Chapter 26

The Greek Sea, or Hellespont, now known as the Dardanelles, is a natural barrier between Europe and Asia, and is strategically important for both military and trade purposes. Despite its symbolic significance, the strait is actually very narrow and can be crossed by strong swimmers.

Leander lived in Abydos, on the Asian side of the Hellespont. He fell in love with Hero, a priestess of Aphrodite (Venus), who lived in a tower in Sestos on the European side.

The two met at the Aphrodite festival in the spring. Hero’s “rose-covered limbs” and pure face attracted many young men, but only the handsome Leander awakened Hero’s feelings.

At the festival, they seized the rare and limited time to make a plan so that they could meet again after returning home and cross the strait. Hero lit a lamp in the window of the tower every night, and Leander stared at the light in the dark, swam across the Hellespont, and climbed up the tower to meet her.

As a priestess, Hero had sworn to remain chaste, but Leander convinced her, claiming that physical union was sacred to love and that this ritual would be approved by Aphrodite. He said that serving the god of love but maintaining a virginity was an insult to the god of love, just like worshiping Ares but never fighting. This wonderful argument made Hero surrender. So every night, the oil lamp was lit, the strait was crossed, and love was realized. They became the happiest lovers in the world.

This happy affair lasted smoothly throughout the summer, but in the blink of an eye, summer passed and autumn came, and the strong winds of the autumnal equinox soon blew. One night, the gods of the north wind, west wind, and south wind roared at the same time. A strong wind swept across the land, blowing out the oil lamp in front of Hero’s window. Without guidance to cross the Hellespont, and with the howling wind raising high waves, Leander lost her way, got stuck, and eventually drowned.

Hero stayed up all night, waiting for her lover. The next morning, when dawn came and the light illuminated the world, Hero looked down and saw Leander’s fragmented body scattered on the rocks at the bottom of the tower. In despair and pain, she jumped from the window and hit the same rock.

April 23 Venus Erycina Festival

In addition to the Venus Festival on April 1, people also celebrate the Venus Erycina Festival. Two temples were dedicated to her, one on the Capitoline Hill, built in 215 BC, and more importantly for this festival, the other, located next to the Porta Corinna in the Roman wall, was built on April 23, 181 BC.

Since she was a “foreign” goddess from Mount Eris in Sicily, her worship was incompatible with Roman morality, and therefore she had to be placed outside the sacred precincts of the city of Rome. So, although it was the same goddess, the housewives worshiped in the traditional way on the Capitoline Hill, while the prostitutes worshiped at the Porta Corinna. Prostitutes were the main believers of Venus Elysina, and they made offerings to her and prayed for her protection and well-being.

April 23 Early Wine Festival

The Early Wine Festival (Vinalia Priora) was used for the first tasting of the wine harvested in the previous year, and before that, the new wine was forbidden to drink. Grape growers first dedicated the new wine to Jupiter, and then filled the city’s markets with new wine for people to taste.

Goddess Venus also participated in the celebration, and people poured a lot of wine on the stone steps of the Temple of Venus to offer to the goddess.

The whole of Sicily fell into the hands of the rebels, and the name of King Athenion of Sicily spread throughout Italy.

Luculus and Servilius were accused of being incompetent generals by the Senate, and they were both exiled.

This was a major blow to the prestige of Rome. If the rebellion could not be suppressed, the colonial provinces and allies might follow suit, which endangered the interests of the entire Roman aristocracy. In order to quell the war as soon as possible, the Senate quickly reached a consensus this time. Marius was asked to temporarily shrink the Cimbri front, and General Aquilius was asked to dispatch 20,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry to Sicily to suppress the rebellion.

Slave King Athenaeum controlled the entire Sicily and achieved the unity of religion and politics.

Absorbing the population of western Sicily, Athenaeum trained the men who converted to monotheism as soldiers. The Latins and all those who did not want to convert to Yahweh were all put into industrial and agricultural production as slaves.

Everyone knew that Rome’s most violent revenge was coming. The Roman army would inevitably land on the east and north banks of Sicily. Athenaeum strengthened the defense of this second line while sending a large number of messengers.

