HPLN: Chapter 53

I sat on my throne as I waited for Pinnes, the Dardanian Ambassador. The throne was a thing of beauty, made of marble inlayed with silver and gold on the back in the shape of a double-headed eagle, with cushions of sea silk dyed with Carmine and Saffron dyes. The ends of the Armrests of my throne were worked in the shape of Molossian Hounds, with two Blood Red Sard Stones for eyes of the leftmost armrest, alongside teeth of steel, while the rightmost armrest had Green Malachite stones for eyes along with teeth of Brass. It was the product of the best stonecarvers, weavers, dyers, and jewelers of my Kingdom and served to show the wealth I possessed to any would-be dignitaries just as surely as the guards, in their steel linothorax, with their steel shields and weapons along with their strict discipline, showed my Kingdom's Military Power.

The image the whole thing projected was one that I felt was very well done, but which my darling wife Lanassa felt was too subtle for some. It was the statement that if you took Epirus' hand in friendship, then this sort of wealth, too, could be yours, but if you raised a fist against Epirus in anger, then our disciplined, steel-clad army would destroy you just as surely as we had destroyed Athens. As Pinnes entered the throne room, ready for his audience with me, I could see that he had taken the intended message to heart, as he had to pause before approaching in order to steel himself for his audience. While he gathered his courage momentarily, I took the opportunity to study the Dardanian Nobleman.

He wore a Fustanella dyed blue with woad and green with my malachite-based green dye in a checkerboard pattern, while his trousers were clearly lined with sheep's wool, the same as his boots, judging by the fluff sticking out. His tunic was dyed alternately blue with woad and green with my malachite-based dye in a striped pattern. He wore a wide leather belt affixing his Fustanella and trousers in place, inlayed with bronze studs, and his cloak was trimmed in fur. His beard was neatly combed, for all that his apparel said that he had just come down from the mountain passes this morning, as was his hair. A Brass and Malachite Arm Ring sat on his left bicep, indicating his relative wealth that he could afford to spend coin on Epirote Jewelry.

Lastly, my eye was drawn to the forward curved sica dagger sheathed in a leather and brass sheath hanging off of his belt. I was willing to bet that was one of our trade blades that we used to trade with the various Illyrian, Dacian, and Thracian Tribes, made of high-quality iron. The Guards had not taken it from him when he entered, though I was hardly in danger against a single Illyrian. All in all, the amount of trade goods on him made me think he favored closer ties with my Kingdom. I didn't get much of a chance to come to any further conclusions because he nodded, then stepped forward to approach, bowing to me. The Audience had begun, it seemed.

"Great King Pyrrhus, I am Pinnes, son of Scerdilaidas, Lord of Vendenis. My King, Mytilos of the Dardanians, has sent me with an offer for your most powerful and magnificent majesty if you would care to hear it." Began Pinnes.

"So I have heard. Be welcome in my court, and know that you are under the aegis of the Laws of Hospitality. I bear Dardania no ill will for the actions of a man long dead. Come, I would hear this offer." I nodded, using the polite, courtly speech.

"That is most gratifying to hear, Mighty King. My Master Mytilos will no doubt sleep more soundly with such assurances relayed to him. However, there may be a more direct way of securing his trust and loyalty." Remarked Pinnes.

"And what would such a way be?" I questioned.

"My Master is willing to submit Dardania to Epirote overlordship, Great King. He is willing to swear the oaths and uphold the duties of a vassal to your magnificence." Informed Pinnes.

"I see. And what would such an arrangement cost, I wonder?" I queried.

"Well, as you may have heard, oh Pyrrhus King, Dardania has fallen on difficult times of late. Your destruction of the Tyrant Bardyllis and taking of various tribes as vassals shattered our Kingdom. Three claimants warred amongst themselves for the throne. When the issue was settled, another invasion, this time of Thrace, was carried out. Your cousin intervened, dealing with our previous King's large raid and imposing a massive tribute in exchange for peace. My King can no longer afford to pay the War Debts to Macedon while still running a Functional Kingdom." Explained Pinnes.

"I believe I understand. King Mytilos' price for vassalage is for Epirus to pay the remainder of Dardania's War Debts to Macedon, is that not so?" I asked.

"It is indeed so, Pyrrhus King. Truly, you are as shrewd as they say." Confirmed Pinnes.

"And how much war debt remains to be paid?" I questioned.

"The Price for peace was two hundred talents of Gold and Silver. We are fortunate to have mines of both, but not enough to fully pay such a ransom without causing problems. Effectively, we will spend the gold and silver faster than it can be dug up and smelted. We still have ninety-seven talents left to pay, oh mighty king." Informed Pinnes.

"That would be five-hundred-eighty-two-thousand Drachmae, would it not?" I queried.

"Thereabouts, oh, Noble King." Affirmed Pinnes.

"That is quite literally a King's Ransom." I mused.

"You would effectively be buying our Kingdom, Pyrrhus King. Does a King's Ransom not seem fair?" Asked Pinnes.

I frowned. It was a lot of money, enough to put a noticeable dent even in my treasury. Currently, I had around Three Million Drachmae in my treasury, one million of which was already spoken for by the Army, Navy, Bureaucracy, or what have you. I would need some to continue my campaigns, and others to continue the reconstruction of formerly Athenian Territory. That left me with around one million Drachmae at the most conservative estimate to play with. Using a bit over half of that to effectively purchase the Kingdom of Dardania was risky, but if I could get access to their gold and silver mines, then recouping my losses should be no issue, especially as it would open up Dardanian Markets to Epirote goods that might otherwise not have been able to trade with us.

Ultimately, however, the real consideration was strategic. A vassalized Dardania would allow a mostly contiguous front line against Bolgios should he turn his eye southward eventually. One that ran from the Adriatic all the way to the Euxine Sea and would allow me to intervene against Bolgios if he wanted to move south into Dardania, instead of having to wait for Dardania to fall first, which would likely see Bolgios' Army gain experience and veterancy. When you took that into account, there really was no alternative here. I had to agree to the proposal and say goodbye to a bit more than half a million Drachmae.

"Very well. I believe that it is a worthwhile endeavor. Tell your King Mytilos that Epirus will buy up his debts, and that Pyrrhus will be waiting to take his oaths of fealty." I nodded.

"You will not regret this, Great King." Bowed Pinnes.

"I am sure I will not." I agreed.

As I said that, I made a mental note to send a courier to my Cousin in Pella to inform him of the change in Dardania's Status, and that payment in full of Dardania's remaining reparations will be handled by Epirus. It would need to happen at some point before the end of the day, though, as I wanted to ensure that things proceeded speedily. The Dardanians were fickle at times, and I didn't want to give Mytilos the time he might need to change his mind. Paying the debt would present him with a fait accompli. Either stick to the agreement now that I have upheld my end, or be invaded.

Regardless, Pinnes was not the only messenger I had today. I also had an ambassador from my childhood friend, Ptolemy Kerounos. Last I had heard, he had been cut off from the Great Sea, though I understood he could still send agents across the Nearer Erythraean Sea via ports such as Myos Hormos in Upper Egypt. From there, they could sail to the lands of the Seleucids via the port of Alia, recently conquered along with the rest of the Nabatean Kingdom, and then head overland with a caravan to any of the ports in the Levant, such as Tyre, Sidon, or Byblos in the lands of Meleager, whom Ptolemy Kerounos had already recognized as Great King of Phoenecia. From there, the Ambassadors could easily make their way to Ambracia.

