Hittites. The idea i that it is full of "Hittite descendants" (I will admit that I didn't make that clear), not a unified group of Hittites.

3. You have me there :eek:. I suppose, however, that in OTL, it was the Parthians who replaced the Seleucids anyway, so here they'll come in earlier, but with less men (instead of the empire they had OTL, they'll mostly stay confined to Iran and Afghanistan).

Anyway, without further ado...

Chapter 3 - The Reign of Aronopheses

Zeno’s rule was cut short by his untimely death, and the 32-year old Strategos died. Thus, the first Baselios ton Athenion, or Baselios of Athens, was his handpicked successor, Aronopheses of Samos. Aronophese made it clear from the start that, while he respected his predecessor, his reign would not be like Zeno’s. Aronopheses began by commissioning the construction of a Great Library in Athens. The great building was constructed of creamy, white marble and red Terra Cotta. Every day, workers continued to construct the great building. It included vast reserves of paper, ink and oil, so that scholars could write down their knowledge. By 419, it was finished and Athens became the intellectual capital of Greece. Before it was finished however, Aronopheses began to attack corruption and bureaucracy that were left over from the old Delian League. He streamlined political systems and law codes, all while promoting scholarship. Soon, he cam to be known as “Aronopheses the Scholar.” He was only 21.

While Aronopheses strengthened the Athenian Empire internally, he drew upon the vast reserves of wealth from the far-reaching trade routes that Athens had built up. Her naval trade routes stretched down to the kingdoms of Kush and Axum in the south, around to Crimea in the north, and Tarraco in Ispania in the west. On land, her trade routes went straight through the declining Persian Empire to India, along the Silk Road. Due to this, Athenian markets flooded with all kinds of movable wealth, from silk to wine, and spices to cotton. Nowhere was this more evident than in the Agora of Athens, which now overflowed with luxury goods of all kinds.

This all came at the expense of the merchant capital of the west, Carthage. Phoenicia had passed back under Carthagenian control during the fall of Persia, but the once-rich trading cities now found themselves surrounded by a new power with a monopoly on trade: Athens. Hoping to make up for losses in the east, Carthage turned towards colonizing a new land: Ispania. By 421, Ispanian colonies were turning a handsome profit. However, Carthaginian power in Ispania remained decentralized, as there were no developed cities on the peninsula, save one: Tarraco.

Tarraco had been a loyal Athenian colony, mainly since most of the wars Athens had been in were well away from her walls. Tarraco was linked to Athens through Massila and Sicily, so she was rather far from Athenian power, and thus exercised relative autonomy. In 419, Carthage sent the infamous "Mutual Pact" to Tarraco. Although the official meaning of this agreement was to hunt down a group of pirates in the Balearic islands, the Tarrocan leaders knew what it truly meant: Carthage wanted Tarraco as their capital of Ispania.

Being the Demokratios it was, Tarraco put the vote to the people. A series of inconclusive votes and rioting followed. The city effectively spilt into two factions, the Greeks who favored Athens and the Ispanians who favored Carthage. Both sides took control of what they could, and the city descended into virtual civil war. The pro-Greek faction, which included most of the town guard, managed to take control of the city walls and the senate chambers. The pro-Cartheginian faction, including most of the merchants and farmers, however, took control of the granaries and markets. Partisan violence spilled out into the streets, and clashes would occur in the streets by day, by night the factions setting up makeshift forts and walls to protect their holdings.

One messenger, bearing the message that Tarraco wished to defect to Carthage made it to the Phonecian capitol. The men of Carthage, happy that the city had passed under their control, quickly pulled together an army and sent it out to occupy their new holding. Another messenger, bearing word of mass riots, traveled to Athenian Massila, then to Sicily. The Athenian rulers in these lands, horrified that their once-loyal partner was locked in the struggle, gathered an army of their own and sent word to Athens. The Carthaginian army arrive first, where they were promptly shut out by the Greek soldiers that controlled the gates. Assuming that the Carthaginians would win out inside, they allowed food to continue being imported into the city. Spurred on by the arrival of the Phoenicians, the pro-Carthage attempted to seize control of the city. They planned an elaborate coup, where they would surprise and overwhelm the Greek soldiers controlling the gates at night and allow the Carthaginians inside the city. The attempt almost succeeded, but an Athenian aristocrat discovered the plan and alerted the soldiers on the walls of it. When the coup was attempted, the pro-Carthiginians were bloodily repulsed by the waiting soldiers. Any who were still unsure of their loyalties threw their lot in with the Greeks when the Sicilian army arrived on the scene. Despite this, the pro-Carthage faction remained in control of the grain stores, while the pro-Athens army controlled the garrison.

With politics in Tarraco perfectly confused, the commanders of the two armies had the perfect chance to resolve the situation. Unfortunately, both sides were cursed with extremely stubborn commanders and a crippling lack of information on what was going on inside of Tarraco. Both sides believed that the other had come to take a city that was rightfully theirs, and a fierce standoff ensued. When neither side would back down after a week-long standoff, the commanders decided to settle the question with a one-on-one duel, and the victors were to allow the other side to go off unharmed and not punish the opposinf faction inside the city. On one side was the Sicilian commander, a young man in his late twenties, armed with a Xyphos sword and the traditional Hoplon shield, with the regular Greek helmet covering his face. On the other side, the Carthaginian commander was a grizzled old veteran, in his early forties, with a falcata sword in either hand. Both were experienced fighters, but in the end the veteran Carthaginian commander won out. Believing that he had won the city for Carthage, he tried to enter Tarraco.

