Scenes From Elsewhere (Minor Powers III)

While victorious in the War against Athens, Sparta and the Aitolian League would have very different situations post-war. The Aitolian League would largely manage to digest Boeotia without much in the way of issues. The Nature of its status as a Federal League of City States did much to soothe any tensions, and Boeotians and Aitolians had a number of cultural traits in common, which helped to ease any tensions. Mostly, the Synedrion of the Aitolian League busied itself with repairing War Damage in Boeotia and preparing its newly acquired Poleis for full admittance as League Members, which the Synedrion insisted was to happen gradually over the course of the next five years, something which likewise mollified the Boeotians.

Sparta, on the other hand, was much more heavy-handed, and while Achaia could do little in the face of forced integration into Sparta, the same was not true of Korinthos. At the same time, Sparta needed to build a decent Navy for the first time in its existence in order to best defend its new vassals in Crete. This was not something that Sparta had expertise in, and so they required more finds than usual for such a project in order to hire the best shipwrights, carpenters, and other experts they could. To pay for this, Sparta taxed its newest provinces fairly heavily, causing much grumbling amongst the newly forcibly integrated Korinthians and Achaians.

Added onto these woes, however, was the fact that Sparta's ancient diarchy, its system of having two kings so that one could focus on warfare while the other ruled at home, was breaking down. Archidamos the Fourth, the Eurypontid King of Sparta, and Areus, the Argid King of Sparta, were at odds about seemingly every decision. It was Areus who wanted the fleet in order to protect Crete, as the Cretans were firm Argid supporters owing to the events of the War there. Archidamos was against it on the basis of Sparta never having needed more than a token fleet before. In the end, Areus would receive his fleet but wanted to finance its construction with a loan, which Archidamos opposed on the basis that handing power to a foreign creditor was bad for Sparta. Instead, Archidamos floated the idea of simply taxing the newly-conquered territories to pay for it. Archidamos got his way on that issue.

To anyone with the eyes to see, it seemed that the Nector of Victory that had been imbibed by the victorious powers in the Athenian War, which was going down quite smoothly for Epirus and the Aitolian League, was turning out to be poison for Sparta. It was not really any wonder when, partway through Two-Seventy-Eight, after six months of such taxation, Korinthos revolted against Spartan Rule, massacring the Spartan Garrison in the middle of the night of the Seventh of August, Two-Seventy-Eight, while they slept. Unfortunately for Sparta, both of the Kings pointed fingers at the other and laid blame for this revolt, deepening the divide between the Argid and Eurypontid Camps.

Areus claimed that Archidamos' plan to tax the newly-conquered territories to pay for the New Spartan Navy's Construction had caused the revolt, while Archidamos claimed that it was Areus' dreams of a New Navy that had caused the revolt to begin with. The argument raged for three days before a young officer of the Spartan Phalangites named Xanthippos, who was a mere year out of the Agoge, and thus more used to the more brutal way of settling disputes, suggested the Kings be locked in a chamber to fight it out until their blood had cooled and the business of state could continue. The Generals and Statesmen of the Courts, seeing no other alternative, and with the Revolt in Korinthos growing strength with each passing day, agreed to Xanthippos' plan.

Mad as it seemed, the plan worked, and when the Kings emerged, Archidamos with a split lip and Areus with a black eye, the two agreed on a course of action, sending an Army to suppress the revolt in Korinthos. However, it was clear to all that while the tension between the two Kings had subsided, it was still very much present, lurking under the surface like a Siren, waiting to bubble up and pull the ship of state back into the turgid waters of Royal Dispute. Fortunately for Sparta, such a trigger would not occur by the end of Two-Seventy-Eight, allowing Sparta to bring the Korinthian Rebels to battle on the hills South of Tenea.

The Battle of the Hills saw Sparta utilizing its Epirote-style Thorakitai and Thureophorai to outflank the Korinthian Rebel Hoplites in the rugged, hilly terrain, forcing a rout that few Rebels managed to escape from. By September, Tenea had fallen, and Acrocorinth was under siege, by October, Acrocorinth had fallen, and Korinthos itself was under siege. However, on the thirty-fist of October, a band of Rebels from Sikyon, which had itself risen up in revolt the previous month, attacked the Spartans from behind as they besieged Korinthos, leading to a Spartan defeat, the first such suffered by Archidamos the Fourth.

