Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

Speaking of this, Solikos raised his voice and said, “But now, with Archon Davos as the backbone and the other statesmen as the auxiliary, the Union will be much more efficient. Moreover, all citizens will now have land, and will no longer worry about their livelihood, let alone getting invaded by enemies. What is more, they can now freely get employed as a civil servant and get paid, which is a lot better than before! So, even if Thua Union has indeed turned into a monarchy system, there is nothing wrong with it. As long as the future kings can be like Lord Davos, the people of the Union will support it as well, is what I think!”

Tios listened to his words and fell into a deep thought. The Greeks were born to love politics. From ancient times to the present, every citizens of a city-state will seek the perfect system that will make their city-state more prosperous and the citizens to be freer. A few decades ago, Athens have become the role model for all the city-states to follow. However, after their defeat in the Peloponnesian War, it had made many people to see the disadvantages of the Athenian democratic system. Some nobles, including the philosophers, began to praise Sparta, which have followed the ancient Greek system of semi-monarchy and semi-democracy. However, the hegemony of Sparta had specially disgusted the neighboring countries in the Peloponnesian peninsula. And the governing system of Thua Union seems to be interesting as well…thought Tios in his heart.

The carriage continues to move, and when it crossed the wooden bridge, Tios looked back and observed for a long time.

Even though there are a lot of pedestrians and animal-drawn vehicles on the road, they are all very orderly and do not interfere with each other.

Tios looked around and found something, “You all seemed to be walking on the right of the road?!” He exclaimed with doubt.

“That’s right, you seem to have observed it carefully!” Solikos exclaimed happily, “After this road was built. Lord Davos had erected a monument at the fording place of Amendolara, Thurii, and Heraclea, suggesting that all travelers should walk to the right. In the first few days, a lot of people didn’t listen to it, and frequently crossed the road. But because this road is so good, it made the speed of carriages and mounts to be relatively fast, so there are several people getting injured, which resulted in the road getting congested. We then realized that what Lord Davos had said was right! You see, our Archon is like this, even though he has a lot of power, he does not often use it to coerce his people to obey but tries his best to persuade the other party. This is one of the reasons why we aren’t worried, even though he is the only archon!”

“The Thua Union has indeed have a good Archon!” Sighed Tios, “What is more, I notice that every other distance, there will be a stone tablet on the side of the road, which engraved the distance from Amendolara and Heraclea. He is so careful in managing a road, seems like the government of the city-state considers the feelings of the people.”

“Yea!!” Solikos whipped his whip and straightened his chest with pride.

“How much do you earn every day by driving a carriage?” Asked Tios.

Solikos, who was happy, then frankly said, “At the start, I only earn 10 obols a day, and most of them were from the new people of the Thua Union. But now, when working from morning to night with almost no rest, I can earn at least 46 obols. If it continues like this and by deducting the cost of taking care of the horse and its fodder, then I can earn about 600 obols, which is nearly 100 drachmas a month. And in four months, I would then be able to pay off my loan and its interest!”

They talked happily. And because there were not many carts on the road, and the road is very smooth, so they manage to arrive at the warehouse and inn area under the city of Amendolara in less than two hours. As a matter of fact, it is not as quiet as what the market officer has said, but it isn’t too noisy.

Solikos and Tios got out of the carriage, then he said to him, “I suggest that you should go to Cheiristoya’s restaurant for dinner. Their mutton soup and tripe are very delicious, and the price is not expensive. I usually go there to eat every few days. I also didn’t expect that the offal that people usually don’t want will be so delicious and had made me spent half of my money on it.”

“Is it so delicious?” Tios was doubting.

“You will know once you try it.” Said Solikos, then another customer got on the carriage, and so he waved at him to say goodbye.

“May Hermes bless you so that your wish will come true as soon as possible!” Tios also gave his blessing.

Seeing that Solikos drove away, Tios was already hungry and his stomach begun to grumble, and so, he decided to go to the restaurant that Solikos has recommended first.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Compared with Amendolara, the land, population and works in Thurii is far more. Therefore, the Senate hall will be relocated to Thurii, even though the Senate hall is still not been built yet. Because most of the statesmen’s homes are in Amendolara, the redevelopment council has allocated some houses in Thurii to the statesmen, in order to facilitate the speed and convenience of the discussion in the future. Because of Davos’ busy work, and the need to discuss political matters and public officials in his home, he was also given a new house, twice the size of his house in Amendolara. Davos wanted to refuse at first, but Cheiristoya like the house so much that he could only accept it.

The house is located on a high-lying hillside on the bank of the river inside the city of Thurii. By just standing at the gate of the courtyard, you can have a panoramic view of the beautiful scenery of the Crati river and Cosceli river, and on the other hillside at the north, is the former temple of Apollo (The temple of Hades is now currently being built on it) and also the Acropolis, which shows that the location is very excellent.