Unfortunately, the citizens inside Tarraco hadn't been informed of the deal, so the guards believed that the Carthaginians meant to attack them. Sealing off all the exits, the pro-Greek garrison planned to hold off until Athens could relive them. Of course, this meant that they could be crippled if the Carthaginians outside and the pro-Carthaginians inside worked together, so that night they carried out a horrendous slaughter of the pro-Carthaginians and invited the Sicilian army inside. Happy to assist the loyal Tarrocans, the Greeks moved inside and settled down for a siege.

The Carthaginian army was horrified by the slaughter. They moved against the city, but were unable to make any headway against the determined defenders. Eventually the city fell, and was subject to a brutal sacking. This was the only news that reached the ears of Aronopheses: Tarraco has been sacked by the Carthaginians. Aronopheses was outraged, and gathered the full might of the Athenian Empire and prepared for war.
 
1. According to my dictionary, phalangite refers to a member of a phalanx, something the Athenians and Spartans most certainly had.

2. Unless I'm mistaken, those groups are descendants of the Hittites. The idea i that it is full of "Hittite descendants" (I will admit that I didn't make that clear), not a unified group of Hittites.

3. You have me there :eek:. I suppose, however, that in OTL, it was the Parthians who replaced the Seleucids anyway, so here they'll come in earlier, but with less men (instead of the empire they had OTL, they'll mostly stay confined to Iran and Afghanistan).

Anyway, without further ado...

Chapter 3 - The Reign of Aronopheses

Zeno’s rule was cut short by his untimely death, and the 32-year old Strategos died. Thus, the first Baselios ton Athenion, or Baselios of Athens, was his handpicked successor, Aronopheses of Samos. Aronophese made it clear from the start that, while he respected his predecessor, his reign would not be like Zeno’s. Aronopheses began by commissioning the construction of a Great Library in Athens. The great building was constructed of creamy, white marble and red Terra Cotta. Every day, workers continued to construct the great building. It included vast reserves of paper, ink and oil, so that scholars could write down their knowledge. By 419, it was finished and Athens became the intellectual capital of Greece. Before it was finished however, Aronopheses began to attack corruption and bureaucracy that were left over from the old Delian League. He streamlined political systems and law codes, all while promoting scholarship. Soon, he cam to be known as “Aronopheses the Scholar.” He was only 21.

While Aronopheses strengthened the Athenian Empire internally, he drew upon the vast reserves of wealth from the far-reaching trade routes that Athens had built up. Her naval trade routes stretched down to the kingdoms of Kush and Axum in the south, around to Crimea in the north, and Tarraco in Ispania in the west. On land, her trade routes went straight through the declining Persian Empire to India, along the Silk Road. Due to this, Athenian markets flooded with all kinds of movable wealth, from silk to wine, and spices to cotton. Nowhere was this more evident than in the Agora of Athens, which now overflowed with luxury goods of all kinds.

This all came at the expense of the merchant capital of the west, Carthage. Phoenicia had passed back under Carthagenian control during the fall of Persia, but the once-rich trading cities now found themselves surrounded by a new power with a monopoly on trade: Athens. Hoping to make up for losses in the east, Carthage turned towards colonizing a new land: Ispania. By 421, Ispanian colonies were turning a handsome profit. However, Carthaginian power in Ispania remained decentralized, as there were no developed cities on the peninsula, save one: Tarraco.

Tarraco had been a loyal Athenian colony, mainly since most of the wars Athens had been in were well away from her walls. Tarraco was linked to Athens through Massila and Sicily, so she was rather far from Athenian power, and thus exercised relative autonomy. In 419, Carthage sent the infamous "Mutual Pact" to Tarraco. Although the official meaning of this agreement was to hunt down a group of pirates in the Balearic islands, the Tarrocan leaders knew what it truly meant: Carthage wanted Tarraco as their capital of Ispania.

Being the Demokratios it was, Tarraco put the vote to the people. A series of inconclusive votes and rioting followed. The city effectively spilt into two factions, the Greeks who favored Athens and the Ispanians who favored Carthage. Both sides took control of what they could, and the city descended into virtual civil war. The pro-Greek faction, which included most of the town guard, managed to take control of the city walls and the senate chambers. The pro-Cartheginian faction, including most of the merchants and farmers, however, took control of the granaries and markets. Partisan violence spilled out into the streets, and clashes would occur in the streets by day, by night the factions setting up makeshift forts and walls to protect their holdings.

One messenger, bearing the message that Tarraco wished to defect to Carthage made it to the Phonecian capitol. The men of Carthage, happy that the city had passed under their control, quickly pulled together an army and sent it out to occupy their new holding. Another messenger, bearing word of mass riots, traveled to Athenian Massila, then to Sicily. The Athenian rulers in these lands, horrified that their once-loyal partner was locked in the struggle, gathered an army of their own and sent word to Athens. The Carthaginian army arrive first, where they were promptly shut out by the Greek soldiers that controlled the gates. Assuming that the Carthaginians would win out inside, they allowed food to continue being imported into the city. Spurred on by the arrival of the Phoenicians, the pro-Carthage attempted to seize control of the city. They planned an elaborate coup, where they would surprise and overwhelm the Greek soldiers controlling the gates at night and allow the Carthaginians inside the city. The attempt almost succeeded, but an Athenian aristocrat discovered the plan and alerted the soldiers on the walls of it. When the coup was attempted, the pro-Carthiginians were bloodily repulsed by the waiting soldiers. Any who were still unsure of their loyalties threw their lot in with the Greeks when the Sicilian army arrived on the scene. Despite this, the pro-Carthage faction remained in control of the grain stores, while the pro-Athens army controlled the garrison.

