Pueros

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Part ε΄ - ‘Ττάσίς’
(Part 5 - ‘Insurrection’)

– second part –

Miletus, ruled by Aristagoras, was considered to be the capital of Ionia. The city was situated on the mainland of Asia Minor, 65 kilometres [40 miles] south of Ephesus, near the mouth of the River Maeander. Lade was a nearby small offshore island.

By now, Miletus had been besieged by land and sea for about a year by the Persians, led by the Lydian satrap, Artaphernes. A large fleet of Greek ships was currently attempting to relieve the siege and were engaged in a naval battle near Lade, which was finally to decide the fate of the Ionian Revolt.

As mentioned previously, the Persians were not natural sailors. Their fleet at Lade, over 600-strong, therefore primarily consisted of relatively loyal subject peoples, especially Phoenicians, Egyptians, Cilicians and recently re-subdued Cypriots.

The opposing Ionian fleet comprised, in order from the western wing to the eastern, 80 Milesian ships, 12 Prienians, 3 Myusians, 17 Teians, 100 Chians, 8 Erythraeans, 3 Phocaeans, 70 Lesbians and 60 Samians, totalling 353 triremes. Unfortunately for their cause, all but 11 of the 60-strong naval contingent from the island of Samos treacherously deserted at the commencement of the battle, having heeded what the Persians had threatened to inflict on their home island if they remained, including castration of all boys.

The 100-strong fleet of ships from Chios fought most valiantly in the ensuing fierce naval battle but ultimately to no avail because of the overwhelming odds against them, the Persians now being over twice as strong in terms of the number of vessels. Amongst the many brave Chians fighting heroically on this very bloody day was a man wearing the heavy ancient armour of a marine hoplite.

(Near Ephesus, Ionian mainland of Asia Minor, a few days later)

Damaged Chian ships, being pursued by the enemy and whose captains realised that they could not successfully return to their own island before being overtaken, instead made straight for the nearby promontory of Mycale on the coast of Asia Minor. The crews, including the man wearing the armour of a marine hoplite, then ran their triremes ashore, abandoning them in favour of fleeing overland, north away from the besieged Miletus, to some place from where they could acquire fresh vessels to sail home.

Unfortunately, these Chian survivors eventually strayed into Ephesian territory, where local women were celebrating the feminine festival of Thesmophoria. News of the Ionian disaster at Lade had not yet reached Ephesus. Consequently, after false rumour arrived in the city apparently reporting that their lands had been invaded by an armed band intent on mischief against the local females, a large military force was quickly assembled and despatched to kill all of the intruders. This bloody aim was subsequently successfully achieved.

Dios’ father would not now be bequeathing his family armour to his younger son, Danos, because he had been amongst the Chian survivors of the naval battle of Lade who was later accidentally slaughtered by fellow Greeks in the form of the careless Ephesians. His dead body was later looted and the ancient and revered heirloom, previously successful protector of many ancestors in battle, was subsequently sold in Ephesus and lost to the rightful owners forever.

The armour, however, would someday be replaced by the last person Danos’ family could ever currently conceive perpetrating such a benevolent act.

(Miletus, Ionian mainland of Asia Minor, a few weeks later)

The naval victory of the Persians at Lade enabled them to capture Miletus with brutal savagery soon afterwards, aided by use of the latest siege technology, including mines to damage the city walls. Most of the adult males, who in contrast to the enemy generally sported short hair, were slain and the few who escaped the sword were taken with the women and children into captivity, with many of the prettier boys being castrated in the process by a very contented Panionius. The famous temple to Apollo at nearby Didmya was also plundered and burnt.

Aristagoras had already cowardly fled Miletus with a large military force, leaving the city and the citizens to the dreadful fate he had caused to befall them. However, the former tyrant did not live long, being killed whilst besieging a Thracian town he had taken a fancy to capturing.

The pursuing Persian fleet later sailed up the Hellespont, Propontis and Bosporus Thracius, carrying fire and sword. The aim was to inflict the same cruelty as suffered by Miletus on other still resisting Greek cities in Asia Minor and the neighbouring islands, with principal targets being the homelands of Dios and Theanos, respectively Chios and Lesbos.

(Island of Chios, Eastern Aegean Sea, 1 year later, summer 493 BC)

Chios had already received two dreadful warnings from the gods about the disaster about to befall Dios’ now highly vulnerable homeland. First, the islanders had sent a choir of 100 youths to Delphi, hoping for an optimistic prophecy from the local oracle, but sadly only two of these had returned, with the remaining ninety-eight having died of a sudden pestilence. Second and at about the same time, the roof of a school had collapsed onto about 120 boy pupils attending lessons and only one had survived the calamity.

After winning another naval battle just off Chios against the small and overwhelmed remnants of the local fleet, the Persians literally swept the island to capture the inhabitants amidst much destruction. Executions then took place of many prominent rebels, with all children within their extended families being subjected to enslavement.

As elsewhere, most of the prettier captive boys lost their balls for the Persian market. In what was probably his most shameful act since he had castrated the Chian tribute, including Dios, seven years previously, Panionius was again a prominent performer of mass geldings, despite being a native of the island.

Fortunately, the captured Danos and Capros, sons of prominent rebels and now respectively 16 and 18 years old, kept their balls despite their maintained good looks. They were considered too old for castration but not for slavery.

Danos and Capros soon found themselves following in the wake of Dios along the royal road to Persia. However, unlike their young Chian predecessor, they were walking in chains and heading for lives of low menial servitude.

(Royal park, Persepolis, Persia, a few months later, autumn 493 BC)

A discreet burial ceremony was taking place in a secluded grove of the large royal park at Persepolis. However, only a decapitated head was being honourably interred.

The head was that of Histiaeus, the real instigator of the Ionian Revolt. Finding himself unsafe at Sardis because of the suspicions of the Lydian satrap, Artaphernes, about his true furtive role in the insurrection, the former tyrant of Miletus had first escaped to Dios’ home island of Chios. However, he found there that he was regarded with serious misgivings by all Ionians because of his long exile in Persia and the worry that he might still be secretly working for Darius I.

Histiaeus therefore crossed the Aegean to Mytilene, which was the capital of Theanos’ home island of Lesbos. He eventually obtained eight galleys from the Lesbians and he sailed in them towards Byzantium [modern Istanbul], from where for a while he committed lucrative piracy against both Greek and Persian vessels passing between the Mediterranean and Black Seas along the Hellespont, Propontis and Bosporus Thracius. However, the now rather unprincipled adventurer was finally captured alive on the coast of Mysia, where he was surprised by soldiers of the King of Kings, led by a general called ‘Harpagus’.

After subsequently being taken to Sardis, where Artaphernes had survived the earlier rebel sacking of the city by retreating into his virtually impregnable local citadel, Histiaeus was immediately crucified by the satrap. The governor then sent his embalmed head to Darius I at Persepolis, whilst publicly impaling the naked remains of the rest of the body. However, the King of Kings condemned the ignominious death of the man who had once served him very well on campaign in Thrace, to the extent of probably saving his life, and he ordered that the ghastly severed object should receive honourable burial.

Darius’ action pleased the now 18 year-old Dios, whose maintained diminutive stature, boyish appearance, loyal pleasantness of character and continued royal favour had enabled him to break Aspamites’ record of being the oldest male with whom the king had enjoyed sex. However, both lovers sadly realised that this happy situation was unlikely to continue for much longer.

Dios had, of course, earlier been very distressed at the news of the calamity that had befallen Chios. However, he could not really blame Darius, whose instructions about showing the islanders some clemency, mainly issued out of consideration for his beloved young eunuch, had not been followed by his generals in the field. The disregard for royal orders was also understandable in the heat of war, given the casualties the undoubtedly angrily vengeful Persians had themselves suffered over the six years that the long and bloody insurrection had so far lasted.

Darius had subsequently kindly despatched a small cavalry unit of his Immortal royal guards to try to ascertain what had happened to Dios’ family and friends on Chios. However, they proved unable to trace any of them, given the chaos and confusion on the island and the unwillingness of most of the surviving population to co-operate with the Persians. The young eunuch could therefore only pray to his Greek gods that his relatives and former close companions were safe.

Dios had later been the King of Kings’ solitary servant when the courier from Sardis had arrived in Persepolis with the head of Histiaeus. The young eunuch had then made clear his dislike of the gift from Artaphernes when he had immediately retched and vomited at the sight of the gruesome present emerging from the messenger’s leather despatch bag.

