by H A CULLEY
He rode down to the beach with Philip and gazed out to sea. On the horizon a few specks of white could be seen and, as they watched, the specks grew in number. With a promise to reward the sharp eyed sentry, Philip turned to Parmenion. He had made up his mind.
‘Get the men to drive the prisoners into the sea at spear point. They can either die with a length of iron up their arse or they can try to swim to those ships.’
‘What about Onomarcos ?’
‘Hang him from a branch of that oak tree. Haul him up slowly so that the poor wretches that he led can watch his death throes as they are being herded down to the water’s edge.’
Iphitos watched grimly. He didn’t think that slaughtering three thousand mercenaries by drowning was barbaric. After all, the Phocians had executed their Athenian and Theban prisoners for sacrilege at the start of the Sacred War. When he couldn’t foresee, nor could King Philip, was that this would just make the Phocians and their mercenary allies fight to the death in future.
However, he didn’t have much time for philosophical reflection as Parmenion yelled at him to get his katapeltikons as close as he could to the sea ready to repel the Athenians. The main problem was the soft sand. Being the Aegean, it was non tidal but the beach was made up of shingle and sand. He therefore dispatched Kleandros to round up his engineer officers and a tagma of light infantry so that they could start to make a wooden pathway down to the water’s edge.
Luckily there was a ready source of wood in the form of the palisade around the Phocians camp, erected to give them protection from sorties by those besieged in Pagasae . It took over an hour for the Athenian fleet to get close to them in the light breeze that blew offshore, even using the rowers. By that time the katapeltikons were in place and the Macedonian and Thessalian cavalry started to urge their captives into the sea. Those who could swim started to head for the nearby ships. The rest had a choice of floundering out of their depth or being stabbed to death.
The ships, seeing the men in the sea swimming towards them turned to rescue them. The Athenian strategos, Chares, had wisely decided not to attempt a landing when he saw the size of the army lined up above the beach. However, he did want to rescue as many of his Phocian allies as he could. They would make a welcome addition to his army.
The decks of the galleys were crowded with soldiers, so when Iphitos gave the order to fire as the first ships came within range, the five bolts that were on target cut a swathe through three or four men before coming to a stop. Two others hit hulls near the waterline and stove in the planks, allowing water to start to seep in. The other three splashed harmlessly into the sea well beyond the leading galleys.
Several swimmers had been hauled aboard by the time that the katapeltikons were reloaded but this time nine out of the ten machines were on target and the soldiers crammed onto the decks of the galleys started to panic as several of their comrades were impaled by the heavy bolts in front of their eyes. Chares wisely decided that the lives of his own men were more important than those of a few Phocians and his rowers began to back water before turning and making off out to sea again. They were pursued by howls of protest from the swimmers who now faced the prospect of staying afloat until they were exhausted and drowned, or swimming back inshore to face the spears of the mounted Macedonians. Many chose the latter.
-o0o-
‘Just over a thousand, basileus,’ Parmenion stated at the meeting of senior officers the next morning when asked about the army’s casualties. ‘Of these, two hundred or so are expected to make a good recovery.’
‘And the Phocians?’
‘Over six thousand dead, severely incapacitated and likely to die of their injuries, another fifteen hundred lightly wounded and, as you know, another three thousand executed yesterday. We estimate that just over five thousand, possibly less, managed to escape.’
If Iphitos and the others expected their king to order an immediate advance on Delphi whilst the enemy was weak, they were doomed to be disappointed. Now that Philip had been given the perfect excuse to take over Thessaly, he wasn’t going to pass it up.
Chapter Eight – King and Archon
352 to 351 BC
Philip and his army arrived at the Hot Gates, so called because of the sulphur springs and the narrow pass that was the main land route for an army travelling between Thessaly on the one hand and Phocis, Boeotia – ruled by Thebes, and Attica – dominated by Athens – on the other, but he arrived to find that the Athenians had beaten him to it and had garrisoned it themselves with men from the fleet.
It was also called the Pass of Thermopylae and it was where the three hundred Spartans under Leonidas held the invading Persian host at bay for three days in 480 BC. To find that his enemies had secured it was a bitter blow, but it would have been idiotic to try and capture it by direct assault. To fail would undo all the gains he had made after victory at the Battle of the Crocus Field.
The only thing he could do was to leave behind a small force to watch for any attempt by the Phocians or the Athenians to invade Thessaly; not that the Phocians were in any position to do anything except to attempt to re-establish their army. Phalaikos , Onomarcos ’ younger brother, was elected as the new strategos of Phocis and started to hire more mercenaries, paid for from the gold and silver plundered from the treasuries at Delphi. However, after the drowning of the captives at the Crocus Field, most were understandably reluctant to enter the service of Phalaikos .
Philip’s defeat at Pherae the previous year rankled and so his next priority was to take that city. He sent Parmenion north to besiege it once more. Without interference from the Phocians to worry about, he gave him a mere four thousand infantry, mostly Thessalian hoplites, a thousand peltasts, one hipparchia of cavalry and Iphitos and his artillery and engineers. The king himself set off to capture the rest of the Thessalian cities that were still held by the Phocians or Thessalians who supported Phocis.
