Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

And by this time, the crew on the mid-ridge platform was busy, using buckets to scoop water from one of the pools in the platform and then splashing it on the horses that passed by them ......

"Why are you breaking water to the horses?"

"That's because a horse's body temperature rises gradually during a vigorous gallop, and if the temperature is very high for a long time and doesn't come down, the horse can get sick or even die ...... So splashing the horse with water and helping it cool down can protect it from getting sick after a race. "

"Oh, so that's it! Why is the animal in the middle of that indicating the number of laps a dolphin and not another animal? I like elephants and hippos."

"No, I prefer Aunt Eunice's black cat."

"That's because this arena holds racing or horse races, where the main object is horses, and the god Poseidon is the patron saint of horses, so who can tell me what Poseidon's animal messenger is?"

"I know, I know, it's a dolphin!"

"By the way, it's a dolphin, and the silver image of a dolphin is used to mark the number of laps run by race cars and horses, a good wish to be blessed by Poseidon to protect the horses in the race."

"Oh, so that's it! Uncle Arbuckles, is the statue of Poseidon placed in the middle of the race track also hoping to bless the horses?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Is that why you put your grandfather's statue there, too?"

Apox, who answered the children's various questions as patiently as an encyclopedia, was now stumped, but he wisely threw the question at his father: "Chris, you should ask your grandfather that question, shouldn't you?"

Davos watched the game while listening to his children and grandchildren chattering in his ears, at the moment he had no majesty of a king at all, instead he was like an old man enjoying his family, laughing and saying, "I don't know why, Chris, you'll have to ask your father, he's the one responsible for building this arena."

Clotocatacus, seeing his father's intentions, also followed up with a joke, "I don't know why, because the entire pattern of the arena's center ridge was designed by your Aunt Arrakis, and I, of course, approved its construction."

When the children looked at Arrakis, who was sitting beside Eunice with questioning eyes, the master sculptor, who was usually silent but straightforward when he spoke, said perfunctorily, "Don't you think it's a beautiful design, children?"

While the children were nodding their heads in agreement, Antebris giggled and couldn't help but say, "Brother-in-law, you're usually so honest, but now you've learned to lie, so you might as well just say that you're flattering your father by designing it this way."

Indeed, the composition and construction of the entire center ridge of the arena looked very imposing, but the statue of Davos riding a horse and wielding a sword was clearly larger and higher than the Poseidon statue treading the waves, creating a feeling for the audience as if the descendant of Hades was going to be even more imposing than Poseidon, one of the three main gods.

"What nonsense!" Eunice's eyes glazed over and she reached out to lightly smack her brother on the back of the head.

"Did you see that, Mom? Eunice she even hit me!" Antebris immediately complained to Kristoya.

"How old are you two, and you're still acting like children, and you're not afraid of your children's jokes!" Kristoya laughed and scolded.

"Father, Mother, and everyone ...... It's almost noon, you're all hungry, so drink some slurry and eat something first." Axicus smiled and walked into the royal stand, followed by four slaves, each holding a silver platter full of rich food in their hands.

"I say, Axicus, the preparation of lunch is the responsibility of Ribazo, so don't follow the busy work, sit down and watch the game as a family." Kristoya advised kindly.

Axicus smiled and said, "I'm a man who can't be idle and help Ribazo-"

"Sit down!" Agnes gave him an impatient look.

"Eh!" Axicus quickly nodded and sat down, always a little nervous to face his mother-in-law who never said much.

As he sat down, he immediately held up a jar of slurry and handed it over, "Evia, here you go."

Avia smiled and took it.

"Attention everyone, there's still the last half lap to go!" Antebris's shout brought all the eyes of the royal crowd back to the arena.

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Turning the final corner, it was still the Egyptian car at the front, followed by Prokris, and these two cars put some distance between them and the others.

With the 500m straight ahead and the crew already pulling up the red tape at the finish, the winner of this round is bound to be between the two of him.