(Susa, Susiana, Iran, same time)

Aspamites was aware of the distress caused to his close friend, Dios, as a result of the bloody re-conquest of Chios. However, unlike the younger eunuch, the agnostic spasaka did not believe in praying to the gods for the safety of family and friends, especially when he believed that there were more practical actions he could undertake whilst he found himself in Susa.

(Royal palace, Persepolis, Persia, a few weeks later)

As the re-subjugation of Ionia was now proceeding to a successful conclusion, Darius I consulted with some of his most senior officials and military advisers in his private audience chamber. The king wanted to ascertain how he could best revenge himself against the Athenians, who had been amongst the prime instigators of the long and bloody Ionian Revolt. As a result of the talks, during which Dios had been considerately excused attending to the king because the monarch thought that the nature of the subject matter might upset his beloved eunuch, planning began for an attack against the independent city and island states of Greece.

Dios was summoned after the conclusion of the meeting when the only participants now left in the audience chamber were Darius and Aspamites, attended by the now 11 year-old Bagapates, whose immense beauty had truly blossomed of late. The King of Kings was sitting on his elevated throne and so, given the apparent formality of the occasion and the presence of others, the 18 year-old Chian performed a ceremonial prostration before his royal master.

Dios was rewarded by an instruction from the cherubic voice of Bagapates, who was standing on the top step of the throne platform adjacent to Darius, advising that he could stand and gaze upon the King of Kings. The young Chian immediately complied and then instantly wondered why the three other people, who were present in the audience chamber, sported broad smiles, as if sharing an amusing secret.

As usual in such formal situations, Dios had to wait for Darius to address him before he too could speak. The king then broke the impasse by informing the young Chian that he had acquired two new slaves to serve his beloved eunuch.

With maintained formality and great diplomacy, Dios replied "I thank you, O great king, for your kind generosity. However, I am not in want of any further servants, as Atrios provides me with all of the assistance I need. You perhaps might therefore wish to re-allocate the slaves to someone who is much more worthy of such help than your humble page!"

"I don’t think I shall," Darius retorted, whilst still grinning, "and I’ll now show you why!" A discreet glance to Bagapates then resulted in the younger eunuch scurrying off out of the audience chamber, only to return moments later with two Greek slaves, who were 16 and 18 years of age and dressed in simple but clean tunics of the richest material. Each was carefully guarded and had an arm held by a formidably tall and strong Immortal. Without orders to the contrary, the soldiers were not yet prepared to risk the potential danger of letting these particular captured and enslaved enemies have freedom of movement in the presence of the King of Kings.

Soon afterwards, both slaves, who had been carefully groomed for the occasion, including being provided with healing attention to the wounds that had resulted from recently walking very many miles in chains, were surprised to observe an exotically attired Persian eunuch rushing towards them. The status of the approaching servant appeared to be confirmed by his completely smooth chin, whilst that of the older Greek now proudly sported a neatly trimmed fair beard and that of the younger hinted that manly stubble might soon appear.

The initial surprise of the two young Greeks then quickly dissipated and replaced instead by immense joy. Despite the gap of seven years since they last met, both Danos and Capros suddenly realised the identity of the approaching eunuch.

(Island of Chios, Ionia, eastern Aegean Sea, 6 months later, spring 492 BC)

Darius I had learnt his lesson, not least from Dios’ criticism, about his mistake in substituting autocratic tyrants for previous, often democratic, local government institutions in the ethnically Greek parts of his empire. The King of Kings also wanted to undermine the complaints on the subject of any still potentially rebellious subjects, as well as of his enemies in the independent Hellenic states.

Darius therefore began to replace, under Persian aegis, tyranny with democracy in his Hellenic fiefdoms. The king also instructed his general, Mardonius, who was currently leading an attack against the independent states of Greece, to nurture nascent local democrats during his invasion.

Chios, gradually recovering from the devastation of the previous year, was to be no exception to Darius I’s revised attitude and Aspamites’ second trip to the now ravaged island, made at the beginning of the sailing season in spring, was undertaken to implement the new policy. The spasaka was therefore much better received than during his previous visit eight years earlier.

Aspamites’ reception by the locals was improved still further by his restoration to their homes of many of those enslaved and taken to Persia during the previous year. Such an act of compassionate reconciliation had actually been largely attributable to Dios’ influence over Darius I.

The new young eunuchs created during the previous year, plus the pretty girls taken, both of whom were much needed as fresh tribute in Persia, were the main exceptions to this reversal of fortune, which had also been similarly extended to many other enslaved Greek survivors of the Ionian Revolt. However, the captured citizens of Miletus, which was the city mainly blamed for causing the insurrection, were not allowed to return to their devastated homeland but were instead permitted to establish a new colony in Mesopotamia, near to the mouth of the River Tigris.

Fortunately, the testicled, or ‘enorchiôn’, Danos and Capros were amongst those personally returned by Aspamites to their families on their home island. They had travelled in far greater comfort from Persia along the royal road compared to when they had gone the other way.

When in Susa during the previous year, Aspamites had heard that the large number of captives from Chios, who had survived the long harsh march in chains along the royal road, had arrived in the city. The fresh boy eunuchs and girls amongst their number were to be presented as war tribute to the King of Kings, whilst the rest would be sold on the open market as slaves, with the proceeds going to the royal treasury.

Aspamites immediately wondered whether Dios’ original best friend, Capros, might be amongst the captives and so decided to check. Despite the time lag of seven years since he had released the then 11 year-old Chian, the spasaka hoped that he would still recognise him.

Aspamites’ aspiration was thankfully subsequently met, along with a bonus. Although the spasaka had never seen Danos before, he immediately recognised the exceptionally beautiful family features the boy, who was sitting in squalor next to Capros in a slave holding-pen in Susa, shared with his older brother.

Amongst the goods Danos happily returned with to Chios was a magnificent set of Chian marine hoplite armour, made at great cost by some of the best Greek armourers in the Persian Empire. The helmet, which covered the entire head, apart from the eyes, nose, mouth and middle chin, was crowned by a splendid plumed crest in the island’s colours. The chest cuirass and leg greaves were made even shinier by being embossed with gold, whilst the pleated kilt was made of the strongest fine material. The front of the large oval shield was adorned with the national emblem and the accompanying spear possessed a silver blade.

The equipment was a gift from Darius I. Danos’ family armour had been replaced by the king of Chios’ erstwhile enemy.

The immense joy gained by Danos’ impoverished widowed mother at unexpectedly seeing her younger son again on Chios was subsequently greatly boosted by the presence in the company of Aspamites of a very handsome 19 year-old. The Greek was unusually clean-shaven and wore exotic Persian clothing and jewellery, just like the spasaka, who happened to be instructing him in his new official role. Such an appearance caused the woman to fail initially to realise the identity of the young man until finally recognition suddenly dawned.

Danos’ mother then ran to the young man, with arms extended and whilst crying in joy and repeatedly shouting his name of "Dios!"

(Thrace, Greece, same time)

Darius I had appointed Mardonius, who was both his nephew and son-in-law, to succeed Artaphernes as the satrap of Lydia and placed under his command a large army to invade Greece. He also gave the general instructions to return to Susa with those Athenians and Eretrians who had insulted the authority of the King of Kings.

After crossing the Hellespont, Mardonius’ forces marched through Thrace and Macedonia, subduing as they went any local peoples who had not yet submitted to Persian power. The general also ordered his supporting fleet, which was essential for providing the army with supplies, to proceed round the promontory of Mount Athos and join the land forces at the head of the Gulf of Therma. However, one of the seasonal storms that frequently blew off this dangerous coast overtook the ships, destroying about 300 vessels and drowning or dashing fatally upon rocks approximately 20,000 men.

Meanwhile, Mardonius’ land army suffered so much from an attack by a Thracian tribe that he decided that, with his fleet badly crippled, he could proceed no further. The humiliated general therefore led his forces back across the Hellespont and eventually returned to Persia in shame.

(Eretria, Euboea, Greece, 2 years later, September 490 BC)

The failure of Mardonius’ expedition against the independent states of mainland Greece did not shake Darius I’s resolve. The King of Kings instead made preparations for another attempt on a still larger scale.