In the end, the Korinthian Uprising would be solved via diplomacy and concessions rather than by force of arms, as while the cities of Korinthos and Sikyon remained in rebel hands, Sparta had recaptured Tenea and Acrocorinth and was poised to reinforce their army in the new year. The Compromise was negotiated by Areus, and involved lifting the extra tax burden on the territories conquered by Sparta in the Athenian War, and allowing Korinthians a certain number of economic privileges within the growing Spartan Realm. This, in turn, not only forced the Spartans to take loans out from the Aitolians and Epirotes to finance the construction of the new Navy, but threatened to re-ignite the feud between the Argids and Eurypontids. However, as two-seventy-eight drew to a close, that feud would remain bubbling under the surface yet, likely only to boil over when it came time to repay the loans taken out by Sparta.

Meanwhile, further north, Dardania was likewise rumbling in discontent. The New King of Rump Dardania, a young man named Mytilos, had been forced by the treaty imposed on Dardania by Macedon to pay two hundred talents of gold and silver to Macedon and Thrace for the Dardanians' attacks on the Thracians under Monunios. This was quickly becoming a strain on the economy of Dardania, and the Nobles grumbled under the weight of their burden. Mytilos had to do something to avoid his remaining territory rising up in revolt. This, it turns out, was to send ambassadors to Pyrrhus, King of Epirus. offering to become a vassal of Epirus in exchange for the Epirote King paying down the remainder of his war debts.

Pyrrhus agreed, sending ambassadors to his Cousin, Alexander the Fifth of Macedon, and to Raskos, Regent of Thrace, paying the remainder of the Dardanian War Debt. This freed up the economy of Dardania, no longer paying ruinous indemnities to Macedon and Thrace. At the same time, Epirote Goods came to Markets in Dardania, allowing the silver mined there to be turned into products that helped to better the lives of nobles and commoners alike. There was only one small problem. Along with Epirote Financial and Economic aid, becoming an Epirote Client also brought Hellenism to Dardania in a way that hadn't been seen since the days of Alexandros Megas.

This, it seemed, angered several prominent Dardanian Nobles, who conspired with the Captain of the Dardanian Royal Guard, a man named Opis, to corner King Mytilos and force him to renounce Epirote Fealty or be slain. It is not known precisely what was said by King Mytilos, only that he spoke passionately and eloquently enough about the benefits of Epirote Overlordship that Opis changed his mind about siding with the Noble Cabal. Likely, however, it had to do with benefits to the Military, as Opis was a Career Officer. Whatever the words in particular were, by the end of King Mytilos' speech, Opis had been swayed, at least for the time being, and managed to fend off the nobles when they moved to carry out their threats. King Mytilos escaped, calling for the guards to come aid their captain, and the Noble's attempted coup failed.

This was all to the good of Dardania, however, as if Epirus had been forced to invade by the coup, it is likely that Pyrrhus would not have stopped at simple Clienthood, but forced Dardania to become a new province of the Epirote Realm. Indeed, this was what happened when, in December of Two-Seventy-Eight, Epulon, King of the Taulantii and friend and client of Pyrrhus of Epirus, caught a fever from the chill air as he went hunting for Wild Boar. He had to be converted back to his palace, whereupon he died. Epulon's only legitimate children had not survived childhood, a fact which had vexed him greatly. In fact, his hunt for boar was in order to sacrifice the kill to Artemis, in the hopes that she would favor his next child enough to survive childhood, as Artemis had the protection of children as part of her divine duties. Before he passed, he deeded his Kingdom to his friend and overlord, Pyrrhus of Epirus. Then, Epulon of the Taulantii died, with his Kingdom becoming part of Epirus Proper.

