Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 1232: All Efforts Wasted

Following the death of Cyrus the Younger, the volatile situation in the kingdom kept Artaxerxes from strictly punishing the officials and nobles of Asia Minor who had supported him. However, he remained wary of the region. He had originally hoped his trusted subordinate Tissaphernes could bring Asia Minor completely back under his control. He never expected King Agesilaus of Sparta to invade Asia Minor and hand Tissaphernes a string of defeats. Seizing the opportunity, the Persian Queen Mother, who despised Tissaphernes for causing Cyrus the Younger's death, had him executed. Artaxerxes feigned anger and intentionally withheld aid from Asia Minor; in truth, he secretly hoped the Spartans would thoroughly ravage the region so he could swoop in to pick up the pieces and reassert control. Instead, the Corinthian War broke out, forcing Agesilaus to return to Greece early. Meanwhile, the nobles and commoners of Asia Minor, their homes ruined, harbored deep resentment against the Persian royal court for its inaction.

This was especially true for another of Asia Minor's satraps, Pharnabazus. To exact revenge on Sparta, he allowed the Athenian general Conon, who had once taken refuge with him, to take command of his fleet and directly assist Athens in its war against Sparta. Pharnabazus even turned a blind eye when Conon claimed the entire fleet for Athens.

Unexpectedly, Artaxerxes heeded his advisors' counsel and pivoted to supporting Sparta instead. He even ordered Pharnabazus to reclaim the Warships he had gifted to Athens.

This provoked fierce resentment from Pharnabazus. Not only did he disobey the order, but he also refused to acknowledge Sparta as Persia's ally. Because Pharnabazus was a major noble in Asia Minor with considerable influence over Persia's western territories, Artaxerxes was ultimately forced to marry his daughter to Pharnabazus's son just to placate the satrap. From then on, however, the rift between Asia Minor and the Persian royal court only deepened.

Persian officials appointed to Asia Minor by the royal court never received any cooperation from the local nobles and populace. Meanwhile, Artaxerxes constantly sought to weaken the regional powers of Asia Minor. Whether it was the campaign against the mountainous region of Ducetia or the invasion of Egypt, Artaxerxes demanded more troops and supplies from Asia Minor. The problem was that every single one of these major wars ended in failure, inflicting massive losses on the region. One could well imagine the resentment simmering in the hearts of the nobles and commoners. Furthermore, these military blunders dragged down the royal court's prestige, cultivating ambition among the satraps and nobles of Asia Minor.

For this latest invasion of Egypt, while Artaxerxes had not asked Asia Minor for more soldiers, he demanded they fully support Sparta and Athens. That still meant a colossal drain on their resources, which finally sparked a rebellion. It was not just Phrygia that revolted—Lydia, Mysia, Cilicia, Bithynia, Lycia, Pisidia... the vast majority of eastern and western Asia Minor rose up in rebellion, with the unrest even spilling over into Syria.

Truth be told, Artaxerxes was immensely frustrated. He had originally planned to launch the invasion of Egypt in two or three years. By then, the turmoil caused by the Ducetians would have passed, domestic affairs would be much more stable, and military preparations against Egypt would be fully complete. Faced with the Persian royal court's overwhelming military advantage in such a scenario, the satraps of Asia Minor might not have dared to openly rebel. But when he received the news that the Daionian Army had invaded the Peloponnese and held an absolute advantage against Sparta, he could sit still no longer. If Daionia seized control of the Greek Mainland, Persia's path to conquering Egypt would become drastically more difficult. He had no choice but to launch the Egyptian campaign early, exploiting the window where the Daionian Army was tied down on the Greek Mainland. Never did he expect this to trigger a massive rebellion in Asia Minor.

"Tiribazus, with Asia Minor now in open revolt, do you... have any suggestions?" Artaxerxes asked. As he stared at the brocade box resting on his desk—the one holding Timotheus's severed head—his seemingly furious expression could not quite hide a trace of underlying nervousness.

"Your Majesty, the kingdom's great army is currently fighting in Egypt, leaving the Mesopotamian Plain lightly defended. If the rebels in Asia Minor march east, they could threaten the royal capital..." Tiribazus truly lived up to his status as the King of Persia's favored minister; he knew exactly what the king was worried about. He seamlessly continued, "My King, I imagine that once the generals fighting on the front lines hear of the rebellion in Asia Minor, they will undoubtedly write to you one after another. They will plead to return and suppress the revolt to restore peace to the kingdom as quickly as possible!"

As Persia's most exalted ruler, Artaxerxes had already lost a great deal of prestige when his previous personal expedition against Ducetia ended in a crushing defeat. If he returned empty-handed from this personal campaign against Egypt, he would undoubtedly face the mockery of his people. If his generals collectively petitioned him to halt the Egyptian war first, however, and he only agreed with reluctant resignation, he could salvage at least some of his dignity.

