A year has passed since Aristides was banished and I began the construction of a new fleet of triremes. Persian envoys have visited all the Greek states, less Athens and Sparta. They made demands for "Earth and Water" or in other words, total surrender. They didn't even give us the option of surrender. They are going to destroy us, they are determined. They hate us for their humiliating defeat at Marathon. As for Sparta, they know their pride will never allow them to submit. What they don't understand is that no Greek shall submit. Over seventy of our city-states refuse their demands. The only ones who are siding with the Persians are those who hate us and Sparta.
We assemble at Corinth to decide the fate of Greece. Athens and Sparta shall stand and fight, regardless of the decision. However, I think it would be better to have as many allies as possible. Especially since Athens cannot stand alone as we cannot fight on both land and sea. We haven't the resources. Whether we like it or not, we need support from everyone.
I speak first to the crowd of delegates. "As you know, the Persians have demanded tribute. There is no doubt they shall return to take it by force if we don't give over our 'Earth and Water'. We can't do that. We can never submit to the Barbarians, less they destroy us. As we know, Sparta has the best land army in Greece, so we shall give them control over the combined army. Athens has the best navy of all the Greeks, so we shall assume control of the combined navy."
I see the Spartan delegate, King Leonidas nodding in approval. While the Spartan army is great, their navy is terrible and their admirals incompetent. If we've convinced our bitter enemies the Spartans, the others should be much easier. Unfortunately, the Spartans are not our only former enemies within the assembly. Corinth is also a naval power and one of our most bitter rivals, as the Corinthian delegate rudely reminds me.
I met with Leonidas beforehand and discussed what we should do. I shock the Corinthian and say "In that case, I believe the Spartans should have total control of both our combined military and navy. They will be the best leaders for a long war."
I lied, of course I did. The Spartans have no idea how to control a navy, which means they won't be able to interfere with the decisions of my admirals.
I can see the conflict in the Corinthian representative's eyes. He is weighing up the situation, trying to figure out not if I can use this to my advantage, but how I all ready did. He reluctantly agrees, "I suppose that wouldn't be a problem. Just... never mind." He then sits down.
"If you're done squabbling over power," Leonidas interrupted, "we need to decide how we are going to defend Greece from the Persians."
I make a suggestion, "The Persian army is crossing over the Hellespont peninsular by a bridge built upon anchored boats. If we can destroy the bridge, they can't cross. We could even try to destroy it with many of them on it. Maybe we could put our hoplites at the other side of the bridge and fight them as they come off. It will be very narrow."
"Yes, that sounds good," said the representative of Thessaly, "stopping them from even landing on our shores, good. Go on."
The Corinthian is pleased, he says "Very well, we shall fight on the Hellespont."
There is a slight problem to the plan, "Well, problem is, we can't reach it. Our navy needs to remain in narrow straits, otherwise, it would be destroyed. We can't move by land unless we can overwhelm the Persian garrison in Thrake. Alexander, King of Macedon, do you think such a thing is possible?"
He shakes his head and it becomes depressingly obvious that we are going to have to fight them off on Greek soil.
A representative from Thessaly stands up. "Here," he says, pointing at a mountainous passage, "the Vale of Tempe is on our borders. It's the gateway to Northern Greece."
Alexander of Macedon shook his head. "Shere suicide," he dismissed the plan, "there are at least two other passages that lead behind your proposed position. The Persian army is massive, like nothing we've ever seen before. We will not be able to fight them like that."
The representative of Thessaly sits down, defeated. I can't help but feel bad for him. He basically surrendered his home to the Persians. I'm pretty sure Thessaly has now been knocked out of the alliance by that misfortune.
Time for an inspirational speech about Marathon and how we can use that to our advantage. I begin, "You all know about the battle of Marathon, exactly ten years ago. We won a resounding victory, but we only won because we could not be surrounded. It doesn't matter how many of them there are and how few of us. What matters is that hoplites can over come any threat head-on. Only head-on. If our formation breaks, we're doomed. Now, Marathon only worked because the Persians landed there. They are coming down from the north now. If they want to reach Athens and the Peloponnese, they will need to funnel themselves through the Thermopylae pass. That is where we shall defend."
The snarky Corinthian made a comment, "I suppose you are going to march Athenian army into the pass and claim all the glory for yourself."
"My dear child," I reply to my younger rival, "while it would be a pleasure to do so, Athens cannot fight both on land and sea. Sparta shall defend Thermopylae, Athens shall defend the Artemisium straits."
The Corinthian extends his hand and waves it around, "Why would you need to defend the straits for? More Athenian glory?"
Idiot. I speak to him slowly, expressing my frustration, "If we don't block the straits, they can land behind the Spartan position and out-flank them."
That seems to make sense to him and he shuts up.
"Only one problem," Leonidas interrupts, "we are celebrating the festival of Carneia. Spartan forces are not allowed to mobilise. However, I will be able to bring my personal bodyguard."
"How many men is that?"
"300," he replies, "so I'm counting on volunteers from other city-states to help us guard the pass. Who else will help?"
Numerous representatives raised their hands.