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BC
548
O Logos "The Word." Battle for Margiana Part One In the early Spring, Military Governor Darius of Persia, have received new orders from the Emperor Cyrus the Great, broke camp and immediately abandoned his base of operations in Southern Margiana. The 3rd Imperial Army, numbering over 73,000 Persian conscripts, struck out to the north east. The exact contents of the sealed orders that Cyrus had sent to Darius were unknown, but Darius was resolved to act decisively. He was faced with a growing threat to his east and far north from two assembling barbarian armies and he was committed to keeping them from merging. His orders had included the option to retreat if prudent, but Darius had concluded that allowing the newly militarized barbarians of Massagetae and the returning Khwarazmians to re-occupy Margiana would leave Persia in a far worse position than they had been in before they had invaded in the first place. Darius was committed to attempting a risky victory as opposed to a retreat he knew would seriously endanger Persia itself. Darius’ destination was the Oxus River, which he knew the barbarian hordes would have to ford in order to strike out for Margiana. He knew that the army forming around the Aral Sea was larger, but also composed of tribes of Khwarazmians mixed with Scythians. He counted on this multi-tribal structure to delay that army while he dealt with the more homogeneous Massagetae. His advance reports from his scouts put the Massagetae army at roughly the same size as his own army, and he believed the disciplined soldiers of Persia would be able to rout the barbarians with enough time to recover and re-deploy against the northern barbarians. As Darius approached the Oxus River, he received word that the Massagetae had set out from their camp near the mountains towards the Oxus. Apparently, as barbarians were wont to do, they were anxious to come to grips with the Persian foe, as well as desiring to cross the Oxus River unmolested. The Persians, likewise, desired to reach the Oxus first. The race was on. The Persians, as they drew nearer to the river, began to actively hunt down the Massagetae scouts, and while the barbarian people had long experience with tribal warfare on horseback, they had no concept of how an organized army would deploy screens of scouts and skirmishers. As a result, the Massagetae, by the time they neared the river, were noticeably short of military intelligence while the Persians remained relatively well informed. The Massagetae army, led by a coalition of clan leaders, arrived at the Oxus to find the other bank deserted. The nervous barbarian horsemen dispatched several well-armed scouting parties over the bank and determined that the Persian Army was not lying in wait on the other side of the bluffs. The Massagetae army had reached the Oxus River first! The barbarian tribal chiefs preened and complimented themselves on the natural speed and ferocity of their people and set about fording the Oxus at the nearby large ford. The crossing took two days and, when it was complete, the Massagetae army stood, mostly on horseback and roughly 50,000 men strong. It was the largest gathering of soldiers that the Massagetae had ever seen and the Persians were still nowhere in sight. With the river at their backs, the barbarians sent out wide cavalry sweeps attempting to locate their foe. For several days, the barbarians could find no sign of the Persians and the nervous Massagetae leaders refused to budge far from the relative security of the river. They believed their army to be superior, certainly, but rumor of the dramatic Persian victory over the Khwarazmians last year had only grown worse in the telling. Finally, the Massagetae scouts, now strangely unmolested by any Persian outriders, found traces of their quarry. The Persian Army had passed by three days ago, a couple of days travel south: towards the river. The Massagetae commanders panicked and focused all of their attention to their south and confirmed that the original reports were correct. Darius had led his men to the banks of the Oxus, sufficiently south of the Massagetae to avoid detection, and forded the river himself. The large Persian army was now between the Massagetae army and their homes. With vivid memories of the damage Darius had wreaked on the undefended Khwarazmian villages on the Plains of Margiana, the barbarians immediately re-forded the river, heading back east in an attempt to cut off the Persians. Darius’ scouts watched until, the next day, the entire army had finally crossed the river again, and then road east to catch up with the main army. Darius was purposely travelling slowly, burning occasional swatches of grass and the occasional tree to document his progress for the now pursuing Massagetae. He had little interest in traveling the 200 kilometers necessary to begin finding sizeable Massagetae villages to seize. Darius was heading to a spot his scouts had picked out several days ago near the rocky, semi-mountainous region halfway between the Oxus and Yaxartes rivers. He did not have the supplies or funding to travel into Margiana lands, but his enemies did not know that. The pursuing Massagetae, as they slowly began to close with Darius, watched with dread as the Persians burned away the grassland and imagined the same fate for their villages and family back home. They came on ever faster, intent on stopping the Persian army from advancing any further. The 3rd Imperial Army now stood firmly athwart what passed for the Massagetae supply lines and directly blocking the straight route home. The Massagetae army, which had been enthusiastic and eager days before, rode on with a grim intensity. Finally, as they closed to within a day of catching up with the Persians, their scouts, still largely hampered by the Persian outriders, determined that the Persian Army had gone to ground against the mountains. The Massagetae closed in. Darius’ army had drawn up by the rocky hills that rose gently from the plain. The Massagetae approached slowly, reaching the selected battlefield on a warm summer morning. The Massagetae were still well supplied but exceedingly nervous. The Persian Army was larger than they had thought and drawn up in splendid order. Still, the Massagetae had the advantage in cavalry and the Persians seemed to know it. The 10,000 or so horsemen that the Massagetae could see drawn up on the edge of the plain right up against the foothills were not set to charge, instead waiting near the rear of the force. The Persian army was still larger than theirs, but not dramatically so. And they had to fight them here, or else the Persians would simply take their infantry army up and over the hills that would cause the Massagetae horsemen so much trouble and then their villages and tribes would pay the price for their defenders’ cowardice. The Massagetae resolved to charge. Darius, however, was very aware of the time. The campaigning season was drawing on and he expected the Scythians and Khwarazmians to move soon. He needed to finish this quickly and decisively, but it did not have to be as complete as the fight last year. He was simply trying to remove the Massagetae from the fight, not conquer them. With this in mind, he set his plan in motion and sent word to his archers and the remainder of his cavalry, whom he had hidden around the ridgeline to the south. The Massagetae did not bother with any grand strategy, instead opting to charge straight into the Persian lines and try to finish the battle quickly, in case the Persians were relying on a delay to launch another one