Sacred Games (41 page)

The forces of progressive politics in Sparta—to the extent that there were any in that most unusual of cities—came oddly enough from within the two royal families. It was the common Spartans who were the ultraconservatives. The reason for this is the one that Gorgo gives in the book: that a king knows his descendants will be ruling the city for hundreds of years to come, and therefore takes the long view. The common Spartan was very, very reactionary.

The political order was as the book gives: two hereditary lines of kings who ruled simultaneously, with a council of elders to advise them, and an elected council of ephors with power of veto.

T
HE STORY OF
the krypteia ritual looks like something I must have made up, but it was for real. The krypteia was nothing short of training and field practice in the art of assassination. The ancient biographer Plutarch says this of the krypteia ritual, from his
Life of Lycurgus:

The so-called
KRYPTEIA
 … is as follows: The magistrates from time to time sent out into the countryside at large the most discreet of the young men, equipped only with daggers and necessary supplies. During the day they scattered into obscure and out-of-the-way places, where they hid themselves and lay quiet. But in the night, they came down to the roads and killed every helot whom they caught. Often, too, they actually made their way across fields where the helots were working and killed the sturdiest and best of them
.

Aristotle has a word on the subject too. He says that the ephors, as soon as they came into office, made formal declaration of war upon their own helot slaves, so that there might be no impiety in slaying them.

W
HAT MADE WAR
inevitable was the growth of Athenian power, and the fear which this caused in Sparta
.

So said Thucydides in his great history of the Peloponnesian War, and in that one sentence he pretty much sums up why everything went so horribly wrong. If you studied ancient history at school then your stomach is probably churning at the sight of it, because it’s almost impossible to get through any ancient history course without writing a long essay about that sentence!

The Olympic Games of 460 BC was the first after Athens became a full democracy, and the last before the First Peloponnesian War began.
Sacred Games
plays out, in the microcosm of the Olympics, the hideously complex intercity politics unfolding across Greece.
This book takes place almost exactly twenty years after the Persian Wars. In the face of the Persian onslaught, the Greeks had united for the first time (sort of … mostly … even then there were major arguments). But once the Persian War was over, it didn’t take long for the alliance to fracture.

The interweb of alliances and enmities between the Greek city-states was at least as complex as the diplomatic situation in Europe prior to World War I, and just as liable to explode. So when my fictitious Arakos the Spartan is murdered at Olympia, that could be all that was needed to send Greece into a general conflagration.

In the author’s note to
The Pericles Commission
, I described Athens as a deer caught between two wolves: Sparta and Persia. Now we’re up to book three, and it’s not getting any better for our heroes. Athens has started a war in Egypt; it’s a strategic diversion to force the Persians to send their army there rather than back into Europe. But it’s a huge commitment. If Sparta joins in, things are going to get tricky. Now it looks like Sparta wants to play.

Athens, a city of not more than 250,000 people, barely larger than a modern town, is prosecuting wars on three continents. And right now, they’re winning every one of them.

N
ICO AND
D
IOTIMA
have had a busy year. Which is only fair because the Athenian year spanning 461 to 460 BC was one of the most momentous in human history. Things can get hectic when you’re inventing western civilization.

In
The Pericles Commission
, Nico and Diotima dealt with internal political threats to the new democracy. In
The Ionia Sanction
, they dealt with threats from Persia in the east. Now in
Sacred Games
they’ve seen off danger from Sparta in the west. I think they deserve a holiday.

They’re going home to be married. I’m sure nothing can go wrong there.

N
ICO ONLY GETS
to see three events, but of course while he’s busy investigating, there’s a real Olympic Games going on in the background. For what it’s worth, here are my notes on who won what at the real Olympics of 460 BC. I’ve included Nico’s efforts so you can see where he fits in. If you’ve read the author’s note, then you’ll know how dodgy the winner lists can be. It’s possible for a winner to be misplaced by sixteen or twenty years. In the great majority of cases we have no idea who won, but where there’s a likely winner, I’ve named him.

I find it hard to believe that every Olympics was run to the same strict timetable. There were a few scheduled items that had to be fixed in stone—such as the opening and closing ceremonies, and the sacrifice of the oxen on Day Three—but beyond that the Greeks probably didn’t care exactly when the events began and ended.

The judges were free to add extra competitions around the edges of the core events. We know for example that this Olympics was one of only fourteen to include a mule race. And of course at these Olympics they added the unique event of murder investigation.

A lad by the name of Kyniskos won the boys’ boxing, which we know because a statue was made of him by the sculptor Polykleitos. The winner of the boys’ wrestling was a certain Alcimedon, who was praised by Pindar in a song now known as
Olympian 8
. (Which goes to show that Pindar was present at these Games, and that he managed to get some work!)

The afternoon of Day 1 was free time. Fathers looking to find husbands for their daughters would be checking out the prospects. Old friends from different cities would be catching up.

Nico and Markos take an extra special Olympic Oath.

Chariot Races

For my own dramatic purposes I had the 4-horse race for older horses run first. Nico and Markos miss the other events.

Horse races

The mule race probably came after the horse races, no doubt for comic relief.

The sacrifice of the oxen. This was
the
event of the Games for the ancient Greeks.

First up was the
dolichos
, which was the long distance race. The winner in 460 BC was the famous Ladas of Argos. He was known as a runner so very light on the ground that his feet never left an imprint. It’s said that he died on his way home from these Olympics, and that a memorial was built by the roadside where he collapsed.

Next came the
stadion
, which was the sprint event. Needless to say, it was one length of the stadion. The winner is listed as Torymmas of Thessaly. More than any other event, to win the stadion race was to win immortality, because most Olympics were uniquely named by the stadion winner.

Then came the
diaulos
, which was two lengths of the stadion. Winner unknown.

In the evening a massive barbecue feast was held of the ox meat and, at this particular Olympics, also the bread ox of Empedocles. (Yes, that really happened.)

The winner of the wrestling was Amesinas of Barce, who trained by wrestling with a bull while he tended his cattle. He even brought the bull with him for extra practice.

For the
hoplitodromos
, competitors ran two lengths of the stadion in standard soldier kit. Nico misses this event, of course, because at that moment he has Timo slung over his shoulders and is racing for the aid station.

Closing Ceremony

Agora
. The marketplace. Every city had its agora, and so too must have Olympia during the Games.

Amphora
. The standard container of the ancient world. Amphorae come in many sizes. An amphora vaguely resembles a worm caught in the act of eating far too big a mouthful: wide at the top, tapering to a pointy bottom. Amphorae are used to hold wine, oil, water, olives, you name it. Tens of thousands of ancient amphorae have survived to this day.

Attica
. The area of southern Greece controlled by Athens. Most of Attica is rural, very hilly, farmland. When Gorgo says she would cheer on her men as they laid waste to Attica, she means to the farmland that fed Athens. It was a common strategy in those days to destroy the enemy’s food production.

Aulos Pipes
. A recorder-like musical instrument, but with two pipes which form a V at the mouthpiece. Music was played during some Olympic events, such as the long jump.

Bouleterion
. Council house. Boule means council. Olympia had a bouleterion, which was the administration center during the Games.

Chaire!
“Rejoice!” Friends who met each other on the street would call out, “Chaire! I rejoice to see you!” In the Bible—clearly
at a much later date—
chaire
is the first word spoken to Mary by the angels.

Chiton
. The chiton is the usual garment of a wealthy citizen. The chiton is a large rectangular sheet, or two sheets pinned together, wrapped around the body from the right, wide enough to cover the arms when outstretched and fall to the ankles. The sheet is pinned over both shoulders and down the left side. Greek clothing is neither cut nor shaped; there’s a lot of spare material below the arms. The chiton is belted at the waist so the extra material doesn’t flop around. The chiton is worn with a
himation
, a bit like a stole, across the shoulders. The chiton is for men with no need to labor. A middle class artisan might wear an
exomis
.

Deme
. A deme is like a combination of suburb and sub-tribe. All of
Attica
is broken up into demes. When an Athenian introduces himself to a stranger, he always gives his name, his father’s name, and the deme in which he lives. Hence, “Timodemus, son of Timonous, of the deme Archarnae of Athens,” or, “Nicolaos, son of Sophroniscus, of the deme Alopece of Athens.”

The patronymics and the demes I used above are totally correct. This was the standard way of naming. Even in writing, there are many real people mentioned in classical sources about whom we know almost nothing, except who their father was, and where to find their house. A man took the same deme as his father.

Demeter
. The goddess of the harvest. She’s also the goddess of fertility, which makes it so appropriate that Klymene is her priestess. No one knows why the priestess of Demeter had to observe the Sacred Games; not even the ancient Greeks could remember the reason, and that makes the tradition very old indeed. Some scholars have speculated that, because of this
rule, the Sacred Games might have begun as funeral games to celebrate death and rebirth.

Drachma
. The standard coin of Greece. The average workman earned about a drachma a day. One drachma is worth six
obols
. Every city minted their own coins, which created the need for moneychangers and exchange rates. At an event like Olympia, every coin imaginable changed hands in trade. It must have been chaos for the stallholders (and for the
pornoi
too!).

Exomis
. The exomis is the standard wear of middle class artisans. The exomis is a sheet of linen wrapping around from the right, slightly wider than the shoulders of the wearer and falling to knee length. The corners are tied over the left shoulder, which is all that prevents the exomis from falling off. This leaves both arms and legs free to move without hindrance.

Sophroniscus wears an exomis every day when he sculpts, and therefore feels uncomfortable in the more restrictive
chiton
. Pericles, on the other hand, wouldn’t be seen dead in an exomis. He always wears a chiton and drapes around him a
himation
of fine wool.