(a Greek phalanx preparing for combat during the Bronze Age)
The ultimate sibling rivalry has been raging for thousands of years between the
Greek Gods Hades and his younger brother Zeus. The two were constantly going
against one another, challenging the other's claim on ruling Earth's mortals. Hades began devising a plan to overtake the Greek peninsula by backing the most dangerous group of soldiers among all the
city-states, Sparta.
The Spartans were from the western region of Greece located on the banks of the Eurotas River in Laconia. The Spartans were renowned for their warrior culture and deadliest army of the Bronze Age. Hades came to Prometheus, the Spartan King, during one of his dreams, explaining to him the glory
that would be his if he did as he was commanded and took his forces to conquer Greece.
Just as the God Hades commanded, Prometheus took his Spartan forces , eventually burning Athens to the ground completely. Upon seeing this
destruction consuming the Greeks and learning it was due to the actions
of his older brother, Zeus took it upon himself to stop this Spartan conquest. Zeus began
considering the major nations and their individual heroes.
Zeus turned to his fellow God Apollo, requesting
his aid in garnering the support of the Trojans, who were devout followers of
Apollo. The Trojans called the city of Troy home, which was located across the Aegean Sea on the banks of Asia Minor. Apollo agreed to help Zeus, hoping to Hades overtaking the other Gods.
Apollo chose to visit Earth directly to
speak with the great Trojan warrior Prince Hector, hoping to convince him of
the importance of war against the Spartans. At first Hector did not see a reason to enter into the conflict
overtaking lands across the Aegean Sea from his homeland of Troy. However,
Apollo was able to show him the inevitable future invasion the Spartans would launch against Troy after conquering their own neighbors. Hearing this reasoning
Hector agreed to lead his Trojan troops to meet the Spartans on the field of
battle. Having
secured a major military force to go against the Spartans, Zeus knew there was
still something missing from putting his force on equal ground with the Spartans. He needed to secure the services of the
world's greatest warrior, Achilles.
Acquiring the services of Achilles and his
mercenary army would be no easy task to complete, even for a God. Achilles was
a man who would not simply be swayed by duty or even the promises of
gold. Rather he preferred the possibility of becoming an immortal himself in
the history books as an unstoppable force on the battlefield. Zeus came
down from Mount Olympus to seek the services of Achilles, an event that had not occurred since the days of Hercules. This meeting with Zeus startled and shocked
Achilles, who never expected to meet him until the day he died. Zeus began to explain the coming war between the men of Sparta and Troy, of the glory that
could be had in this conflict. Imagining the possibility of his name going down forever swayed Achilles to Zeus's cause and
he agreed to join the conflict.
Prometheus's scouts began reporting the news back to
their leader: the nation of Troy beginning the preparation for war and
Achilles joining their forces to end the Spartan advance. Hearing this news, he became concerned in the abilities of his own nation to win this conflict on
their own, calling upon Hades to give them strength and power to overcome
Zeus's forces. Hades surprisingly denied him this request, explaining the
glory would only be his if he could finish the conquest alone.
Wishing to avoid useless loss of life by civilians and the scorching of
precious land Zeus reached out to his older brother, wishing to have he war
waged between their two forces on an island in the South Aegean Sea, Santorini.
The two armies arrived on the island a few months later, understanding
that only one of their forces would be leaving the island. The first evening camped on the island the leaders of the two armies came together on neutral
ground to discuss the rules of warfare, agreeing that the battle would be
fought to the end, with no survivors from the losing force being allowed to
leave the island alive. The battle began with an eagle soaring overhead, followed by thousands of
arrows being unleashed from both forces as the armies moved forward. The battle waged for hours, with no force noticeably holding the upper
hand, while the Gods Hades and Zeus watched together from a mountaintop
overlooking the conflict. Thousands of men were battling below, battling one another for what they believed was right. Just after midday
was when the Trojan Prince Hector fell in combat to the spear of a Spartan
hoplite. Seeing their leader fall in combat encouraged the Trojans to
reorganize under the command of Achilles who was still leading the attack. The
battle continued for several hours more with only a few hundred soldiers
remaining on either side as they both pushed forward.
At this point the two
Gods overlooking the battle realized neither would truly be victorious this day
and that they had simply both sacrificed thousands of men for no true cause.
Hades saw no issue with this occurring, while Zeus on the other hand vowed to
prevent such a senseless war from occurring again under his leadership. By the
end of the day both Achilles and Prometheus had perished on the field of
battle, with only a few dozen remaining alive. There was no true winner this
day, only losers, and one God with a new resolution to protect those on Earth
more than ever before. Zeus struck his brother down and trapped him in the depths
of the Underworld, himself returning to Mount Olympus to overlook
humanity and prevent such a conflict from occurring again.
Author's Note
I took several characters and the region depicted in the epic poem by Homer know as the Iliad as the basis for my story. Homer's Iliad describes a story when neither side truly comes away victorious in the end, rather both leave the story having lost more than is won in the end with thousands of lives changed forever due to the conflict described. It is still debated whether or not the city of Troy ever existed, or even if this battle could have possibly occurred during this time period. The story has become a popular epic poem for thousands of years and has been the basis for countless other retellings, sequels, or theories. Other than Hector and Achilles this is a story of my creation, forming a story of useless slaughter to show the futility of man and their willingness to go forth into the unknown, simply following the commands of another who they respect and revere. The story is set on the island of Santorini which is located in the South Aegean Sea. Over two days I read the poem and took notes from the reading to use here in my own writing, whether it transitioned well I am unsure of, only time will tell when I revisit this writing in the weeks to come.
