Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

“It is the end! It will be the end of Rhegium once they block our port!!”

“Athelycus, ask Theonia to send a fleet to expel the Messinians immediately!”

“Immediately send an envoy to make peace with Dionysius! Dionysius' enemy is Theonia, not us! So as long we offer him our wealth, he will accept Rhegium!”

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

“That's enough! Everyone shut your mouth!” Athelycus roared, surprising everyone.

“You are already panicking like this even though the Syracusans are still at sea! Won't you immediately surrender once they land?! Look at you. You are not even as good as your average soldier! Dionysius has long wanted to conquer Rhegium so that he could monopolise the Strait of Messina and gain great wealth. Thus he will not agree to our offer of peace! Therefore, I will have the guards fed those who speak such words of betrayal of the city-state's interests again to the fishes!…” Athelycus' angry scolding had frightened those who had just said to “negotiate peace” to lower their heads but also made the others ashamed.

Afterwards, he looked at the only man in the city hall, who didn't shout nor panic, asking him seriously, “Pheidon, what do you suggest in the face of this terrible situation?”

Pheidon, who was known as the least liked among the Rhegians, has a serious and decisive personality. When he was first elected as one of the strategoi, he did not listen to anyone's dissuasion and persuasion. He continued to strictly investigate the tax evasion in the port, which offended many Rhegian merchants. Since Rhegium was a city-state with developed trade and commerce, many of its statesmen were wealthy people. After that, Pheidon was no longer elected as a strategos and a statesman again. It wasn't until last year, when the front of Syracuse reached the other side of the Strait, that the panicking Rhegians remembered this brave citizen again. Thus he was once again elected as a strategos.

At this moment, he solemnly said, “Syracuse's army will land in Locri. Although Locri isn't far from Rhegium, they would still have trouble climbing the Montalto mountain(the southernmost tip of the Apennine mountains, with a peak of nearly 2,000 metres). Therefore, if Syracuse wanted to attack us, they could only take the rugged mountain path along the coast to reach us. Therefore, as long as we send troops to defend the mountain pass, no amount of Syracusan soldiers will be able to make a difference…”

Athelycus then excitedly said, “You thought the same thing I did!”

Pheidon didn't care that the polemarchos made it look like he had the same idea to look better and continued to say, “Naturally, we should still be careful that Syracuse would go west from Locri, pass through the famous ancient road connecting the east and west costs, reach Medma, and then go south to attack Taurania, opening a channel to attack Rhegium! ”

“This is really a worrying problem.” After Pheidon's remark, Athelycus' confused thought cleared up. His eyebrows tightly wrinkled together, and after thing for a while, he loudly said, “We must remind Taurania to strengthen their defence and guard against enemies who may attack from the north! Furthermore, we must send troops to reinforce Taurania, else, with its strength alone, even with a river as its barrier, it will be difficult for them to resist the attack of the Syracusan army!”

Those who had been flustered now nodded and agreed.

Athelycus ignored them and asked Pheidon in a hasty and modest tone, “Pheidon, anything else that we need to consider?”

“It is inevitable that our trade channel will be cut off once this war breaks out, so you all should stop worrying about your own trade.” Pheidon seriously added, “And even if our warships had stayed here, they are still not the opponents of Syracuse's fleet, so it's better to give them to Theonia. At least, they can form a relatively powerful fleet and cause some trouble to Syracuse…”

Pheidon's words made some people ashamed.

“You are right! That's why I have given our warships to the Theonians!” Athelycus immediately took credit.

Someone objected and retorted, “The Syracusans are not fools. They could use their fleet to bypass the coastal path and land near Rhegium.”

Pheidon shook his head and said. “We all know that the coastline near the Strait of Messina is mostly cliffs, with dense reefs, while there are only a few good beaches and bays, and we had occupied the two best(referring to Rhegium's city and port, which are separated). Therefore, we only need to station some soldiers on the remaining beaches. I believe that no matter how strong the Syracusan army is, they would still not dare to risk a huge sacrifice to just land in front of our well-defended battlefront.”

Pheidon's words scattered the panicking they felt. Athelycus took advantage of the situation and said, “I propose for Pheidon to be the commander of the Rhegian army.”

Almost no one objected.