of their surprise maneuvers. The barbarian archers, pausing to dismount as the rest of their brethren closed, began firing arrows into the Persian ranks as the Persians returned fire. Everything went as planned, until the Persian trap was sprung. Persians lying in wait carefully ignited their fires and set fire to the patches of smeared tar and resins that Darius had ordered them to place at strategic places on the field the night before. The fires let up brightly and filled the field with smoke. The flames did not spread as dramatically as the Persians had hoped, but it did not need to. The purposes of the fire were not to wipe out the barbarian army, but to obscure the field of battle and spook the horses. The Persian horses had been drawn up behind their lines not for the purpose of any grand strategy, but simply to keep them tethered when the flames spread over the grass of the plains. The Persian infantry simply retreated further up the hill and continued to fire arrows into the still advancing Massagetae. The barbarian line lost its cohesiveness and, as confusion set in, many of the Massagetae warriors either accidentally rode off in the wrong direction in the smoke, or else purposely rode off in retreat. The smoke rose up from the burning fires and dispersed the Massagetae army before they had even reached the Persians. When the Massagetae emerged from the smoke, close to the Persian lines, they were in whatever scattered bands had stayed together in the smoky confusion and were quickly hit by the still organized and waiting Persian archers. Roughly half of the Massagetae army retreated back beyond the smoke in confusion, counting themselves lucky to have avoided the Persian archers. The second part of Darius’ strategy then became apparent. Around the southern ridgeline came a great roar as a further 15,000 of the Persian heavy cavalry came into sight, charging down into the Massagetae. The Persian cavalry studiously avoided the flames and smoke, only attacking the Massagetae in the exposed air who had already retreated. The Massagetae warriors, many unhorsed in the confusion, were faced with the choice of re-entering the smoke and heading towards the ghostly screams of their wounded and dying tribesmen across the now hidden field, fighting the well armed and frightening cavalry charging down on them, or retreating. The Massagetae lines broke and, as Darius had intended, began to retreat north back towards their homes. The Persian cavalry rode down the stragglers and most of the unhorsed barbarians and infantry. Finally, after the Massagetae who had emerged from the smoke on either end had either retreated or been slaughtered, Darius sent the Immortals forward into the still smoky field in close formation and systematically killed the few remaining unhorsed Massagetae who had been too afraid to leave the smoke. Sparta Invades Argos In early summer, the Spartan King Anaxandridas II, one of Sparta’s strange ‘dual’ kings, led over 34,000 men of the 1st Mora into the territory surrounding the Greek polis of Argos. Argos, situated north-east of Sparta about two-thirds of the way to Corinth, has long been a regional rival and enemy of Sparta, with the two having fought many different wars against one another. Thus it did not come as a terrible surprise that one of the two poleis invaded the other, although the attack itself still threw the unprepared Argives into an uproar. The 34,000 veteran Spartan soldiers, centered on a well-reinforced and superbly trained core of Spartiates, crossed over the hills north of Sparta, passing to the east of the allied polis of Tegea, and entered the territory of the Argives. Mustering to meet them were 18,000 trained soldiers and militiamen of Argos along with a surprising addition of 5,000 more men rumored to have been hired just that year thanks to a shipment of foreign gold. These new men were green, but largely consisted of hoplites meaning that their presence would be heavily felt on the battlefield. The Argives, a smaller city-state than Sparta’s an its allied and vassal territories, usually relied on outside mercenaries to help them in their wars. This time, however, they had little time to gather any such support. The Argive Tyrant Agamemnon believed that war with Sparta was not likely so quickly after the Spartans had conducted such a grueling series of training exercises last year and had to put down a revolt in Messenia. His calculations proved incorrect, and the only forces available for the call up were native Argives. The fear of the Spartan advance spread ahead of Anaxandridas’ force. The Spartan’s are famous for being brutally efficient and well trained. The Argives had great pride in their army, but Spartans are the undisputedly finest soldiers in Greece by any measure. Still, the Argives mustered their force. The Spartans could be defeated. It had happened historically, just not within anyone living’s lifetime. Anaxandridas was not being circumspect in his advance. The Spartan army, moving in good order and at a moderate pace, was heading straight towards the polis of Argos itself, not bothering to stop and seize or loot any of the surrounding villages. The Spartan warriors, clad in their characteristic crimson cloaks, moved quickly through the countryside and headed straight for their destination: the Argive army. The Spartans were uninterested in the city of Argos. King Anaxandridas’ goal was nothing so lofty as the capture of their traditional rival’s city. His objective was nothing more than the Argive army assembling outside of Argos to thwart his own invasion. There was some skirmishing between the two forces as the Spartans rapidly closed the distance. Spartan skirmishers cleared out small groups of Argive slingers and farmers who had gathered around the outskirts of the city in order to harass the Spartans as they advanced into battle. The Argives, in turn, sent out their own skirmishers to fight the Spartans, but neither side put a great deal of effort into the affair. The Spartans were simply trying to insure that the Argive army stayed in place, and the Argives had no desire to move far from the reassuring presence of their city’s walls. The Spartans succeeded in clearing their route of advance so their army could set up camp near to Argos without being harassed while the Argives kept the Spartan skirmishers from doing any real damage to their camp. The Spartans encamped and got one last sound night of sleep. The Spartans finished their advance to Argos the next day and approached to within half a mile of the assembling Argive force. The ground that the Argives had chosen and the Spartans were quite willing to accommodate was relatively flat and lacking any significant ground cover. It was perfect terrain for phalanx warfare. The Spartans drew up and calmly began their battle preparations. The Spartiates and hoplites began to put on their armor and dress for battle, calmly doing up their notoriously long hair and encouraging their comrades. Anaxandridas was everywhere, moving amongst the men and offering quiet words of cheer. Highly polished armor was pulled on and strapped tight until each man was easily carrying more than 70 pounds of gear. Hefting their brilliant shields, the crimson cloaked Lakedaemonians made a fearful sight. Each of their large hoplite shields held only the drawing of the Greek lambda, standing for Lakedaemonia. The Spartans are the only Greek poleis to bother with such a display. The Argives had the traditional mix of symbols and monsters painted on their shield. Clan symbols, familial good luck charms, and even the heads of ancient monsters