After Tiribazus left the tent, Artaxerxes thought about how Daionia had already conquered the Greek Mainland and established some sort of New Greek League. Meanwhile, his own military plan to conquer Egypt—one he had spent years preparing—now had to be aborted due to the rebellion... The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. Unable to hold back his fury, he slammed his fist onto the wooden desk. The brocade box toppled over, and Timotheus's bloody head tumbled out. Its lusterless eyes were wide open, as if staring coldly at the King of Persia.

Artaxerxes jolted in fright. "Take it away! Take it away!" he shouted in a panic.

A eunuch inside the tent hurriedly stuffed the head back into the brocade box and handed it off to the guards outside. Another eunuch asked with concern, "Your Majesty, you are tired and need to rest. Shall I ask Queen Atossa to come and attend to you?"

Artaxerxes was getting on in years, after all. Marching to war required someone to care for him personally, which was why he had brought along his youngest and most favored queen, Atossa (who was also his daughter).

Now, after such an extreme outburst of emotion, Artaxerxes felt his head grow heavy and his limbs lose their strength. He simply nodded.

...

On January 1, 369 BC (Year 25 of the Kingdom of Daunia), merchant ships flooded into the port of Pherae in Thessaly. Ever since Daionia conquered the entirety of Thessaly, the number of merchant vessels arriving from Daionia had been steadily increasing every month. Even so, a sight like today's—where the entire port was practically jammed shut—had never been seen before.

Chabrias finally managed to disembark after much difficulty, immediately launching into a complaint. "Since the Theonians notified us to come to Thessaly, they should have prepared everything in advance. How could they let the port fall into such chaotic disorder? It delayed us for half the day! If they're using their position as conquerors to toy with us, it shows a complete lack of grace!"

"I suspect the Theonians simply didn't anticipate that all the city-states, ourselves included, would immediately dispatch envoys to Pherae the moment we received the notice..." Callistratus said wistfully, his gaze sweeping across the various piers in the harbor.

Hearing this, Chabrias immediately understood. "It seems they had the exact same idea we did. They wanted to rush over here as early as possible so they could fight for more concessions for their own city-states before the league meeting begins and the treaty is finalized."

"You can see from this alone just how much prestige and power the Kingdom of Daunia now commands in Greece..." Callistratus let out a soft sigh.

Chabrias fell silent. It was true. First they defeated Sparta, then they conquered Thessaly, then they routed the Greek expeditionary army, and finally forced Athens into surrendering... Furthermore, the populace of the Greek Mainland now knew full well that to bring Greece to its knees, Daionia had dispatched over 100,000 soldiers and thousands of Warships. How could such terrifying military might not make the Greek people tremble!

"Hm? Chabrias, you have sharp eyes. Quickly, look over there—isn't that Agesilaus?!" Callistratus suddenly pointed diagonally ahead.

Chabrias focused his gaze and shouted excitedly, "You're right! That's Agesilaus!"

"Come on, let's catch him!" Callistratus immediately beckoned his attendants to shoulder their luggage and hurried forward.

Although the distance between them was not far, the throngs of people in the port were simply too dense. It was not until they entered the city proper that they finally caught up with him.

"Athena protect us, it is wonderful to see you again, King Agesilaus!" Callistratus said sincerely. During the signing of the Peace of Callias, the two of them had cooperated quite well. When Sparta was conquered by Daionia, rumors had spread that Agesilaus had died in battle, and Callistratus had genuinely grieved for him.

"I'm not exactly happy to see you," Agesilaus replied bluntly. "You should know that when the news of Athens surrendering to Daionia reached Sparta, I was in such agony that I nearly took my own life. Fortunately, I managed to endure it."

"The Theonians are simply too powerful! The citizens of Athens were besieged for less than a month before they strongly demanded that we surrender. If we hadn't agreed, the people's fury would have undoubtedly been unleashed upon us..." Callistratus still felt a lingering dread as he recalled the situation. He could not help but add, "Daionia has only existed as a city for a few decades, yet it has grown this powerful. Sparta bears some responsibility for this! As the strongest city-state in Greece, you should have strangled it in the cradle long ago instead of letting it grow unchecked. If you had, today's disaster would never have happened!"

"How can you blame us for that?!" Agesilaus retorted with intense dissatisfaction. "If you Athenians hadn't been playing your little schemes behind our backs—egging on Corinth and Thebes to oppose us time and time again—we wouldn't have been too tied up to deal with Daionia! How else could it have survived until today? In the end, this is entirely the fault of Athens!"

Seeing that the two were about to break out into a shouting match, Chabrias hurried forward to mediate. "Please calm yourselves, both of you! What is the point of arguing over this now? Whether it is Athens or Sparta, we are all nothing more than fish on Daionia's chopping block."

Hearing those words, the two men instantly deflated. Athens and Sparta had warred against each other for decades, suffering countless casualties, only for the hegemony of Greece to be usurped by some foreign upstart. All of their ambitions and dreams had been reduced to nothing.