Either way, they had come, and now I would have to grant them an audience. I briefly wondered what they had come for. It wasn't as if my Old Friend had any way to trade with me aside from doing so in an entirely roundabout manner, after all. I supposed I would find out when I met with his Ambassadors. As I nodded at my Chamberlain to send in the Ambassadors from Ptolemy Kerounos, I wasn't sure what I was expecting. Whatever it was that I had been expecting, however, it wasn't this. Oh, certainly, one of the trio of Ambassadors was a Greek settler, in his saffron-dyed Himation with his oiled beard. I had even been expecting the Egyptian in his brightly dyed linen tunic and corded wig, crushed kohl outlining his eyes. I hadn't been expecting the Nubian, however, in his blue dyed linen tunic and leopard pelt cloak.

It seemed that my Childhood Friend had needed to do the one thing that his father had absolutely refused to do, that Ptolemy Philadelphos would refuse to do if he had any sense at all in his head. Ptolemy Kerounos had needed to widen his court to include the previously excluded Native Egyptians and the previously excluded Native Nubians. Ptolemy Soter had refused to do that when he had first forged his Kingdom, instead transplanting the families of his veterans and any settlers who wanted to come into Egypt. It was all a way for the Ptolemies to ensure the Greeks who supported their rule stayed on top of the heap in Egypt.

Of course, there was the issue that many of those transplanted families and settlers had settled not in Upper Egypt or in Nubia, which soon broke from the Empire on Alexandros Megas' Death, but in Lower Egypt. In the Cities on the Delta or along the less turbulent Nile before the cataracts made the River choppy. What few Greeks lived in Upper Egypt or Nubia generally lived along the coast of the Near Erythraean Sea in towns like Myos Hormos. The vast majority of the population, especially with the addition of the Nubians, were either Native Egyptians or Native Nubians.

That being the case, it was the smarter move from my Childhood Friend to incorporate Native Egyptians and Nubians into his court, army, and administration. He couldn't rely on the great families and colonies of Greeks to bolster his rule in the same way that Ptolemy Philadelphos could. This had been practically bound to happen eventually, I just hadn't expected it to happen so quickly.

However, if I thought the choice of ambassadors was interesting, that was nothing compared to their proposal. They wanted me to get involved in the next round of warfare between the Ptolemies. They were offering me not only samples of arrows and bows to try and figure out, but also Cyrenaica for Epirus.

And that was an offer too good to refuse. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we have the next chapter. As you can see, Epirus is wealthy, yes, but not so wealthy that paying the rest of Dardania's War Debts to Macedon won't be noticeable. At the same time, it seems as if Ptolemy Kerounos has had to diversify his court somewhat. This is largely a consequence of geography. Upper Egypt and Nubia barely have any Greek Settlers, making relying on native Egyptians and Nubians a lot more of a necessity than for someone like Ptolemy Philadelphos, who has the majority of Greek Settlements in Egypt within his borders. Of course, both proposals are just too good to turn down, so spending those drachmae and a commitment to joining the next Brother's War are guaranteed to happen.

A note on the number of drachmae in the treasury. We know that Rome in the time of Caesar, just before the Civil War, took in average revenues of fifty million Denarii a year. Now, there's roughly six times less silver content in a Denarius than there was in a Drachma, so that comes down to just under eight-million-four-hundred-thousand Drachmae a Year. Given that, and given Pyrrhus' innovations in production, trade, accounting, bureaucracy, and more, I'd say having just over a third of that coming in each year is a decent estimate.

Finally, place names, since people have asked. Myos Hormos is on the site of modern-day El Qoseir in Egypt. The Nearer Eythaean Sea is the Red Sea, Alia is on the site of Modern-Day Aqaba in Jordan, the Euxine Sea is the Black Sea, the Great Sea is the Mediterranean Sea, and Vendenis is roughly five miles south of the Modern-Day City of Podujevë in Northeastern Kosovo.

At any rate, the next chapter will be the discussion with the Ambassadors from Ptolemy Kerounos, including a demonstration of a Nubian Longbow with Bodkin Point Arrows to help Pyrrhus make up his mind.

Stay tuned. . .