Mêlon: (“apple”) the son of Malgis, the lame farmer on Mt. Helikon and the “apple” of various prophecies promising the end of Sparta
Myron: (“perfume”) farm slave on Mt. Helikon, recruited by Nêto on the eve of Leuktra
Nêto: the Messenian slave of Mêlon, bought as a small girl from the Spartans
Nikôn: (“victor”) leader of the helot insurgents
Pelopidas: head of the Sacred Band, and co-general of the allied army
Phrynê: (“toad”) courtesan and owner of a rest-stop at Thespiai
Porpax: (“shield-strap”) the older of the two great hounds of the Malgidai
Proxenos: (“consul”) the wall builder from Plataia and chief architect to Epaminondas
Sturax: (“butt-spike”) the younger and friskier of the two dogs of the Malgidai
Timeline
(ALL DATES B.C.)
454 Birth of Malgis, founder of the farm on Mt. Helikon
431 War between Athens and Sparta breaks out. Thebes joins the Spartans.
424 Battle of Delion. Malgis becomes famous for his bravery in the battle.
423 Thebes levels the walls of Thespiai.
423 Malgis scouts out Mt. Helikon and begins to carve out a farm with his father Antander.
422 Battle of Amphipolis. Sixteen-year-old Gorgos fights for the Spartans under Brasidas.
420 First visits of Alkidamas to the farm on Mt. Helikon
419 Birth of Mêlon, son of Malgis
415–13 Malgis campaigns in Sikily with the Spartans, leaves his father Antander in charge of the new farm.
413 First visit of young Lichas to the farm in search of Mêlon
412 Death of Antander; Malgis plants the high vineyards in Sikilian fashion.
404 Malgis and young Mêlon raid the Attic borderlands; the Peloponnesian War ends.
401–400 Malgis fights with the Ten Thousand in Asia Minor.
399 Malgis on his way home at Chios buys Chiôn from a Spartan trader.
395 Boiotians defeat the Spartans at Haliartos. Malgis strips the armor of the dead Lysander.
394 Thebans battle the Spartans at the Nemea River and Koroneia. Gorgos is captured at Nemea. Death of Malgis at Koroneia.
389 Mêlon buys the child Nêto from a Spartan trader.
380 Kleombrotos becomes the Agiad king at Sparta.
379 Pelopidas and other Thebans expel the Spartans and establish a democracy for the Boiotians.
378 The Spartan king Agesilaos invades Boiotia.
377 Boiotia is invaded again by Agesilaos.
375 Thebes beats Sparta in a small battle at Boiotian Tegyra.
371 The Great Year
SUMMER
Spartans invade Boiotia. Battle of Leuktra and defeat of the Spartans
AUTUMN
Monument at Leuktra is begun. Proxenos and Ainias work on walls of Thespiai and continue visits to the rising walls at Mantineia.
WINTER
Phrynê moves back to Thespiai. Foundations are established of Megalopolis.
370
SPRING
Uprising at Messenia is begun by Nikôn and Doreios.
SUMMER
Nêto and Erinna leave for the Peloponnesos; Chiôn marries Damô.
AUTUMN
Nêto and Erinna arrive in Messenia.
WINTER
Muster of the Boiotians, arrival in the Peloponnesos. Fight at the Eurotas. Voyage of the Theôris to Messenia
369
WINTER/SPRING
Epaminondas, with the Argive and Theban armies, heads over Mt. Taygetos to Messenia; Chiôn disappears on Mt. Taygetos. The walls of Messenê rise on Mt. Ithômê. The Thebans head home.
369–68
Second invasion of the Peloponnesos by Epaminondas.
366
Epaminondas invades the Peloponnesos a third time.
364
Pelopidas dies in battle at Cynoscephalai in Thessaly.
362
Final Boiotian invasion of the Peloponnesos; Mêlon and Epaminondas die on Skopê after the Theban victory at Mantineia.
Footnote
1All quoted Greek by convention is rendered into the Attic dialect.
A Note on the Author
Victor Davis Hanson is the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow in Residence in Classics and Military History at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and the codirector of the Group in Military History and Contemporary Conflict; a professor of classics emeritus at California State University, Fresno; and a nationally syndicated columnist for Tribune Media Services. He is also the Wayne & Marcia Buske Distinguished Fellow in History, Hillsdale College, where each fall semester he teaches courses in military history and classical culture. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford University in classics, was a member of the American School of Classical Studies, Athens, and received his B.A. with highest honors in classics from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He lives on his farm in Selma, California, where he was born in 1953.
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An Autumn of War
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Copyright © 2011 by Victor Davis Hanson
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For information address Bloomsbury USA, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Published by Bloomsbury USA, New York
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Hanson, Victor Davis.
The end of Sparta : a novel / Victor Davis Hanson. — 1st U.S. ed.
p. cm.
1. Epaminondas, b. ca. 420 B.C.—Fiction. 2. Generals—Greece—Thebes—Fiction.
3. Thebes (Greece)—History—Fiction. 4. Sparta (Greece)—History—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3608.A7233E63 2011
813‘.6—dc22 2011013805
First published by Bloomsbury USA in 2011
Electronic edition published in 2011
E-book ISBN: 978-1-60819-368-4
www.bloomsburyusa.com
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Preface
Map
Holy Leuktra
Mêlon Comes to Leuktra
Lichas the Spartan
General Epaminondas
Helikon
Spartans
The Breaking Point
The Circle Closes
The Battle Above
The King of Sparta
The Wages of Battle
Ripples of Leuktra
Between Peace and War
The Lizard’s Tail
The Fall of Mêlon
The House of the Goddess
Nêto Unbound
The Healing of Mêlon
On the Road to Thebes
The Great Debate
No Man a Slave
The New Mantineia
Two Women
The March Down Country
The Great Muster
Chiôn Goes South
A Free Messenia
The Night of the Three Armies
The Plains Afire
The Visions of Proxenos
Lord Kuniskos of the Helots
Erinna of Messenia
Freedom
The Shadows of Mt. Taygetos
All Roads to Messenia
The End of the Beginning
The Reckoning
The Old Breed
The Way Back
The Restoration
Epaminondas Returns
The Anabasis
A Historical Postscript
The Peoples and Places of Fourth-Century B.C. Greece
Principal Characters
Timeline
Footnote
A Note on the Author
By the Same Author
Imprint
The End of Sparta Page 54