The Strategos

by H A CULLEY

  ‘Wisely, they’ve come without an escort. Presumably they want to surrender without risking what happened the last time.’

  Philip grunted with impatience as his servants strapped his armour on. Behind him in the bed a young girl pulled the sheets up to hide her small, pert breasts from Parmenion’s gaze. The strategos idly wondered where Philip found them. He was well aware that, even on campaign, the king never slept alone. Presumably this girl was the daughter of a local farmer, or perhaps even a noble or a city elder. There were several estates near the city so it wasn’t impossible. What worried Parmenion was the fact that she was presumably an Amphipolitan and she could have easily taken his dagger whilst he slept and killed him. He dragged his attention from her back to what Philip was saying.

  ‘Well, if they think I’m going to offer the same terms again, they’re in for a shock. They’ve caused me enough problems so, either they agree to become a Macedonian city, or I’ll raise it to the ground.’

  Parmenion was loyal to Philip but he couldn’t stand by and see the city of his ancestors destroyed.

  ‘I’m sure they’ll see sense, Philip. I think that they were ready to capitulate the last time, and would have done were it not for Nicias’ foolish action.’

  ‘Yes, why did he suddenly gallop towards their delegation like that?’

  Parmenion shrugged. ‘I think he saw that Kionos was dying but his father refused to acknowledge him at the previous meeting. Presumably Nicias just wanted to be reconciled with him before it was too late. It was a tragic mistake on his part.’

  ‘In more ways than one. Right, let’s get this over with.’

  ‘Before you do, Philip. Have you considered how Athens will react? They still regard Amphipolis as one of their colonies, though it’s several decades since the city broke away from Athenian rule. They might have just about accepted an alliance between Amphipolis and Macedon; I doubt if they’ll accept direct rule by you.’

  ‘I’ll offer them a share in the gold and silver output from the mines. That should keep them quiet for a while. They’ve become impoverished after the various recent wars with Sparta and Thebes, so they’ll be glad of the money. In any case, they’ve offered to exchange Pydna for their claim to Amphipolis, so they can’t be too attached to the place, can they?’

  ‘Pydna? You can’t surrender that city. It’s one of Macedon’s most important ports, and it’s close to Pella too!’

  ‘Don’t be stupid, Parmenion. I’ve no intention of giving up Pydna. I merely mentioned their proposal to prove to you that they can’t be that keen on recovering this city if they’re prepared to trade it for another port, and a smaller one at that.’

  Parmenion was surprised that Kionos wasn’t with the delegation. When he asked where he was the chief elder replied curtly that he had died during the night. The man’s attitude was almost as if he thought that Kionos had done it deliberately so that he wasn’t involved in their humiliating surrender. Parmenion was saddened. Kionos and he had once been good friends and, after the death of Nicias he felt increasingly lonely. Philip was a man who you could serve and get drunk with but you could never relax in his company. One wrong word and you would never be forgiven.

  He thought of Kharis and his son Philotas and regretted the fact that he seldom saw them these days. As his strategos, Parmenion had to go where Philip went, or where Philip sent him. He was beginning to believe that Philip’s ambitions had gone beyond restoring Macedon to its former size and glory. He seemed to want to unite all the Hellenic world under his leadership in order to invade their inveterate enemy – Persia. If his reading of Philip was correct, he saw many, many years of campaigning ahead of him before he could settle down and enjoy his old age.

  He got on well enough with his senior commanders but he wasn’t close to any one of them. Demetrius, as his head of logistics, shared a pitcher of wine with him in the evenings now and then but they had little in common really, other than reminiscing over the days when they had been ephebes together. He found that the person he was beginning to relate most to was his skeuphorus, Kleandros. He was intelligent, quick in the uptake, and very interested in strategy and military matters in general. Almost unconsciously, Parmenion had started to train him as a potential officer.