like the Gorgon were on the shields scattered throughout the large force. The Spartan heavy infantry, however, were almost uniform in their appearance, adding to the fright they inspired on the other side of the field. The Spartans finally finished their preparations just as a mighty war rang out from the Argives. The bravest, or maybe the most cowardly, of the Argives began pounding spear butt to shield and soon the entire army was embroiled in one giant roar, supported by faint shouts from within the city itself. The Spartans offered no response and gave no shout. Instead, they made the proper sacrifices and sang the Paean to request protection from harm. Then, long after the Argives had begun their charge across the field, the Spartans, as one group, began to advance. The Spartan cavalry and light classes of infantry were already skirmishing with the Argive flanks by now, intent on keeping the Argives contained as well as countering the Argive’s own light infantry and cavalry. The two masses of hoplites, Spartan and Argive, were of roughly equal size, although the Argives had already accelerated to a full fledge charge and began to wing out to the right, as the line gradually shifted right as each soldier sought the protection of his rank mate’s shield. The Spartan line, in contract, was moving much slower and remained in close rank with one another. The Argives spread out further as the bravest men strode forward valiantly while the more cowardly hung back. The phalanx was still intact, but resembling a mob more and more as the charge continued. As the two armies closed to within a quarter mile of one another, the front three ranks of the Spartan phalanx lowered their eight-foot spears in a remarkable demonstration of discipline. The setting of the spears, a simple maneuver in practice but rarely easy on the battlefield, drew many of the charging Argives up short in apprehension, although the army as a whole continued its advance. The Spartans advanced in unison, slowly speeding up to a trot and a run to meet the charging Argives. The two armies grew closer and closer together, arrows and javelins flying over both groups of hoplites and, for the most part, falling harmlessly to the ground after deflecting off the bronze plates of the Greek heavy infantry. The two armies came together with a mighty crash and grinding noise. Metal on metal, shields scraping on one another, the Spartans immediately pushed forward a few paces, their long spears stabbing at vulnerable flesh amongst the Argive front runners before the rest of the hoplites charging behind Argos’ bravest arrived. Then the fight began in earnest. Striving against one another, the back ranks of hoplite formations on both sides set their shields flush against the back of their comrade in front of them and began to push forward, churning the ground into a cloud of dust with their feet. The Spartan right, commanded by King Anaxandridas himself in the position of honor reserved for the Spartan King in the front ranks, immediately began to push forward against their Argive opponents. Soon it became apparent that the Spartan right, fighting against the Argive left, was gaining ground quickly. The Argives threw their small reserve into their left and managed to stall the push temporarily, hoping that their own right and center would be able to push back against their Spartan enemies. The Spartan left and center, however, proved to be of sterner stuff than the Argives had hoped. The front ranks composed of the full-citizen Spartiate warriors, all graduates of the military training schools which baffle and often offend the sensibilities of foreigners, these men lived and breathed warfare. Behind them were the supporting ranks of their comrades who were not full citizens but also of high enough social class to wear the armor of an ordinary hoplite. These were men who regularly went into the wilderness to train for days, often without food, and drilled by fruitlessly heaving themselves at stout trees as if human flesh could hope to topple a mighty pillar of solid wood. They pushed forward slowly against the Argive ranks and gradually gained ground one foot at a time. On the Spartan right, finally, the breakthrough came. The cream of Sparta’s warrior culture, surrounding the King as his personal bodyguard, finally broke the Argive left. As the warriors began to falter and retreat, the Spartans went to work. Spears stabbed out from the Spartan lines in repetitive and practiced motions and into the exposed backs of the fleeing Argives. Soon the entire flank of the Argive army was folding in, and the soldiers fighting in the center either joined their comrades in flight or were forced to turn to face the advancing Spartans, lessening the support for their comrades trying to push forward in the center. With the turning of the flank, the Argives seemed to realize that the day was lost. Yet still some of them tried to retreat in good order, pulling back towards the city. Then the Spartan soldiers set to work. With the grinding push of phalanx against phalanx complete, the Spartans set about slaughtering their foe. Exhibiting the first real evidence of excitement throughout the course of the battle, the Spartans surged forward as a unit and began to cut down their retreating foe. The rout was on and the Spartans were not in a merciful mood. The Spartans pushed forward over the field as a great moan went up from the watching Argive light infantry and those watching from within the city walls. The Spartan surge gradually overtook the rear of the fleeing Argives and the slaughter began in earnest, as doomed warriors would turn and attempt a vain stand against the still unified line. The youngest and strongest of the Spartan warriors, many trained to Olympiad levels as sprinters, went to work against the toughest remaining warriors. The Argives discarded weapon and armor to gain speed and scattered into the countryside and back into the city proper until the fearful garrison there shut the gate to prevent any Spartans from gaining entry. The Spartans pulled up their charge outside of the city and withdrew, beginning the solemn duty of recovering their wounded and dead. As the fearful Argives watched, the Spartans quietly recovered their fallen comrades, who were few in number but reverently laid out nonetheless. Finally, the returning light infantry and battle squires began stripping the armor off the Argive dead, although they always left the large shields. This was following the standard Spartan philosophy of warfare. A man could discard and lose his armor without a loss in honor, as it only protected him. But a man’s shield was not his. It protected the man to his right. The shield belonged to the army; it belonged to the polis. The Spartans left the defeated Argives their shields and, in a certain respect, their honor. After recovering their dead, the Spartans turned and marched off the field, not even waiting for the traditional herald from the defeated opponent requested permission to see to their own dead and wounded on the battlefield. The Spartans withdrew in good order to their camp where they then prepared to march back to Sparta itself the next day. Reportedly, a Tegean soldier, newly joined to the Spartan army as a light infantryman, asked King Anaxandridas, who was on his customary post-battle rounds, why they had not seized the Argos polis when they had the chance. Anaxandridas kindly replied, “Who else would our children train on?” Battle for Margiana Part Two In early summer, the fractious Khwarazmian army, reinforced by their cousins the Scythians from the north, finally set