Chapter 707: Delegation to Egypt (III)

“Just a friendly exchange?” Pharaoh Nectanebo’s eyes gleamed as he sat down again.

Ansitanos was stunned by Nectanebo’s rhetorical question. Then he heard the Pharaoh continue, “Why don’t we form an alliance?”

That had really surprised Ansitanos, as he hadn’t expected Pharaoh Nectanebo to say it so directly.

Pharaoh Nectanebo, however, didn’t care about his astonishment as he said earnestly, “As far as I know, the citizens of Theonia were mostly Greek. At the same time, Egypt and Greece were friends, with the city of Naucratis being proof of this! In the past decades, the Greeks helped Egypt fight against the oppressive Persians many times, resulting in many Athenian graves outside the city of Memphis; this is the sacrifice the Greeks and our Egyptians made to fight against Persia seventy years ago, so we must continue this friendship!” Pharaoh Nectanebo spoke in a slightly emotional voice, entirely omitting that the Persians had hired the Athenians to attack Egypt some years before.

‘It seemed the Egyptians were hoping for an alliance with Theonia to help them defend themselves against the Persian’s attack!’ Ansitanos was no longer surprised about Pharaoh Nectanebo’s eagerness to ally with them, especially since he and Davos had already included this diplomatic option in their plans.

But it would never occur to Ansitanos that the Persian threat to Egypt was, in the opinion of the Pharaoh Nectanebo, not just a possibility but a real one.

During the first half of this turmoil, some Egyptian officials in the cities and towns along the Nile, including some people in Memphis, secretly sent letters to the Persian-ruled land of Canaan, adjacent to Egypt’s eastern border, in an attempt to surrender to the Persians and let them reoccupy Egypt. Although they had defeated the Persians more than twenty years ago, the Persians never stopped isolating and enticing the Egyptians. At the same time, Pharnabazus, the Persian satrap of Asia Minor, began to rebuild the warships and gather the soldiers for several years.

The scout had reported that the Persian king had summoned Satrap Pharnabazus, so he had led his troops back to Babylon. But Nectanebo remembered that although they had finally defeated that Persian satrap who had led an army to burn and plunder Egyptian territory, they had suffered only insignificant losses and could return at any moment.

Furthermore, Nectanebo had only stabilised Lower Egypt for a few months after gaining the priests’* support by giving them preferential treatment and forcing the troops stationed at Memphis to surrender with his mighty troops. On the other hand, Upper Egypt remained under the priests’ control, with Waset(Thebes) as its capital. (Pharaoh Hakor had restricted the priest from owning too much land and hiring farmers during his ten-year reign.)

Realising the Pharaoh’s worries, Ansitanos said solemnly, “Though Persia is a long way from us, it also had its servant in the western Mediterranean – Carthage. Carthage is a Phoenician city-state that, for decades, had sent a steady stream of gold and silver dredged from the Iberian Peninsula to Tyre, thus funding the Persian king’s expansion and invasion.

As a new kingdom, we adhered to the principle of living in harmony with our neighbours, which is why we signed a treaty of friendship with Carthage over a decade ago. But we didn’t expect that they would privately support our neighbours to oppose us constantly. And after we thwarted their plots one by one, the Carthaginians tore up our treaty of friendship and threatened to go to war against us. Therefore, Theonia is ready to ally with Egypt to help and defend each other against the aggression of Persia and her vassal!”

Pharaoh Nectanebo was surprised because this had just happened, and he hadn’t received any news. He knew of Carthage, a powerful city-state in the western Mediterranean founded by the Phoenicians, whose merchant ships often sailed the Egyptian seas and even traded with the Egyptian coastal cities from time to time. Of course, the Egyptians had long known that some Carthaginian ships carried gold and silver. But they had no intention of intercepting them since they weren’t strong enough, and their navy was even weaker. Since they were not seafarers, the Egyptians could only build small papyrus ships and often had to buy large wooden warships from other countries if they wanted them.

So Pharaoh Nectanebo asked anxiously, “I have heard of the mighty Carthage and its powerful navy. If war breaks out between Theonia and Carthage, can you win?”

“Venerable Pharaoh!” Ansitanos smiled as he said, “Syracuse, the Greek hegemon of the western Mediterranean, defeated Carthage several times and forced it to sign a humiliating peace treaty more than a decade ago. But this Syracuse that defeated Carthage suffered a crushing defeat when it attacked us! We defeated Syracuse’s powerful navy and their land army in a clash, reducing Syracuse to an ordinary city-state in Sicily.