  He missed Nicias and it was only after his death that Parmenion realised how much he had depended on him. He still hadn’t found a taxiarch to assist him. Nicias had made one almost unnecessary but now he was forced to do something about the situation.

  Philip had decided to leave Parmenion to settle the details of the governance of Amphipolis and to take over the running of the mines. The king himself had departed for the other side of Macedon to meet King Arymbas of Epirus, the kingdom that lay between Macedon and the Aegean Sea. As Macedon and Epirus shared a common border with Illyria to the north and Thessaly to the south, it made sense for the two countries to ally themselves against their neighbours.

  It was only later that Parmenion heard that Philip had sealed the alliance by taking as this third wife, Olympias, the seventeen year old niece of Arymbas.

  Chapter Fourteen – The Serpent Queen

  Autumn 357 BC to Summer 356 BC

  Olympias had been named Myrtale when she had been initiated into a secret cult who worshiped a serpent god but she decided to keep her membership of the cult secret when she was betrothed to Philip. However, she wasn’t prepared to hide her pets – a collection of snakes, many of them poisonous. When he first met her he had been startled to see a three foot long leopard snake wrapped around her shoulders like a stole. Such a weird adornment might have put many men off, but for Philip the sensuous movement of the snake only increased Olympias’ allure, and he found himself getting excited at the thought of bedding this unusual girl.

  For a time he remained faithful to her. She was unlike any woman he had met before. She had a fiery temper and they often fought. This only inflamed Philip’s desire for her more and often their coupling was more like a violent rape than an act of love, not that she objected. Once his initial infatuation with her waned and he started to take others to his bed again, he discovered that Olympias was also a very jealous woman. Once he had to physically prevent her from stabbing his Companion when she found them in bed together one morning.

  The relationship might have been tempestuous but it was productive. Four months after they had married Olympias told him that she was pregnant. Philip was overjoyed and was convinced that the baby would be a boy, and this time not one that was simple in the head. Now he became solicitous of Olympias’ welfare and devoted as much of his time to her as he could spare.

  However, this period of relative harmony wasn’t to last and he left Pella in the autumn to rejoin Parmenion at Amphipolis. It was time for the next phase of his plan – the subjugation of Chalkidike.

  -o0o-

  Parmenion had allowed the assembly to continue to govern Amphipolis and the surrounding area, but he had insisted that several of its members who were either pro-Athenian or anti-Macedonian, or both, be exiled with their families. He had also taken the opportunity to visit his own family.

  His parents had long since died, as had his elder brother. The estate was now run by his two nephews, Ephranor, who was twenty five and recently married, and Sostratos, who was twenty three. Initially Ephranor was wary of Parmenion, thinking that he would want to confiscate the family estate for himself. When he realised that this wasn’t the case, he relaxed but he never established a strong relationship with his uncle.

  Sostratos was quite different. It was obvious that he was extremely proud of his uncle’s accomplishments, even if he had been the enemy until recently. He was also fed up with playing second fiddle to his brother. He had been feeling even more unwanted since his brother had married and he was ready to find something else to do with his life. He had attended the academy in Amphipolis and had done well. He had emerged as a phylearch but two years ago he had been promoted to lochagos. During the siege he had been second in command of a
raid to try and destroy the lithoboloi. It hadn’t succeeded but he had shown courage and leadership, taking over when the pentakosiarch in charge had been killed. The raid might have failed but he had managed to extricate his tagma with few further casualties.

  Sostratos was promoted to pentakosiarch as a result and had enjoyed his period in command, brief as it was. The Amphipolitan army was still a citizen militia who were required to take up arms when necessary. Parmenion had been charged to recruit a chiliarchy of professional soldiers and a hipparchia of cavalry from amongst the citizens. They were to serve in the coming campaign in Chalkidike but, as yet, that was kept secret.

  At first Parmenion thought of making Sostratos either the chiliarch of the new hoplite unit or the hipparchos of the cavalry. However, the more he saw of his nephew the more impressed with him he was. The two got on well from the start. Parmenion saw a lot of himself in Sostratos and he liked by his easy command style when he made him a chiliarch.

