Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

"Alright, gentlemen, please pause the discussion." Davos said solemnly, "I assure you that Dionysia will do her best to resolve the conflict in the Plains of Argos, and any individual or city-state that obstructs and tries to derail the peace settlement process will be severely punished!"

Davos paused and continued, "This is not the time to discuss political matters, let's continue to watch the opening ceremony of the Games, and lo and behold, the 3rd delegation of athletes has entered!"

Plato and Xenophon looked at each other calmly, without speaking again, and both focused their attention on the field.

Although they were both students of Socrates, citizens of Athens, and had both written articles about Socrates, nostalgically remembering and promoting some of Socrates' ideological concepts, and had a good relationship during their studies in Athens, but with the differences in their respective experiences, the ideas and pursuits they had formed had become very different, and with the decades of not seeing each other, there was now a considerable amount of estrangement between them.

At the moment, Davos regretted a bit in his mind: it seemed that they shouldn't have been invited at the same time.

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The wooden sign held up by the third delegation of athletes clearly reads "Holy Kingdom of Dionysia - Afrikan Region", which may be confusing to some spectators from northern Italy who rarely travel: when did the Kingdom get another region?

The region was actually established only last year.

There were many Phoenician city-states along the coast of Africa, they were all originally transit stations established by the Eastern Phoenicians when they were exploiting the commercial resources of the Western Mediterranean. However, when Dionysia defeated Carthage and took away several of Carthage's important trading resources, most of the Phoenician city-states in Africa had to turn to the more powerful and marketable Holy Kingdom of Dionysia.

Over time, with closer trade ties between Phoenicia and Dionysia, and with the prosperity of the former Phoenician city-state Hadhrum, already a Dionysian town, as an example, scattered Phoenician city-states began to ask to join the Holy Kingdom of Dionysia. By the time the Greek War was over, the strength of Dionysia was even more flourishing, and discerning people even thought that it was no longer too much of a problem for Dionysia to dominate the entire Mediterranean, and under such circumstances, apart from a few large city-states such as Phoenicia and Utica, which were still barely hanging on, other Phoenician city-states on the continent of Africa were asking to join Dionysia one after another. Thus, under the direction of Davos, the Holy Kingdom of Dionysia added another region, the Afrikaner region, temporarily centered on Hadrumentum.

More than half of the Afrikaner delegation that appeared in the arena were Phoenicians, known for a long time for the Greek Games, but for the first time, and therefore very new and excited, and were particularly active as they marched on the track.

The opening ceremony was attended by Sufet Ochriton of Carthage, who, sitting in the distinguished chair, saw the scene in the arena with mixed feelings: since Carthage had become a subsidiary of Dionysia, its commerce had not declined, but had become more prosperous, after all, Dionysia offered it a wider market, but Carthage's agriculture was shrinking sharply, and one important The reason was that the loss of the Numibian interior, which Carthage had previously occupied, and the availability of sufficient food at a reasonable price in Dionysia, had led most of the Carthaginian population to devote themselves to trade, and it was no longer possible for Carthage to survive independently of Dionysia. The Senate and the Court of Hundred, under his leadership, had agreed not to respond to the calls of the people of Carthage during these years for "full incorporation into the Holy Kingdom of Dionysia, like the other Phoenician city-states," under the influence of the neighboring towns. But the pressure was ever present, and he wondered how long Carthage's independence could be maintained. ......

The fourth entry was a delegation of athletes from the Holy Kingdom of Dionysia - the Po River region.

After conquering mountainous Gaul, Dionysia designated the entire territory occupied by mountainous Gaul as the Po River region, arguably the most fertile and vast plain of the land of the Holy Kingdom of Dionysia, but also one of the most difficult regions to stabilize. It took nearly 10 years for Dionysia to gradually bring the Gauls under Dionysian rule, with Capps, the administrator of the Po River region, taking most of the credit for this.

Since the conquest of Shanei Gaul by the Dionysian army, Capps was transferred to the Po River region by King Davos, and had been in office for nearly 10 years, working hard for the stability of the Po River region and the integration of Shanei Gauls into the kingdom.

