Chapter 245: The four strifes in western Mediterranean
Siprus made a detailed and comprehensive assessment on the Theonian army at the Terina council meeting, “….What impressed me the most was the discipline and obedience of the Theonian soldiers, which was different from the armies of other allied city-states that I had ever seen, including ourselves. I had heard that the Theonians has a special military law to regulate the behaviors of the soldiers and has a strict rules on all aspects of military training, marching and camping…and so on., and there are also military inspectors in the army to supervise its implementation, and the soldiers were visibly not against getting punished if they were to break the military law, on the contrary, they are ashamed….
I have learned from the Theonian soldiers that they had to train every five days during their free time even during farming season, which is already a surprising amount for us in Terina, and they seemed to be very happy to train and were not complaining about wasting their farmlands because of training…in order to use the shield, spears, bow and javelins in their hands skillfully, and maintain a complete formation during a march. They are not only serious in building their camp, but also have a clear division of labor and high efficiency. Therefore, they were able to build a well guarded camp in a very short amount of time that made me amazed….
In addition, there is another obvious difference between the Theonian army and the other city-states, that is, their strategos and officers at all ranks were not temporarily appointed after a war mobilization, but have always held these positions in the army. Hence they are not only experienced in combat, but are also familiar with every soldier under their jurisdiction. Therefore, they are able to command the soldiers very smoothly while they are marching and constructing their camps, and have a tacit cooperation with each other…and so, the superiors and the subordinates understood well about their responsibilities when executing the orders….
What is even more surprising to me is that these soldiers are not afraid of fighting, and are instead eager for a battle, which reminded me of the Spartans in Greece. Although I haven’t seen them fight yet, the fact that they were able to defeat Crotone with less number of soldiers is proof enough of the Theonian army’s military strength. In short, I see the Theonian army as a finely crafted, well-maintained and terrifying weapon of war!….”
After listening to Siprus, the council of Terina decided to give Theonia as much support as possible in the South Italia Alliance as long as it does not affect their own interests.
After several days of negotiations, the peace agreement was finally reached: Locri will compensate Caulonia, Terina, Scylletium and Crotone for a certain amount of wealth and both sides will then achieve a truce….
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Just as peace was restored in south Italia, a big war soon broke out in the Lucanian region, northwest of Theonia in early March.
The army of Potentia besieged and attacked Grumentum for more than ten days. And Gennat of Pyxous led his troops to attack the rear of the Potentia’s army, while Cincinnag, seeing the arrival of reinforcements, also led his troops to attack at the same time. Afterwards, Pyxous and Grumentum chased the Potentians who had lost their camp and fled in disarray.
When Pyxous and Grumentum broke into the camp of Potentia and saw the herds of livestocks, piles of grain and many other tribal women and numerous slaves that were captured by Potentia as they marched. Both Pyxous and Grumentum had no longer any more intention to pursue Potentia, and had instead begun plundering the camp’s properties and women, which caused a conflict.
Pyxous believes that they are the one that defeated the army of Potentia and so the spoils should belong to them, while Grumentum believed that most of the properties that were plundered by Potentia are from the tribes belonging to Grumentum outside the city and should be returned to Grumentum.
What started as a quarrel and conflict soon turned into an armed struggle, especially the people of Grumentum, who originally had a superior status in the Lucanian Alliance, not only had many of their chieftains were killed, but during this period of time were Pyxous ruled them, the Pyxousian had treated them with contempt and provocation which made the people of Grumentum feel lost and humiliated. In addition, the Pyxousian soldiers who followed Cincinnag were domineering in Grumentum. Therefore, the pent up resentment in their hearts finally burst out after getting stirred up and so the people of Grumentum gathered one after another and madly attacked the camp of Pyxous, and both sides started a bloody battle.
Cincinnag could not stop the fight, and when he finally decided to finally wipe out the erratic Grumentum people, the chieftain of Potentia, Polet, led some of his reorganized warriors to return and fight them again. The Pyxousians, who were fighting with the people of Grumentum in the camp, suffered a tragic defeat. And Cincinnag and his son could only flee into the mountains together with the remnants of their army, not even daring to return to Grumentum. In the end, they manage to return to Pyxous.
And Potentia finally captured Grumentum.
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At the same time, after two months of sieging and struggling hard, Taranto finally captured Brindisi, a small city on the east of Taranto near the Adriatic Sea, which was a big breakthrough in the territory expansion of Taranto since their establishment.