It was late September, which is the beginning of autumn, but the climate in the southern Apennine peninsula was still hot. Fortunately, the river breeze that comes from time to time cooled Cheiristoya.

The courtyard of the new house is large. Some time ago, Cheiristoya has invited a bricklayer to build a wall in the middle, and putting a door to it, and thus divides the courtyard into the front and back. In the front yard, there is a room for the slaves and also the reception room(Andron*), while the rear has the bedroom for Davos and her, a room for their adopted daughter and son, and a place for their personal servants. (T/N: A place to receive male guest)

Cheiristoya has stayed in the rear all this time, the environment was quiet and private. At this time, she is wearing a light linen clothes, and together with her female slave, Azune, plants her favorite flowers and plants in the backyard of the courtyard. Her clothes flutters and her snow-white chest was faintly visible, which made people have fancy thoughts.

Andrea then entered the backyard with the permission of the slave girl at the entrance. Andrea then saw Cheiristoya putting down her picked, then took the towel from Azune and wiped her sweat.

Andrea hurriedly walked over and warned her, “Madam, the physician has said that you should take a quiet rest during this period of pregnancy, so as to ensure the smooth growth of the baby, and you should also not exercise vigorously!”

“I am no longer vomiting much now. and Davos has also said that ‘proper exercise will help me, and my child be healthy.’” Said Cheiristoya, stroking her belly, and her delicate face brimming with tenderness.

“Even though Lord Davos is so busy, he still cares so much about you and your child! Madame, Hera has blessed you with a good husband!” Andrea’s timely compliment made Cheiristoya smile even more, “Andrea, you shouldn’t envy me, because you will be together with Bagul in another year! I did not expect that it would be so soon!”

“It’s all due to the Lord Archon. Bagul and his people are very grateful!” Said Andrea sincerely.

“Are Bagul and the others willing to stay and become a citizen of Thua Union after they have completed their sentence?” Cheiristoya handed the towel back to Azune and ask, seemingly unintentional.

“Bagul told me that ‘most of the young people are willing to stay, because even though they are tired, they are very happy and felt safe. So, they do not want to go back to the mountains and live a life filled with fear. And only few elderlies were hesitating, which also includes his father…’” At this point, Andrea was a little bit worried. Of course, she would like the Lucanians to stay, so that her marriage would be more smooth.

“Don’t worry, Davos will definitely try to make sure that they will all stay!” Cheiristoya comforted her, then she picked up a jar from the nearby table, then poured a glass of water and handed it to Andrea, “You have just came from the market, so you must be thirsty. Here, have a drink.”

Andrea hurriedly took the cup, then she swept her eyes on it, and she saw that the cup has a golden yellow liquid on it, and with a white foam floating on it. She didn’t dare to ask immediately, so she first took a sip then tasted that it was bitter and sweet, and was also cold.

She could not stop herself from trying to drink once more. A large amount of foam wrapped in liquid flowed into her stomach smoothly, making her burp a few times and she suddenly felt her body gets hotter and also felt refreshed.

“What kind of drink is this?” She asked in amazement.

“It’s delicious right? I have it soaked in well water for quite some time.” Cheiristoya grinned and said, “As for what it is, I will have Azune explain it to you.”

The dark-skinned and pretty Azune hurriedly said, “It’s called beer, and it is a kind of alcohol that we Egyptians love to drink. A few months ago, I heard Lord Davos said to his wife ‘I am considering making the Rugby as a formal competitive sport, which will be very popular to the public. However, there is still a lack of good drink, so that people can sit in the arena and watch the game in the scorching sun, which will not only quench their thirst, but also make them lively…’ , so I was unable to stop myself from saying ‘You can try the drinks of the Egyptians.’” 

Hearing this, Cheiristoya “hahaha” laughed and said, “You should’ve seen the expression on Davos face. He was very surprised and looked at Azune and asked her several times, ‘What’s the name of this drink?’, then he asked about the color, taste and the production process of it. Later, he sweared something about ‘I…I was tricked by the Germans and turns out that the beer was invented by the Egyptians.’ Then he urged me to find someone to make it, and so I had to send someone to the slave market in Taranto, and pay a high price to buy an Egyptian slaves who could make beer and have him make it.”

Author’s note: Each civilization has left their own unique mark on the world, and the Egyptian civilization also has many interesting inventions. I will just list some of the things that women are interested in, eye shadow, wig, nail polish, various accessories, rose bath, milk bath, hair care, essential oil…and perfume was not invented by the French, as there was even a provision in Egypt three thousand years ago that made using perfume in public places to be illegal. All the interesting life of the Egyptians will be described in detail in the second half of this novel, and this is just a brief introduction!

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter