Chapter 616
One was located near the south of Turín. It was called the Apollo Arena. The name was decided by the merchants who donated money to the south of Turín. During the finals, the teams of the city-states south of Turín, including Sicily, played their group matches in this arena.
North of the port of Turín was the Lycaon Arena. The towns of Mesapi and Puchetti held their group matches again.
The original Turín Arena, east of the city of Turín and west of the Temple of Hera, was renamed the Persephone Arena. North of Turín, mainly Greek towns such as Turín, Amendolara, Heraclea, Elia … and so on, played their group matches here.
The other was the Asinu Amala Arena. Because it was the place where the teams of the towns of Lucania and Bruti played their group matches, the two clans had a dispute over the issue of "which of the two gods' names should come first" when naming it. In the end, the king of Devers decided that when building the arena, the clan that donated the most money would have their god's name come first. As a result, the Lucanians won, and the name of the arena was established.
When the Samonai players saw the building, they were a little excited.
The Samonai people fell in love with rugby and football after the great Southern Italian War. More than 10,000 Samonai people were captured. While they were doing hard labor such as building roads and houses, the Diónia soldiers who guarded them also consciously taught them these two sports and organized them into teams to play against each other. This not only made them interested in the culture of Diónia, but also consumed their excess energy and reduced their resistance and hostility.
After these Samonai people were released back to their hometown one after another, they began to spread these two sports in the Samonai Mountains. However, so far, there was still no formal arena in the Samonai region. They all played games on the relatively flat grassland.
It was the first time that these Samonai players saw that the stadium they were about to play in was so magnificent, so they could not help but feel a little excited. However, the young man did not give them more time to stop and watch. Instead, he took them into another side road and came to a wide field that was circled with wooden sticks and ropes. There were countless tents, shops, and stalls inside. Many strong men were moving around, buying things, practicing passing games, and some simply used the open space to conduct small practice matches. In the lively atmosphere, there was a hint of tension before the battle. This was the camp that the Samonai people were going to be stationed in.
Due to the fact that there were too many travelers coming to Turín in September, and each participating team had at least 50 to hundreds of people, dozens of teams added up to thousands of people. The urban area of Turín could not provide so many accommodations at all. After referring to the practice of the Olympia Games and combining the characteristics of the Kingdom of Diónia, the city hall of Turín set up camps near the four arenas to gather all the teams that participated in the same group stage together. They solved the accommodation problem with simple tents and made it easy to manage, so that the participating teams would not be scattered all over the place. It would consume a lot of energy just to organize them to play in the stadium, and it would easily disrupt the order of the city.
The young man came to the entrance of the camp and explained the situation to the guards. Gherni once again showed Cécima's letter, and the Samonai people were allowed to enter.
When the other people in the camp saw the Samonai people wearing the same short-sleeved red robes, they knew that another team had moved in, and that they had arrived before the start of the celebration (because Abenirum was far away from Turín, and Gherni and his team had walked all the way here, they were actually the last team to arrive in Turín), so they came up to ask curiously.
When they learned that they were from the Samonai area, they were surprised. Some of them even whispered with a strange expression, "Do the Samonai people play rugby?"
When Tadoni, Maioni and others heard this, their hearts were filled with hatred. If it were not for the fact that they had just arrived, they would have cursed out loud. They secretly made up their minds: I must teach the other teams a lesson on the field!
The young man ran around and arranged tents for them to stay in. He also borrowed dozens of rugby uniforms, protective gear, and shoes for them, and took them to dinner in advance. At dusk, he really let them take a hot spring bath …
The responsible young man took only one day to make these burly Samonai people treat him as one of their own …
… …
Ten years ago, the Kingdom of Diónia was almost assassinated by an assassin sent by Syracuse. As a result, the people who participated in the celebration panicked, trampled, and many people were injured and killed. Since then, Diónia gradually improved the procedures of the celebration to ensure the safety of the city and the people.
On the 9th of September, the day of the Hades Celebration, the inner city was heavily guarded. In addition to the important ministers, elders, and invited guests from various alliances to attend the ceremony, the Kingdom of Diónia would also invite the public officials of the kingdom who performed well, the soldiers and team officers who performed bravely in the war, as well as the scholars and craftsmen who had creative ideas in academics and innovations in machinery. Nearly ten thousand people were allowed to bring their families into the Victory Square in the inner city to watch the celebration, and then go to the main temple of the Hades to worship. Since they were all citizens, most of them had received military training. Once there was an accident, they could turn into soldiers of the legion by blowing the bugle and stop the situation from getting worse.
In addition, the City Hall of Turín had built temples and altars of the Hades outside the southern city of Turín, in the delta area, near the port, and in the east, north, and west of the inner city of Turín. The nearby arenas and theaters also had grand performances in the square, the saintesses would sing, and experienced priests would preside. The people who lived nearby could enjoy and participate in the celebration without having to travel far.
On this day, the grand bell of the Temple of the Hades rang in every corner of Turín, and the light and distant chanting echoed throughout the Xbari Plain. The people of the Kingdom of Diónia were cheering for the Hades Celebration.
The joy brought by the celebration was even higher on the second day, because the Kingdom of Diónia Rugby Final had begun.
Once again, Gherni was invited. Early in the morning, he was led by the Turín public officials through the crowded west gate of Turín. They passed through one block after another. The blocks in the west of the inner city were basically vast and magnificent mansions, most of which were the mansions of the Kingdom's senators and important ministers.
Then, they entered an avenue between two hills. The noisy crowd became much quieter as they passed by. On the hillside on the left was the main temple of the kingdom's sacred Hades Temple, and on the hillside on the right was the mansion of the great King of Devers.
Gherni glanced at the hill on the right, and then shifted his gaze to the foot of the hill. He knew that the entire hill was guarded by the king's guards, and no one could enter the hill without an invitation. At the foot of the hill, there was a magnificent building with a square shape, supported by dozens of huge pillars. It looked solemn and solemn, like a temple. It was the palace of Diónia. The main purpose of Gherni's visit to Turín this time was to be invited to this palace again, and be received by the King of Devers.
As he followed the crowd, he could see the Senate's Assembly Hall.
After entering the wide Victory Square, the distance between the pedestrians naturally widened, and Gherni instantly felt a lot more relaxed. Having been here once a few years ago, he knew that the most important building here, apart from the towering stone pillar in the center of the square and the Goddess of Victory at the top, was the fountain on the west side of the square, in front of the Assembly Hall.
Back then, Gherni had heard from the official who was in charge of accompanying him that Hades had "resurrected" the fountain, so the elders of the Senate and the people responded to Hades' prophecy and elected the Devers as the King of Diónia. The King of Devers lived up to the expectations of the people and defeated the powerful Syracuse, which was why Diónia had today's glory …
This miracle that was praised by many made Gherni pay special attention to the fountain. However, at that time, the fountain was only surrounded by an ordinary stone wall, and there was nothing special about it. Yet, he was still in awe of it.
This time, the young man who came to greet them said that a few years ago, the Senate specially invited a famous Greek sculptor to redesign and reconstruct the fountain. It was now very different from the past, and it had become one of the holy places for many young people in the Kingdom of Diónia who were determined to learn sculpture.
Gherni wanted to see it again, but he did not have the time for the past two days.
The Victory Square was surrounded by tall buildings: the library, the city hall, the court, the Ministry of Military Affairs …
After passing through the Victory Square, Gherni set foot on the main road of the inner city. The road was very wide, enough for ten carriages to pass side by side, and the road was unusually smooth. During the victory ceremony, this was the passage through which the victorious soldiers paraded back.
After walking a few blocks and passing through the first triumphal arch, they entered the eastern part of the inner city.
There were also houses in the eastern part, but compared to the luxurious houses in the western part and the high-end houses in the central part, the houses here were much simpler. When the new city of Turín was first built, there were not many citizens in the city, and there was enough open space. At first, the western part was for some newly registered freedmen and officials to live in, so that they could provide enough labor for the new city.
But now, the eastern part had become the most lively area in the inner city, with the river port, the market, the theater, the gym, the baths (with the popularity of the hot spring baths, the habit of bathing was deeply rooted in the people's hearts, and the people of Diónia were no longer satisfied with only going to the hot spring baths once a day, so they began to build baths in various cities), hotels, restaurants …
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