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Authors: Steven Pressfield
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Asia Minor, through Aeolis and the Troad, crossing the Hellespont by either bridge of boats or massive ferrying operation, then proceed west, traversing Thrace and the Chersonese, southwest across Macedonia and then south into Thessaly.
Greece proper.
The Spartans recounted what they had learned at Rhodes; that the Persian army was already on the march from Sardis; the main body stood even now at Abydos, readying to cross the Hellespont.
They would be in Europe within a month.
At Selassia a messenger from the ephors in Sparta awaited my master with an ambassadorial pouch. Dienekes was to detach himself from the party and proceed at once to Olympia. He took his leave at the Pellana road and, accompanied by myself alone, set out at a fast march, intending to cover the fifty miles in two days.
It is not uncommon upon these treks to have fall in with one as he tramps various high-spirited hounds and even half-wild urchins of the vicinity. Sometimes these carefree comrades remain on the troop all day, trotting in merry converse at the trekkerâs heels. Dienekes loved these ranging strays and never failed to welcome them and take cheer in their serendipitous companionship. This day, however, he sternly dismissed all we encountered, canine as well as human, striding resolutely onward, glancing neither left nor right.
I had never seen him so troubled or so grave.
An incident had occurred at Rhodes which I felt certain lay at the source of my masterâs disquiet. This event transpired at the harbor, immediately after the Spartans and Egyptian marines had completed their exchange of gifts and were making ready to take leave of one another. There arose then that interval when strangers often discard that formality of intercourse with which they have heretofore conversed and speak instead man-to-man, from the heart. The captain Ptammitechus had clearly taken to my master and the
polemarch
Olympieus, Alexandrosâ father. He summoned these now aside, declaring that he had something be wished to show them. He led them into the naval commanderâs campaign tent, erected there upon the strand, and with this officerâs permission produced a marvel the like of which the Spartans, and of course I myself, had never beheld.
This was a map.
A geographerâs representation not merely of Hellas and the islands of the Aegean but of the entire world.
The chart spread in breadth nearly two meters, of consummate detail and craftsmanship and inscribed upon Nile papyrus, a medium so extraordinary that though held to the light one could see straight through it, yet even the strongest manâs hands could not rend it, save by first opening a tear with the edge of a blade.
The marine rolled the map out upon the squadron commanderâs table. He showed the Spartans their own homeland, in the heart of the Peloponnese, with Athens 140 miles to the north and east, Thebes and Thessaly due north of there, and Mounts Ossa and Olympus at the northernmost extremity of Greece. West of this the mapmakerâs stylus had depicted Sikelia, Italia and all the leagues of sea and land clear to the Pillars of Herakles. Yet the bulk of the chart had barely begun to be unfurled.
âI wish only to impress upon you, for your own preservation, gentlemen,â Ptammitechus addressed the Spartans through his interpreter, âthe scale of His Majestyâs Empire and the resources he commands to bring against you, that you may make your decision to resist or not, based upon fact and not fancy.â
He unrolled the papyrus eastward. Beneath the lamplight arose the islands of the Aegean, Macedonia, Illyria, Thrace and Scythia, the Hellespont, Lydia, Karia, Cilicia, Phoenicia and the Ionic cities of Asia Minor. âAll these nations the Great King controls. All these he has compelled into his service. All these are coming against you. But is this Persia? Have we reached yet the seat of Empireâ¦â
Out rolled more leagues of
Greece proper.
The Spartans recounted what they had learned at Rhodes; that the Persian army was already on the march from Sardis; the main body stood even now at Abydos, readying to cross the Hellespont.
They would be in Europe within a month.
At Selassia a messenger from the ephors in Sparta awaited my master with an ambassadorial pouch. Dienekes was to detach himself from the party and proceed at once to Olympia. He took his leave at the Pellana road and, accompanied by myself alone, set out at a fast march, intending to cover the fifty miles in two days.
It is not uncommon upon these treks to have fall in with one as he tramps various high-spirited hounds and even half-wild urchins of the vicinity. Sometimes these carefree comrades remain on the troop all day, trotting in merry converse at the trekkerâs heels. Dienekes loved these ranging strays and never failed to welcome them and take cheer in their serendipitous companionship. This day, however, he sternly dismissed all we encountered, canine as well as human, striding resolutely onward, glancing neither left nor right.
I had never seen him so troubled or so grave.
An incident had occurred at Rhodes which I felt certain lay at the source of my masterâs disquiet. This event transpired at the harbor, immediately after the Spartans and Egyptian marines had completed their exchange of gifts and were making ready to take leave of one another. There arose then that interval when strangers often discard that formality of intercourse with which they have heretofore conversed and speak instead man-to-man, from the heart. The captain Ptammitechus had clearly taken to my master and the
polemarch
Olympieus, Alexandrosâ father. He summoned these now aside, declaring that he had something be wished to show them. He led them into the naval commanderâs campaign tent, erected there upon the strand, and with this officerâs permission produced a marvel the like of which the Spartans, and of course I myself, had never beheld.
This was a map.
A geographerâs representation not merely of Hellas and the islands of the Aegean but of the entire world.
The chart spread in breadth nearly two meters, of consummate detail and craftsmanship and inscribed upon Nile papyrus, a medium so extraordinary that though held to the light one could see straight through it, yet even the strongest manâs hands could not rend it, save by first opening a tear with the edge of a blade.
The marine rolled the map out upon the squadron commanderâs table. He showed the Spartans their own homeland, in the heart of the Peloponnese, with Athens 140 miles to the north and east, Thebes and Thessaly due north of there, and Mounts Ossa and Olympus at the northernmost extremity of Greece. West of this the mapmakerâs stylus had depicted Sikelia, Italia and all the leagues of sea and land clear to the Pillars of Herakles. Yet the bulk of the chart had barely begun to be unfurled.
âI wish only to impress upon you, for your own preservation, gentlemen,â Ptammitechus addressed the Spartans through his interpreter, âthe scale of His Majestyâs Empire and the resources he commands to bring against you, that you may make your decision to resist or not, based upon fact and not fancy.â
He unrolled the papyrus eastward. Beneath the lamplight arose the islands of the Aegean, Macedonia, Illyria, Thrace and Scythia, the Hellespont, Lydia, Karia, Cilicia, Phoenicia and the Ionic cities of Asia Minor. âAll these nations the Great King controls. All these he has compelled into his service. All these are coming against you. But is this Persia? Have we reached yet the seat of Empireâ¦â
Out rolled more leagues of
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