There are hundreds of city-states throughout Greece, of which Athens and Sparta are the two largest. Compared with Athens, which represents democracy, freedom, rationality and wisdom, Sparta has always been a powerful, autocratic, and military state in the history of the world. Ism, a symbol of arrogance and unreasonableness.
In fact, when the Roman Empire examined the political systems of Greek city-states, they finally came to the conclusion that both Athens and Sparta were countries governed by the dictatorship of slave owners and aristocrats. The so-called democracy was just the democracy of slave owners. The so-called citizens were actually aristocrats. They're all the same.
Sparta had only 9,000 citizens, but 250,000 residents, including slaves, a total of more than 400,000.
As a powerful and autocratic country, the power of Sparta's Citizens' Assembly was great in theory, but not in reality. The superstructure functioned as the king, the Citizens' Assembly, the Council of Elders, and the Ombudsman.
The power of the Citizens' Assembly is theoretically great, but citizens cannot meet anytime and anywhere. Therefore, the Assembly of Elders fulfills the responsibilities of the Citizens' Assembly as a permanent body. They and the kings jointly hold the power of Sparta.
In "300 Spartans", the Persian army attacked. Because the Persian King Xerxes I bribed the members of the Spartan Council of Elders, even Leonidas, the King of Sparta, wanted to send troops to stop it. The Persian army could only stare blankly, and had no choice but to go to the hot springs in person with its 300 personal guards to fight against the 500,000 Persian army.
The reason is that the power to decide the war does not lie in the hands of the king, but in the citizens' assembly, and the citizens' assembly only has the right to discuss and vote. Only the elders' assembly can propose bills. If the elders' assembly does not propose a motion, then the citizens' assembly has no right to vote. The king was also unable to send out troops, which shows the great power of the elders of the Council of Elders.
Hercules led the army of the Thracian rebel general Rhesus, a total of 300 people, to stay under the city-state of Sparta and presented credentials to the soldiers stationed in Sparta. If Hercules was still just a mercenary, the Spartan elders probably would not have time to see him. But Hercules came to visit as the king of Thrace, and the Spartan king and elders We have to pay attention to it, even if Hercules did not take money to bribe like the Persian envoys.
Of course, if you don't spend money, the degree of attention will be limited. In this era of numerous city-states, although there are no mature diplomatic principles like modern ones, some diplomatic principles have still been born.
For example, the principle of diplomatic reciprocity. At this time, there were hundreds of city-states in Greece. Some were large and some were small. Sparta had a population of 400,000 and a land area of 8,400 square kilometers. It was one of the largest countries at the time. Some city-states only had an area of several hundred. Square kilometers, with a population of tens of thousands, thousands or even hundreds of people, it is impossible for the two to be equal. However, small city-states stick together to keep warm, and large city-states want to lead the heroes, so alliances are formed, and alliances are born.
Since it is an alliance, it doesn't matter who is bigger or smaller among the allies. In theory, they are all equal. Therefore, Hercules visited as the King of Thrace. In theory, his status is equal to that of the King of Sparta. If Hercules was willing to join the Spartan alliance on behalf of Thrace, then this emphasis was truly important.
The former attaches great importance only in name. According to the practice of the principle of reciprocity, the king of Sparta and the king of Thrace meet with each other. The latter attaches great importance to the meeting of the two kings of Sparta and the king of Thrace, as well as the members of the Council of Elders. their participation.
Outside the palace gate, King Cleomenes II of Sparta walked out in person. He was a young king. His strong body told of his youth, and his handsome appearance did not look like a Spartan. Behind him were Spartan soldiers in armor. He looked at Heracles who was getting off the carriage and pretended to be intimate and said, "Welcome, Almighty Hercules, your legend will be Sparta, I am also like thunder."
"It's an honor to meet you, Your Majesty the King." Hercules greeted, with a hint of gloom in his eyes, but he didn't show it.
The king of Sparta is different from the monarchy of Greece. What is implemented in Sparta is a dual monarchy. The so-called dual monarchy means that Sparta has two kings at the same time, and the two kings come from different clans. "De" and "Euripontide".
According to Sparta, "Two kings must be established, and the elder should be respected."
According to the oracle, usually the older Spartan king is the principal king, and the younger one is the deputy king. The legal status of the two kings is the same, but because of their age, the older king has more power.
Sparta sent a second king. Although it was also a diplomatic reciprocity, it somewhat showed that it did not attach much importance to Heracles. Even if Heracles was dissatisfied, there was no reason to get angry. In Sparta, Here the king is the king, there is no difference between the main king and the deputy king, both are kings.
Even if a mercenary tyrant ascends to the throne of the king, it is still not enough for the royal family that has been passed down for more than 20 generations and hundreds of years. Even if Heracles claims to be the son of Zeus, it is not enough for the King of Sparta. This is just a rumor at best and not true.
The country that knows Athens best is actually not Athens, but Sparta. Heracles, as the protector of Athens, was an enemy of Sparta just like Eurystheus, the king of Athens.
"You are welcome to come and enjoy our beautiful scenery in Sparta. I wonder what the purpose of the great Hercules coming to us is?"
Cleomenes looked at Hercules, and then looked at his companions. At the same time, there were two children behind him, and he couldn't help but ask.
Thrace has always been a traditional ally of Athens. Even if Hercules wanted to conduct diplomatic activities after becoming the king of Thrace, he should go to Athens instead of Sparta. Could it be that Hercules was once exiled by the king of Athens? , so they held a grudge and wanted to escape to Sparta.
Thinking about it carefully, it seems that this is also possible.
William, the son of Hercules, took out the sheep charm and pointed it at Hercules' body, causing an out-of-body experience for him and a dove-taking magpie's nest for Hercules.
"Neither the words of my mother nor the orders of the gods prevented me from joining the battle. I endured the torment and pain in my heart because a Greek dared to despise me and take away the spoils that belonged to me. But I never Be prepared to hold a grudge forever, and be determined from the beginning that when war comes to the warships, the necessary action will be taken. I wish that all the Greeks would be destroyed and only two of us would be left, so that we could conquer Troy ourselves. !」
William (Hercules) tells what Achilles said to his friend in Homer's epic poem.
Achilles was humiliated by Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, the leader of the Greek coalition, and refused to participate in the battle against Troy. .
He didn't care about the casualties of the Greeks, or even the annihilation of the entire army, because he knew that he could easily conquer Troy with his own strength.
Achilles is a demigod hero, the closest thing to a god, and so is Hercules.
When William noticed Sparta's arrogance towards him, he finally decided not to pretend.
It should have been like this a long time ago. He directly put on Hercules' vest and fought for him personally.
"I want you to surrender to me. I will be the patron saint of Sparta, you will build a temple for me, and you and the other king of Sparta will be my priests."
Hercules (William) said some jaw-dropping words, and the bull talisman representing the infinite power, the pig talisman with electric eyes, the flying chicken talisman and the rabbit talisman were all prepared at this time.