In order to ascertain the identity of his real enemies, Darius I also sent heralds to most of the Hellenic city and island states of the eastern Mediterranean, including those in Greece itself, to demand from each earth and water as the symbol of submission. Given the terror that the Persians had previously inflicted during their recent re-conquest of Ionia and other parts of Asia Minor, many of these relatively small nations complied with the demand. However, the Athenians defiantly cast the emissary arriving there into a deep pit, whilst the Spartans threw theirs into a well, bidding him take earth and water from it.

Such actions on the part of the Athenians and Spartans only further angered Darius I and made him even more determined to conquer these independent states. The King of Kings therefore assembled another large army and fleet in Cilicia, under the commands of Datis, a Median, and Artaphernes, eponymous son of the former satrap of Lydia. Eager not to repeat the mistakes of Mardonius by avoiding Thrace, these generals sailed in a fleet of 600 war triremes and transport ships straight across the Aegean to Greece, with half of their forces heading for the island of Euboea whilst the rest made for mainland Attica.

On the way, Datis and Artaphernes subdued the Cyclades archipelago, where most of the peoples readily yielded to Persian might. However, resistance by Naxos and a few other local Athenian allies caused those islands to be thoroughly sacked.

In Euboea, the Persians first successfully besieged Carystos on the island’s southern tip before arriving at the formidable walls of Eretria. They then encountered fierce resistance from the defenders, who fought gallantly for their city for six days until, on the seventh, two treacherous leading citizens opened the gates.

Eretria was subsequently razed to the ground, with the surviving inhabitants enslaved. Panionius again enjoyed himself enormously, castrating the prettier of the city’s boy captives.

Meanwhile, the other half of the Persian forces had landed in Attica, fatefully on the plain of Marathon.

(Plain of Marathon, Attica, Greece, same time)

The 10,000-strong Athenian forces, supported by 1,000 Plataeans and led by the supreme commander, or ‘polemarch’, Callimachus, was already marching north to try to help the Eretrians when they discovered that 15,000 Persian infantry and 800 cavalry had landed on the plain of Marathon. Each army was expecting reinforcements and so there was initially a stand-off, during which they simply eyed each other warily for eight days until news of the fall of Eretria arrived in both camps.

By now, the Greeks had taken up a very strong defensive stance, blocking the road that ventured inland across the plain of Marathon to their city. From this position, they could also easily attack the flank of the Persians if the enemy decided to attempt to march in column along the alternative coastal route.

The Athenians had tried to summon Spartan reinforcements, having according to legend despatched their champion Olympic athlete, Pheidippides, to run the required 320 kilometres [200 miles] with the message requesting help. However, he returned empty-handed.

The Spartans delayed because they declined to come until they had celebrated one of their elaborate religious festivals, scheduled for the next full moon in another five days. Meanwhile, the Athenians now knew that the Persians would soon be strengthened by forces arriving from the successful siege of Eretria.

The ten generals commanding the Athenian army, each elected in line with the municipal constitution from each of the city’s tribes, were deeply divided as to whether to attack the Persians before the enemy’s reinforcements arrived from Eretria. Such strengthening of the opposition forces could provide them with overwhelming might.

The decision of the Athenian generals was then basically made for them by a major mistake on the part of the opposition commanders, Datis and Artaphernes. In order to avoid having to attack the enemy in their strong defensive position, the Persians instead fatefully chose to re-embark their own forces onto ships in order to bypass them and strike direct for Athens by sea.

The Persians first moved their infantry towards the enemy camp in order to attempt to screen the tactical seaward retreat and subsequently initially re-embarked their cavalry onto the waiting transport ships. The foot soldiers were then progressively withdrawn to the beachhead for similar embarkation. However, even the most hesitant Athenian general could not now fail to be tempted by the sight of the remaining opposition being steadily weakened and isolated.

Miltiades, the Athenian general who had been the biggest proponent of immediately assaulting the Persians, now had his way in the army war council, having successfully used forceful oratory to tell Callimarchus that the polemarch’s moment of destiny had arrived. Knowing that the initial danger would come from the enemy foot-archers and that speed was the best solution to restrict the damage from their arrows, the Greek hoplites then attacked with great speed. They emerged from their camp in two dense columns, which eventually peeled into line and charged.

Each hoplite carried two spears, both of which they threw as they charged and quickly came within range, causing a deadly rain of over 20,000 missiles to fall upon the Persians within the first two minutes of the attack. The second flight of projectiles had only just landed when the Greek infantry, helped by their effective armour to survive enemy arrows, subsequently crashed into the opposition front line.

The Persian heavy infantry in the centre of the front line remarkably not only held their position during this furious assault but also began to drive the hoplites back. However, the provincial troops on either flank proved far less redoubtable and they were quickly routed, on their left by Athenians and on their right by Plataeans.

The success of the advancing Persian heavy infantry in the centre was now negated by the danger of encirclement and lack of cavalry, which had been the first units to embark onto ships. They therefore had no choice but to halt, turn round and fight their way out of the enclosing trap and run for the beachhead and their triremes, which were the next foci of the Greek attack.

Desperate fighting, during which Callimarchus was killed, eventually saved most of the shaken Persian survivors of the land battle. The bulk of their fleet, apart from seven vessels, successfully managed to sail to safety.

Total Persian casualties amounted to 6,400 killed, whilst the Greeks lost no more than 192. When archaeologists excavated the relevant Plataean burial mound in the spring of 1970, they found only eleven skeletons, all belonging to young men aged between 18 and 25.

In the aftermath of the battle of Marathon, the Athenians despatched Pheidippides to run the 42 kilometres [26 miles] back to their city to report the news of victory. According to further legend, the exhausted champion runner achieved his latest mission and then dropped dead.

The rest of the victorious Athenian army wisely wasted no time in celebrations but instead immediately marched back to their city, finally meeting the delayed Spartans coming the other way. Consequently, when the reunited Persian fleet arrived offshore of the Bay of Phaleron, they found the reinforced Greeks already waiting for them. Rather than then attempt an opposed landing, Datis and Artaphernes wisely withdrew all of their forces back to home waters.

Darius I subsequently received the news of the latest setback for his Persian armies against the independent Greeks rather philosophically. After all, the expedition had begun well and the reasons for failure were easy to pinpoint. Instead of becoming angry, the King of Kings instead again intended to learn the relevant lessons and to try once more, next time with even bigger and better forces.

Darius I proposed that, with the next attack, nothing would be left to chance and the invasion would be conducted with irresistible force and be led by the Persian’s greatest general. However, when the event eventually began, this most able of military commanders, namely the present King of Kings himself, was sadly no longer available.

(Memphis, Egypt, 4 years later, October 486 BC)

The governor of the often troublesome province of Egypt, who resided in the provincial capital at Memphis, was a relieved man. Such satraps, or ‘protectors of the kingdom’, were generally men of high origin and often members of the royal family through birth or marriage. The viceroys were appointed for indefinite periods, sometimes for life and on a hereditary basis.

Satraps were responsible for the administration of their provinces, and were also heads of the judiciary, although command of the usually locally raised military forces was wisely delegated to independent generals. The governors were helped either by subordinate tyrants or more traditional forms of government left untouched, such as was allowed the Jews in Palestine and the Phoenicians in their Levantine homeland.

Cyrus the Great once commanded his satraps "to imitate me" and most happily complied, living as minor monarchs amidst much luxurious pomp and splendour. However, they were subject to reports to the King of Kings from a centrally appointed imperial secretary, who attended to royal correspondence and formed an informal part of the local governing satrapal council.

Satraps were also subjected to occasional surprise visits from the ‘eyes’ of the king, who were actually based on a Egyptian pharaohic model. The spasakas travelled widely, safeguarded by their own military guards and their unexpected periodic visits to provinces to check on local affairs were much admired by other ancient monarchs and were adopted by many, including the much later Charlemagne.

‘Eyes’ often performed their surprise inspections in response to information provided by secret royal spies, who were termed the ‘ears’ of the king. However, the latter could not always be trusted to be accurate or not to have their own agendas and so good spasakas always arrived in satrapies with open minds about local governance.

Although the satrap of Egypt was not corrupt, he could not be sure of the honesty of many of his administrators, for whose perfidy he might take some of the blame. The governor was therefore relieved when the visit of the very handsome 25 year-old spasaka, who had just arrived in Egypt, was cut short by urgently conveyed and very disturbing news from Babylon.