With politics in Tarraco perfectly confused, the commanders of the two armies had the perfect chance to resolve the situation. Unfortunately, both sides were cursed with extremely stubborn commanders and a crippling lack of information on what was going on inside of Tarraco. Both sides believed that the other had come to take a city that was rightfully theirs, and a fierce standoff ensued. When neither side would back down after a week-long standoff, the commanders decided to settle the question with a one-on-one duel, and the victors were to allow the other side to go off unharmed and not punish the opposinf faction inside the city. On one side was the Sicilian commander, a young man in his late twenties, armed with a Xyphos sword and the traditional Hoplon shield, with the regular Greek helmet covering his face. On the other side, the Carthaginian commander was a grizzled old veteran, in his early forties, with a falcata sword in either hand. Both were experienced fighters, but in the end the veteran Carthaginian commander won out. Believing that he had won the city for Carthage, he tried to enter Tarraco.

Unfortunately, the citizens inside Tarraco hadn't been informed of the deal, so the guards believed that the Carthaginians meant to attack them. Sealing off all the exits, the pro-Greek garrison planned to hold off until Athens could relive them. Of course, this meant that they could be crippled if the Carthaginians outside and the pro-Carthaginians inside worked together, so that night they carried out a horrendous slaughter of the pro-Carthaginians and invited the Sicilian army inside. Happy to assist the loyal Tarrocans, the Greeks moved inside and settled down for a siege.

The Carthaginian army was horrified by the slaughter. They moved against the city, but were unable to make any headway against the determined defenders. Eventually the city fell, and was subject to a brutal sacking. This was the only news that reached the ears of Aronopheses: Tarraco has been sacked by the Carthaginians. Aronopheses was outraged, and gathered the full might of the Athenian Empire and prepared for war.

and thus Carthage was pretty much screwed:D
 
Chapter 4 - The Greco-Phonecian War

With Tarraco fallen, Ispanian was essentially Carthaginian. Aronopheses, however, wasn’t in a peace-making mood after the news he received. Gathering an army, he launched a massive invasion of Carthaginian Sicily. The defenders of Lilybaeum fell, and the Carthaginians sent a retaliation force. Athenian armies, however, managed to ambush and destroy the Carthaginians. With Sicily fallen to Athens, Carthage attacked Massila. Athenian Massila managed to hold out against the Carthaginian siege, but elsewhere the Carthaginians advanced. From their bases in Phonecia, Carthaginian armies struck out against Athenian outposts in Cyprus, and other Carthaginian armies landed in Sicily, hoping to retake it.

Aronopheses himself was not a military leader. He was wise enough to realize that his leadership would lead to the destruction of his armies. Instead, he gave command to a fiery young general named Nicephorus. It was Nicephorus who planned the attacks on Sicily. Once Sicily fell, Aronopheses gave all command to Nicephorus. Racing, he sent a force to relieve Massila and prepared to launch an invasion of North Africa. Although he was briefly stalled by a Carthaginian counterattack in Sicily, Nicephorus was ready to attack in early 416. Sailing around Carthage, he attacked the second city in Carthaginian North Africa, Thaspus. Surprising them with his attack in late January, Nicephorus quickly took Thaspus and sacked it in retaliation of the fall of Tarraco. Carthage quickly scraped together an army, and was able to beat back Nicephorus. Retreating to Sicily, Nicephorus replenished his forces and settled down in Sicily.

Carthage had been disheartened by the fall of Sicily and Thaspus, but they were reinvigorated when an Athenian relief force broke against the Carthaginian lines. Massila fell soon after, and was also subject to a brutal sacking. Unfortunately, a mistake made by Phoenician ship captains led to a falling-out between Carthage and Jerusalem. The Second Jewish Kingdom controlled most of Cyprus, so when the Phoenicians put a Jewish port to the sword, thinking it was Athenian, the outraged Jews invaded Phoenicia. Sidon and Tyre were both put under siege, and the shocked Phoenicians were forced to surrender.

Meanwhile, the men of Sparta were growing desperate. Their helots were free, their king dead, and their armies tattered. They needed more men, more land, and a chance to redeem themselves. Their hungry eyes eventually settled on a target: Anatolia. Making an epic crossing of the Aegean in 416, 2000 spartan warriors carried on their shoulders the hopes of their people. The surprised Anatolians were caught unaware, and Halicarnassus was soon put under siege. The Spartan siege was especially brutal, as every day flaming bolts were shot over the walls, starting raging infernos and, eventually, killing their old king Calisthenos. Along with his tragic death, the great Mausoleum of Mausulos was damaged by the flames.

Nicephorus was pressed on all sides by Carthage, but the Jewish intervention allowed him the freedom to send a force to relive Halicarnassus. In an epic battle, the spartan army was crushed. Forced to flee into lawless Cappadocia, the spartans would die out, and eventually fade into another group altogether.

Grateful for the Athenian attack, the Anatolians made major concessions to the Athenians. Along with pledging military support to Athens in the Greco-Phoenician war, the sister of their new King Kalas was married to 19-year old Zeno II. With Anatolian backing, Nicephorus and his army were able to plunge back into the fray, liberating Massila and Tarraco. Nicephorus then led another attack in North Africa, and this time managed to decimate the Carthaginian army. However, he was unable to capitalize on his victory. Carthage was too well defended, and Nicephorus had to pull out of North Africa. He signed a peace treaty with Carthage in Spring 413, granting Athens Massila, Tarraco, and Sicily.

