{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/221",
    "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it.  Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.",
    "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'"
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  "archive": "urth",
  "thread": {
    "id": 221,
    "subject": "SOLDIER-History",
    "messages": 1,
    "voices": 1,
    "first": "1997-10-02T09:11:59+00:00",
    "last": "1997-10-02T09:11:59+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<urth-v0004-0330@digest.urth.net>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Alice Turner",
        "address": "al at interport.net"
      },
      "date": "1997-10-02T09:11:59+00:00",
      "subject": "(urth) SOLDIER-History",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "PERSIAN WAR\n\n\nIn Wolf's other books, we have to puzzle things out for ourselves, but in\nthe Soldier books we have plenty of help. I recommend the last chapter of\nHerodotus's HISTORY (though you will want to browse through earlier\nchapters), the admirably succinct backgrounder (about 5 pages) on Pausanius\nand Themistocles in the first chapter of Thucydides's THE PELOPONESIAN\nWARS, and Plutarch's lively Life of Themistocles. Military historians love\nthis conflict, and you will find analyses everywhere, including most\nencyclopedias, though Britannica is best (look under Graeco-Persian War).\n\nHere, I give you a brief SOLDIER companion in three parts: first, a\nsimplistic history; in Part 2 a look at the theological situation; in Part\n3 place-names. I suggest printing Part 3 to slip into your book—it could\nprevent considerable aggravation.\n\nAt the beginning of the fifth century BC, Persia was by far and away the\ngreatest power in the world; the empire reached east to India, north to\nRussia, across supra-Saharan Africa (though not as far down as the black\nman's Ethiopia), and westward into Macedonia, holding half of Thrace.\nDarius the Great (-522-485) had done a spectacular job not only of\nconquering territories but of organizing them as colonies. The army was\nvast, the navy the wonder of the world. The next step was obviously to\nswoop into the peninsula of Hellas and take it over. This looked to be\neasy. Each of the little city-states there, Athens, Corinth, Thebes, Argos,\nSparta, etc. was usually more at less at war with the others, and their\nalliances short-lived and distrustful.\n\nIn –492 (after quite a lot of preliminaries which I leave out, as does\nWolfe) Darius sent messengers to all the little city-states and the Greek\nislands asking for a token tribute of earth and water. Quite a few of them\ngave it, causing consternation among the others and causing just what\nDarius did not bargain for, a newly alert alliance among rivals and\npromises of mutual support. Darius landed forces at Marathon (Fennel Field)\nin –490, and in a battle already legendary by the time of our books, the\nGreeks, led by Miltiades of Athens (Cimon's father), defeated them, leading\nto an absolute orgy of self-congratulation and euphoria among the Hellenes,\nsupported by Persia's10-year retreat. During that time, Darius died, and\nhis son Xerxes (whom history would never call \"the Great\") took over.\n\nIn –480, the year before our story begins, the Persians returned in force,\nled by their redoubtable general, Mardonius. They won the first skirmish,\nthe Battle of Thermopylae (Hot Gates) against the Spartans, led by King\nLeonides who died there, his army vastly outnumbered, leaving Pausanius as\nregent (with Queen Gorgo) for the boy-king Pleistoanax. Latro was in this\nbattle. Meanwhile, in Athens (Thought), the remarkable Themistocles managed\nto convince the city  to gamble on two risky courses of action that seem in\nretrospect almost uncanny. You must remember that this was a small\ndemocracy. A vein of silver had been a few years earlier discovered nearby,\nand the profits from mining this would ordinarily have been distributed\namong the citizens—Themistocles managed to persuade the senate to instead\nput all the money generated into building a fleet. Second, at the point\nwhen the Persian fleet was at the attack, he persuaded the citizens to\nabandon Athens altogether, sending the women, children and old men south,\nand co-opting every able-bodied man and boy in the city for his navy.\nUnbelievably, it worked. The Persians tore down the walls of a deserted\ncity, then were trounced afloat, and their ships sunk, at the Battle of\nSalamis (Peace), by a navy that knew the coastline far better than they.\nThemistocles is considered, both by his contemporaries and ours, to be\nhistory's first naval genius. \n\nThe next famous event of the war, in –479, is where we come in, the Battle\nof Plataea (Clay), a village near Thebes (Hill). The Greeks, united under\nPausanius of Sparta (Rope), won this battle, notorious for the fact that\nthe near-by Thebans did not join them. (The three important cities of the\nseries to date are Thought, Rope and Hill—remember their grudges.)  On the\nsame day, the Persians suffered a second naval defeat at Mycale, the Greek\nfleet being led by Leotychides, the second Spartan king. Hegesistratus was\nat this battle, though ordinarily he was attached to Mardonius. Though I\ndon't think Wolfe mentions it, Herodotus makes note of the fact that at\nboth Plataea and Mycale, a temple of Demeter (the Great Mother) was hard by\nthe battlefield. \n\nAt Plataea-Clay, two important things happen: Mardonius, the seasoned\nPersian general dies—he is succeeded by Artabazus—and Latro, the Italian\nmercenary, is bonked on the head and then captured, together with his\nfellow mercenary, the Ethiopian Seven Lions. When they are taken to Hill,\nremember that the Thebans are in disgrace; it is wise of little Io to cling\nto whoever looks strong enough to save her; the Theban poet Pindaros, from\nan aristocratic and political family, is in a far better position.\n\nMIST  takes place in –479, ARETE in –478, as the walls of Athens are being\nrebuilt and the harbor at Piraeus (Tieup) fortified. Athens is just\nbeginning its time of glory. Young Cimon has a formidable career ahead.\nWhat happens to Pausanius and Themistocles is…interesting. But that you\nmust find out for yourselves, O Best Beloved."
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}