(Royal palace, Babylon, Mesopotamia, 1 month later, late November 486 BC)

At the same time that the Athenians were celebrating their victory at Marathon by laying the foundations for the Parthenon on their acropolis, the satrap of Babylon himself was sitting on a horse at his own city’s Ishtar gate. The governor was awaiting the appearance of one of the empire’s most important and therefore exceedingly influential spasakas. Couriers had already advised the governor that the imperial servant’s arrival was imminent.

The very handsome 25 year-old year spasaka did not keep the satrap waiting for too long. Protected by his usual personal escort of Assyrian cavalry, the imperial servant had been travelling in a rush for a month since receiving the worrying news whilst on his mission to Egypt.

"Welcome To Babylon," the satrap said in greeting to the similarly mounted spasaka, who was normally very polite to everyone but on this occasion did not return the governor’s salutation. He instead simply asked "How is he, Sir?"

"Still alive," the suddenly sombre satrap answered, "but grievously ill. His fever shows no sign of relenting, despite the efforts of his best physicians. I fear that his end is close!" "I must see him at once, Sir," the now tearful spasaka responded.

"Of course," the satrap replied, "you can see him immediately. He has been constantly pleading for you and Aspamites to come during his rare conscious moments."

"Is Aspamites here, Sir?" the spasaka next enquired. "Yes," the satrap answered, "he arrived from Sardis yesterday and is already at the bedside." "Then, Sir," the imperial servant commented, "your patient will have his plea finally fulfilled when I arrive there too!"

Dios was just in time to hold one of Darius’ hands, the other being grasped by Aspamites, before the King of Kings, who had been very happy to see the two loves of his life one final time, after momentarily regaining consciousness, spoke his last words and breathed his ultimate breath.

(Naqsh-i-Rustan, near Persepolis, Persia, a few months later, early spring, 485 BC)

"You’ve done very well," Dios commented to the now 19 year-old Bagapates. After the former had become too old for the role, shortly after being reunited with Danos and Capros, the latter had succeeded the young Chian as Darius’ favourite bed companion.

Bagapates had also, at virtually the same time, taken upon himself the responsibility of keeping a protective watchful eye on his royal master’s recently completed tomb, ensuring that it was immaculately maintained in readiness for this solemn day. He had voluntarily accepted the obligation at the age of 12 because Darius had told him, during post-sex pillow talk, that he was very proud of the place Staspes had skilfully created for him, and where he would someday be resting for eternity.

Bagapates, like Apamites and Dios before him, had come to love Darius. The boy had thereafter decided that he had to ensure that his royal master would not be disappointed by the state of the tomb when the king was eventually laid inside.

Under Staspes’ skilled supervision, the tomb had cut deep into a cliff-face at Naqsh-i-Rustan. This place was situated at the northwestern fringe of the large park at Persepolis, overlooking the royal road and about six kilometres [3.7 miles] north of the regal palace.

The tomb possessed an elaborate cross-shaped façade, the central part of which represented the portico of the nearby palace. At the top, two rows of bearers, representing the various peoples of the empire, were depicted supporting a dais on which the king was worshipping before a fire-altar. Above was a carving symbolising the god, Ahuramazda, which was of a human within a winged disc. The similar eternal resting places of Darius I’s three immediate successors would someday appear alongside.

On this day, the body of Darius the Great was being laid to rest amongst much solemn ceremonial, with the event being watched by some of the mightiest people within the empire, plus a large honour guard of Immortals. The important personages included his oldest son, 35 year-old Xerxes, who was the new King of Kings, and the late monarch’s other eleven male offspring and six daughters.

Given that Darius the Great had much preferred young eunuchs to his wives and women concubines and indulged his sex life accordingly, his eighteen children were proof of the potency of his sperm when on rare occasions he impregnated female vaginas instead of young male rectums. The fact that Xerxes succeeded his father unopposed and whilst peace was maintained throughout the empire, apart from minor and quickly suppressed unrest in Babylon and Egypt, was also testament to his strong and sound rule.

Even the Greeks had come to respect Darius the Great. Thirteen years after his death, the Hellenic tragic poet, Aeschylus, would evoke, in his ‘Persians’ [709-712], the days of the late king’s reign as the golden age of Persia. Even when the Achaemenid empire was ended almost two centuries later by Alexander the Great, it survived in another form, for the subsequent Seleucid dynasty, founded by a Macedonian general, controlled, with the notable exception of Egypt, similar territory with almost identical administrative organisation.

As the tearful Dios, alongside the other eunuchs who had been special to Darius the Great, including Aspamites, Theanos and Bagapates, watched his royal master being entombed, with a carefully preserved narcissus in the grip of the man’s embalmed right hand, he wondered what he should now do with his own life. In his will, the late King of Kings had given all of his most intimate servants the opportunity if they wanted to leave royal service and return seriously enriched to their homelands. However, Xerxes had wisely indicated that he would welcome such loyal and efficient retainers remaining in the imperial administration, especially as he planned to wage war against the Greeks to revenge his father’s defeat at Marathon.

Darius’ will had effectively released Dios from the oath given to Aspamites fifteen years previously. He was no longer ‘tribute’.

As Dios therefore contemplated his options, particularly how he could now best serve both Persia and Chios, he again looked at the inscription on Darius’ tomb above him. When he read the words "The spear of a Persian man has gone forth far", he immediately realised what his decision would be.

(Babylon, Mesopotamia, 4 years later, 482 BC)

Xerxes, who had once spent 12 years as the local regent when crown prince, watched as the vengeful dismantling of much of Babylon started. After a local revolt, the King of Kings had ordered the destruction of the city’s great fortifications and of many temples. The famous 6 metre-high golden statue of the god, Marduk, was melted down for bullion and, as the ultimate insult, the province was also merged with the Assyrian satrapy.

Dios was now a member of the king’s council and, despite the sad death of the previously vigorous Darius in Babylon after catching a fatal fever, the now 29 year-old eunuch liked the city. He had therefore advised against the vengeful destruction, which, for two other reasons, he knew the sagacious previous king would never have ordered.

Dios argued that Xerxes was simply damaging his own property, whilst simultaneously creating further dangerous resentment amongst the local people. However, he was overruled, not for the first time in respect of such important matters in the present king’s council and consequently, given the regular ignoring of his wise advice, he diplomatically asked for a move to a less frustrating post.

Xerxes liked and admired Dios, which was why he had promoted him to his council. The king also respected the Chian’s advice but unwisely often arrogantly believed his own instincts to be better. Such mistaken thoughts were eventually to cost him dear.

Given his continued liking for Dios, Xerxes considerately appointed him as the royal representative to re-subjugated Chios, which was now largely recovered from its forcible restoration to the empire over a decade previously. The king had allowed the island to retain the democratic form of local government belatedly re-instituted by his father, Darius, and so the eunuch’s role was effectively that of a permanent spasaka, vigilantly protecting Persian interests.

By agreeing to this appointment, however, Xerxes had allowed to leave his court someone whose sage advice, if followed, would probably have saved his royal master from several disasters. The move back to his home island, in the company of his two assistants, Theanos and, freed of slavery, Atrios, was also fatefully to reinvigorate the Chian’s nationalist sentiments.

(Thermopylae, Phocis, Greece, 2 years later, August 480 BC)

Xerxes inherited the careful and lengthy preparations for another attack on the independent states of Greece from his father and he was as determined to gain revenge for the earlier failures. The situation was not helped by the fact that the bellicose anti-Persian faction, led by Themistocles, had gained political ascendancy in Athens, which therefore made no attempt at reconciliation. The city instead spent the large fortune, acquired from a rich vein of silver fortuitously discovered at Laurium, to strengthen its battle fleet.

The Persian preparations for the next attack against Greece were continuously hampered. The death of Darius caused its own disruption, as did provincial revolts, especially one in Egypt. Consequently, it was not until seven years after the battle of Marathon that Xerxes could pay full attention to the proposed invasion.

Xerxes’ subsequent preparations were extensive and meticulous. Two huge pontoon bridges were built across the Hellespont. To avoid the Persian fleet encountering disastrous storms in the seas off Mount Athos, the peninsula was pierced by a new canal. Massive supply dumps were created in Thrace, whose peoples, along with the Macedonians, quickly allied themselves to the new King of Kings, effectively now making the frontline the border with Thessaly at the River Pineios.