The cities in southern Sicily were completely ignored, so that the Vicissus family in Agrigento lived an undisturbed life like a paradise, and knew nothing about this bloody storm.

April 28 Flora Festival

Flora was the patron saint of flowers, fruit trees and plants in ancient times. Floralia was first celebrated in 238 BC and included the “Ludi Florae” (“Games of Flora”), which featured theatrical performances, circus competitions, and even a few gladiatorial matches.

Prostitutes celebrated the festival with great enthusiasm, praising the goddess. It was the only festival held in April that they were allowed to attend publicly. The shame imposed on them by the upper class isolated them from any other form of belief. Prostitutes took advantage of the Flora Festival to dress themselves up with garlands and crowns made of flowers, danced naked in public with their sexy bodies, and performed real erotic dramas. They might even fight like gladiators, of course, usually pretending to fight.

Sophia received a weekly salary of 30 small silver coins, which were cast by blacksmiths and could not be imitated.

Her income was the same as other male craftsmen, because in addition to herding, she would bring back fish every day.

However, adult slaves began to be charged for food and housing, and she had to buy the wine she fed Arion and Philax herself. After buying the wine, her income was not much different from that of other female slaves.

This is obviously a different kind of slavery, like a combination of slaves and employment. She is curious about how far the master can go on this road.

After having these small silver coins, slaves began to exchange. If someone wants to take a day off, he can pay others to do more and complete his workload. Some people are willing to do more work and earn more money. In general, slaves have more freedom.

Marriage and divorce are free. Let’s call it that, because there is no wedding. It is more appropriate to describe it as lovers or cohabitation. There is a wall to record people’s pairing.

After the rules were promulgated, half of the families were reorganized, mainly because female slaves wanted to change their husbands.

There are slightly more men than women, and single men began to pursue women, especially those beautiful Germanic women.

There are also several men pursuing Sophia. In order to avoid such trouble, she filled in Philax in the spouse column. Someone called her a sow, and the master whipped him after hearing it, on the grounds of theft. Bullying is the exclusive power of the master, and he does not allow others to steal.

After marriage, men are not allowed to encroach on women’s income, and are not allowed to use violence against women and children. The master provides food for children before they reach adulthood.

This is very absurd. The female slaves here have more freedom than free women outside.

Because they are female slaves, the moral requirements for free women are not applicable, because the master has more power over female slaves than over their spouses, so men cannot deal with women.

Women have their own income through labor and are no longer dependent on men, making their lives freer. The motivation that drives them to get married is that they can share the rent. It can be seen that in such an environment, female slaves are more loyal to their masters than to their husbands.

There are many orders, sometimes the master just says it casually, and sometimes he interprets it at will. She hopes to put these rules into writing. Because after writing, the master must respect these rules that he has set.

She feels like Plato’s philosophy. Plato’s “Republic” also proposed a similar concept. In order to prevent class solidification, children follow their mothers and are raised by the government.

Plato also proposed the concept of “philosopher king”, that is, let philosophers become rulers, or rulers become philosophers, otherwise the world will never be at peace.

Plato visited Sicily three times, hoping to promote his philosophical and political ideas with the support of tyrants, but he met tyrants and ended in failure.

A king must exploit the people to maintain his huge harem and army.

The master’s harem is very small, and except for Mania, everyone else has to work. I heard from Senna that mortal women cannot conceive the master’s children, so he has no desire to monopolize women. He often came to the villa where the slaves lived at night. He liked to play with couples and let men serve when he fucked women, because everyone believed that his semen had magical effects, and many couples welcomed him to break into their bedrooms.

As for the army, he didn’t need it at all. Anyone who had seen his violence couldn’t think of resisting.

The master has his own way to make money. He can actually refine bitter sea salt into table salt that is purer than mineral salt. The refining work is done by Old Potter and Little Potter.

There are no salt mines in Sicily. The best pink mineral salt is shipped from the far east and is very expensive. The master’s salt-making method is enough to make him the richest man in Sicily, so after society returns to normal, he does not need to profit by exploiting his slaves.