out. They numbered over 60,000 warriors, again like the other barbarian tribes in the region featuring a predominance of cavalry, and they moved south into the northern plains, intending to retake the Khwarazmian lands. Reports were confused over where the Persian army actually was, but the Khwarazmians were heartened by the presence of their fierce Scythian cousins, even if there were frequent fights and disputes between the two different forces. The Khwarazmians were motivated by the desire to reclaim their lands and free their family members who had been placed under the rule of the foreign Emperor Cyrus. The Scythians, while there out of a feeling of filial responsibility, were primarily motivated by the desire to gain loot and plunder from the rich Persians. This difference in attitude led towards something of a split between the two parties, who each comprised approximately half of the barbarian force. Rumors were trickling in over some sort of battle to the east, but there was nothing definite. The barbarians sent out their scouts as they pushed through northern Margiana, in search of the Persian foe. Their scouts had entered into the Persian lands in southern Margiana without encountering any opposition, so the curious barbarian chieftains agreed to send their scouts further east. Word soon came back that they had spotted the Persian army, which had just crossed the Oxus River and was pushing west in great haste, burning an occasional Khwarazmian village and executing the tribesmen. The Khwarazmians were enraged and vowed to ride east immediately to meet the Persian menace. The Scythians, however, were less eager, thinking that the Persian frontier would be largely undefended if the Persian army was off to the east. Furthermore, the Persian army was significantly slower than they were. They saw little need to go and meet them in pitched battle. The Khwarazmians prevailed in the argument, largely due the great emotion that arose as they heard of the atrocities being committed against their kinsfolk by the advancing Persians. The barbarian army advanced east to meet the Persians. The Persian army, traveling at forced march and urged on by the worried Darius, had taken relatively light casualties against the Massagetae, but they were exhausted from the fight and many were wounded. Still, Darius knew that he could not afford to be gentle. He could not afford to allow the barbarian army facing him to advance down towards Persia proper and cut him off from his supplies. While the barbarians could afford to forage, the Persian army required many more supplies to keep moving. Darius saw no easy answer to the problem. There was no time or room for any impressive strategies. He would have to meet the barbarians head on and hope that his men would triumph when they had to win or die. The fighting began when the armies were still approximately a day’s march away from one another. The cavalry duels were frequent and indecisive, as neither side was willing to spread its forces out in order to gain a maneuverability advantage at the expense of losing their cohesion. The two forces moved ever closer, and both encamped a few kilometers away from each other, with watchful scouts eyeing both camps to make sure neither side attempt a nighttime assault. On the Persian side, Darius knew his bedraggled men needed as much sleep as they could get before the coming fight. The barbarian chieftains, cautious thanks to the Khwarazmians’ tribesmen who led the disastrous attack against the Persians last year, did not want to lose what little cohesion they already had and end up having the Scythians and Khwarazmians fighting one another in the dark. The next day dawned on the nervous barbarian army and a Persian army that was probably as ill-prepared as they had been all campaign long. Darius divided his cavalry in two, keeping a small reserve as his personal guard, and placed a large group on each flank of the army. His hope was that the foot soldiers in the center of the line would be able to hold the slightly smaller barbarian army and not break after they charged, allowing the heavy cavalry to smash through the flanks. This was the extent of the strategy that Darius had planned. There had simply been no time, and no chance to pick better ground. They were on a relatively flat part of the plain without distinguishing features and Darius could only hope the mettle of his army would pull them through. The barbarians split up their forces into two general groups, one consisting of Khwarazmian tribesmen and the other of the Scythians, with some overlap in the middle. The cavalry would advance at the front, followed along by the handful of infantry the army had at its disposal. On the Persian side, the flanks were largely composed of heavy cavalry and some regular infantry, while the main mass of over 30,000 infantry and immortals, reinforced by over 15,000 archers, would wait in the middle. The archers waited in the front for the time being, waiting for the faster barbarian forces to advance. The barbarians charged forward, sometimes with archers riding behind ordinary warriors and dropping off to begin peppering the enemy lines with arrow fire. From the beginning, the barbarians defied Darius’ hastily assembled strategy and assaulted both wings simultaneously with the center. The Persian heavy cavalry was forced to charge forward to meet the incoming horsemen or risk being caught flatfooted by the opposing charge while the rest of the enemy’s cavalry charged down onto the nervously waiting Persian infantry. The Persian infantry thinned out the advancing horsemen, but the barbarians were still able to close. After the two sides exchanged withering arrow fire, the Persian archers withdrew behind the regular infantry who were, in turn, supported by the Immortals. The barbarian horsemen broke through the Persian front lines with a mighty crash and drove deep into the Persian line. The regular infantry, as Darius had planned, acted as a cushion of sorts and absorbed the initial shock of the advance. The barbarians slowed and the waiting Persians tore many of them from their horses while others dismounted to fight more effectively. Here the Persian advantage of unit cohesion was lost. The fight in the center rapidly turned into a brawl where, man to man, the barbarians were easily the equals of their Persian counterparts. The only thing that saved the line from complete collapse was the weight of the Persian Immortals who, waiting at the rear, charged forward into the melee to aid their comrades. Gradually pure weight of numbers began to overwhelm the barbarians, largely due to the efforts of Darius, who rode amongst his men extolling them to great martial virtue and leading his personal retinue into wherever the fight seemed most in doubt. The Persian army was taking enough casualties to break a lesser force, but Darius was keeping them from retreating through pure force of will. On the flanks, the battle was rapidly turning into a mass of confusion. The Khwarazmians had largely stalled on the left and were gradually being overcome by the superior Persian heavy cavalry. The Scythians, however, were having far greater luck on the right. The Persian line was rapidly collapsing and many of the richly dressed Persian warriors lay dead and dying amidst the screaming horses. The critical moment came as the Persian heavy cavalry on the left finally began to push the Khwarazmians cavalry back and some of those soldiers began to break and ride their horses back in retreat. The Scythian commanders, seeing the Khwarazmians giving up and the attack on the middle faltering, decided