Like his father had once done, Xerxes despatched heralds, seeking earth and water as a token of submission from the Hellenic states. In Athens, Themistocles reacted by executing the poor interpreter who was attending to the Persian envoys and who "had dared to make use of the Greek language to transmit the commands of a barbarian".

Consequently, Xerxes’ enormous 120,000-strong polyglot army, accompanied by the king, eventually marched to war from its base at Sardis in the spring of 480 BC, with much thought having been given to the composition. Given the initial success of the heavy infantry at Marathon, such contingents were considered to be the most important units, with the renowned Immortals reinforced by similar Persian and Median forces, as well as Hyrkanians and Kashites.

Greek spies were subsequently caught assessing the Persian strength. However, instead of having them executed, the highly confident Xerxes provided them with a guided tour of his army and then sent them home to report on the irresistible power they had seen. The King of Kings hoped that the resultant propaganda effect might induce quick surrender and his aspiration was met in respect of the sudden declared neutrality of the northern Greek states of Boetia, Doris, Phocis and Thessaly.

Athens gathered an army of 8,000 hoplites, supported by small volunteer contingents from Phocis, Thebes and Thespis. The city’s fleet was also reinforced to over 300 ships by modest squadrons provided by southern Greek states, which would be next in danger of Persian attack if the Athenians were defeated.

Meanwhile, the bulk of the splendid 10,000-strong Spartan army remained watchfully at home, apart from an elite unit of 300 hoplites, hand-picked by the joint king, Leonidas. They headed for Thermopylae, where the coast road from the north to Athens squeezed through a natural bottleneck, which was under 200 metres wide between mountains and sea and possessed some half-ruined defensive gates and walls.

The Athenians had retreated from the north to the pass of Thermopylae in the face of the gradual advance of the Persian host. Xerxes was then thwarted in his attempt to outflank the Greeks by using ships to land troops at the enemy’s rear by a naval defeat, against vessels inferior in number but obviously not seamanship, in the narrow straits off the northern tip of Euboea at Artemision. This crucial setback also disrupted the provision of vital supplies for the King of Kings’ forces.

Leonidas, given command of the situation at Thermopylae, placed his main force behind a half-ruined wall and allocated 1,000 local Phocians, who knew the territory best, to the winding inland mountain path, which skirted the pass. The king then assumed the vanguard position with his own tiny Spartan unit to await the Persians.

When Xerxes arrived at Thermopylae, he immediately recognised that the defensive position adopted by the Spartans in such narrow terrain would be difficult to overcome. Nevertheless, given the supply problems resulting from the fact that his fleet was held up at Artemision, he decided on a frontal assault with heavy infantry. However, the resultant attacks were easily repulsed and so archers were instead used.

Unfortunately for the Persians, the terrain disabled their archers from being able to deploy properly in order to bring their full firepower to bear, and anyway the flat trajectory of their composite bows was of little use against well-armoured opponents skilled in using their shields. Consequently, the first two days of the battle at Thermopylae was most noted for the sound of arrow ricochets, interspersed with death-cries during the occasional fierce Greek counterattacks launched against the nearest bowmen.

Xerxes therefore brought his resplendent Immortals into the battle in exasperation on the third day, sending them against the Phocians on the mountain path. Unfortunately for the Spartans below, their supposed allies meekly retreated to higher ground instead of fighting the Persians.

After seeing the outflanking Immortals on the heights of the pass above, Leonidas immediately ordered the tactical withdrawal of the bulk of his forces, namely the 2,800-strong mixed Peloponnese contingents, leaving his 300 Spartans and 1,100 Boeotians and Thespians to face the 120,000 Persians. The brave king, now encircled by the enemy, was quickly killed in the subsequent ferocious battle, during which there was then a tremendous but eventually successful struggle by his own soldiers to recover his body.

The Spartans were later finally surrounded on a mound, upon which they had taken position to make their last stand. Not one of the original 300 survived the battle.

(Sound of Salamis, off Attica, Greece, 23^rd September 480 BC)

The heroic defeat at Thermopylae left the road to Athens open for the Persians. The city appeared doomed and panic ensued throughout southern Greece.

The Peloponneseans abandoned the Athenians to their fate and began to build a defensive wall across the Isthmus of Cornith, which was the land link to their peninsula. Meanwhile, also agreeing that Athens was lost, Themistocles persuaded his fellow citizens to evacuate their city en masse and retreat to the nearby offshore island of Salamis, where they could be protected by their now 310-strong fleet, which was stationed in the adjacent eponymous narrow sound.

The small but valiant token garrison left behind on the Acropolis was eventually subsequently overcome and the Persians occupied and destroyed much of the ancient but now empty city. Xerxes subsequently prepared to attack the Peloponnese but he then heard news that the Athenians were going to attempt to escape from Salamis by sailing through the western entrance to the sound. The King of Kings fatefully did not believe that he could miss the opportunity to inflict serious harm on his worst enemy.

Xerxes therefore ordered the Egyptian third of his own remaining fleet, now just 350-strong after the problems at Artemision, to guard the western entrance of the Sound of Salamis, whilst his Phoenician and Ionian naval contingents sailed into the strait to destroy the trapped Greeks. However, the King of Kings did not appreciate that the news he had heard about Athenian intentions was false and was instead actually a ploy by Themistocles, who was a military genius, to lure the Persian ships into battle.

After Artemision, Themistocles was confident that the Athenian fleet, although smaller, would prove superior to that of the Persians if arrayed to its strengths. Consequently, at dawn, two days after the fall of the Acropolis, the Greek ships performed a manoeuvre in the sound, which suggested that they were nervous of the enemy and which succeeded in drawing Xerxes’ over-confident sea-captains into a trap.

As the Roman historian, Plutarch, commented over half a millennium later, "Themistocles had chosen the time for battle as judiciously as he had the place". The Athenian had waited until the wind created a heavy swell in the narrows, which affected the smaller and lower-lying Greek triremes much less than the bigger and higher ships of the Persian fleet.

The resultant greater mobility of the Athenian triremes within the tight confines of the choppy sound subsequently brought them a great and enormously significant naval victory, having in the process only 40 ships sunk compared to the 200 Persian losses. The success gave the Greeks vital command of the seas.

Xerxes, who had watched the battle unfold in horror, whilst sitting on a golden throne on heights overlooking the sound, subsequently had no choice but to withdraw from Greece most of his forces, which he could no longer adequately supply because of the destruction of his fleet. The King of Kings was spurred on his way by a cheeky message from Themistocles, which warned that the Athenian navy could now destroy the pontoon bridges over the Hellespont and so the Persians should flee to Asia whilst they still could.

(Near Plataea, Boeotian plain, Greece, almost 1 year later, 25^th to the 27^th August 479 BC)

Xerxes did not entirely abandon his dream of conquering Greece by withdrawing two-thirds of his army back across the Hellespont into Asia Minor. The King of Kings left the remainder to winter in Thessaly, under the command of his brother-in-law, Mardonius, whose own campaign against the independent Hellenes had ended in ignominy twelve years previously. The general was charged with carrying on the war, as best he could, at the start of the next campaigning season in the following spring.

In the renewed campaign of 479 BC, the remaining Persian army, numbering about 35,000 infantry and 12,000 cavalry, with 15,000 unreliable allies from northern Greece, eventually encountered a larger enemy force on the Boeotian plain, near Plataea. The total of 90,000 Athenians, Corinthians, Spartans, Plataeans, Tegeans and other more minor national contingents, led by the Spartan, Pausanias, consisted of 40,000 hoplites and 50,000 assorted peltasts and archers.

The subsequent battle lasted three days and the result was initially uncertain. However, the constricted local topography prevented the Persians from making their usual sweeping manoeuvres. The horses of their potentially overwhelming numbers of cavalry were also hampered by the presence all over the surrounding plain of wickedly sharp stones, and the conflict eventually culminated in a ferocious hoplite charge, which finally proved the superiority of Greek infantry in hand-to-hand fighting.

The Greek hoplites in their well-drilled phalanxes wore protective helmets, cuirasses and greaves, carried short spears and swords and fought shoulder-to-shoulder, with their shields interlocking. However, the Persians in contrast sported much less body armour, with many soldiers just dressed in flowing gowns with cloth caps, and were less co-ordinated. They were also less accustomed to hand-to-hand infantry fighting, as a result of their possession of so many cavalry and archers.