Aronopheses, now thoroughly tired of ruling, gave power to 22-year old Zeno II. When Zeno ascended to the throne, Athens was worn out. Casualties of battle, famine, and plague were rampant, and the depopulated lands in Sicily were full of Carthaginian brigands thinking the war was still on. Zeno, however, had bigger things going on. Kalas I of Anatolia had fallen ill, and had summoned his sister back to Halicarnassus. There, in his bed, he died. Kalas hadn’t produced an heir, so power passed to a man who, ironically enough, was Baselios of Athens.

When news reached Zeno of his ascension to the anatolian throne, shockwaves were sent across the Empire. Where would he reside? Which Empire would he choose? Soon enough, though, Zeno eased the minds of both sides. He incorporated Anatolia into the Athenian Empire, giving Halicarnassus, Sinope, and Ephesus special rights that only Athens and Corinth had enjoyed up until that point. He then swept across Anatolia, building at such a rate that some believed he was possessed. The Mausoleum of Mausulos was restored, and another Mausoleum was built on the opposite side of the city for Calisthenos and Kalas. Likewise, new markets, statues, and theaters popped up across the land. Soon, his fervor for building had come into Greece, too. Athens’s famed long walls were enlarged to extend to the port of Phaleron, and within these walls a new city was built to house Athens’s booming population. Corinth, Thebes, Byzantion, and Thesseloniki were all enjoying similar attention. Even smaller towns reaped the rewards of Zeno’s obsession with irrigation systems, walls, theaters, and markets. It was for his fervent building that Zeno obtained the title “the Architect”.
 
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Chapter 5 - The Architect and his Retinue

Zeno II had inherited everything that had made his father so easy to follow. Young, energetic, and good-looking, Zeno his a powerful intellect behind a congenial smile and soft-spoken demeanor. Zeno began his reign with a power play that would secure his rule over the Athenian Empire. In the entirety of the empire, only two men had the power to overthrow him: Aronopheses, who had held the position before Zeno, and Nicephorus, the successful general that had won the Greco-phonecian war. For their part, there are no records of either one contemplating an attempt to usurp Zeno, but his brilliant move secured his power. First, he shipped Aronopheses off the the island of Samos, where he was endowed with money to build a new library and installed as governor. Aronopheses happily took up the offer, only too happy to take up a life of simple contemplation of his scholarly subjects. Aronopheses had been the first true Baselios of the Athenian Empire, and it is with him that we can place the honor of paving the way for the great things to come from Athens. But his greatness was carried away in the tides of history, for he was a regent that came before a great.

For Nicephorus, however, a different treatment was necessary. Nicephorus was a hero to the people, and had the majority of the army in his pocket. Mere exile or dismissal from his post would lead to outrage. Luckily, Zeno had a twenty-year old half-sister. Marrying the two, Zeno happily adopted Nicephorus into the royal family. With his two potential rivals dealt with, Zeno could finally turn to his true passion: building.

According to his personal biographer, Asclepius, Zeno was born on the same day the Parthenon was completed. Modern historians believe that this was fabricated, as the Parthenon was completed in 432 yet Zeno was born in 435, but the legend goes on. The year Zeno turned 10, a fire gutted the harbor of Piraeus. When Zeno I and his son went to the port-city to organize a rebuilding effort, young Zeno asked his father for a piece of parchment and a jar of ink. Zeno stayed up all night illustrating how he thought the harbor should be rebuilt, and when he showed it to his father, Zeno I was so amazed by the idea that he showed it to the craftsmen at the site. Realizing the brilliance of the idea, they constructed the harbor like Zeno had drawn it, and it rapidly became the standard for harbors across the Mediterranean. Although the accuracy of this tale has often been called into question, it demonstrates the enormous respect Zeno commanded in the architects and craftsmen in the empire.

Thus, Zeno II traveled his empire, constructing new buildings in every major city, and in many minor ones. The war-torn Peloponnese, which had been absorbed into the Athenian Empire after Sparta's defeat near Halicarnassus, was revitalized by Zeno. Sparta herself was razed to the ground, but cities like Olympia and Corinth became boom-towns, located between Cyprus, Crete, and the East and Sicily and the west. Anatolia, too which had its own cultural revolution under Calisthenos, seeped Persian culture into Athenian art and architecture. Paradisios, the Persian royal gardens, now spring up around Senate houses and Theaters in Athenian lands. Persian throne halls were incorporated into Athenian Senate Houses, and the Babylonian colored tiles began giving color and life to the previously been pure white marble. All of this cultural development can be attributed to the great Baselios of Athens: Zeno II.

All of this building, however, came at a price. Zeno's treasuries were notoriously empty, and he had learned enough from his father to dissuade him from raising taxes too high. Instead of cutting back, however, Zeno discovered a new source of income: plunder. The Persian successor states were quite feeble beyond their hinterlands. Nicephorus managed to conquer the southern coast of Asia minor to Cilicia, followed by his conquest of the entirety of the Sinai peninsula. With Sinai in his pocket, Zeno revamped Darius's canal, creating a channel from the Red sea to the Mediterranean, revolutionizing trade from India and Africa. Using Sinai as a bace, Nicephorus the unified the Arabian coast down to Yemen.With the plunder and expanded tax base, Zeno was able to continue his construction. With these trade routes open, Greek culture began to diffuse around the east.