that discretion was the better part of valor. This was not really their fight, to their minds, anyway. The Scythians, finishing off the Persian heavy cavalry on the right, sounded the retreat and began to make an organized withdrawal back north. They had a long journey to make before they got home and wanted to be far enough away that the Persians would not harass them when they camped. Darius, sensing the mixed and very bloody nature of the victory within his grasp elected not to pursue the retreating Scythians, instead bringing his heavy cavalry from the left flank around to finish off the barbarians still fighting in the middle. As the sun set, the Persians commanded the field. The Massagetae people had been punished and, hopefully, deterred from any renewed attack against the Persian army at least for the foreseeable future. The Scythians were in retreat, and likely not to return in any organized fashion until the clan leaders could manage to drum up support, which was a dubious proposition after their recent failed expedition. Darius controlled Southern Margiana and the Khwarazmian people were vanquished. Yet this victory had come at a heavy cost. At the end of this bloody campaigning season, Darius’ mighty expeditionary force had been reduced to less than 50,000 men with the number likely to drop even further as the critically injured expired and others died over the course of the winter. Darius had also gained a reputation as a relentless commander, and his men had held their courage longer than they had thought possible. Still, few believe Persia can hope to launch any further subjugation of the barbarian people of the northlands with the mauled 3rd Imperial Army. Athens Marches for Corinth! The poleis of Attika, in another example of the internecine warfare common to the Greeks, dispatched 34,000 soldiers into Corinth this year. The army was led ably by Strategos Drakko, the skilled and highly popular leader of Athens’s military. Five finely crafted battering rams and two imposing siege towers, both disassembled and carried in storage until they would be needed further supported the force. The army caused a brief stir in Thebes as Theban scouts detected the movements of the army as it approached the Isthmus. With their champion Polynikes recently departed from the city, the Thebans were worried and rallied the army. When the Athenian army turned southwest, however, the Thebans relaxed and called off the muster. The army passed through Megara and into the Isthmus proper without further incident. The Corinthians, a city dedicated to trade and the arts, reacted late to the news. Sadly reduced in the decades following the death of wise (and admittedly disturbed) Periander, the Corinthians could still mass an army of 23,000 men. Corinth, which dominates the Isthmus connecting the Peloponnese peninsula with the mainland of Greece, relies on the income received from tariffing vessels dragged across the land ramp which connects the Gulf of Corinth to the west and, to the east, the Saronic Gulf. Corinth itself is situated southwest of the Isthmus itself and maintains two ports, one on each gulf, to house its mighty navy. With their large navy rendered impotent by the daring move made by the Athenians, the Council of Aristocrats who rule Corinth decided that they must keep the Attikan army away from the land bridge or else risk losing Corinth’s primary source of wealth. Ocytus of Corinth was dispatched with the Corinthian army. Ocytus was very popular, but not an experienced leader in land battles, having more experience with naval affairs. Nonetheless, he set out to do the best he could to halt the Athenian advance. As the two armies both advanced into the Isthmus proper, they immediately began to launch scouting missions and raids against one another. Ocytus was under no illusions; he knew that the Attikan Strategos was a far superior general to himself. But it was gradually becoming apparent that the Athenian army, while larger and heavier armed, lacked any soldiers of the class of light infantry normally armed with archers or javelin throwers. The Athenians did have five times the number of hoplite heavy infantry and three times the heavy cavalry, but the Corinthian army was significantly lighter and more maneuverable. Ocytus concluded that he should avoid coming to direct grips with the Athenian army, instead weakening it with raids and feints. Strategos Drakko had a much harder time gauging the strength of his Corinthian opponents thanks to the aforementioned lack of light infantry or light horsemen, but due to the very nature of the Corinthian movements, he deduced that the army facing him was lighter but weaker than his own force. Drakko resolved to advance straight towards Corinth and take advantage of the narrow and contained nature of the Isthmus itself. In the open countryside of the rest of Greece, the Corinthian maneuverability might have given the Athenians greater pause, but here in this isolated circumstance it might prove to be of little effect. The Strategos concluded that he had been given a blunt instrument for a blunt task and resolved to herd the Corinthians back to their city until they either withdrew behind Corinth’s walls or gave battle. The Athenian plan seemed to move forward with little obstruction. The Corinthian army continually harassed the lighter armed Athenian army, but Drakko force-marched his soldiers at high speed past Gerania, limiting the number of harassing attacks the Corinthians could feasibly launch. Finally, they neared the land ramp constructed by Periander of Corinth across the narrow part of the Isthmus proper. Ocytus resolved to abandon the bridge, reasoning that Corinth would still maintain its two linking ports that would limit the loss of trade it experienced while saving the army and the Athenians would have to fan out once leaving the narrow choke point the Isthmus created. The Council of Corinth overruled him, however. The aristocrats, fearful of losing the wealth of the Isthmus and being forced to re-implement taxes, sent word by messenger that he must hold the land bridge or face execution and the banishment of his family. Ocytus grimly drew up his forces. When Drakko arrived at the land bridge he could scarcely believe his good fortune. There, in a narrow contained area, his lighter equipped foe was drawn up on flat ground with little cover. The Athenians were nervous about advancing into a hail of Corinthian arrows without any archers of their own, but Drakko calmed them with a rousing speech. The power of a hoplite phalanx lies in its cohesion. The well-armored hoplites can advance into enemy archers without incident if they can maintain their formation, with overlapping shields each defending the man to their left, but if the formation breaks they can be quickly overwhelmed. The Athenian army was well trained, but not very experienced, but Drakko made up for this lack, placing himself firmly in the front row of the hoplite force and anchoring the force by his presence. Both armies let out the expected roar before the battle began, but even the Corinthians thought the roar by the heavily armored Athenian hoplites was louder. The Athenians advanced through the Corinthian arrows, while they were forced to keep their cavalry in reserve. Drakko had hoped to use the cavalry as a second column to flank his opponents, but the lack of archers meant that if his cavalry advanced the Corinthian bowmen would be able to cut down the unarmored horses. The cavalry would have to wait. The Athenians advanced, their numbers thinned only slightly by the occasional lucky arrow or javelin. They neared the now quaking Corinthian line, which watched a veritable wall of metal advancing upon them. Ocytus, aware that his soldiers were beginning to falter as they saw five times their number of hoplites advance upon them, made his move. He would use his hoplites to hold the Athenian advance in place and attempt to flank the formation with his faster infantry units. He would attempt to envelop the larger Athenian force by using the only advantage he had: speed. When the Corinthian archers fell back to the rear and the army began to move, Drakko’s cavalry made their move. They rode forward immediately and, by their presence alone, stymied the Corinthian cavalry. While the groups of horsemen dueled, the 18,000 Corinthian soldiers, mostly lighter armed infantry anchored by the 5,000 hoplites, crashed into the 25,000 Athenian hoplites. Both hoplite formations, as is typical in Greek warfare, had ‘winged out’ slightly to the right as each man sought the protection afforded by the shield of his rank mate to his right. The Athenian line, however, was firmer thanks, in large part, to the confidence the men felt in having, in this instance, such overwhelming numbers. The two groups crashed together and the Corinthian army was immediately driven backward five full spear lengths. The groups steadied but the Athenians continued to gradually grind the Corinthian army backward towards the land bridge. The Corinthian army began to fray at the ages as the flanking maneuver failed under the weight of the Athenian hoplites. The rear rankers of the Corinthian army began to throw down their arms and flee. Ocytus, from his position in the Corinthian hoplites, saw this happening and resolved to save what remained of the Corinthian army before they suffered a catastrophic defeat. He signaled the general retreat, which was somewhat moot at this point, and then pushed forward with his personal retainers and comrades in arms. This picked force of roughly five hundred Corinthian hoplites reversed the push of the Athenian army and temporarily broke the front ranks of the Athenian center. The Athenian army’s wings drew forward too fast thanks to the delay in the center and the army inadvertently began to curve in on itself. The Corinthian soldiers fleeing the battlefield were accorded a few extra minutes to escape while the Athenians could do little to stop them thanks to the heavy weight of their own armor. Ocytus’s force was overwhelmed shortly afterwards and, despite the calls of Strategos Drakko ordering his soldiers to spare the man, he fell pierced by several spears. His men quickly surrendered afterwards. The Army of Corinth had lost close to 1,000 of its hoplites, its entire contingent of cavalry, and several thousand of its regular infantry. But the large part of the lighter infantry that had harassed the Athenians and given them trouble in their advance had escaped back to Corinth to hide behind the famous walls of that polis. Ocytus was dead, but his last push had done its job. Drakko had secured the Isthmus, but Corinth remained untaken and its walls reinforced by the ranks of archers and javelin throwers who had escaped the Battle of the Isthmus. Furthermore, the Corinthians were heartened by the sacrifice of Ocytus and his “brave 500”. Drakko wisely decided not to assault the walls of Corinth without archers or support soldiers and drew up at the southwestern edge of the Isthmus. His only hope to take the city had been that the Corinthians, overwhelmed by the fear of losing their army in the field, would elect not to resist further. Emboldened soldiers, prepared to defend the city, would mean the Athenian army would break itself in the capture of the city, leaving the polis of Attika exposed for several years. He sent word back to Athens requesting instruction and began fortifying his troops. Athens now controlled the only land route in between mainland Greece, dominated by Athens and Thebes, and the Peloponnese, home of the mighty Spartans, the Corinthians, and the Argives. Athenian Triemes Sail in Search of Pirates Part of the Athenian navy, composed of five mighty Triemes, left port in Greece and sailed into the Aegean Sea. They made port in Ionia and took on several crates of treasure, as well as several credible men who claimed knowledge of the movement of the pirates who devastated shipping off the coast of Ionia last year. The Athenian fleet spent the remainder of the year hunting the Aegean, searching for the massive fleet that accomplished such a dramatic feat of piracy. They were unable to find any sign of the pirates, although the Athenians did a thorough survey of every place in the Aegean they thought one could hide even a medium sized fleet of war. The Athenian Admiral concluded that the pirates had either been frightened away by his own presence or had simply left the area. He returned to Miletus, reporting on his mission, and then set sail home for Attika. Western Empire Arms The component ‘Princedoms’ of the Western Empire began a series of large armament programs. As a whole, the Western Empire recruited at least 60,000 new soldiers, many of them the expensive militia-soldiers of the hoplite class. A daring and impressive ship building program in Ionia matched the land recruitment. The Ionian King Thrasyboulos, probably in reaction to the raids on his coast last year, paid for the construction of 12 large Triemes and a further 20 Galleys. The Ionian navy is, after only a single year, now a very credible force. Golden Ages in Carthage and Babylon? King Mago of Carthage and the High King of Babylon have reputedly been spending an outrageous amount of money on their subjects. Visitors have reported a notable level of happiness and excitement in both lands, mixed with a remarkable respect for the law and authority of the King. It is too early to tell if this represents a continuing trend, which many historians believe corresponds with cultural ‘golden ages’ as reported amongst many ancient kingdoms, but it is clear that something is afoot in the West and East. The Great Road of Africa The God-Queen of Egypt and King Mago of Carthage have declared their intent to construct a ‘Great Road of Africa’, connecting the great city of Carthage with the ancient kingdom of Egypt. This road, when completed, will stretch from Carthage, down along the coast, through the narrow coastal regions of Tripoli and Libya, past the Greek colony of Cyrene, and into Egypt proper. The road will be, if completed, a remarkable feat of engineering, making it far easier to travel between Egypt and Carthage and increasing trade in both kingdoms. There is considerable excitement in Egypt and Carthage over this proposition, although the reaction throughout the rest of the world was considerably muted. A Babylonian merchant in Syria was heard to mutter, “Who wants to go to Carthage anyway?” While the God-Queen relied on the traditional strategies of forced labor and government organized construction on her side of the proposed Great Road, the Carthaginian King Mago is paying additional funds to care for the poor workers actually constructing the road. The free food and, considering the circumstances, excellent housing has created some palatable incentives for the homeless and indigent to travel to the coast and volunteer their labor. Many are already beginning to call Mago by the honorific “the Kind”. While King Mago the Kind has a certain ring to it, he is still lacking in comparison to the mighty God-Queen of Egypt, whose many titles are said to fill at least two pages of parchment before all of her important declarations. King Karkana Seizes Greek Colonies