Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

McGargides was a little tempted by what he said, but he still had some concerns: "But I'm afraid the officials at ...... Crete will not allow me to leave ......"

"There's nothing to worry about!" Silitaios reminded unconcernedly, "With the Deionian Military Affairs Department backing you up, even if those officers have any more grievances, they won't dare to do anything to you!"

At Siritaios' reminder, Megakides finally took the plunge and said gratefully, "Thank you, Siritaios!"

"A mere verbal thank you won't do." Cyrtaios said half-jokingly, half-seriously, "When you become a Dionysian citizen and a Dionysian officer in the future, just don't kick me out when I ask you for help."

"Don't worry, I'll definitely help then!" McGargides affirmed.

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On the 7th day of the Ionian Games, most of the competitions were already in front of the spectators, and the traditional Greek sports events had been redesigned by the Ionians to be fairer and more exciting, such as the running and even more so the boxing.

Boxing is traditionally played out in a large field and the winner is not crowned until the opponent is knocked out or concedes defeat, often resulting in serious injury or death. In a boxing match at the Dionysian Games, where both fighters wear thick gloves and win by the number of hits or knockouts in a given time, the fighters are safer and the match is less bloody.

However, the bouts were held in a five-meter square field of ropes and stakes, which made it impossible for the competitors to duck at will, and the fights became more intense and protracted, more confrontational, and more well received by the spectators. Women and children were also allowed to watch the matches because of the significant decrease in the mortality rate of the competitors.

The wrestling matches, too, elevated the intensity and confrontation of the matches while ensuring the safety of the competitors and fairness of the competition, and even added some interesting aspects, such as having the beautiful Kingdom slavegirls wander around the grounds in between one section of the match holding the number plate for the start of the next section to attract the attention of the male spectators ......

Even the representatives of Olympia and Delphi were pensive when they saw the novelty of the arrangements and design of the games.

Of course, the traditional sports events such as the "Brawl" were too chaotic and bloody for Davos' taste, and were excluded from the Dionysian sports events.

The new competitions of the Ionian Games, on the other hand, were a great surprise to the spectators, such as archery and even more so, swimming.

The Greeks were a seafaring people, and most of them had been playing in the sea since they were children, and rowing was almost an instinct, but no Greek Games had ever included swimming, probably because they found it difficult to compete. of the arena. A large rectangular pit, 50 meters long, 25 meters wide and 2 meters deep, was dug in the center of the arena, laid with a solid, dense Davos cement, and affixed with smooth marble, so that when a watercourse brought the water of the Klati into the pool, there would be no visible leakage. Ropes were then pulled up every three metres at the wide ends of the pool to form eight swimming courses, so that conditions were perfect for swimming competitions.

Although the first Dionysian Games allowed participants to swim in a variety of strokes (there was no standard swimmer's strokes in those days) and only set up different swims by the distance they swam, spectators filled the stadium for every swim, and the shouts of support echoed down the Klati every day.

Although the swimmers are not allowed to wear olive oil, the sunlight and the blue water show the strength and beauty of their bodies as they wave their arms and legs and inspire the spectators to love the sea.

The same is true for rowing competitions. The Greeks were in a position to establish a boat race, but the reason why it never took place was that most of the Greeks lived by the sea, and it was very common for them to drive boats, fish and do business, and because it was so common, there was no interest in it. But the boat races at the Deionian Games were designed to be fun and competitive.

There are two types of boat races in Dionysian rowing. The first is the oar race, a wooden boat made by the Turey shipyard, narrow but very slender, with a capacity of 4 to 8 oarsmen, without sails. mile. At the beginning of the race, the competitors paddle rapidly, and the boats reach a speed of up to ten knots, just as the charge of a three-tiered paddle boat in naval warfare is watched by the spectators on the shore.

Another type of rowing race is the sailing boat, again a race boat converted by the Tullii shipyard from a small cargo ship, it can only be ridden by one person, and no oars can be used, only the sails can be manipulated to make the boat go forward, so it is held in the bay of Tullii, there are no preliminary races, all competitors participate together, and it starts from the port of Tullii and arrives at the large port of Tarentum. The race lasts one full day and there are a number of observation boats set up along the route to prevent competitors from cheating. The competition is a test of the competitor's ability to maneuver in the sea, and as such the competitors are experienced shipowners and fishermen from all regions and city-states, and attracts a large number of shipowners and fishermen from the Kingdom of Dionysia and all city-states to watch and learn from the competition.

On the seventh day of the Ionian Games, a very traditional event took place that was not well known to the people of Dionysia: the motor race.

It was the most popular of all the Greek games, as humans have always had a passion for the ultimate in speed, and it was the longest, most intense, and most exciting of all the speed events, such as running and rowing, and it was also the most popular with the Greek nobility, as the title of champion was not traditionally awarded to the driver of the carriage, as was the case at the games. This gave the Greek nobles who did not have time to train and could not go down to the games themselves the opportunity to win the glory of the championship, so many famous Greek dignitaries won the event, such as Arsebide of Athens, the king of Sparta, the tyrant of Syracuse Dionysius ... ...

The letter of invitation sent to the city-states, describing the rules of the games, emphasized that the glory of the race was shared between the driver and the purveyor of the car, and that the prize money was to be divided equally between the two.

In the traditional Greek games, many of the drivers were slaves, and it was an insult to the Greek nobility that the championship was shared between master and slave, but even so, many of the nobles of the Greek city-state signed up for the race, because it was an opportunity for them to make their names known to the King of Dionysia, and it would help them in their future careers in politics, at a time when Dionysia was so powerful that it dominated half the Mediterranean and controlled the Greek world.

It was not only the Greek nobles who were enthusiastic about the racing at the Dionysian Games, but also the Dionysian public, who loved the thrill of competition, and so on the day of the race thousands of spectators flocked from all over to the arena in the northern part of the Ogbali Plain.

As it had only recently been built, it didn't even have an official name, but was simply called the Turii Arena. After the preparations for the Games had decided that motor racing would be the event, the Tullian City Hall, which had never held a motor racing event before, sent an expedition to Olympia, Delphi, etc., which included officials and engineers from the Supervision and Construction Department.

When they returned, the arena they designed and built was very different from those in Greece, as the Greeks believed that any race was free to watch, whereas the Dionysians were used to paying money to watch races, so the arena was closed. Due to the short time of construction, it was not as imposing as the main arena of Hades, it was only 20 meters high and had only two tiers of spectators, but it was longer than any other arena in the kingdom, at over 500 meters, and had a long oval appearance, so it could also accommodate over 30,000 spectators.

It was still early, but the entire audience was almost full, and the noisy arena suddenly erupted with thunderous cheers, turning out to be King Davos appearing on the royal stands with his family.

Just like the Hades Main Arena, the Racing Arena also had a royal stand. But unlike the Hades Arena, it was not built in the middle of the spectators, but on top of it on two levels, making it the highest point in the arena, as the engineers had thought of the royal family: the track was so long that the only way to get a panoramic view of the entire arena was to sit higher.

Davos returned to his seat after waving to the spectators. While Kristoya, Dido and the others restrained the children and forbade them to run around, although they were protected by railings all around, it was no joke if they accidentally fell from this 20-meter height.