Pheidon accepted the appointment. He then seriously said to the polemarchos, “Lord Athelycus, while we are strengthening our defence, we must immediately ask Theonia for help! Once Syracuse and Locri attack Taurania with full force, we would not be able to resist them even if all the soldiers of our two cities combined!”

“Don't worry.” Athelycus had already straightened out his thoughts, as he barely squeezed out a smile and said, “The news of Syracuse landing in Locri, I believe that Theonia, Crotone, Scylletium….these city-states will soon know about it, and would then form a huge army consisting of the South Italia Alliance, so how could Syracuse dare face us with all their might when they are about to face a huge battle?!”

“Right! Right!…” Said the others repeatedly.

“But of course, we also need to get in touch with Theonia quickly, tell them our current situation, and discuss with them the next step…considering that there is already an enemy fleet cruising in the eastern waters of Magna Graecia, we must immediately send an envoy in a fast ship to reach the port of Clampetia by the west coast and go to Thurii…” Said Athelycus after making up his mind.

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

“The alarming news of the Syracusan army landing in Locri” quickly spread throughout Magna Graecia. However, the Theonians remained calm compared to those of other city-states, as they had not yet suffered any defeat, causing them to firmly believe in their legion, their Senate, and especially their amazing archon.

On their way to the Senate, Kunogelata and Cornelius ran into each other.

“In the end, the worst possible thing still happened. Syracuse had come, and I heard that Dionysius led no less than 100,000 soldiers!” Said Cornelius as he walked with melancholy on his face.

“That's why we must immediately have Hieronymus form two new legions!” Kunogelata's mood is not much better than that of Cornelius, “Philesius and Ansitanos should have gotten the report. We could only hope that they can urge Crotone and Scylletium…these allied city-state's armies to merge with us!”

“Now that the storm had come, everyone is in the same boat, and no one can escape. I am sure that Crotone and Scylletium won't hesitate any longer.” Cornelius was quite convinced about this.

“Yes, and now, we can only rely on them.” Kunogelata sighed, only at the moment of crisis did he realise that both the Theonians, the Senate, and himself were quite dependent on the young archon, “Where could Lord Davos be now? Does he know about the attack of the Syracusan army?”

“There was an urgent message from the north yesterday. Lord Davos had led his army to the Laos Fortress and are about to go to Laos to take a ship to reach Pyxous…and since the messenger had taken a day to reach Thurii from Laos Fortress, I believe that Lord Davos has now reached Pyxous and are together with Androlis, and will soon learn about Syracuse's invasion of Magna Graecia.” Said Cornelius.

The statesmen of the Senate are paying close attention to Davos' movements. However, due to Kunogelata being busy assisting Seclian to prepare for the construction of the military port in the past few days, he had forgotten to inquire about Davos.

“I hope he can beat back the Samnites as soon as possible so that he can come back quickly!” Kunogelata said eagerly.

At this time, they are about to pass through Nike Square, where groups of children are playing. Some youths were running around the square (mainly because the arena and other fields in Thurii were occupied by others for ball games, resulting in the rapidly expanding urban area of Thurii not having enough venues for people to use for fitness and sports training), some of the elderly were leaning on the steps or the memorial pillars, lying on the ground and sunbathing, while others were reading books that they had just copied from the library…

In the centre of the square, a temporary wooden platform was erected. It is where the teachers of the Institute of Mathematics teach simple arithmetic knowledge to the crowd, and many had come to watch, listen and learn. (This practice was a habit developed by the two Pythagorean disciples back in Amendolara and continued doing it. The head of the Institute of Mathematics, Metoticles, believed that this is the best way to expand the influence of their school and attract students.)

And after Lysias became the head of the Institute of Literature, he didn't allow himself to be outdone, so he also sent teachers to Nike Square every day to stand in front of the notice board under the steps of the Grand Senate Hall. They read the contents of the newly announced laws, explained the application of standard grammars, pointed out some rhetorical errors in the notice board (which made the Senate's scribes cautious for fear of making mistakes), as well as giving lectures about Theonian laws and debate skills, which naturally attracted many people to listen and learn.

In such a busy square, there are naturally vendors. Although Thurii's city hall has stipulated that vendors are not allowed to set up shops in the square, it is still not enough to trouble the shrewd Greek merchants. They pushed wooden carts filled with snacks, fruits, and drinks, walking around the square and earning a lot of money at the end of the day… Even today, when the Syracusan army attack, the excitement of the square has not been reduced.