  Within a month he decided that Sostratos was one of the few people he was willing to trust as his deputy, so he promoted him to be his taxiarch. He still needed an aide and he considered the seventeen year old ephebes in the academy, but there was no-one there he liked the look of. Eventually he decided to take the unusual step of making the fifteen year old Kleandros his aide.

  The appointment of Sostratos had raised few eyebrows amongst the Macedonians. Some resented the fact that he wasn’t a Macedonian but Parmenion was respected and admired and it wasn’t unusual for nepotism to play its part in any Greek command structure. The appointment of an Illyrian skeuphorus who hadn’t even been trained as an ephebe - and who was under age - was a cause for a lot of adverse comment though.

  Many assumed, erroneously, that Parmenion and Kleandros must be lovers. It was a sign of the culture amongst Macedonians that, once this rumour circulated, many were prepared to accept the boy’s appointment as understandable.

  Philip had intended to leave behind a chiliarchy or two to ensure that Amphipolis remained loyal but Parmenion convinced him otherwise.

  ‘Philip, we’ve weeded out our enemies from the assembly and their army and exiled them with their families. You’ve appointed a Macedonian governor who had an Amphipolitan wife, and we’re taking fifteen hundred of their best men with us. I don’t think that you need worry about their loyalty; especially as the alternative would be to hand the place over to Athens, who wouldn’t treat them nearly so generously.’

  Philip chewed his bottom lip for a moment. ‘Not to mention the appointment of an Amphipolitan as your taxiarch. I had someone else in mind for that post.’

  He seemed to be about to say more but he merely shrugged and continued.

  ‘I also hear that you have made an Illyrian boy your aide. It’s never a good idea to appoint people based on how good they are in bed.’

  Parmenion thought bitterly that Philip would know about that if anyone did. He wisely resisted the temptation to remind him of his disastrous decision to make Diodorus the captain of the palace guards, based on his talents as a lover, when he was away in Illyria. Instead he made a more diplomatic reply.

  ‘I’ve never been unfaithful to Kharis, Philip, and certainly not with a boy. He’s my aide because he shows promise as a future commander and I want to nurture his military skills. As for my nephew, you’re correct. I think that his appointment has strengthened the bonds between Amphipolis and Macedon.’

  ‘Hmph!’ Philip didn’t sound convinced. ‘Very well; be that as it may. We need to talk about the campaign in Chalkidike. I’ve decided to take a subtle approach. The Chalkidikean League, led by the city of Olynthos, have tried several times to take Potidaea, which controls the isthmus between Chalkidike and the peninsula of Pallene to the south. Because of my success in taking Amphipolis using my lithoboloi, they have approached me to help them capture Potidaea. In return they will enter into a sacred alliance with us against Athens. As you rightly predicted, Athens wasn’t placated by my bribe of gold and silver and has sworn to take Amphipolis back from us. However, with the Chalkidikeans on our side, they won’t dare to attack it.’

  ‘How do you know that you can trust the elders of Olynthos? They have a certain reputations for, shall we say, perfidy to be polite.’

  Philip laughed. ‘Because we are to travel together to the Oracle at Delphi and swear a binding oath to Apollo that neither will make peace with Athens without the agreement of the other.’

  As it was now late November and the wet season usually ran from November to February, making the movement of armies difficult, Philip expected his campaign to start the following March but something happened to delay that.

  He had just returned to Pella for the winter, leaving Parmenion in Amphipolis with the professional element of the army, when the Thracians started to besiege a newly established city on the border between Thrace and Macedon called Crenides. This lay some fifty miles to the east of Amphipolis and only ten miles from the Athenian port of Neapolis. Crenides was a city founded by the citizens of an offshore island called Thasos only three years previously. Thasos was large and well populated but it was in no position to take on Thrace. However, knowing that much of the Macedonian army was still at Amphipolis, they had appealed to Philip, rather than to Athens.