Although Mardonius’ forces fought with great bravery, the superiority of the Greek hoplites in hand-to-hand fighting, aided by local conditions that nullified the enemy cavalry, ensured that the Persians were eventually routed. The general himself was killed and only a few thousand troops survived to return to Asia Minor.

Xerxes subsequently permanently abandoned his dream of conquering Greece after hearing about the disastrous defeat at Plataea. In doing so, the King of Kings permitted himself the wry observation that "All empires expand until they are checked, and the Hellenes have checked me!"

(Mycale, Ionian mainland, Asia Minor, same time)

A small allied Greek fleet under the command of the Athenian, Xanthippus, father of Pericles, and the Spartan, Leotychidas, had crossed the Aegean to Samos. Their intention was to destroy the last of the Persian warships, which, amongst other benefits, should help the islands of Ionia, such as Chios, again to free themselves.

A naval battle eventually took place off the coast of Asia Minor, near to the promontory of Mycale. The Persian fleet, ironically in the circumstances, still included a forcibly enlisted contingent of Ionian triremes.

Amongst the reluctant Ionian contingent of triremes was a Chian vessel, commanded by the now 32 year-old Capros, supported by his second-in-command, Danos. Persian soldiers, who outnumbered the Greek crew, were also aboard the warship, as was Dios, along with his assistants, Theanos and Atrios.

Dios, who was the same age as Capros, and his two companions were aboard the trireme as official royal observers. Their role included ensuring that the Chian crew stayed loyal, although the more numerous Persian soldiers aboard were a greater deterrent to desertion.

The sea battle proved indecisive. However, the demoralised Persian naval commander eventually chose to disengage and beach his triremes at Mycale, where he knew he could receive help from local land forces.

The beached ships and sailors were then indeed joined by a large number of local Persian troops, led by a general called ‘Tigranes’, who protected the triremes behind rapidly erected timber and stone fortifications. The threat to the Greeks from the remnants of the imperial fleet was therefore still extant and so they decided to storm ashore in order to try to capture or destroy the enemy vessels.

The Greeks were therefore confronted with a major land battle as opposed to the expected sea engagement. Fierce bloody fighting ensued, with the Persian defenders of the beach palisade resolutely beating back one enemy assault after another.

Meanwhile, Tigranes had wisely not used the undoubtedly unreliable Ionian sailors in the fighting. The general had instead assigned them to protecting the beached triremes within the palisade, particularly from enemy fire-arrows.

Tigranes was later on the verge of winning the land battle when two events happened to turn victory into defeat. Firstly, the general was himself killed in the fierce fighting. Secondly, Dios used the ensuing leaderless confusion to suggest to his fellow Ionians that they set the triremes they were supposedly guarding alight before then deserting to the enemy.

The subsequent successful torching of their own beached ships and those of their erstwhile allies by the Ionians, leading to the utter destruction of the Persian fleet, meant that there was then no real reason to carry on the battle. Consequently, both sides subsequently disengaged.

The leaderless Persian survivors fled into the coastal hills. Meanwhile, the Greeks re-embarked onto their own triremes, which also provided transport home for most of the Ionians who had fatefully changed sides.

After spending three years back on Chios, Dios had accepted that, after what had happened during the Ionian Revolt, his countrymen would never again be meekly compliant to Persian rule, regardless of the economic benefits brought from being part of such a large empire. Revengeful patriotism had been irreversibly stirred and his fellow Chians would therefore be constantly plotting to regain their independence. However, the eunuch worried that, if further insurrections occurred impatiently at inopportune moments, the only result would be further death and destruction on his home island.

Dios therefore eventually concluded that, given the prevailing resolute insurrectionary attitudes amongst his countrymen, it would be best for both Chios and Persia if his homeland could somehow achieve freedom in a bloodless and irreversible manner. The island, along with the others of Ionia, could perhaps then best serve the Greeks and the King of Kings by being a useful independent economic and political link between the two cultures.

In coming to his conclusion, Dios again recalled the inscription on the tomb of his beloved Darius at Naqsh-i-Rustan. He in particular remembered the phrase "The spear of a Persian man has gone forth far".

Dios had sagely decided on the day of Darius’ internment that imperial expansion had gone far enough and that he would remain in Xerxes’ court to try to counsel against an attack against Greece. However, his wise advice had been ignored and the new King of Kings had subsequently suffered greatly for such disregard.

The land battle at Mycale had now caused Dios to realise that an ideal opportunity had arisen to achieve his revised aim of renewed independence for Chios. The only expense would be the burning of some ships because lives would actually be saved on both sides by ending the fighting prematurely.

In fact, Dios originally intended that only one life would be seriously threatened by his fateful action and that would be his own. If the Persians ever realised what he had been responsible for at Mycale, he would surely be crucified if he ever fell into their hands again in future, which he actually proposed to allow.

Dios did not desert with his fellow Chians, including Danos and Capros, to the Greek fleet at Mycale. He instead remained behind in order to return to Xerxes’ court, where he hoped to influence the king to allow the islands of Ionia, which would surely now free themselves again after the demise of the Persian fleet, to retain their independence.

Given what had happened to Chios fourteen years previously, Dios greatly feared the consequences of another eventual vengeful re-conquest by a monarch who lacked Darius the Great’s compassion and wisdom. The more recent experience of Babylon provided a terrible example of the current King of Kings’ sense of just retribution.

Dios considered that another devastating re-absorption of Chios into the Persian Empire was inevitable sometime, once Xerxes had recovered his lost military resources, unless quiet persuasion and diplomacy could somehow placate the King of Kings’ undoubted fury and dissuade him from such action. The eunuch was now prepared to risk his own life in an effort to save his home island from such further appalling revenge by returning to the royal court.

Theanos had recently spent some happy times on Lesbos, becoming re-acquainted with his family and original friends. Meanwhile, over the past three years, the Macedonian, Atrios, had come to love Chios as much as Dios.

Theanos and Atrios, however, bravely had no intention of allowing Dios to undertake his potentially dangerous mission back to Xerxes’ court alone. They therefore remained with their friend on the beach at Mycale, sincerely hoping that none of the Persians had noticed their involvement in the torching of the beached ships.

(Island of Delos, Cyclades, Aegean Sea, 1 year later, 478 BC)

A summit meeting between some Greek political leaders was taking place on the island of Delos, where legend suggested that the twin sibling gods, Apollo and Artemis, had been born. The result of the conference was to be an important alliance.

The liberation of the islands of Ionia, including Chios, from the Persian yoke had indeed commenced with the destruction of the remnants of the enemy fleet on the beach at Mycale. Thereafter, the Athenians subsequently acquired most influence over the local islanders, with whom, at this meeting, they formed the alliance called the ‘Delian League’.

The League, to which all members had to contribute either ships or money, was named after the island of Delos, which served as treasurer and meeting place. The aim of the alliance was to defend the freedoms recently won and also to liberate all Greek colonies.

The League, however, ultimately failed to free from Persian suzerainty all Greek colonies and the continued independence of the islands of Ionia was secured more by the actions of one person than by the alliance.

(Royal palace, Persepolis, Persia, same time)

Dios, Theanos and Atrios were not crucified for treachery at Mycale. After advancing up the wide and tall steps leading to Xerxes’ new ‘Gate of All Nations’ at the palace in Persepolis for their first audience with the King of Kings after their return to Persia, they were instead allocated new jobs.

There was apparently no reliable evidence against Dios, Theanos and Atrios to charge them with treason. However, given their 3-year absence on a now rebellious island from the royal court and suspicions surrounding them, after the change of sides by the Ionians during the battle of Mycale, Xerxes took the precaution of allocating the three eunuchs to positions of supposedly less importance than they had previously held.

Dios, Theanos and Atrios were fatefully charged with the oversight of the upbringing, mainly in the harem at Persepolis, of Xerxes’ very pretty and pleasant 4 year-old second son, Artaxerxes. Despite the obvious demotion, the three eunuchs relished the challenge ahead.

(Persia, 13 years later, 465 BC)

Xerxes actually spent most of his final years not engaged in fighting vengeful wars but instead indulging in regal pleasures, during which he concentrated his sexual activities on females, in the process considerably increasing his feminine harem. Royal wives and other women, by whom he had many children, thereby gained great influence, which caused fanatical jealousies.