Prokris was anxious, he looked at the Egyptian car located on the inside and his own car was still a length away from him.

The Egyptian was so steady, and had been in 1st place since lap 1 and had never been overtaken, but Prokris was not willing to concede: there was still half a lap to go, and if he didn't fight now, there was no time to lose!

He raised his riding crop and struck the mare located in the middle with a moderate force, while shouting, "Ephraim! Ephraim! Run! Run! Run like hell! Run! ......"

As if understanding Prokris's words, the beautiful mare shook her slender neck and let out a clear and pleasant hiss, her already tired four hooves moving even faster, the already attenuated speed suddenly picked up again.

The stallions also picked up speed and neighing at the same time, all wanting to show their power in front of their beloved girl.

Prokris's car, under their hard pulling, not only caught up with the Egyptian car, but also slightly overtook it.

The Egyptian driver also did his best to accelerate the car.

The two cars were running neck and neck on the wide track.

The enthusiasm of the spectators was also at its peak, almost all of them stood up and danced around, cheering one after another, and the warm atmosphere of the race track gave great strength to the drivers as well as the horses.

The soft mane and tails of the horses floated straight in the air, and the sweat on their bodies was waved around as their muscles contracted and stretched. ......

"It's beautiful! It's so beautiful!" Once again, Arrakis reveled in being in front of the rail.

500 meters was but a short moment for a racing car at full speed.

It was too fast! When the two cars crossed the finish line, many of the spectators couldn't even tell who had won, until the track crew handed Prokris the flag of the Holy Kingdom of Dionysia, which he draped over his carriage and drove slowly around the course, and the spectators applauded desperately for it. Because the winner is the Tullyi contestant, one of our own for real!

Prokris kept waving to the crowd around him, smiling very happily, and although the racing wasn't over and he would be competing in the next few days, not even necessarily winning the final championship, at the moment he was fully enjoying the glory that was all his own.

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On July 15, the last day of the Dionysian Games, according to the latest medal standings released by the preparatory team, in 1st place was Athens, 2nd place was the Arcadian League led by Mandinia tied with Aerys, and 3rd place was the Dionysian kingdom of Turii tied with the Pythian League led by Thebes. According to the rules established by the Dionysian Games, three points were awarded for winning the final of each event, two points for 2nd place, and one point for 3rd place, which meant that the top three places in the medal table were separated by one or two points, showing how fierce the competition was.

After all, Athens has a long culture of athletic competition, a large enough population and abundant financial resources to cultivate outstanding athletic talents, and it has never lacked the figure of Athenians taking the title in previous games. One wonders.

Instead, it was the disappointing performance of Sparta, another native Greek athletic powerhouse, who had so far only scored a pathetic two points, and the event it had once excelled at, the reloading race, had not even been ranked.

Of course this is understandable, because since Dionysia conquered Sparta and reestablished the new government, during these five years the new Spartan government has long since thrown the regime that the original Spartans were proud of and implemented for centuries by the reform of Lycurgus into the trash heap, and naturally the long-held military tradition of survival of the fittest from infancy, which the citizens of Sparta still insist on concentrated training until the youth, has been abolished, and the former Spartan warriors were either farming in the fields or learning to sail ships in the harbor for business, their physical fitness and skills had fallen into disuse, completely unable to compete with the strongest players.

In place of Spartan, the monopoly of the reloading race was naturally the runners of the kingdom of Dionysia, not only in the reloading race, these Dionysian runners also bagged the top 8 of the newly created military 5, and also in archery, javelin, horseback riding, racing cars, rowing boat racing showed a strong advantage, making the invited emissaries of the friendly city-states and powers, because of these events All of them are closely related to the military, and this is one way to show the strength of the Dionysian military.

The last event of the games was the marathon, which was a controversial event. There was some controversy when the organizers decided to set up the marathon route.