Meanwhile, in Thrace, the Regent Raskos, seeing the Epirote Ambassadors come to him instead of the nine-year-old King Alexander the Second, began to plot to seize the Throne of Thrace for his own. In August of Two-Seventy-Eight, he had Alexander the Second murdered, taking the throne of Thrace for his own. This did not cause as much of a consternation as it might have, for Raskos had hired Pirates from the Peninsula south of Apolonia Pontica to slay Alexander the Second during a late summer sea voyage. Said Peninsula used to be a stronghold under the Old Kings of Thrace, but ever since Alexandros Megas had conquered Thrace, the stronghold had fallen to ruin and become infested with Pirates. Raskos had turned that unfortunate reality into an opportunity.

In this, he succeeded, as the Pirates would gladly slay a Greek Royal, having little love for the Greeks as naval patrols from nearby Apollonia Pontica often made their lives difficult. That they had been paid to do so was simply a bonus for them. They did not realize that in doing so, they had sealed their own fate. To solidify his hold on the Throne, Raskos attacked their ruined fortress, slaying them as a way to legitimize his reign with vengeance for the King he had hired them to murder. In this, he was successful, and after a three-month mourning period, Raskos was crowned King of Thrace in December of Two-Seventy-Eight with no objections from the Nobility, before using funds from the Dardanian War Reparations to finance the reconstruction of the very same Pirate Fortress he had just attacked, to be used once again for the Thracian Kingdom.

At the same time in Macedon, Alexander the Fifth spent the Gold and Silver he had collected from the Dardanians as a War Indemnity building a new center of production for metalworking. He had seen his cousin's great forges and wished for such for his own. In this, he had copied his cousin's designs, though only what he could see of it. As such, while his metalworking facility could put out the same High-Quality Iron that Pyrrhus' could, it lacked the key ingredient that allowed his cousin to manufacture steel, as Alexander had never seen his Cousin's forge in operation, just at rest. Still, the manufacture of such high-quality iron spreading to Macedon was still cause for celebration, as it lessened the need for Epirote Imports.

It also made Macedon a potential target for attacks and was likely the key reason for Bolgios putting Macedon on his list of targets for the time when the wounds of the Istrian War had finally healed. Such a time would not be occurring yet, but within the next half a decade, once Bolgios had stabilized his rule after the defeat, then he would turn his gaze south to Macedon, desiring not only the territory but the Forge of Alexander the Fifth as well. When the blow came, it would fall like a hammer blow in two-seventy-three.

And in doing so, it would spell the final end of the Argead Dynasty. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here's the last of the interlude updates for the time being. A lot is happening in the Balkans, so that's where this year's Minor Powers Update is focused. Sparta is not digesting its conquest of Corinth well at all, and the divide between the two royal lines of Sparta is only causing further issues. In the meantime, more of Illyria falls to Epirus with almost no input from Pyrrhus Part outside of one action. Mytilos of Dardania clearly decided that if he couldn't beat the Greeks, he would join them, while Epulon of the Taulantii died and left his Kingdom to his Old Friend Pyrrhus in his will. Meanwhile, there's Skullduggery afoot in Thrace as Lysimachus' line dies out at the hands of an assassination planned by Raskos, who made it look like the work of Black Sea Pirates, then attacked those same pirates in order to claim the throne. Finally, Alexander the Fifth of Macedon proves that while he can partially ape his Cousin's innovations, he is planting the seeds of his own demise in doing so.

Place names in this chapter are as follows, Acrocorinth sits on a hill just south of the Old City of Corinth and functioned as part of the forward defenses for Corinth, while Tenea sits about nine kilometers south of Acrocorinth. Meanwhile, Sikyon is about twenty kilometers west of Corinth along the Corinthian Gulf on the Northern Coast of the Pelopennese. Apollonia Pontica sits on the site of Modern-Day Sozopol on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, while the Peninsula where the Pirates were is actually modern-day St Thomas Island in the Black Sea. An Earthquake sank the peninsula part that attached it to the Bulgarian Coast in the medieval period. Finally, the Old City of Corinth is actually in a different location from the Modern City of Corinth, further inland from the Isthmus on the Pelopennese, roughly five kilometers South of the Modern-Day City of Corinth.

At any rate, in the next chapter, we'll be back with Pyrrhus, and I'll have a map update to show the changes from all the interludes out before then.

Stay tuned. . .