‘Thessaly has always been a fractious confederation,’ Attalus told him when he arrived with reinforcements from Macedon. ‘They would rather be fighting each other over some petty jealousy or imagined slight than unite to get rid of Phocian domination.’
‘Don’t you think I’m aware of that? What they need is someone strong enough to bang their heads together, expel the Phocian garrisons and make sure that they co-operate with one another. It’s what the archon is supposed to do.’
‘The archon?’
‘Yes, he’s theoretically the leader of the confederation. He is responsible for ensuring that each city pays its taxes to him so that he can pay for their army. The archon is elected for life and the present incumbent is a doddery old fool who hardly knows what day it is, or so I’m told.’
‘So where does the Thessalian contingent to your army come from?’
‘The city states who want to be free of the Phocian yoke.’
‘I assume therefore that you are now going to liberate the rest so that you can absorb Thessaly into Macedon?’
‘That’s a bit unsubtle, don’t you think? Have you learned nothing from the Persians? I will help them to free themselves and then offer to be their next archon. That way they retain independence in theory, and can keep their own laws and customs but financial and military power will be concentrated in my hands.’
‘What about the present archon?’
‘Ah, yes. I understand that he is partial to young girls, very young girls, and so I’m going to send him a present. Unfortunately he won’t get a chance to sample my gift before she administers what she believes to be a potion to depress his sexual desires in his wine. It will do that alright, but it will also kill him.’
-o0o-
Iphitos studied the defences of Pherae and came to the conclusion that the city would be difficult to take. The walls were too tall for scaling ladders and there were only three gates, each of which was constructed in a rather peculiar way. Since the last time that the Macedonians had besieged the place, the defenders had erected a barbican in front of each g
ate. Each was only a wooden palisade but it made an assault on them far more complicated.
The palisade had been constructed at right angles to one side of the entrance gates, ending in a wooden tower. It then turned though ninety degrees and ran parallel to the city wall for ten metres, ending in a second gateway set at right angles to the wall. It was a clever idea. The outer gate was sited so that he couldn’t attack it from a safe distance and, even if he could somehow destroy it, access into the city would still be barred by the inner gate. At the moment he couldn’t even see that gate because it was hidden behind the short length of palisade and the corner tower.
‘Well,’ Parmenion asked him. ‘How do you propose to gain access to the city?’
Iphitos decided that he had to be honest.
‘At the moment, strategos, I confess that I have no idea. I could try and batter down the palisade wall and the tower so that I can see the inner gate and then start on that, but it would take a long time and I’m well aware that the king wants you to take Pherae quickly so that we can move on to the other cities who have succeeded from the confederation.’
Parmenion grunted. ‘Have you no other ideas?’
Iphitos hesitated before replying. ‘Well, we could try to coat the palisade in pitch and oil and set fire to it.’
The other man looked doubtful. Trying to fire the palisade might well just end up charring it, not destroying it, and he told the young chief engineer so.
‘Not if we can place bundles of oil soaked wood at the base of the wall first.’
‘How would we do that? If I send men in carrying bundles of wood the defenders will see or hear them and shoot them down.’
‘Not if we make a diversionary attack elsewhere on a moonless night.’
‘Well, at the moment the skies are cloudless and it’s nearing full moon.’
‘True, but it will take me a couple of weeks to prepare in any case. I know it’s a long shot but I have no other ideas at the moment. Don’t you think it’s worth a try?’
‘Very well, start to gather pots of oil and pitch and I’ll think about where to make this diversionary attack.’
-o0o-
Kharis and Myrrine , the widow of Parmenion’s great friend Orestes, who had been killed at the Battle of the Erigon Valley six years previously, sat chatting in Parmenion’s house in Pella when they had a surprise. Myrrine had lived with Kharis as her companion ever since her husband’s death and she loved her friend’s children as her own. Nicanor was now three, Philotas was nine and Kharis was expecting another baby, conceived during the winter when Philip and his army had withdrawn from Thessaly after his defeat the previous year.
When her chamberlain came in to say that she had a visitor - a lady who wouldn’t give her name - Kharis was surprised. It was early in the day for visitors and the chamberlain would know all her friends. She and Myrrine left the maid to look after Nicanor - Philotas was with his pedagogue attending his lessons with several other boys at the house of a philosopher - and went down to the atrium to find out who the mysterious visitor was.
When Kharis saw that it was the widow of Parmenion’s nephew, Chloe, she nearly decided not to receive her. Sostratos had brought dishonour on the family by paying assassins to try and kill Iphitos and, besides, she had been a hetaera before she married Sostratos. However, the woman looked so miserable that Kharis took pity on her.
The three women sat at a table in the atrium whilst Chloe told her story. Unusually, Kharis hadn’t sent for refreshments. She was prepared to listen to what the startlingly beautiful woman had to say, but she wasn’t going to make her welcome; not yet at any rate.
