Mediterranean Hegemon Of Ancient Greece Chapter 700: Syracuses Past Ten Years (II)

Chapter 700: Syracuses Past Ten Years (II)

Although this was no small sum, Herolis could only agree to pay war reparations after much negotiation with Theonia. For this reason, Herolis wanted to concentrate his authority so he could develop Syracuse quickly to escape the quagmire of defeat.

But soon after, the Syracusans found that some of the Syracusan citizens and sailors Theonia released were fewer.

So Herolis immediately sent someone to discuss with Theonia, but the Theonian official's response made them feel helpless. The initial attack by Syracuse had almost brought Theonia to the brink of extinction, so in order to receive food aid from Carthage, they had to agree to the other side's request and provide Carthage with some of the Syracusan prisoners.

Herolis was left with no other choice and had begun to make a fuss about the war reparations, urging Theonia to reduce part of the compensation.

Yet the Syracusans thought that Herolis didn't do his best and allowed the Syracusans to become slaves of Carthage.

And so the people, including the many freemen in the port area, were disappointed with him because many prisoners who didn't return were Syracusan sailors.

It was at this time that Davos ordered the spies lurking in Syracuse to spread damaging rumours against Herolis, for Davos knew that many of Herolis' decisions were his, and he didn't want to see Syracuse rise again.

As a result, the people's discontent and suspicion of Herolis grew, with many saying that Herolis wanted to be the second Dionysius.

And in this period of unrest, per the law promulgated by Herolis, Phacipessas, Kuchillas, Damocles…and others, they should have severely punished the former strategoi and ministers under Dionysius. But suddenly, they broke away from imprisonment and escaped from Syracuse with some of the people discontent with Herolis. They then captured the small town of Akrai after joining forces with the mercenaries of Macias, roaming the mountain ranges to the west.

Herolis certainly couldn't allow Dionysius' remnants to rebel in Syracuse's sphere of influence, so he led the expedition himself before instructing Phalekus, Steisikus and others to guard Syracuse, as the recent political situation was somewhat unstable.

But shortly after Herolis led his troops to Akrai and attacked the city, he received the bad news that a revolt had broken out in Syracuse. They then held an ecclesia to not only re-elect the strategoi but also to unanimously pa.s.s a motion to put the dictator Herolis on trial.

Why could they easily remove Herolis from power in Syracuse? That is thanks to the support of Phacipessas, Kuchillas, Steisikus and others.

It turned out that these close friends of Herolis felt that Herolis had become too dictatorial after taking over the leaders.h.i.+p and no longer listened to them. And although they were also members of the Wartime Council, they had little real power, so there was undoubtedly discontent in their hearts. In addition, the rumours in the city began to affect them, and they feared that Herolis would become a dictator. So after Herolis led the army out of the city, Theagenes persuaded them to work with the democrats and abandon Herolis.

Upon hearing of the unrest in the city, Herolis immediately led the army back to quickly calm the situation. But before he could reach Syracuse, most of the soldiers under his command ran away.

Realising that he could do nothing, Herolis took a boat to escape Syracuse with his trusted subordinates.

But instead of fleeing to the kingdom of Theonia, which had helped him overthrow Dionysius, or to Sparta, Syracuse's former ally, he fled to Corinth, Syracuse's mother state. The Corinthian War ended in the third year of the kingdom of Theonia (391 BC).

To prevent a repeat of Herolis, the democrats who had taken over Syracuse used the ecclesia to elect 25 strategoi, led by Steisikus and Phalekus, to manage the city's affairs. They then began to abolish some of the laws pa.s.sed by Herolis, including the war reparations to Theonia and even took back the land allotted to the freemen in the power area…

However, that not only worsened Syracuse's diplomatic situation but also infuriated the population of the port area.

Furthermore, Theagenes proposed to increase the punishment of citizens who had served under Dionysius, causing even more panic in the city.

As a result of not paying the war reparation, King Davos of Theonia ordered the Eighth Legion in Catania to set up a force on the northern border of Syracuse, making it look as if they were going to attack Syracuse.

Eventually, the new strategoi of Syracuse had to give in and increase the amount of the war indemnity. As for the civilians who rioted in the harbour, Theagenes and the others relentlessly sent troops to suppress them.

