Chapter 237: Spartas Syssitia
Some Locrians have backed out and proposed that Crotone is already enough to keep Locri in check, and now they have a much more powerful ally that Locri couldn’t match. Therefore, they should withdraw their troops immediately!
At the same time, many people were against it and said that this is a rare opportunity to beat Crotone, and what’s more, Theonia and Crotone are just in a defensive alliance and so the Theonians should not intervene. Moreover, the war between them has just ended, so Theonia’s losses should be great, and their hatred to the Crotonians shouldn’t have been eliminated immediately and they definitely would not do their best to help Crotone. Therefore, they should seize this opportunity to attack!
Both sides continued to argue for a while until Demodekas brought good news about Syracuse agreeing to assist them, which turned the worries of the statesmen of the council into joy and agreed to continue the war.
When the council of Locri sent Theophantes to attack Crotone, they had only mostly considered that Theonia would not send their troops. Therefore, the council did not even determine the specific measures of what they should do if Theonia were to send troops.
Now that the Theonians were standing in front of them, Theophantes mind went blank, ‘Attack?!…this means war with Theonia!’ As a member of the council, he knew in his heart that the reason for the wishful thinking of the council of Locri was that they were too excited to defeat Crotone and therefore ignored the existence of any variables, and Theonia was undoubtedly the biggest variable. The Theonians were able to defeat Crotone, whom Locri had been unable to defeat and in addition, the scene in the triumphant return that was described by Metolephes made Theophantes a little bit afraid that if he were to attack, it will lead to Theonia joining the war and expand the war. Although Syracuse, the ally of Locri, had agreed to help, they are now fighting against Carthage with all their strength. So apart from a small naval assistance, it is impossible for the Syracusians to provide more help. And if he were to be defeated, the members of the council will certainly place the responsibility on him.
But if he didn’t fight….and just retreat like that, it will not only damage his honor, but also the prestige of Locri and be blamed once he returns….
While Theophantes was still hesitating, some of the soldiers began making noises.
“Theonians! Do not think that you are great! Just because you ask us to withdraw, we would withdraw?! I will tell you this, WE WILL NOT RETREAT!”
“That’s right, we Locrians are not easy to mess with! Locri has existed in Magna Graecia for hundreds of years! What is Theonia? I have never heard of it!”
“If we don’t retreat, what will you do to us?!”
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
The clamouring of the soldiers made Theophantes anxious and angry. He had no more than a thousand men in his hands and half of them were sailors. Along the way, a lot of the soldiers began leading sheep and cattle, and had plundered a lot of spoils. Blinded by their greed, they no longer had the appearance of a soldier and now, they even got the courage to fight with the Theonians?!
Theophantes was about to retreat but had not yet given the orders, when the other side’s drums sounded and the stationary phalanx began moving, then came a relatively neat sound of footsteps. It is like a thick iron wall marching straight towards them, and the Locrian soldiers that were shouting immediately became silent.
Theophantes sighed and said, “Retreat!”
As soon as the order was given, and before the salpinx could even be heard, the Locrian soldiers had already turned around and ran, and the whole formation had completely broken apart.
Theophantes was unable to stop the soldiers’ disorder and frantic retreat, as if death was chasing behind them. And with their wish to escape much faster, they had even thrown their spoils that they had plundered….
Asistes didn’t expect that he would push back the Locrians so easily. And so, while sending a small number of soldiers to clean up the battlefield, he led the rest to follow the Locrians. It wasn’t until he saw the Locrians scrambling to get on the ship and leave the coast did he lead the soldiers back, and at the same time, they also return all the spoils that they had collected to the Crotonians who came to express their gratitude with mixed feelings, which made the Crotonians to be both grateful and ashamed.
Theophantes was naturally not willing to return to Locri just like that, so after the fleet sailed southward for a while, he led his team to land on the coast of Scylletium, which was not yet an ally of Theonia….
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In Sparta, there is a building covering an extremely wide area, and the simple stone pillars supported the roof to shelter the people from the wind and rain. There is ventilation on three sides and a kitchen on one side, and the vast hall is filled with long wooden tables and chairs. This is the Spartan citizen’s mess hall.