When Parmenion had killed his nephew, the king had declared Sostratos a criminal and he had confiscated his house and his other property. This didn’t leave Chloe destitute as she had managed to escape from Potidaea with several bags of gold and silver coins. She had planned to set up in Pella as a hetaera again but she quickly found out that this wasn’t likely to be an option. In her previous city she had been a woman of good family with friends amongst the leading citizens. She therefore had the contacts to build up a coterie of acceptable clients.
In Pella she was unknown, except for her associated notoriety as the widow of an attempted murderer. She had rented a suitable house but no-one came to her door. Oh, there were few drunks in search of a good time but Chloe wasn’t prepared to become a cheap whore who would sell herself to just anyone. A hetaera was more like a mistress who was kept by a number of men, not a common harlot in a brothel.
Although she had been a wealthy woman in Potidaea, she had only escaped with what money she had in the house. Most of her wealth had been invested in property in the city, and that had gone up in smoke. Now her coins were almost gone and so she had come to the person she termed her ‘aunt’ to seek help.
Kharis felt sorry for Chloe but she was affronted to be called ‘aunt’. It was true and she was married to Chloe’s husband’s uncle, but the nephew was dead and their connection now was tenuous, at best. She desperately wanted to know what Myrrine thought but she could detect no response from her friend. They were very close and normally she would have sensed her reaction to Chloe through her body language or attitude, but it was almost as if she was supremely indifferent to Chloe’s plight.
Then, to her surprise, Myrrine spoke.
‘You didn’t love Sostratos did you? You only married him to gain position and security.’
‘That’s true. But he loved me and he treated me well. In many ways it was as good a marriage as most.’
‘Why did he try to have Iphitos murdered? Was it because he know that you were in love with the boy?’
At this Chloe broke down and started to sob. She could only nod at first, but then she collected herself.
‘Yes, he loved me and, during the time that I sheltered him in Potidaea, I grew to love him; but he was only fifteen at the time and there was no way that we could be together. Even now he is only nineteen and it will be years before we could decently wed, even if he still wants me.’
‘You will have to determine that yourself, but he is a senior officer now, despite his youth, and Philip pays him well. It might cause a bit of a scandal if you were to wed but, provided that Iphitos retains Philip’s favour, people will soon get over it.’
She glanced at Myrrine , who nodded imperceptibly.
‘The army is in Thessaly and I expect it to stay there for some time. Why don’t you write to Iphitos and ask him if he still had regard for you? Once we know where he stands on this, we can discuss your future. In the meantime, this is large house and you are welcome to stay here.’
Chloe broke down again and sobbed out her thanks. The other two women went and sat either side of her and comforted her until she regained her composure. They waved away her apologies and took her to meet the children whist the chamberlain prepared a room for her and sent a messenger to her servants.
-o0o-
Parmenion wasn’t pleased when he got the letter telling him about Chloe and he immediately sent for Iphitos. He had intended to start by talking to him about Chloe but he changed his mind at the last moment.
‘Are we ready for the assault on the palisade tomorrow night?’
‘Yes, strategos. The incendiary bundles are ready and the spearmen have practiced what they have to do until they can do it in near silence. They will be supported by a lochus of peltasts, just in case they are discovered and need help to cover their withdrawal. Once they are clear, the lithoboloi will launch the jars at the palisade and then archers will use fire arrows to ignite it.’
‘Good! Let’s hope it works. One chiliarchy of hoplites will pretend to attack the wall five hundred yards away from the gate with scaling ladders, supported by the rest of the peltasts and your katapeltikons and the gastraphetes to keep the defenders heads down. If you are going to direct operations at the palisade, who will command the lithoboloi and who will direct the other artillery?’
‘Chronos will take be in
charge of the lithoboloi and Lysis the katapeltikons and the gastraphetes.’
‘Good,’ Parmenion nodded. ‘Both are turning out to be promising officers. So much so that I had to argue with Attulus to prevent him stealing Lysis away to become his own chief engineer.’
Iphitos was surprised. He knew the chief engineer of the Macedonian militia army commanded by the other strategos well and he had seemed a sound man, if one who was rather rigid in his thinking.
‘To be honest, I think that Attulus is jealous that I have you and just wanted to annoy me,’ he chuckled.
Iphitos was relieved. Lysis wasn’t just an excellent deputy, he and Chronos had become Iphitos’ closest friends and he wouldn’t have wanted to lose either of them. Furthermore, he suspected the two would be heartbroken if they were unable to be together. Although they kept their relationship discreet, he was well aware that the two were now very much a couple.
‘There is one other matter I need to discuss with you. My wife tells me that Chloe, the widow of Sostratos, is now living in my house on a temporary basis, having nowhere else to go.’
He watched Iphitos carefully as he conveyed this bit of information to him and he saw both excitement and concern in the young man’s face. He was fairly certain he knew the answer before he asked his next question.
‘You are very young to think about settling down but she can’t stay with my family for ever.’
Before he could say any more, Iphitos interrupted him.
‘She won’t have to. As you say, I’m still rather young but I’ve loved her from the first moment I saw her. I intend to ask her to marry me as soon as we return to Pella.’
‘Good. I’m pleased to hear it, though it may be some time before that happens. Philip intends to stay in Thessaly until his position here is consolidated. Given the fractured nature of the place that isn’t going to be an easy task.’