While he traveled his empire for most of the year, Zeno spent eight weeks a year in Athens. It was there that he could see the full results of what he and his precursors had wrought. In the butterfly-filled Agora, one's senses were bombarded. The smells of oriental spices and perfumes mixed with Arabian incense, cretan wine, and various stews being made in the food stalls. Greeks, Persians, Egyptians, Jews, and Romans wandered the streets, along with the occasional African, Carthaginian, or Barbarian. Greek was the most common language, but in one listened closely, they could hear the babble of many foreign languages. The Parthenon rose above the rooftops, gleaming in the sunlight, with the Niketheon right beside it. In the halls of the Library of Athens, Zeno would wander around and see small groups of scholars discussing some particular topic, thinkers putting their ideas down on paper, and Philosophers debating the ideas of morality and truth. Just outside, in the Stoa, orators would lecture their students on war and diplomacy, trade and travel. Clinging to the side of the Acropolis was the Theater of Dionysus, where once a week the players would perform one of the classics, by Aeschylus or Sophocles. It was in Athens, which was becoming less exclusive and more and more a true "world city", that Zeno met three extraordinary men: Alexios, Aristotle, and Demosthenes.

Alexios was the youngest of the three. Born into a middle-class family, Alexios grew fabulously rich off of the new banking profession, which he pioneered. It was said that he could "snap his fingers" and money would be created. With his monetary brilliance, Alexios was able to streamline the tax codes, eliminating loopholes and making conditions more favorable for Athenian merchants. Next, there was Demosthenes. A fiery speaker and political scientist, he was a famous Athenian nationalist. Word of his arrival would, according to legend, reach his destination before he would. His political ability allowed him to control Athenian foreign policy well, allowing Athens to remain in positions of power while not angering foreign dignitaries. Finally, Aristotle was Zeno's favorite philosopher. Unlike his autocratic teacher, Plato, Aristotle favored Demokratios and earthly logic. He helped shape the internal policies of Athenian law, even molding the laws on which Aronopheses and Zeno I had created the Empire. Zeno II, Nicephorus, Alexios, Demosthenes, and Aristotle all worked in tandem to control the Athenian Empire. Together, they wrote the "Guide to Rule", a guide to future rulers on how to govern their empires. In 400 B.C., Zeno II was only 35, and he and his retinue showed no signs of slowing down.
 
2. Unless I'm mistaken, those groups are descendants of the Hittites. The idea i that it is full of "Hittite descendants" (I will admit that I didn't make that clear), not a unified group of Hittites.

The area is a real mishmash. You have Armenians in the East around lake Van where Urartu used to be. However, you also have Phrygians, Lydians, Cilicians, Pisidians, Pamphyllians, and a large amount of different groups not related to Hittities. You're thinking of the East Luwian peoples, or Neo-Hittites. These were defeated and deported, I believe, by the Assyrians during Esarhaddon.
 
I am very interested about how the Spartans are going to handle themselves in Anatolia.

and I am very interested in the borders of this Athenian empire. maybe a map??:D
 
Some inconsistencies about the Greco-Phoenecian War:
-OTL, Carthage had lost his territories in Sicily after a defeat against a sicilian coalition in the first half of 5th century BC; it was only after the failure of the Sicilian expedition that the Carthaginians, called by Segesta, have recovered a territory in west Sicily.
-It doesn't seem to me that Tarraco was a greek colony.
 
I'm back

Sorry for the long delay - honestly, I am. School was a mess, but anyway, I'm back with a new installment and hopefully more to come. To answer some questions:

-OTL, Carthage had lost his territories in Sicily after a defeat against a sicilian coalition in the first half of 5th century BC; it was only after the failure of the Sicilian expedition that the Carthaginians, called by Segesta, have recovered a territory in west Sicily.

Quite true, in OTL. ATL, Athens was so wrapped up in its own troubles. Remember, after that Athens was absorbed in a) consolidating its Greek holdings, b) dealing with Kleomenes's rebellion, and c) dealing with Persian successor states, so Carthage could have easily reclaimed some territory. In fact, this helps the TL as it stretches tensions between Athens and Carthage.

-It doesn't seem to me that Tarraco was a greek colony

So I looked it up, and you are correct, but it was a major trading partner to Athens and it isn't inconceivable that it would submit to Athenian rule. If not, the sacking of one of the only cities in Ispania, and a major trading partner at that, would still anger Aronopheses.

Anyway, without further ado…

Greek Athens


A misnomer if there ever was one, many began referring to Zeno II’s reign as the creation of a more “Greek” Athens. With Athens now in control of Greece, many consider this the creation of a more Greek-oriented Athens, unlike the colonization efforts of previous times. In reality, however, Zeno II’s reign was the opening up of Athens to the world. While previously, an Athenian could never be truly integrated to Sparta or Persia, now the Athenians were opening up to the world. Merchants from as far away as Arabia, India, and Africa all sold their wares in Greek markets, the most popular destinations including Halicarnassus, Samos, and, of course, Athens. Athenian culture, which had remained solely greek, opened p to foreign influences. Through Anatolia, Persian ascetics slowly incorporated themselves into Athenian art and architecture. Babylonian glaze began to decorate the floors of Stoas, paradisio gardens began to grace the exteriors of temples, and reliefs in the persian style became prominent in Athenian lands. Likewise, Athenian theater received a massive influx of writings from other cultures. Tales such as The Epic of Gilgamesh and stories of the Egyptian deities found there way into theatrical adaptations. This all led to an extraordinary flowering of Athenian culture.

This blossoming of culture was all attributed, and some consider rightfully, to Baselios Zeno II. “The Architect” travelled from town to town with his powerful retinue, building new courthouses, harbors, stoas, gymnasiums, theaters, and more. Many archeologists today consider Zeno II one of the greatest rulers in history, mainly because of the plethora of work he left them. Zeno’s prodigious building projects may have left his treasuries empty, but most forgave him for the prosperity that he brought with him. On the advice of Alexios, he created a state bank from which money was lent and, ultimately, created. Zeno, however, decided not to use it to stuff his treasuries and instead cut back taxes on the people, winning him love but not riches. It cannot be stressed enough how the reign of Zeno II the Architect proved to be a Golden age of Athens.

In the political spectrum, however, the world was changing. Macedonia, which made up the majority of Athens’s northern border, was rapidly hellenizing. Just as Persian culture crept into Athenian society, Athenian culture crept into Macedonian society. In 366, the entire court of Macedon spoke Athenian Greek, met in Athenian-style senate chambers, and used Athenian currency for trade. This year is important because, at the age of 73, Zeno II the Architect died. Whereas Pericles had caused a week-long mourning around Athens, it is said that Zeno’s death caused a month-long mourning across the entire Athenian Empire. He was buried in a silver coffin and placed next to Pericles below the Parthenon. His right hand, however, was cut off and burned. When it was reduced to ashes, they were set afloat in the Aegean sea, so that the hand that wrought so much for Athens could now drift to all corners of the Earth.

Unfortunately for the Empire, Zeno II hadn’t left a clear heir. He had a legitimate son, Calisthenos II, but it was widely believed by the Athenian population that he would move the capital to Halicarnassus and forsake the true Greeks. Unwilling to submit to a half-Anatolian, the people of Greece threw their support behind another man: Xenophon. Xenophon was the nephew of the famed general Nicephorus, and had studied at the feet of his great uncle. It could be said that Xenophon didn’t have the brilliance or panache of his uncle, but he did have a grim determination that few other generals could match. The night after Calisthenos II was crowned, 25-year old Xenophon took control of the city guard and burst into the Baselios’s palace. Demanding that 23-year old Calisthenos come out and surrender the crown to him, Xenophon was forced to battle the palace guards. It was a bloody battle, but within the hour Xenophon and his men were advancing on Calisthenos’s bedroom. The young Baselios was taken into custody, and Xenophon proclaimed himself Baselios, Strategos, and Hegemon of Athens. Some of the people welcomed his rule, but others, particularly the immigrants and lower classes that Zeno II had endeared himself to, howled in rage. Across the Aegean sea, the people of Anatolia were doing the same. If this Greek pretended could replace an election with an army, they reasoned that they could too. The anatolians sailed under the equally gifted general Andreas.

The two armies met on the island of Euboea, where they met in an indecisive battle. Andreas fell back to a hill-top fortress, where Xenophon put him under siege. Constructing a counter-wall around the hill, Xenophon and his army settled down for the siege. For three weeks, Andreas managed to keep morale up, until late in 358 Calisthenos II arrived at the head of an army he purchased from Macedonia. Outmaneuvered, Xenophon was forced to retreat into the hills. However, in the night Xenophon’s fleet picked up his army and sailed back to mainland Greece. Resupplying, Xenophon returned to Euboea, where he outflanked the Anatolian and Macedonian armies and managed to crush Calisthenos’s force. Andreas, however, was able to salvage the battle just in time to save Calisthenos, despite the battle being a Greek victory.

Frustrated that he hadn’t caught his rival, Xenophon engaged in a vicious guerrilla war against Andreas and Calisthenos II. Crops were burned, scouts were killed, and the armies were struck at every turn. By the time the Anatolians reached their ships, their bloodied force was badly outnumbered by Xenophon’s army. Forcing a battle on the beach before the ships, Xenophon went in for the kill in May 357. The huddled, scared, and outnumbered Anatolians and Macedonians formed up for a last stand. Andreas, however, hadn’t lost any of his skill. Pulling his forces back to dry, loose sand, Andreas managed to prevent Xenophon from using his superior cavalry. Xenophon tried to compensate by sending his cavalry around the Anatolian lines, but the loose sand caused many horses to crash, forcing the rest to pull back. Meanwhile, Andreas had him men move much like the Athenians at Marathon so long ago, and the outflanked Greeks surrendered. Xenophon was exiled to Italy, and Calisthenos was returned to the throne, with Andreas as the master of the army.

When he returned to Greece, however, Calisthenos found that he was no longer welcome. The gates of Athens, Corinth, and Thebes were all promptly shut in his face. Enraged, Calisthenos declared that he would conquer any city that didn’t submit, but the badly bloodied Anatolian army was no match for the Athenians’ formidable defenses. Finally, 32-year old Calisthenos abdicated his throne in an act of peace making. Taking his place would be his son, a 9-year old boy named Pericles. His mother had been Greek, so he was allowed the throne as “three-quarters Greek”. Until he came of age, Pericles would have the regent Demosthenes, the same man that served his grandfather so faithfully. One of the first acts of Demosthenes was to assist in a civil war that was occurring in Macedonia. One side was a group of pro-Greeks, led by Phillip II, the right king of Macedon. The other side was a group of anti-Greeks, led by a usurper named Antiochous. Sweeping in on Phillip’s side, Demosthenes’s armies destroyed Antiochous’s and saved Phillip’s crown. Rather shrewdly, Demosthenes demanded that Phillip either submit to Athenian rule or pay massive reparations to Athens for lost soldiers and other, minor grievances. Like his Hellenophillic self, Phillip agreed to submit to Athens’s rule.