In a brazen show of force, the young King of Clusium and leader of the Tyrrhenia confederation launched an attack into the southern Italian peninsula, targeting the Greek-sponsored colonies that compose the region known as Magna Graecia. Karkana had some 50,000 of his finest warriors with him and carried with him official documents offering the local city-states to the south representation within the Tyrrhenian Confederacy if they agree to surrender their individual sovereignty. The city-states would, supposedly, retain most of their independence but would be under the general authority of the elected central government. Karkana’s show of force resulted in several smaller city-states agreeing to his proposal, many of the local rulers reasoning that they could always change their minds later after they saw how events unfolded further south. Leave the real fighting to one of their larger regional rivals. Karkana spent most of the year fighting some small battles throughout the south-central of the peninsula. The poleis he captured were, in large part, a mix of Greek settlers and some Etruscan migrants who served largely as a buffer zone between the larger and more powerful Greek colonies in southern Italy proper. Karkana expanded the Tyrrhenian confederacy’s hold around and south of Campeva and then swung east through Apulia. While there was still plenty of time left in the campaigning season, Karkana knew his hold on the new territories was tenuous at best and the imposing full-Greek colonies of Magna Graeca proper, now aroused, waited for him to the south. Karkana decided to quit while he was ahead and withdrew his troops closer to Clusium and preside over the integration of the new territory he had seized into Tyrrhenia itself. Egyptians Building Wall The God-Queen Aneski I, in addition to beginning construction of the Great Road of Africa as well as a variety of public works projects in Memphis and Thebes, has commissioned the construction of a mighty wall centered around the Suez Fortress. The wall is to be positioned at the narrowest point of the land bridge between Africa and Asia Minor. The Wall, already rising from the ground at several places, is to have thirty-foot tall walls. The only gate in and out of Egypt will be at the Suez Fortress itself. The Wall is to be anchored by two more heavy fortresses at each end. The God-Queen further plans to operate whorehouses at the fortresses to maintain troop morale, demanding reduced rates from the prostitutes as compensation. The Wall is rumored to be massively expensively and will take at least three full years to construct. Some of the poorer Egyptian farmers, at least the ones not being recruited into the growing army, have complained that the money really should be going towards irrigation projects and the like to help them instead of building a huge wall, but no dissidents have yet to take any action. 100,000 More Soldiers for the God-Queen The God-Queen of Egypt, not content with her kingdom’s growing military power, has called up another army of volunteer recruits. The number of new troops is rumored to be approximately 100,000, drawn primarily from the peasant classes and the poorer farmers on the Nile. The Cultists surrounding the God-Queen are, in large part, indoctrinating these soldiers and assuring the Pharaoh of their loyalty. Part of this large increase in soldiers was the arrival of another group of mercenaries from Tyrrhenia, this time reported to be a part of several thousand Greek-style hoplites. Ionia Cracks Down After the riots and chaos that gripped Ionia last year, the government has cracked down throughout the cities of Miletus and Ephesus and even in Smyrna. New ranks of enforcers for the King swelled the authority of the government and massive new programs ensured that the dissidents who gripped Ionia last year were firmly suppressed. By all reports, order has returned to Ionia. “Special” servants to the King traveled throughout Ionia interrogating captured dissidents and trouble makers, but their efforts fell somewhat short thanks to the decision by the King to not pay their maintenance costs. Several important Ionian priests were also removed and replaced with ones who loudly began to profess their loyalty to King Thrasyboulos. Still, there are continued rumors of dissent in Ionia despite all of these programs and many suspect the anti-Thrasyboulos faction may simply have gone underground. Western Empire Sends Ultimatum to Troas! King Croesus sent an ultimate to King Anon of Troas this year, demanding the surrender of his kingdom. Croesus, in a letter that King Anon had copies of nailed to government buildings throughout his kingdom, demanded the complete relinquishment of Troas to Carian and Mysian control. In return for this, the King of Troas and his family would be spared execution and allowed to live on as citizens within the Western Empire. If King Anon refused these terms, Croesus declared that he would face invasion. King Anon’s response was to immediately fund the creation of 5,000 more Troan hoplites to augment the small kingdom’s army. Jason of Mysia Travels to Oracle Jason, the famous and powerful warrior from the Kingdom of Mysia, left his homeland this year and traveled across the sea to the Oracle of Delphi in northern Greece. He apparently sought word of his fate and what the Gods desired of him. A trip to the Oracle is, to many Greeks, a prerequisite for great fame and prestige, as they believe that is the primary way which the Gods communicate their desires to mortal men. The answer to Jason’s journey has not yet been revealed, but it is expected that as travelers from Delphi filter out through the rest of the region the tale will gradually become better known. (Prophecy to be released on the Oracle of Delphi message board) Fighting Around the Indus? Information is still scarce, but is believed that large-scale warfare may have broken out between the Princedoms surrounding the banks of the Indus. Whether there is any relation between the fighting and the embassies sent out by the Persians and Babylonians last year are unknown, but it is becoming gradually clearer that the fighting is generally between the Princedoms of the southern half of the Indus and those of the north. The war could be have been instigated by either or both of the two western rivals. However, it is also entirely possible that the fighting broke out all on its own, as the Indians are considering to be closer to the squabbling Greeks in temperament than any other people in the modern world. The region is too distant for any reliable information on the course of the early fighting to reach western ears, although it is reportedly very fierce. Persian Pet Projects Cyrus the Great has commissioned a dramatic series of projects in Persia, outshone only by the God-Queen’s efforts in Egypt. Even with wars ongoing in Margiana and Armenia, Cyrus has begun pushing the spread of the relatively confined religion of Zoroastrianism in Persia as a sign of national unity. This has had mixed success, largely thanks to the low spending that the Persian government has earmarked for public projects and similar support improving measures. Still, the religion is definitely spreading, so a foundation for a larger national unity project may be forming. With notable more success, the Persians have begun construction of a small, elite military academy in Persepolis as well as a network of Imperial roads throughout Persian proper. Finally, in what may be a reaction to the Armenian invasion last year, Cyrus unveiled his plan to build a network of small, well defended fortresses throughout the