But then, Phacipessas and Macias led the rebel army in Akrai to march on Syracuse, declaring that they would seek revenge for the citizens who had served Dionysius and suffered injustice, which many people in Syracuse shared.

Theagenes then led the low-morale soldiers out of the city to fight but was defeated by the outnumbered rebel army of Phacipessas and had to retreat into the city to defend it.

But with Phacipessas and Macias’ familiarity with Syracuse, they had Phacipessas pretend to storm the southern area of Syracuse while Macias quickly moved north around the mountains with a few elite troops. Then they stormed the northern walls of Syracuse, took the northern gate and entered the city and the Epipolae.

As a result, the people in the city were frightened.

But at this critical moment, the members of the Council, made up of 25 strategoi, are still discussing who should be blamed for their defeat while debating how to defend themselves against the enemy, unable to come up with a concrete measure. Only after Macias' army approached the inner city area did the strategoi scramble to gather troops to meet the enemy, which naturally resulted in another failure.

The panicked democrats could only retreat to the island of Ortygia, while Phacipessas took the opportunity to enter the city and join Macias. The former mercenaries then took the opportunity to retaliate by making the people suffer greatly.

Meanwhile, Herolis followed Syracuse's development from far away from Corinth. But as a patriot, how can he stand by and watch the present tragedy of the people? And so he asked the Corinthian government for some reinforcements and led them back to the island of Ortygia by s.h.i.+p.

It was the spring of the sixth year of the kingdom of Theonia (388 BC) when the people of Syracuse warmly welcomed the return of Herolis and begged him to forgive their treachery.

Afterwards, Herolis made a speech from the heart on the island of Ortygia, “…no matter how you treat me, I will still come to protect this city-state and the people without hesitation. If I cannot save my hometown, I would rather burn myself on the ruins of my homeland!…”

His words deeply moved Syracuse's people, including his former friends and his political enemies, making them chant in unison, “Save Syracuse!!! Save Syracuse!!!…”

Seeing the high morale and the populace's support, Herolis immediately formed an army, opened the gate of the long-closed island of Ortygia, rushed out of the isthmus and launched a fierce attack on the rebels.

As a response, Phacipessas and Macias hurriedly led their troops into battle.

At the news that Herolis was the leader, the people of the city responded.

They defeated the rebels in a series of battles until they killed Macias and captured Phacipessas, effectively wiping out the insurgents.

After all these victories, Herolis' prestige grew so much that he blatantly abolished the Council without holding an ecclesia, stripping the 25 strategoi, such as Theagenes, Phalekus…and the others, of their authority that the people didn't even object.

Having regained his authority, Herolis clarified that he wanted to set up a government similar to Theonia but mixed with the Corinthian political system.

This is a system of government where a few elites rule the majority, so he had to rely more on the Corinthians to help him complete the task of transforming Syracuse's system.

Having suffered greatly from the unrest of the past few years, coupled with the fact that Herolis has restored the laws he had previously pa.s.sed that benefited many of the people of Syracuse, the people have come to accept these changes in government. Thus even though it seemed to be a dictators.h.i.+p, the people didn't express strong opposition. Meanwhile, Herolis' political enemies, such as Theagenes and Phalekus, couldn't stir up much of a storm without the support of the people, and so the political situation in Syracuse began to stabilise.

Herolis' rule gradually moved towards stability. However, there was danger in this stability.

Among the Corinthians who followed Herolis to Syracuse was a young n.o.bleman named Andromachus, who was rewarded for his bravery by Herolis by being made head of the city guard, protecting Syracuse's security while also serving as head of Herolis' court guard. But he was jealous of Herolis' achievement and tried to take his place.

Thus, in the eighth year of the Theonian kingdom (386 BC), while Herolis was on his way to the Temple of Apollo to make an offering, a.s.sa.s.sins paid by Andromachus stabbed the supreme commander of Syracuse to death. Andromachus then took advantage of the situation to seize control of Syracuse.

And to consolidate his power, Andromachus wantonly promoted the Corinthians, much to the displeasure of the Syracusans.

A few months later, the widow of Herolis publicly revealed the truth of her husband's a.s.sa.s.sination at Demeter's harvest festival.

The people were furious, and they gathered to overthrow Andromachus' rule.

Andromachus rallied his troops to try and crush them, but he suffered a tragic defeat and died in the ensuing chaos.