Since Dionysia had only begun to migrate to the Po River region in the past few years, and the percentage of Greeks in the region was still small, the vast majority of the delegation were Gauls, tall, with disheveled hair, some with oil paint on their faces, and some naked ...... facing the audience, occasionally roaring and making gestures to show off their muscles.

To some of the Greek VIPs this was a savage display, but to the Dionysian crowd, accustomed to the intensity of rugby, it was an expression of character, and the cheers were even louder.

The main disciplines for the athletes from the Po region were horse and car racing, but the next delegation to compete was likely to be their rivals, as the athletes came from Brutti, a famous cattle region in the Kingdom of Dionysia.

The Bruti delegation was followed by the delegation of the Union of Campania. Naples and its neighbouring towns were the only remaining members of the League of Campania, as the other city-states of the League had joined the Kingdom of Dionysia, and Naples was in a similar situation to Carthage.

The next delegation to enter was the Holy Kingdom of Dionysia - the Eastern Plains of Campania, a mixture of Greeks, Etruscans, and Samnites.

Next to enter was the Corinthian delegation. But when it appeared in the arena, the vast majority of the spectators were stunned, because there were only two competitors behind the boy who held up the javelin, and it was a far cry from the previous delegations that had as few as a dozen or as many as nearly a hundred people. Although Corinth was only a city-state compared to those regions and alliances before, it was the venue of the Corinthian Games, and the citizens of the country revered sports and had a strong presence in traditional competitions, so Deionia had given a lot of spots in its invitation letter to Corinth.

"It seems that the Corinthians still have a problem with Daonia hosting the Games, I think if it wasn't for the fact that your Daonia is powerful and an ally of the Greek Union, the Corinthians probably wouldn't even send a single athlete." Xenophon commented somewhat gloomily.

Davos smiled slightly and said confidently, "If the Corinthians don't participate, it won't have any effect on this Games, but it's the biggest loss for Corinth and the Corinthian athletes! For the Dionysian Games will surely become the greatest celebration of the Mediterranean, and the great theatre in which city-states, regions and athletes will present themselves to the nations of the Mediterranean! Don't you think so?"

Xenophon and Plato looked around at the thousands of spectators from all places and races, as well as the athletes in the arena who were also from all places and races, and were in deep thought.

The polite Dionysian crowd still gave cheers to the two Corinthian athletes, but there was a good deal of laughter mixed in with the cheers.

Corinthian General Creonian, who was sitting at the VIP table, was so ashamed that he couldn't find a crack in the ground. Corinth not only perfunctorily sent only two athletes, but also deliberately arrived late, and as a result, by the time they learned that other city-states had sent many athletes, it was already too late to inform Corinth of the change.

At that moment, the general still remembers clearly that when the councilor of Corinth, who was originally stationed at the Council of the Hellenic League of Thurii, learned of this news, he scolded the council in front of him, saying that the council was full of short-sighted fools, and that all the efforts that Corinth had made in the past few years would come to naught.

What efforts did Corinth make?

After the Greek War, the Corinthians, seeing that Dionysia supported the unification of Thebes with Piochia, the establishment of the Arcadian League by Mandinia, the unification of the northwestern Peloponnese by Aerys, and the unification of the north-eastern Peloponnese by Argos, also asked Dionysia to "unify the Isthmus of Corinth".

Devers reluctantly agreed, but demanded that Thebes must confer with Megara.

There were only two city-states on the entire isthmus, Corinth in the south and Magara in the north-central part of the city. Although Magara was less powerful than Corinth, it was a city-state with a long history and a good reputation on Greek soil, and it did not want to be unified by Corinth.

Since both city-states surrendered to Dionysia in time for the Corinthian War, Dionysia did not favor anyone and the matter was put to rest.

Still, Corinth did not give up. The Corinthians, who were good at business, were indeed more agile than the Argos, and when Magara strongly opposed being united with Corinth, the Corinthians quickly changed their plans and proposed "to form an Isthmian Union with the Magara on an equal footing with the Magara".