Chapter 1262
In order to gain the favor of the Megarans, the Corinth people also proposed, "When merchants from other city-states transport goods through the isthmus, the taxes and fees collected will be divided equally between the two city-states, and the merchants from Megaran can use the towpath first, and the fees can be discounted." (The towpath was a famous infrastructure project built by the Corinth people 200 years ago. It was a stone-paved road with two parallel grooves on the isthmus of Corinth. There were special cars running on this road, and the wheel tracks corresponded to the grooves. This road connected the Gulf of Corinth and the Gulf of Saron. The Corinth people could first load the goods from the big ships on one side of the gulf onto the small boats, then lift the small boats onto the towpath cars, transport them to the other side of the isthmus, and then move the goods on the ships onto another big ship. This greatly shortened the voyage and saved time.)
The sincerity shown by the Corinth people gradually moved Mecca's heart. The two sides had already begun to discuss the establishment of an alliance. However, in today's Greece, it was not easy to establish an alliance if one wanted to. One must first obtain the consent of the Greek Alliance.
Member of the Greek Parliament, Corinth, was worried that the stupid performance of the Corinth Council at this sports meeting would anger the king of Diónia, causing him to no longer agree to the proposal of "Corinth to establish an Isthmus Alliance."
Just as General Corinth was regretting his decision, Megachides, who was standing at the entrance of the stadium, heard the thunderous cheers inside. He was already a little eager, because it was their turn to enter the stadium.
When the Diónia official in front of the entrance saw the Corinth athletes walk past the royal stand, he shouted, "The Crete Athletes Delegation, enter the stadium!"
The Diónia soldiers in front of them immediately made way for them. The impatient Cretan athletes immediately followed the teenager who was holding the placard. When they passed by the Diónia official who was in charge of the entrance order, he encouraged them as friendly as before, "Warriors of Crete, hold your heads high and welcome the enthusiastic cheers of the audience!"
As soon as Megachides stepped into the stadium, the earth-shattering cheers immediately came from all directions. It was like the howling wind on the sea in bad conditions. The towering spectator stands surrounding them were like monstrous waves. How could they not be shocked when they were in the eye of the storm? No wonder the Diónia official called them warriors. It really took courage to be in such an environment. Even Megachides, who had always been determined in the Crete qualifiers, felt nervous at this moment. After all, the grandeur and scale of the Hades main arena were far from comparable to the previous qualifiers. Moreover, there were very few spectators from Crete here.
Sirithais, who was relatively insensitive, did not seem to be affected much. He kept looking around and sighed from time to time. "Wow, it seems that the rumors are true. Some of the spectators are really women!"
"Look! The young woman wearing a white hat who is very close to us looks good! "
"That woman in purple must be from a noble family!"
…
Sirithais's words gradually dispelled the reservations of his teammates. They began to learn from Sirithais, smiling and waving to the audience, and at the same time, commenting on each other.
As they approached the royal grandstand, Megachides also jokingly whispered, "Look, Sirithais, the Diónia princess you want to marry is up there!"
Sirithais suddenly stopped talking, and his expression became solemn. When he walked to the front of the royal grandstand, he stopped and bowed respectfully toward the royal grandstand.
It was not that none of the delegations that had entered the stadium saluted the royal grandstand, but they were all Diónia athletes, and they all did a chest beating salute. Most of them were citizens serving in the Dionysian Army, and the King of Devers was their supreme commander. Now, it was an athlete from a Greek city-state who was saluting the Diónia royal family with traditional Greek respect. Not only were the spectators surprised, but even the Devers and their families were surprised.
"Your Majesty, it seems that your Games have not officially begun, but it has already been recognized by some athletes," Plato said with a smile.
"I think these athletes recognize the high prize money," Xenophon sneered.
The Devers replied with emotion, "Since the establishment of the Olympia Games, the four major competitions have not only been popular in the Greek world for hundreds of years, but also widely spread among other races in the Mediterranean. Unfortunately, they have never been able to participate in it. Now, Diónia has provided such an opportunity for races other than Greece to participate in such a grand ceremony, and at the same time, it allows the excellent athletes of Greece to show their superb competitive skills to the whole Mediterranean. I think — this is probably the fundamental reason why the Greek athlete just now recognized the Diónia Games!"
