Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

“Yea, I saw him. He is good looking, just like you!”

“I haven’t given him a name yet because I was waiting for you to come back.”

On the way back, Davos had already thought about the name of his child. He put his arm around his wife's shoulder and the other arm around her chin. He thought about it and then said, “I remember the first time I found out that you were pregnant was when I have just beaten Crotone…this time, he was born when we defeated Crotone again, and the war with Crotone has just ended. This child is so closely tied to Crotone, which should be the wish of Hades! So I think that it's better to name our child…Crotokatax, what do you think?”

“Crotokatax…Crotokatax…” Cheiristoya softly said it several times, then she looked at her husband with slight worry, “Wouldn't this name cause complaints?” (kataktitís means Conqueror, and Crotokatax means conqueror of Crotone)

Davos smiled and said, “If my child has this name, then when he grows up, the Theonians will think about our hardship in founding Theonia and the contribution of his father to the union, and so they will be kinder to him! And at the same time, if our child has an ambition, then with the encouragement of this name, he will create his own glory!….”

Cheiristoya, who wasn't too satisfied with the name, thought about it and finally nodded, “Okay, his name will be Crotokatax then.”

As soon as she said this, the crying of the child in the outer room suddenly stopped.

Cheiristoya covered her mouth and looked at Davos in surprise, “My god, Hera blessed this name! Our child accepted his name!”

At this time, Azune came in with the child in her arms.

Cheiristoya took him and whispered, “Little…little child, this is your father. Call him father.”

The child cried “dada” and moved around.

“Look, he is calling for you!” Cheiristoya said with a gentle smile, then she carefully placed the child in front of Davos.

Davos then carefully took him in his arms for fear that he might hurt the little guy.

This time, the child did not cry. He opened his eyes and looked at Davos curiously with his bright eyes, and scratched the face of Davos with his two chubby hands.

Davos just let him play around. But at this moment, Davos felt the blood surging through his heart and excitedly said, “Cheiristoya, I am going to take my name as the family name and pass it on to our children, and then they will pass it on to future generations. I believe that the Davos family will become the most dazzling family in the Mediterranean!”

The eyes of Cheiristoya brightened at the words of Davos. Most Greeks only have a first name but no family name, and in order for them to distinguish people having the same names, they will often add their native place or other annotation to their first name, such as: Socrates of Athens, Socrates – son of Asidates and so on., but the nobles of Persia, the great country in the east, have family names. As a native of Miletus in Asia Minor, Cheiristoya realized the ambition of her husband from his words, and so, she repeated her son's future name with great interest, “Crotokatax Davos….”

At this time, Davos caught a glimpse of a small head poking out of the bedroom’s door.

“Cynthia, come in!” He beckoned.

The seven-year-old Cynthia took the nearly five-year-old Adoris, and went to the bed with hesitation.

“Come and see your little brother!” Davos said happily to both siblings.

“You now have a child…do…do you still want us?” Cynthia asked timidly.

Davos was taken aback. He didn't expect that his adopted daughter would be so sensitive. After handing his child to Cheiristoya, he held both of them to his chest and said aloud, “You will always be my children, so how could I not want you?!”

Cheiristoya also softly said, “And mommy also hopes that you can take good care and protect your little brother once you grow up!”

The two children were comforted by the husband and wife, and their sadness had immediately disappeared. Then they took a look at the baby in the arms of Cheiristoya with curiosity.

“Can I touch him?” Asked Cynthia in a low voice.

“Of course you can.” Cheiristoya smiled softly.

Cynthia carefully touched the baby's face, “What's the name of my brother?”

“Crotokatax, his nickname is…uhm…Cro.”

“He is so small.” Adoris also gently grasped the baby's hand with curiosity, and said like a small adult, “Brother, I will protect you.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Hey, wake up! Wake up!!…” Kelebus, who is in a deep sleep, was forcefully awakened. He still felt sleepy even after opening his sleepy eye, so he turned over and was about to continue his dream.

Immediately, a whip soaked in water strike his body, it was so painful that it made him jumped up in pain, and the demon like voice of the supervisor sounded in his ear, “Go to the quarry immediately, Lord Lysimenes wants to say something!”

Kelebus, who was scared of getting hit by the whip again, had dragged his sore legs and endured his hunger as he staggered out of the mines. But he accidentally knocked down his companion, while his companion subconsciously stretched out his hand and pulled him, so both of them fell on the ground. Kelebus stayed lying down for a while before getting up. During which, he was whipped again several times by the supervisor.

The Crotonian captives were like ants staggering out of the mines and gathered in the circular square in the mines, with lots of freshly dug marbles.

On the guard tower at the entrance, Lysimenes, the person in charge of Thurii’s quarry, was impatiently watching the sight below, and he then ordered his men, “They are too slow. Go and make these Crotonians to hurry up!”

As a result, the Crotonians were like lambs that were driven toward the guard tower by the supervisors with their sticks and whips.

This similar sight was also happening in front of the construction site of the Temple of Hades and the copper mine in Thurii.

“Crotonians, I wish I could keep you here for hundreds of years due to the crimes that you have committed on Thurii! And let your dirty flesh and blood flow into the sewage and your fragile bones to become powder!…” Lysimenes cursed maliciously, “But the great Hades was kind enough to let Theonia sign an armistice with your damn Crotone, and…become an ally…so now, all of you can go home….”

After Lysimenes reluctantly said these words, the square suddenly fell into a dead silence, and the captives couldn't believe what they were hearing.

“He…what did he just say?” The companion next to Kelebus asked in a trembling voice.

“He…he just said that we could go home….” Murmured Kelebus, then he seemed to realize something and grabbed the shoulder of his companion, “Did you hear that?! We can go home! We are free!….”

Only after countless people confirmed what they heard was true, did they become so excited and started shedding tears. They hugged each other, cheered, kissed the land under their feet, and closed their eyes and felt the warm sunshine…these days, they were like slaves digging in a dark cave while enduring the beating of their supervisor. They couldn't even eat enough and sleep well…making these Crotonian citizens who lived a comfortable life nearly collapsed. They have never felt freedom to be so precious as they do today.

Lysimenes snorted coldly not wanting to watch them any longer, “Get the bread and cheese and let them eat.”

“What if they resist after eating their fill?! With so many captives, we couldn't handle them!” One of his subordinates hesitatingly said.

“That would be better!” Lysimenes sneered, “If they broke the contract that they have just signed, then we can just annihilate them all!”

“Understood.”

“Once they are done eating, let them take a bath in the river and change their clothes, so that those Crotonians won't say that we are abusing our captives.”

‘Is this not called abuse?!’ His subordinate silently criticize.

With the arrival of Crotone's envoy, the captives finally became convinced of the fact that “Theonia and Crotone have become allies and that they are now finally going home.” They then began marching towards the port of Thurii under the protection of fully armed Theonian soldiers.

Why the need for protection? For fear that the radicals of Thurii would harm the unarmed and weakened Crotonian captives. Kelebus had already experienced that situation half a year ago, but this time, the Thurians did not cause any trouble to the huge group who wanted to return to Crotone, like he had worried. And even when they arrived at the port, they could only see few Thurians.

Where are the people of Thurii? This thought only flashed in the mind of Kelebus, then his mind became completely occupied with the joy of finally going home smoothly!

It was only when the transport ship left the port of Thurii that the captives became relieved.

“I will never return to this damn place again!” One of the captives vented, and was echoed by most of the soldiers, including Kelebus: Two wars, and they became a captive twice, especially the second one was so nightmarish that it had made them to not even want to recall it. Each of them had more or less fear of Theonia in their heart!

In fact, in the second Crotonian war, Theonia had treated the captives in this way because they had to. After all, managing tens of thousands of captives was very difficult and most of the male citizens of Theonia were busy fighting, and at the same time, the Crotonian fleet kept raiding the coast of Thurii from time to time. So once the captives rioted, the consequences would be unimaginable. That is why the senate decided to treat them like slaves and keep them away from the cost by imprisoning them in the mining area in the mountain and crushing the Crotonian captives with harsh environment, hunger and heavy labor.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

And the reason for why the Theonians are not paying attention to the Crotonian captives who left Thurii was because their heroes are soon coming back!

The third legion left 3,000 men under the leadership of Asistes to temporarily defend the city of Aprustum. And the first legion left 2,000 men and was led by Hielos to be in charge of Krimisa for the time being, while the rest returned.