  Philip sent immediate orders to Parmenion to relieve Crenides and throw the Thracians back across the border. He added that he expected this to be done before he himself arrived.

  -o0o-

  Philip had delayed his departure because of Olympias. When he returned she had told him that she had had a dream in which the god Zeus had taken the form of a snake and had pleasured her with its tongue and then its head. She claimed that the god was therefore the father of her unborn child and not the king.

  He knew this was nonsense. She had been pregnant before he left and, although she often slept with one or more of her infernal snakes, he was certain that none of them were Zeus in disguise. He threatened to chop off all their heads to prove it.

  Unsurprisingly for one who was devoted to the cult of the serpent, this made Olympias hysterical and he had to withdraw his threat before she would calm down. Eventually she admitted that it must have just been a dream and she accepted that only he could be the father of her baby. However, the damage had been done. Servants and slaves gossip and word soon spread that Zeus had impregnated the queen, not the king.

  Philip threatened to execute anyone heard spreading the malicious tale but all that did was to make people more certain that it was true. Philip fumed but there was little more than he could do. He decided to wait until the baby was born and then, if it was a boy, declare publically that he was the father and that the boy was his heir.

  He was therefore in a foul temper when he set off for Amphipolis once more.

  In contrast, Parmenion was happier than he had been for a long time. Thinking he was settled at Amphipolis for the winter, he send for his family and, leaving Myrrine to look after the house in Pella, Kharis and Philotas had joined him in October. They brought with them a boy who had been sold in the slave market of Pella. Unlike many other states in Greece, Macedon didn’t have a great number of slaves, but there were some. Philip discouraged the purchase of Greek slaves, especially from pirates, but the trade still continued.

  In this case Kharis had been told about a ten year old Cretan boy by a friend and had taken pity on him. He told her later that he had been captured when pirates attacked his father’s coastal trader. The crew had been killed or sold as slaves and the ship was sunk once it had been looted. Kharis had freed him immediately after purchasing him and the boy, whose name was Timandros, had elected to stay as a servant. With the loss of his father and the ship there was nothing left for him in Crete except a mother who would already have enough mouths to feed without him adding to her problems.

  When Kharis spoke to Parmenion about the boy he immediately knew where he could be best employed. Timandros seemed in awe of Parmenion when he first met him but he immediately took to
his skeuphorus, Lycos, who explained to him his duties. He would be looking after Sostratos and he proved to be a willing learner, once he had overcome his veneration for the Strategos of Macedon. Sostratos hadn’t had a skeuphorus before but he rapidly began to appreciate having one to do all the menial things he had been used to doing for himself.

  A month after his family arrived, Parmenion was on the move again. He had established that the Thracians who were besieging Crenides numbered some twelve thousand. There were, by all accounts, about four thousand Thasians inside the city, of whom no more than a thousand were men of fighting age. They had only managed to hold out for so long already because of the priority given to throwing up a strong wall as soon as the city was founded and because the Thracians had no siege equipment.

  He took four thousand hoplites, two thousand light infantry and peltasts and a thousand cavalry with him, including the fifteen hundred Amphipolitans who had just finished their training. The march to Crenides took four days; four days of unremitting rain and sloshing though ankle deep mud. Wisely Parmenion decided to let his men rest for a day before engaging the Thracians. The gods smiled on him and the rain ceased, to be replaced by warm sunshine.

  ‘How do you intend to tackle twice our numbers of Thracians, Parmenion?’ his nephew asked him, worried that his first battle as taxiarch might be his last.

  ‘Our men are better trained, better disciplined and better equipped, Sostratos. There are also a thousand armed men inside who I intend to use to distract the Thracians. We will then also have the advantage of surprise. You will have a key role in that surprise, but you’ll have to wait until this evening when I brief all the senior commanders.’