The people dedicated their praise to Diaomilas and Archytas who had led the army. Archytas, however, could not be happy. The attack on the Messapians was supported by the city-state, and though they have achieved the initial plan agreed by the council and opening the land route between Taranto and the Adriatic Sea and cutting off the Messapians from the north, and blocking them in the peninsula, but the price they had paid was high, with 4,000 casualties among the Taranto’s soldiers.
The Messapians are famous in Magna Graecia for their ferocity. A few hundred years ago, during the Great Greek colonial era, many Greek city-states were established in Magna Graecia, but on this “heel”, there was only Taranto. While the other colonial city-states are getting attacked and assimilated by the nearby aborigines and expanding their territory. The people of Taranto, who have the advantage due to their position, are lamenting their misfortunes that their neighbors to the east, the Messapians, were not only fierce and numerous, but also that the Messapians were not completely barbaric aborigines. According to their own claims, they were Illyrians from the north of Greece near the Adriatic sea, with culture and tradition similar to that of the Greeks(the Greeks never recognized them and still regarded them as barbarians), and had prevented Taranto from advancing inland for hundreds of years. Especially a few decades ago when Taranto supported Sparta in the Peloponnesian War and had caused Athens to be hostile on them, so Athens supported the Messapians against Taranto, and since then, the Messapian’s invasion of Taranto began to increase, which had cause the people to suffer.
This time, if not for the stimulation due to the rapid rise of Theonia, then the Council of Taranto might not have made up their mind to attack the Messapians. However, Archytas knew that although they had temporarily won, the Messapians would never give up and the war with them would last for a long time.
The wailing of the wounded soldiers outside the city had mixed with the proud and ferocious cry of the crows pecking at the corpses, which made the people tremble….
Archytas, who was standing on the low wall of Brindisi, stared blankly at the western sky dyed scarlet like blood by the setting sun and his heart was full of fear for the future….
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In April, Syracuse’s army continued to march westward, and the city-states such as Eryx and Halaesa opened their cities and surrendered one after another. Only Segesta remained loyal to Carthage and was besieged.
In the middle of the day, Dionysius’ army arrived at the westernmost end of Sicily and faced the island city in the bay and was also Carthage’s important base in Sicily – Motya.
Motya destroyed the causeway connecting to the land and prepared to defend it by the sea.
While Dionysius commanded the army to rebuild the causeway, while leading an expedition to the nearby areas. However, Segesta repelled the attack of Syracuse, which forced Syracuse to continue sieging it.
In May, when the causeway was completed, Dionysius led his army back to attack Motya.
At this time, Carthage had also prepared to send troops to rescue this precarious city on the sea. They had first adopted the strategy of besieging the base of Syracuse to relieve Motya by sending ships to Syracuse and breaking into the large port and destroying the ships docked there, in an attempt to lure Dionysius back, but Dionysius did not move.
The Carthaginian general, Himilco, had no choice but to lead his army to rescue Motya, while the large number of Carthaginian ships bypassed the Cape of Palermo and sailed aggressively into the bay in an attempt to destroy the Syracusan ships that remained near the beach.
Dionysius, who had been waiting for a long time, had laid down dozens of new weapons on the beach – Ballista. At the command of Dionysius, a bowl-sized round stone flew out and smashed into the Carthaginian ships….
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Davos was examining a silverish white coin in his hand. It weighed four grams and was very close to the standard circle, with the head of hades with long beard and hair and engraved with the letters “Theonian Union” on one side. On the other side is a leafy poplar tree(the sacred tree of Hades) and engraved with the letters “The third year of the 95th Olympia Games.” And the image on both sides are located at the center, with subtle engraving, distinctive concave and convex, and clear letters.
Davos then tossed the coin and caught it, weighed it in his hand and asked, “How much silver does it contain?”
Tritodemos came forward and said, “According to your proposal and the Senate’s coinage law, the purity of a drachma silver coin is more than 95%, which is comparable to the purity of the Athenian “owl”(The Laurion silver coin known throughout Greece), but-” Tritodemos said anxiously, “We don’t have the large silver mine of Athens, and the revenue of the treasure mainly comes from trade and taxes, so issuing silver coins of such high purity would be a great loss.”
Davos nodded and explained patiently, “We will certainly suffer some losses, but I had already explained it very clearly in the Senate meeting. Now, Theonia’s monthly treasury revenue is nearly 50 talents, and according to the analysis of Marigi, this figure will increase more once we have closer ties with the other allies in the South Italia Alliance…therefore, we can bear this loss. Moreover, we have a market management office in each city, as well as banks for exchange, which, together with the additional fees charged, can partially compensate for the losses incurred by the union’s minting….”