Philip himself was a notorious womanizer, with at least a dozen children. However, he was a military and political genius, and quickly rose through the ranks in Athenian politics. His smart policies, combined with his quick wit and charming personality, made him the darling of Athenian society. While in Epirus, Phillip met a charming young princess named Olympias, and soon they had a son. Born on July 21st, 356, this boy would be raised alongside Phillip’s other favorite bastard son, Ptolemy, in the Macedonian court. The boy’s name was Alexander.
 
Hello all! My previous thread died out, mainly because I didn't like a. where it was going and b. some nitpicks in the story. So, I'm reviving it. The story will mainly follow the same TL until around where I stopped, but with more detail. However, here are a couple of things you won't see:
- An Athenian wank. Although it might seem like one at first, I promise it won't be.

- Shameless advertising. Except for Xamm Anim, Isaac's Empire, Apple products, and AH.com in general. And, without further ado...

Chapter 1 - The Peloponnesian War

In 429, the Spartan armies under Archidamus II returned to Attica. They plundered the rich peninsula again, but this time they were lucky enough to strike while the Athenian navy and their leader, Pericles, was off on a naval expedition. Seizing the opportunity, the Spartans laid siege to Athens. Brokering a deal with Artaxerxes of Persia, the spartans sold their Asian holdings in exchange for a navy to blockade the Port-city of Piraeus, cutting Athens off from her overseas colonies and preventing and extra food from being shipped in. Athens was under siege.

Pericles received word of the siege while he was off the coast of Crete. He immediately packed up his men and sailed off to relieve his city, picking up Cretan and Ionian warriors along the way. As Pericles sailed around to Athens, his worst fears were realized: the Spartans had sealed off the city from all outside contact. He managed to sail around to the opposite side of Attica before the Spartans discovered his presence, but rumors of approaching Athenians spurred the Spartans into action. On April 9th, they stormed Piraeus. Battering their way inside, the Spartans managed to take the port, but they failed to get into Athens before they closed the gates. The siege was only memorable for one man, an Athenian captain who facilitated the retreat and evacuated most of he Athenian army once he knew the battle was lost. For now he remained unknown, but one day, Persians and Greeks alike would tremble at the name Zeno of Piraeus.

Operating out of his base on the coast of Marathon, site of a great Athenian victory 61 years earlier, Pericles was beginning to formulate a plan. While lesser men would have retreated or thrown their men in a last-ditch charge, Pericles crafted a devastatingly cunning plan. Aware that if Athens fell, the Delian League would crumble, Pericles played all his cards in a desperate gamble. In the early hours of May 13th, 429, his plan was set in motion.

Around midnight, a force of about 400 Cretan mercenaries surrendered to the Spartans at the gates of Piraeus. Tired and inattentive, the Spartans allowed their prisoners to hold on to their swords as they led them inside. Once the gates closed behind them, the Cretans killed their Spartan experts and spread out across the port. They systematically slaughtered the sleeping Spartans, and opened the gates for the rest of the Athenian army. Euboean raiders stormed the Spartan ships, capturing them too. By the time the sun rose, Pericles had brought his full armed might into Piraeus.

Athens was no longer cut off from her allies and Pericles had returned at the head of the full armed might of the Delian League. Bewildered, the Spartans turned around and retreated to the Peloponnese. Pericles, however, was not in a forgiving mood.Gathering the armies of Athens, he sailed around to Corinth, which he promptly stormed and captured. He had arrived before the Spartans, and it was there that he would lay his trap.

While leading his army to Sparta's ally, corinth, Archidamus II was approached by a breathless messenger only a mile out of Corinth.The messenger told him that the Athenians had captured the city, but the populous had rise up against them and that, if he hurried, Archidamus could drive out the Athenians and kill Pericles. The Spartans ran to Corinth, where the gates were promptly thrown open. The spartan contingents spread out sweeping through the city. However, there was no fighting going on. One by one, the spartans were picked off and killed. By the time Archidamus figured out what was going on and managed to pull his army out of the city, only a fifth of the Spartan force remained. Realizing the peril he was in, Archidamus continued his retreat to Sparta, but was cut off by a newly raised force from Knossos, Samos, and Rhodes blocked his path. Trapped between the two Delian armies, the spartans attempted to fight their way out, but the tired, bloodied, outnumbered Spartans were no match for the fresh Delian troops. After a brief display of resistance, Archidamus was captured, and the rest of the Spartans surrendered. In the wreckage of famed Spartan courage, Archidamus was brought before Pericles, who executed his great rival.

Now desperate and leaderless, Sparta forged a last-ditch alliance with Persia, promising all conquered Athenian land in exchange for military assistance. Persian Shah Artaxerxes agreed, and gathered an army at the Satrap of Sardis. Compared to the previous Persian armies that had entered Greece, Artaxerxes's was relatively small and undertrained. Perhaps it was all Artaxerxes could scrape together for an external operation, but many believe that he had learned the lessons of Darius and Xerxes, and was wary of sending large armies to Greece. Sparta sent their remaining armies over to Sardis, and prepared for an invasion of Greece.