mountains of Media to insure Persia’s iron-firm control over that province. The Rape of Armenia In an act of revenge for the Armenian invasion of Media last year, the second Imperial Army under General Xeramikses crossed the northern part of the border of Media with Armenia and immediately began to lay waste to the fractious kingdom. With what little remained of the Armenian army falling back towards the capital to the west, Xeramikses was left unmolested and able to conduct his affairs as he saw fit. His orders were not to take and hold the territory of Armenia, but to destroy it. The 2nd Imperial Army efficiently set about implementing their very simple orders. Any Armenian with a weapon or who even attempted to protest was summarily executed while all the others were rounded up as slaves and shipped back into Media. The Armenians’ former villages were destroyed and any items of value were seized and taken back into Persia as well. All told, the Persians advanced south through the eastern half of Armenia and completely laid waste to the land and enslaved the people living there. The remainder of the Armenian army, unwilling to advance to meet the superior Persian force, stayed huddled around the King in the west. The only real event of note that occurred during this raid was that the Persian forces reported that it had apprehended Babylonian agents operating in Armenia. The Persians claimed to have captured forged documents that the Babylonians had been attempting to plant for anyone investigating Armenia that would have placed the blame for the recent Armenian invasion squarely at the feet of the Western Empire. According to the Persian reports, a group of Persian soldiers were tipped off to the presence of the Babylonian agents by local Armenians they had been interrogating. The fleeing Babylonians reportedly barricaded themselves inside a farmhouse and then attempting to set fire to the structure while committing suicide. The Persian government reported that while their soldiers were too late to prevent the Babylonians from killing themselves, they were able to douse the flames and recover the documents in question. Along with the forged documents which detailed how Western Empire gold funded the Armenian invasion, the Persians claims to have found Babylonian documents outlining a plan to use this ruse as a way to cause a war between Persia and the Kingdoms of Anatolia. Any outside confirmation of these discoveries has been limited due to the complete destruction of eastern Armenia committed by the 2nd Imperial Army. Drunken King of Tyre Commissions Statue In a project that many are already calling a new wonder of the world, King Hanniel of Tyre, the soused ruler of Phoenicia, has reportedly started construction on a massive, bejeweled statue. The statue will reportedly consist of a giant figure of the bull-god Melqart as personified in the figure of King Hanniel. Any potential anger the priests in Phoenicia might have expressed regarding this semi-blaspheme was quelled by the simple grand nature of it, as well as generous subsidies to the temple for a grand series of festivities. If the statue is completed as planned, it will likely stand as a new world ‘wonder’ of such remarkable size and importance that people all over the world will acknowledge the glory of Phoenicia. The fact that the huge manifestation of the bull-god bears the face of King Hanniel would be only a minor detail. Polynikes the Olympian Has a Dream, Greeks Impressed In a scandalous affair, Polynikes the Greek Olympian, has left his polis of Thebes, reportedly in search of the meaning of a dream. He traveled to seek Calliope, a lesser but still famous visionary, and receive her interpretation of his dream. Reportedly, her conclusion was that Polynikes had been given a mighty quest by the Gods. This news was greeted with awe throughout Greece and, coupled with Polynikes already famous reputation as a mighty warrior, has become the favorite story throughout the region. Most of the people outside of Greece, however, were quick to point out the events described were very unspecific and seemed to consist of a deranged man having a dream and then an old woman telling him it meant he should take a really long walk to the north. It was cited as another example of the general insanity of the Greek people and dismissed. Tyrrhenia Crushes Non-Existent Revolt Following the somewhat disagreeable response of the Romans to the rise of the new Clusium King, the Tyrrhenians set about ruthlessly crushing a rebellion the Romans did not even know they were having. The Tyrrhenians deployed special unimaginatively named ‘torture squads’ to Rome under the direct authority of the brutal and sadistic Prince Huergon Auclina of Veii. Prince Auclina, commanding 45,000 Tyrrhenian troops and charged with garrisoning Rome and restoring ‘order’ in the vassal city, set about doing everything he saw (as had he been directed in his orders) as necessary. Anyone who Auclina’s squads could find that they thought had anything to do with some of the rumors of discontent coming out of Rome in recent years was crucified along the roads leading out of the city. Still, Auclina did not think he had completely rooted out the nascent rebellion, so he decided to set an example. The Prince of Veii set his soldiers loose on the city for a day of looting and rampage. After the massacre was complete, the Prince declared that the rebellion had been quelled and he had saved Tyrrhenia from the vicious plotters who had formerly used Rome as their evil base. Several thousand people are believed to have been killed and quite a few fires consumed some of the poorer neighborhoods within Rome proper. The Prince reported acceptably low amounts of casualties amongst his own troops and formally requested that King Karkana, still on campaign, grant him the honorific of “Savior of Rome”. Thessaly Erects Grand Agora In another example of the northern Kingdom of Thessaly adopting the ways of its Greek neighbors, King Demetrius funded the construction of a huge new Agora in the center of the capital to complement the newly constructed trading port. The new Agora, which contains a gymnasium, a sizeable school, and a merchant exchange is expected to serve as a center for trade, politics, and even culture, although many outsiders question what culture, exactly, Thessaly thinks it has to share. The Thessalonians, however, aren’t paying them any head. Thessaly is developing into a proper poleis, many argue, and they have no problem asserting their own superiority in traditional Greek fashion. Ignoring any hint of controversy, King Demetrius told a throng of excited Thessalonians “I give to our merchants, in the name of the divine Hermes, this proud new agora, and our scribes shall record this day as a day of greatness for Thessaly and for all of Hellas!” Tariff Report: (state: target of tariff / amount) Attika: Persia / 2.6%; Babylon: Persia / 5% Armenia / 5% Scythia / 5% Corinthia / 5% Delphinium / 5% Epirus / 5% Argolis / 5% Troas / 5%; Caria: Persia / 2%; Carthage: Argolis / 5% Corinthia / 5% Troas / 5% Caria / 1% Lydia / 1% Ionia / 1% Mysia / 1% Babylonia 1% Babylonia 1% Persia 1% Egypt: Attika / 5% Lakedemonia / 5% Boeotia / 5% Thessaly / 5% Ionia / 5% Mysia / 5% Caria / 5% Scythia / 5% Troas / 5% Armenia / 5%; Ionia: Egypt / 3.43%; Lydia: Persia / 3.19%; Mysia: Persia / 1.34%; Persia: Ionia / 5% Babylon / 5% Caria / 5% Lydia / 5% Mysia / 2.237%; Phoenicia: Tariff Free; Sparta (Lakedaemonia): Carthage / 3%; Thebes (Boeotia): Lakedaemonia / 5% Attika / 3%; Thessaly: Persia / 1.2%; Tyrrhenia: Attika / 5% Ionia / 5% Caria / 5% |