"I think the significance of the establishment of the Diónia Games is probably more than that," Plato said thoughtfully. "I remember that in the invitation letter that Diónia sent to various city-states, it solemnly mentioned, 'The Diónia Games will follow the fine traditions of the major competitions in Greece and request the participating countries to stop all acts of war during the Games and maintain a peaceful competition environment …' Look at the athletes on the field. They are not only from Greece, but also from most of the city-states and countries in the Mediterranean. What does this request of Diónia mean?! "
Plato emphasized and said excitedly, "It means that Diónia wants to expand the peace of Greece to the whole Mediterranean Sea! What a great spirit! If it can be realized, it will be an unprecedented great achievement! "
"Plato, you are too excited," Xenophon said flatly. Xenophon said calmly, "Over the past few decades, there have been many conflicts during the Sports Meet! Not to mention that the Diónia Games is being held for the first time. To want to expand this Greek tradition to the whole Mediterranean Sea? It's just a saying, if you want to realize it … hehe … "
The Devers's expression was calm, but his tone was forceful. "Diónia has always kept its promises. Since it dares to say this, it naturally has the determination to fulfill this promise! If any participating city-state or race violates this requirement in the letter, no matter how far the distance is, Diónia will send troops to punish them to ensure the prestige of the Diónia Games! "
Looking at the deep gaze of the Devers, Xenophon's heart trembled slightly. He still stubbornly said, "Expanding peace to the Mediterranean Sea … This is indeed a good wish, but don't forget Persia!"
"Yes, and Persia …" When the Devers heard this, he did not show any embarrassment on his face. Instead, he sighed thoughtfully.
After Sirithaios saluted, the Diónia audience cheered even louder for the Cretan athletes.
Sirithaios looked a little proud and said to his teammates, "Did you see that? The audience is cheering for me!"
Megakides curled his lips. He felt that the reason why this guy saluted just now was purely to attract attention!
… …
After the Cretan athletes' delegation entered the stadium, the athletes' delegations from the Crotone region, the Downey region, the Thebes, Egypt … One by one, the athletes' delegations entered the stadium. The enthusiasm of the audience remained high, and the cheers continued. The entrance ceremony lasted for an hour. Finally, 79 delegations and nearly 3,000 athletes stood in the center of the stadium.
A few envoys from the Greek city-states, led by the Olympia representative, looked at the densely packed athletes in the stadium. Their expressions were ugly. They had previously despised the idea of Diónia hosting the Games. From the bottom of their hearts, they thought that it was impossible for an unorthodox Greek country, Diónia, to host the Games. However, when they saw such a large number of athletes in the stadium, they could not help but change their expressions. This was because the number of participants in the stadium was obviously several times more than any previous Games. This meant that the influence of the Diónia Games was much greater than they had thought.
At this moment, the red flag was raised on the host's platform, and the host's powerful voice echoed in the stadium. "Distinguished athletes, distinguished guests, we all know that in ancient times, Prometheus stole the sacred fire from Olympus and descended to the earth. From then on, we humans began to break away from barbarism and ignorance and gradually moved towards prosperity and civilization. Fire also became a sacred object respected by every family and city.
Even if people were forced to leave their homes for the sake of survival, they would take a cluster of sacred fire from the temple of their mother country and do their best to ensure that it burned on the way. Finally, it would be reignited on the altar in the temple of their new home thousands of miles away … Only in this way would they believe that the new home they built was blessed by the gods, and the civilization of their mother country would continue to be passed on here. This was the fundamental reason why the priests of the Greek city-states were spread all over the Mediterranean Sea like the stars in the sky, and they were still closely connected!
Today, the Diónia Games will also be holding a sacred ceremony! The sacred fire in the main temple of the Hades of the Kingdom of Diónia will ignite the altar in the stadium. During the Games, the sacred fire on the altar will burn continuously. The Hades will lead the gods to bless the Games to be held in a fair and just manner, bless the athletes to achieve excellent results, and severely punish any hostile behavior that disrupts the Games! …
Now, everyone, please remain silent and wait for the heroes of the Kingdom of Diónia to bring the sacred fire to the arena! "
When the Olympia representative heard this, he was stunned at first, and then immediately felt angry. Diónia had promised in the invitation letter that the purpose of this Games would not be to please the Hades, but the upcoming ceremony to invite the sacred fire from the main temple of the Hades was a disguised use of the Games as a sacrifice to the Hades. This was a lie!
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