Xerxes’ distraction from his royal duties caused major difficulties throughout his empire, including further revolts, during one of which Egypt even gained temporary independence. The king eventually appointed a highly able eunuch to the post of Lord High Chancellor to try to stop the rot.

This new Lord High Chancellor somehow eventually managed, despite Xerxes’ continued dissolute distraction and many continued problems, to keep the bulk of the remaining empire together, despite Greek, and particularly Athenian, attempts to inflict further serious damage. The name of this very capable Hazarapatis was Aspamites.

Xerxes was eventually assassinated in his bed during a coup led by the disgruntled and ambitious commander of his bodyguard Immortals, Artabanus. This treacherous man also killed the crown prince, Darius, before placing the supposedly more compliant murdered king’s second son, 18 year-old Artaxerxes, on the throne as a puppet ruler.

Artabanus additionally had 56 year-old Aspamites arrested. He then actually had the temerity to blame the now deposed Lord High Chamberlain for the murders of Xerxes and young Darius and subsequently had him tortured to death.

Artabanus, however, did not reckon on the skill with which Artaxerxes’ own small retinue of loyal eunuch servants would launch a successful counter-coup to ensure that their young royal master ruled in his own right and not as a puppet. The most senior of these royal aids happened to be 44 year-old Dios, who was also seeking revenge for the horrible execution of Aspamites, with whom he had remained very close.

Artabanus was crucified, whilst Artaxerxes went on to rule the Persian Empire soundly for 42 years, during which time he re-conquered Egypt. After listening to Dios’ sage counsel and, unlike his father, accepting the wise advice, the King of Kings also agreed to attempt to reach an armistice with the Greeks, especially the still bellicose Athenians.

(Halicarnassus, Caria, Asia Minor, same time)

A curious and vigorous 19 year-old Greek, born in the Persian vassalage of Halicarnassus on the coast of Caria, set out from his home city to wander western Asia, largely on foot. He was an assiduous listener, who actively pursued historical facts about the many places he visited and later recorded them in writing.

The name of this first real historian was Herodotus.

(Royal palace, Persepolis, Persia, 16 years later, 449 BC)

A great banquet was taking place in the royal palace at Persepolis. The guest of honour was Dios, who had finally successfully concluded a peace treaty with the Athenians on behalf of his royal master, the King of Kings, Artaxerxes.

The treaty, concluded after an early armistice had been informally observed for several years, was called the ‘Peace of Callias’, after the principal Athenian negotiator. However, the real brain behind the agreement and previous cease-fire belonged to Dios, who had argued sagaciously and successfully that there was no point in further conflict between Persian and Greek.

Dios correctly argued to Artaxerxes that, given the problems of communications, the Persian Empire had reached its logical viable limits, with Greece and the Aegean islands geographically peripheral, and that the king should therefore concentrate on governing his existing domains. The Chian also perceptively suggested to the Athenians that they had enough problems with their Spartan rivals and so continuing to be an enemy of his royal master was foolish. In fact, the first of the long Peloponnesian Wars between the two Hellenic city-states was to begin shortly after the conclusion of the Peace of Callias.

The treaty was effectively a military disengagement, intelligently enlightened for the era, with both sides making concessions, including in terms of territory. For Dios, the most important aspect of the agreement was the withdrawal of the rebuilt Persian fleet from the Aegean, which, in practice, guaranteed the continued independence of his beloved Chios.

(Island of Chios, Ionia, eastern Aegean Sea, 1 year later, summer 448 BC)

Dios eventually retired with his loyal companions, Theanos and Atrios, to Chios in 448 BC, having said tearful farewells to their other close friends, Hermotimus, Bagapates and Stapses, who had chosen to remain in Persia. The threesome went with the grateful thanks of Artaxexses, and was greeted enthusiastically on their island by the Chians, prominent amongst whom were Danos and Capros.

Shortly afterwards the clothed Dios and Capros were strolling along a certain quiet beach on the eastern coast of Chios, supervising the play of two beautiful naked boys. The summer day was glorious. The sky was virtually cloudless, with its colour so matching that of the shimmering blue sea that the horizon was barely discernible. However, a gentle but nevertheless cooling landward breeze thankfully lessened the heat.

The temperature might otherwise have driven the exceptionally beautiful 11 year-old fair-haired and blue-eyed Dios and his similarly aged and featured best friend, Capros, to seek some cooler surrounds, instead of frolicking together naked on this quiet beach of golden sand under adult supervision. The former child was Danos’ grandson, who had been named after his famous great uncle, whilst the latter shared the appellation of his grandfather.

As they watched their respective great nephew and grandson play, the now sexagenarian versions of Dios and Capros noticed that the landward breeze, which currently cooled them all, had also caused the disturbance of the previously indiscernible eastern horizon by tiny black forms. These gradually grew larger, gaining shape and colour in the process to reveal themselves eventually as the expected small flotilla of Phoenician merchant ships, making their regular expedition to Chios. However, their purpose was not to collect the annual tribute for the Persian King of Kings.

Thanks largely to Dios, Chios was now independent and free of providing such tribute. The Phoenicians were instead arriving to collect Chian merchandise for the Persian market, in an example of the lucrative trade that restored peace had brought.

As the older Dios and Capros subsequently sat on the golden sand to watch their great nephew and grandson at play and the Phoenician flotilla pass, they therefore experienced no fears. Nor did the ageing friends regret the roles that the gods had apportioned for them in this life.

(Royal palace, Ecbatana, Media, 118 years later, summer, 330 BC)

Darius III, the last Achaemenid king, had recently been murdered by some of his own courtiers and servants, as Alexander the Great pursued the ragged remnants of the once mighty Persian army with great energy. After making respectful arrangements for the proper internment of his royal rival’s body, the 26 year-old Macedonian monarch had then crossed the Elburz Mountains to the north. He was heading for the Caspian Sea, through forests full of oaks and chestnuts and steep ravines, which were the lair of many fierce creatures, such as tigers and wolves.

Alexander, who, given his own position, naturally abhorred regicide, ventured north because some of Darius’ killers, plus the Greek mercenaries who had loyally served the Persian king to the very end, were known to have taken refuge in the area. Within a week, an important court vizier offered his own surrender in return for a pardon for his role in the recent royal murder. He had become one of the conspirators against the last of the Achaemenids because he had been disgusted at his regal master’s cowardly weaknesses and unwillingness to continue to resist the Macedonian invasion.

Having received the vizier’s gifts and heard his pleas, Alexander eventually granted the royal official the requested pardon, as long as he agreed to retire quietly to his ancestral lands, which the man did. However, the most important reason for the Macedonian king’s leniency had not been the force of the Persian’s arguments but instead the nature of one of the tribute presents he had brought with him.

Because of his exceptional beauty and grace, Bagoas, son of Pharnuches, who had lived on the mainly ethnically Greek coast of Asia Minor, had been Darius III’s favourite young eunuch. An even mightier king now developed an immediate liking for the boy tribute brought by the highly astute vizier, who knew of Alexander’s particular sexual predilections.

Alexander subsequently mercifully accepted the surrender of the Greek mercenaries, transferring them to his own army. Such a decision was in marked contrast to his angered massacring of similar Hellenic soldiers of fortune on the side of the enemy after the first battle of the war, at the River Granicus in Mysia in western Asia Minor.

Now with the beautiful Bagoas as part of his personal entourage, Alexander the Great then marched his accompanying forces down the northern slopes of the Elburz Mountains to Zadracarta, which was the capital of the Persian province of Gurgan and was close to the Caspian Sea. The area, freshened by summer rains, possessed a lush tropical landscape, abundant with oaks and silver firs, as well as with naturally growing exotic foods.

Alexander and Bagoas particularly enjoyed visiting the nearby precipitous edge of the Caspian Sea, which the Macedonian king considered to be a gulf of the vast ocean that encircled the world. Here, rivers and streams poured over cliffs and caves, where the natives held sacrificial feasts, into the waves below.

Alexander and Bagoas were intrigued by the sweetness of the Caspian Sea. They were also amused by the presence of many small water snakes.

Legend suggests that Alexander now spent thirteen days in Zadracarta trying to satisfy the desires of the queen of the Amazons, who had arrived with 300 female warriors to announce that she wanted to bear the child of the great Macedonian. However, this story was mere myth, invented by later historians of the ancient world.

