71. Prologue III

With the death of Rome and her son
The world passed onto a new age.
Greece gave us democracy.
Rome gave us republic.
Philosophy and science
Made the world real.
Thousand year empires disappear
Into the ancient dust and ruins of the past.
Religious service
Turned cathedrals gothic
As they threw out old gods
In place of saints and symbols.
Dynasties pass
As Ozymandias statues of Zeus and Athena wear and erode.
Slowly eaten away by acidic rain.
Leaders rise up then they fall
Only to bring in new ones.
“King of kings am I,” the dragon said.
Then came a Greek
Saying “He is dead.”
“King of kings am I,” The Greek one said.
That all changed
With Rome’s crown on her head.
“Queen of Queens, am I,” Rome herself once said.
Now, with Caesar,
She rests her head.
No one worships these forgotten gods.
They play on in fantasy
As ghosts of bygone times.
I wish to stay to play with them
But the muse begs me to push on.
Future pages await.
There are new Ozymandiases to behold
Otherwise they’ll remain unwritten.

53. The Rise of Macedon

After the war

Greece fell into turmoil.

Ares,

Athena

All of their allies

Fought for dominance.

Brother against brother.

Greek against Greek.

Ares sold out his countrymen

For a small victory.

Athena was angry for that.

Zeus did nothing to help.

He knew what was coming.

Fate told him a great man would come

To settle everything.

For years the gods made war

As people in the north

Watched.

They called themselves Greeks too

But they looked down on the barbarian southerners.

They had problems of their own.

There was fighting in their land.

Their neighbors gave them problems

While they were in the midst of a civil war.

They were in trouble

A king named Phil arose

To fulfill the prophecy Fate bestowed on Zeus.

Climbing over the fighting and paranoia

Raising his own army

Defeating his neighbors

Uniting the people.

When his work was done in his own land

He looked to the barbarians to the south.

“These stupid men,” he said.

“They need to be taught a lesson.”

“They know nothing about civilized life.”

So pointing his sword he said “Onward!”

Marching south to still the warring gods.

52. The Peloponnesian War

Athena became powerful in her golden age.

Her reach extended across the Mediterranean.

Ares didn’t appreciate her power.

He started grumbling

Jealous of the goddess’s power.

Suspecting a war she told Pericles.

He gathered his people

Ordered walls to be built.

The fortifications were strong.

Rivaling the Cyclopian walls of Troy.

He ordered ships to be built.

Athena’s powerful trireme navy

Became a force to be reckoned with.

Then Ares made his move.

A spear was thrust right into Athena’s heart.

She protected her people

With Pericles’ impenetrable shield.

For a time Ares was kept at bay.

He only got angrier.

He went to Apollo

Asking for help.

Apollo complied by sending a great plague.

The plague that killed Athena’s lion.

She continued to fight on

Despite the plague and military losses.

Abandoning old strategies

With more aggressive ones

She went on the attack.

The small island of Melos was the first target.

Then she directed her spear toward Sicily.

Trying to capture Syracuse

She was mortally wounded

Ares seized the opportunity

Raiding the countryside.

Athena’s democracy voted themselves out

In favor of oligarchy.

The people restored their freedom and continued the fight.

If Athena was going to die, she’d rather be free.

Ares went east

Talking to the once proud dragon.

“I offer you the cities of Anatolia,”

He said,

“In exchange for a little help.”

The dragon smiled in his coils.

Coughing up gold to fund a navy.

Once the ships were built

Ares squeezed Athena until she gave up.

51. The Athenian Golden Age

With the dragon defeated

Athens was left to grow and prosper.

It turned into a great and shining polis.

A flame of democracy to light the rest of the world

With Athena smiling down

In her golden temple.

Many other poets

Came to the land of Athena

Singing her praises.

Greece grew rich in trade

They grew rich in freedom

They grew rich in culture

They grew rich in thought

Aeschylus begot Sophocles

Who begot Euripides

Who begot Aristophanes.

People came to Athens to speak their minds

Discussing their world and all things in it.

Socrates who drank the hemlock

Begot Plato who wrote the Republic

Plato begot Aristotle who taught the man who punished of Persia.

History gave Herodotus his muse.

Pericles, the statesman,

The great orator

Came to Athens

Standing among his people for forty years

Speaking like a lion.

Preaching Pan-Hellenism

Showing off his Apennine son to the west

Inviting others to come help raise him.

Bringing peace for thirty years.

He reformed his government

Molding it like a lump of clay.

Leading the infant

To new political maturity.

He helped Athena’s imperial grasp to spread out into the Aegean.

Becoming a pillar in the temple of democracy.

Pericles was exalted by the people.

Elected many times.

He became the embodiment of the Athenian Golden Age

As Delean gold was moved to his “high city”

Stored in Athena’s house

He heard the rumblings of war to the south.

When he died

Peace died with him.

49. Xerxes

Persia licked his wounds

Anger still festered deep inside

At the failed invasion of Greece.

His loyal servant, Darius passed away

With words to the scaly beast:

“Take my son Xerxes,” he said in dying breath,

“He will get the revenge you seek.”

Xerxes!

The powerful!

Xerxes!

The ruthless!

Xerxes!

The immortal!

Xerxes!

The conqueror!

Xerxes!

The vengeful!

Xerxes!

The conqueror!

As good as his father’s word

He built the dragon ships

By the thousands.

He raised armies

By the millions.

Attempted to bridge the Hellespont

But Poseidon wouldn’t cooperate.

He sent his mighty storms

To disrupt the dragon’s ships.

Xerxes whipped the mighty sea god

Three hundred times.

Then the god let them pass.

Knowing of Ares’ mighty men on the other side.

As Athena prepared her great wooden shield

The dragon sent heralds

Demanding sacrifices and offerings.

When they didn’t comply

They were marked for the dragon’s mighty fire.

Athena and Ares prepared for war.

Ares was given command of all forces.

Odds were against Greece.

Even Apollo at Delphi

Predicted they’d lose

Unless a mighty king made a great sacrifice.