At meal time, the Spartans gather here from all directions, line up in order and get their share of “Syssitia*” and then eat in the mess hall, which can seat 500 people at the same time. On a sunny day, dining tables were even set on the grass outside, and thousands of Spartan citizens gathered to eat together regardless of age and ranks. Everyone’s food is roughly the same, which not only reflects the equality of the Spartan citizens, but also emphasizes their unity. The Spartans, who emphasized discipline and obedience, always keep this grand dining scene in order. This was the communal dining system for which Sparta was famous in Greece. (T/N: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syssitia)
The food they receive is not free, but had to be produced from the “land” allocated to the citizens by the city-state and paid to the city-state in order to enjoy the syssitia. In fact, even if it was said that the land was owned by the citizen, the citizens themselves do not have the right to use the land, but are instead managed by the city-states and the helots being the one cultivating the land. But once the citizens lost their allocated land and could not pay for the output, then they lost the right to participate in the syssitia and thus be marginalized by the people of the city-states. Therefore, the communal dining system founded by the Spartans is not only a dining system, but also an important political authentication of being a citizen of Spartan.
Since the Peloponnesian War, the Spartan’s mess hall had a difficult time to recreate the spectacle of thousands of men eating together. Their citizens were either away on long campaigns or have died, and the number of people eating here has never exceeded 500. Even after their victory, their number had still not recovered, because the Spartan’s fleet needed to patrol the Aegean Sea, and garrisoned some of the important geographical city-states conquered by Sparta in order to keep their loyalty. Although most of the soldiers are mercenaries, perioikoi and helots, the strategoi and high ranking officers must be authentic Spartan citizens.
On this day, there were no more than a hundred Spartan citizens in the mess hall.
Phidias sat at the mess hall and chewed the bread in his hand, while recalling the accession of the new king to the throne not long ago. Agesilaus became the king, which was beyond many people’s expectation, but Phidias was happy, because Agesilaus had several close contacts with him and thought that Agesilaus is a kind and wise man, and will become a good king.
“Hey look! There are two wretched helots over there!” A man at a nearby table suddenly shouted, and following the direction of his finger, Phidias saw that the two men dining at the opposite table immediately looked a little unnatural, although both were also topless, but in terms of shape and skin color, they were different from a real Spartan citizen.
“They are new citizens. To be able to enjoy syssitia means that they have made enough contribution in the war, and that they are able to impress the conservative Gerousia to give them freedom and citizenship, and to also give them an allocated land, which is not easy! So we should respect them as real warriors!” Another man said gently.
“Hmph, who knows if Lysander did some tricks?! During the war, he used his power to turn a lot of perioikoi and helots into Spartan citizens on the pretext of defeating Athens!” The man lowered his voice and said with indignation.
“No matter how brave we Spartans are, we can’t withstand the casualties caused by the frequent wars. Without these new citizens, we wouldn’t have won against Athens.”
“But look how many around here are real Spartans, while several of my comrades were temporarily deprived of their citizenship and have been reduced to inferior status because they couldn’t pay their share of the communal meal!…if it continues like this, will Sparta still be Sparta?!”
“Uh…you are right….”
“I tell you, we….” The man leaned close to another companion and whispered.
The Spartans have always been taciturn, especially when eating. So when these citizens had not only talked a lot, but also whispering, it became hard not to attract the attention of Phidias. Just when he was about to turn his head to see who this person was, someone suddenly tapped him on the shoulder and said, “Phidias, king Agesilaus invites you to come over.”
“Alright.” Phidias immediately stuffed the last bit of bread into his mouth and finished his porridge, and wiped his mouth. He then stood up and followed the soldiers to the front of the mess hall. He subconsciously looked back at the person just now, but that guy had already finished his meal and left the mess hall, so he could only see his back.
Phidias shook his head to dispel the doubt in his heart and went to the new king of Sparta. At this moment, Agesilaus was different from his previous self, he looks more calm and more dignified.
Phidias bowed respectfully.
“Phidias, sit down.” Agesilaus looked at him with a smile and said, “You and I are old friends, so there is no need for you to be polite.”
After hearing this, Phidias stopped being modest and immediately sat down opposite of Agesilaus.
“Are you full? If it’s still not enough, I have a lot more here.” Said Agesilaus, while pushing a plate over.
The Spartan king also had to take part in the syssitia, and their food was no different from the other citizens. And the only privilege he has is that he could get a double portion of the communal meal. It wasn’t for the king to eat more, but for the Spartan king to use the extra portion to invite others to eat with him, it is not necessarily for the invited person to be a Spartan citizen, as they can even be foreigners. The previous king, Agis, entertained Alcibiades in this way.
In fact, the Spartan communal meal is not delicious, but it is a kind of political expression that means that the invited person is the king’s guest of honor, and to allow the Spartan king to use this power to draw someone in, resolve conflicts and to nurture trusted followers…and today, Agesilaus gave this honor to Phidias.