It is unknown how Pericles got word of the invasion plan, but in September 429, he gathered his armies and sailed over to Sardis. He surprised the gathered Spartan-Persian army, and in a bloody, 8-hour battle, smashed all resistance. The Persians tried to retreat into Sardis, but in the confusion the Athenian took control of the gates and sacked the city. Pericles now reigned victorious.

The terms of peace imposed on Sparta were harsh. All of the helots were to be freed, and each was to receive 50 drachmas. All military leaders were to be exiled or killed, and Spartan men were to be available, at any time, to assist the Athenian strategos. Finally, all territories north of Corinth were to be ceded to the Delian League. Spartans cried out in protest, and a pretended set up a new Spartan kingdom in Syracuse, but in early 428, when Syracuse was sacked, the Spartans realized that Pericles's offer was better than continued war. Pericles could congratulate himself on a job well done crippling Sparta.

His terms of peace with the Persians were much more generous. A bit of gold and far-reaching trade concessions were all that was needed for peace. It is unknown why Pericles chose to be so lenient, but maybe it was because he had been fighting his whole life, and hoped for a lasting peace. At 67, Pericles's health was in decline, and he was able to live out his last year in peace. Before he expired, however, Pericles would leave two more marks on Athens.

First, he adopted Nike as his personal patron Goddess. In her honor, Pericles constructed a great temple, called the Niketheon, on the Acropolis. Although it was only about half the size of the Parthenon, Pericles made sure that it was no less beautiful. Built in the shape of a six-pronged marble star, it housed beautifully rendered sculptures in five of the "prongs". Each was a bronze statue of a famous Athenian victory, those being Marathon, Salamis, Piraeus, Corinth, and Sardis. In the center, there was a silver statue of Nike, with a statue of Pericles bowing beneath her. Pericles poured gold and workers into his final project, and it was finished within the year.

Pericles's second contribution was less of his own devices. In 427, Zeno of Piraeus was elected Strategos to replace aging Pericles. While construction of the Niketheon was going on, Pericles instructed Zeno on every matter of state that Athens needed him to guide. 68-year old Pericles tutored 27-year old Zeno right up until the day the Niketheon was completed. Upon seeing his two great temples, the Niketheon and the Parthenon, he exclaimed "Wisdom and Victory bless the Athenians!" And with that, he passed away.
I think I feel like our friend Berserker...to bash your head in with a mace(as a joke of course or friendly rebuke) because in my opinion 'Alternate History' may show a way of how things may have turned differently than they did,but doesn't advocate a 'rape' of history;some points for you to bear in mind:
1) No siege of Piraeus was possible because Athens and Piraeus were protected as one by the long walls of Themistocles.
2) The Athenian triremes and shipyards were protected by the fort of Munichia,within the Long walls-an impossible fort to take backed by the rocks of Perama-and the Spartans and their allies new that they lacked the means to storm the Long Walls,let alone storming Munichia;their presence in Attica was the only form of siege they could do by destroying Athenian crops and farms with impunity.
3) The Athenian Navy completely dominated the Aegean Sea at that time and maintained a permanent home fleet; and any preparations of a Persian armament for the sea would have been identified and the Epistates for the time being would have alerted the home fleet and probaly the North Aegean fleet as well since any invasion through the Aegean would come from the south east(the Phoenician fleet).Any Persian attempt to enter the Aegean was a 'cause of war' in terms of the treaty of 449 BC signed by the Athenian Callias representing the Athenian Empire and the representatives of the king of Persia.The Persians,assuming they had taken leave of their senses,in Piraeus were exposed to concentric attacks from the the Athenian fleets,and the Samian and Chian squadrons that would certainly follow the crazy Persians with at least 150 battle veteran triremes.Anyway the Athenians were operating in three different fronts in 460 BC,against Persians(Egypt) and the Spartan alliance in central Greece and in naval operations around Peloponnese,without impairing the invincibility of the city from attack by land forces.
4) Pericles,never campaigned in person,Rhodes was not member of the Delian alliance,Cretans were Dorians and allies of Sparta,Sardis is not a port city.(these are some of your mistakes)
5) How would the Spartan armies sail through the Aegean? with whose navy? Sparta NEVER put an army on ships in its history.They never trusted an army in the water.
6)Athenians would never dream invading the Peloponnese;apart from the disparity of the land forces,Peloponnese had staunch allies like Tegea and Flius and Achaia with considerable home armies.
7) Now how do you think that Pericles(?) 'stormed' Corinth?The Corinthians would take refuge in Acrocorinth,have you seen this fort? it survives until today;even the Turks used it.You cannot storm it even with the support of 19th century medium artillery.
8) Spartans would never sign a treaty releasing the helots;it was their lifeblood,a matter of national survival,Athenians would have to invade Peloponnese, something in the sphere of dreams.Only Epameinondas much later succeded that and he released half the helots(Messinia...)
I would really like a thread like that,but you need much more research because it is very complicated and and any thread needs plausibility.
9)You cannot speak about 'the office of strategos' in Athens since Athens had ten generals,one for each tribe,your Zeno probably been one of them and he had as his immediate superior the War Archon of Athens.
10) How would Sparta be left leaderless after losing a king? did it remain leaderless after Leonidas sacricice at Thermopylae? of course not, because Sparta had two kings and it was a law that if the one king was campaigning the other remained behind in Sparta,although I believe the Athenians with a Spartan king and Spartan prisoners would bargain and use them as liverage and would not kill them, as it happened with the 292 prisoners from Sfacteria in 425 BC.
 
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