The king actually dallied in Zadracarta to offer sacrifices, hold athletic games and accept further surrenders from Persian nobles, who had taken refuge locally. Amongst them was Artabazus, who had been a guest-friend of Alexander’s father, Philip II, plus his seven sons, who later served the Macedonian monarch in important court roles.

Any sexual passion exerted by Alexander in Zadracarta was directed not at an Amazonian queen but instead at a certain young boy eunuch. One immediate result of Bagoas’ intimate relationship with the Macedonian was the king’s changed attitude to Persians.

In order to please his lover, Bagoas, and to emphasise his new role as Darius III’s successor on the Persian throne, Alexander now began to adopt certain aspects of the costume and protocols of the Achaemenid monarchs. He declined use of, to Greek eyes, effeminate sleeved overcoats and trousers but started to dress in a purple and white striped tunic and a royal diadem, and insisted that his companions wore Median court attire. Access to the king also became more controlled through the employment of ushers.

The king’s revised outlook, caused by Bagoas’ influence, began the process of local assimilation between Greek and Persian, which would be of great future significance. As a result, the influence of aspects of both cultures would become much more widespread. The way would also be paved for the success of the later Seleucid dynasty, which was to be founded by one of Alexander’s generals and would be the successor for 260 years to that of the Achaemenids.

After his sojourn to Zadracarta, Alexander returned briefly to Ecbatana, prior to heading east into Bactria to chase another of Darius III’s assassins, Bessus, who had declared himself king of Persia. The Macedonian monarch naturally made use of the ancient but luxurious palace of the Achaemenid summer capital before having to face the harshness of another military campaign.

Whilst in the palace at Ecbatana, Alexander had rescued Bagoas from being abused by Macedonian royal pages, who disliked and were jealous of the Persian catamite’s influence over their royal master and were therefore using the boy as a target when practising their spear throwing. The supposed idea was for their weapons to land as close to the young eunuch as possible without actually hitting him, although it is doubtful if any of the Greek youths would have regretted an unfortunate accident.

Bagoas exhibited much bravery during his ordeal, from which he eventually luckily emerged physically unharmed, apart from a minor cut. Nevertheless, Alexander, after reprimanding his pages severely, thereafter always kept the young eunuch much closer to him wherever they went.

Later that same day, Alexander shared a bed with his beloved Bagoas, coincidentally in the same chamber in which Darius the Great had once done similar with Dios over 160 years previously when spending part of a summer in Ecbatana. During post-sex pillow-talk, the Macedonian king referred to the statuette of solid gold, which was now standing in the corner of the room and had been plundered from the palace at Persepolis.

In an action he was later to regret, Alexander had recently allowed the vengeful Athenians amongst his army to burn to the ground the great palace at Persepolis, the building of which had been started by Darius I, continued by Xerxes and largely finished by Artaxerxes. Such architectural sacrilege had been permitted to avenge the Persian despoliation of Athens after the battle of Thermopylae 150 years previously.

Given his particular tastes, Alexander had taken an instant liking to the golden statuette, which depicted a beautiful naked boy and possessed an intriguing inscription in two languages. The still extant item also inspired this 5-part story by Pueros.

"Who was Dios?" Alexander asked of Bagoas, who, like the young Chian 1½ centuries previously, was himself effectively royal eunuch tribute and also regularly entertained his king with fictional and factual tales. The exceptionally gorgeous boy was happy to provide his regal master with the answer as far as he knew it, which actually replicated much of this 5-part story by Pueros.

After Bagoas eventually finished, Alexander asked about one aspect of the story that had not been clarified. "What happened," the Macedonian king enquired, "to the evil castrater, Panionius?"

"You should already know, Lord," Bagoas, who had become an eager reader of Greek literature since he had become an intimate of Alexander, initially intriguingly answered. "However," the young eunuch added, "perhaps you’ve not yet connected the name of Panionius to a passage in the history of the Persian Wars by Herodotus of Halicarnassus, which is amongst the books you take with you everywhere."

The naked Bagoas then rose from the bed and proceeded to open a large chest, containing the many scrolls to which he was referring. The young eunuch subsequently successfully rooted for the one he needed, which was the eighth book of Herodotus’ history, written about a century previously.

Bagoas unscrolled the papyrus copy of Herodotus’ history and eventually found the section he wanted. The young eunuch then read to Alexander three particular paragraphs, which were later to be numbered 104-6.

(Atarneus, Mysia, Ionian mainland of Asia Minor, 151 years previously, late 481 BC)

The now 29 year-old Hermotimus had become Xerxes’ favourite eunuch and, after he had become too old for the king’s bed, he had become an important and therefore very powerful royal official. He had also never lost his desire for vengeance against the man who had once castrated him in a highly sadistic manner.

Whilst Xerxes was in the Lydian capital of Sardis, making final preparations for his imminent invasion of Greece, Hermotimus, with the permission of the king, made use of both intelligence received and geographical proximity to travel to Atarneus, where Atrios had once been castrated and to where Panionius had retired. The town, which was largely inhabited by Chian colonists, was on the Ionian coast of Asia Minor, opposite to the island of Lesbos.

Panionius was now married with four young sons of his own. Nevertheless, the evil Chian still performed castrations on a part-time basis in his own little workshop in the local slave-market, to where he and his equally petrified children were now taken after their arrest by some of Hermotimus’ accompanying Immortal bodyguards.

The heavily guarded Panionius did not initially recognise the now exotically dressed Hermotimus, as 18 years had passed since he had castrated the Leleges and he had in the interim gelded thousands of other boys. However, the evil Chian was soon to discover who had ordered his arrest, and that of his sons, and why.

Dios, when he later heard about the event, greatly disapproved of Hermotimus’ terrible act of vengeance. However, the Chian understood the cathartic reasons and subsequently forgave his fellow eunuch, thereby ensuring that their close friendship continued.

After introducing himself, Hermotimus, who had recognised much of the equipment in the workshop, including the old bloodstained table on which he had been castrated, commented, with clear irony, "It is to you that I owe all my current prosperity." He then asked the rightly intensely fearful Panionius to provide him with some information.

"You," requested Hermotimus, "who has clearly earned a rich living by performing more vile deeds than anyone else in the whole world, tell me what wrong to you or yours had I, or any of mine, done that you should make me the sexual nothing that I now am?" As the eunuch had expected, he received only silence in reply. Panionius either could not formulate a satisfactory answer or was too terrified for coherent speech.

Hermotimus therefore continued the one-sided conversation himself. "You must have thought," the eunuch added, "that the gods had not noticed your crimes. However, their justice has finally delivered you, the perpetrator of unrighteousness, into my hands and I don’t believe that you can have any real complaint about the vengeance that I am now resolved to take."

"To avoid personal crucifixion, you will now castrate your four sons in your own evil workshop," the vengeful Hermotimus ordered, "and, in doing so, you will cut away the whole of their genitals, not just their balls." Panionius’ personal cowardice subsequently ensured that, after having his copious pleas for mercy ignored, he preferred to obey the eunuch’s vengeful command rather than be nailed to a cross.

Later, the oldest son, after partial recovery from his own appalling nullification, obeyed another order from Hermotimus. The boy similarly emasculated his own father, Panionius.

(Royal palace, Ecbatana, Media, 151 years later, summer, 330 BC)

Wanting quickly to forget Herodotus’ horrific story about Hermotimus’ terrible revenge against Panionius, Alexander the Great’s mind refocused again on the much more pleasant subject of the golden statuette of Dios. Whilst doing so, the king looked again at the inscription, appropriately in ancient Greek and Persian, which had so intrigued him and which he not only envied but also wanted to learn from and emulate, thereby fatefully confirming the nature of his own future political attitudes, already partly shaped by Bagoas.

According to Bagoas’ recent narrative, Darius the Great had himself been responsible for the engraving of the name. This king’s grateful grandson, Artaxerxes, had later commissioned the subsequent praiseworthy comment on hearing with sadness of the death on Chios, in prosperous great old age and surrounded by the extended families of Danos and Capros, of his universally revered former servant.

The inscription on the statuette enviously read by Alexander the Great truthfully stated: "Dios – hero of both the Persians and the Greeks!"

Τελος

(THE END)