Currently, our land and population have increased many times over from a decade ago, so how can Carthage be our match?! Those cunning Carthaginians had only dared to declare war on us after seeing us suffer from drought this year and not having enough provisions for our army!”

Ansitanos said these words with emotion, which also implied Theonia’s plight.

Pharaoh Nectanebo was still unable to make up his mind when a minister suddenly interrupted, “If Egypt and Theonia become allies, will Theonia send troops to Egypt to fight the Persians if they invade Egypt one day?”

Ansitanos proudly replied, “Just after founding Theonia, we risked our demise and declared war on powerful enemies because they dared to invade our allies. In Theonia’s short history since its founding nearly twenty years ago, more than half of the wars we are part of were due to enemy aggression against our allies. And to fulfil our alliance agreement, we fought against powerful enemies repeatedly. Fortunately, we won them all.

If you were to ask someone from the western Mediterranean what is the greatest advantage of allying with the Kingdom of Theonia. They will tell you, ‘Theonia keeps its promises and never betrays its allies!’”

“I have heard about it from the Greek merchants in Naucratis…” said Pharaoh Nectanebo. He had heard this rumour when he was only a general, which tempted him to make an alliance when he heard of the Theonian envoy’s arrival. Since Egypt didn’t have a strong army*,  he thought Theonia was the best choice to ally with, as it was militarily stronger, faithful to its oath, and far from Egypt. (It was only with the help of over two thousand Greek mercenaries that they were able to hold their line of defence a few years ago.)

The things King Davos often insisted on and preached had blossomed in faraway Egypt in a way Ansitanos hadn’t expected. Still, he was pleased about it.

The veteran general Nectanebo put his symbol of power on the ground and said aloud, “To repay King Davos for his generous gift, I will reward him with a hundred ships worth of wheat! And after Egypt and Theonia have allied, Egypt will continue to provide Theonia with free grain to help alleviate her food shortage!”

Ansitanos, who had always been able to control himself, could no longer contain the joy that flashed across his face.

And for the Pharaoh and his ministers present, it wasn’t much of a loss. After all, Egypt had plenty of food. With the blessing of the Nile, Egypt had successive bountiful harvests. In addition, the vast majority of Egyptian farmers had to give up most of their crops, resulting in the granaries of the cities and various temples being piled high with the collected grain that even mould began to form due to storing it for too long.

After finalising the alliance, Pharaoh Nectanebo invited Ansitanos to lunch in the palace gardens.

When he reached the garden, Ansitanos’ eyes widened: In front of him was a huge artificial lake, its vast surface covered with lotus leaves and its flowers in full bloom. Furthermore, the lakeside also had a lush garden with all sorts of exotic flowers and plants, rare birds and animals from foreign lands…

Pharaoh Nectanebo then took Ansitanos to dinner on a huge wooden boat in the lake, where they ate delicious food and drank wine, talking about the past and the present while watching beautiful servants dance…

For a while, the guests and the host enjoyed each other’s company.

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

An important meeting was taking place in the town hall of Catania at the same time Theonia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ansitanos, arrived in Egypt.

Among the participants were Prosous(Leotychides) – the legatus of the Eighth Legion, Fulalios – the navarch of Theonia’s Third Fleet, Siprus – the praetor of Catania, Milo – the praetor of Naxos, Amikles – the praetor of Messena, Apirosia – the praetor of Sikuli, Kreru – the praetor of Henna, and…praetor of Herbita. There are also the polimarchos of Theonia’s two allied city-states, Leontinoi and Taunis.

It is fair to say that the leaders of all the cities are present, and there is no significant difference in their positions*. But the presence of Siprus in the northern part of the table, with Prosous to his immediate left, had caused the praetors, who knew his character well, to mutter their displeasure inwardly without displaying it in their faces. (Referring to the clever way Davos used to handle government affairs by introducing round tables so that there is no difference in their status.)

Siprus looked at everyone and said straight out, “Esteemed lords, you are all aware that we assembled our First Legion a few days ago to travel north to aid the Volscians and defend them against the Romans. If the Carthaginians do what they said they would when they tore up our treaty, they will soon declare war on us and send an army to Sicily. And indeed, all the signs coming back from Carthage suggest that the Carthaginians are preparing their armies for war! So to gain a clear understanding of our war preparations in Sicily and enable His Majesty and the Senate to control the overall war situation and formulate a better strategy, His Majesty has sent Lord Philesius of the Army Staff to visit Sicily. So let us all welcome Lord Philesius!”

All the praetors were stunned because Philesius had come to Sicily without no one telling them beforehand!

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