Greek City States

The campaign brief

"Stranger, tell the Spartans that here we lie, obedient to their laws." – (Epigram at Thermopylai)

In the beginning, Prometheus descended from Olympos and gave fire to mankind. From then on, many tales happened and many more have been told, stories about the glorious heroes Perseus and Herakles, just to name a few, legends of the fights between the gods and how they affected the lives of men, and myths from far distant lands in the North and the East, of men who travelled to the Columns of Herakles and to the edge of the Okeanos, of the great war over Troy or the fates of tragic couples like Orpheus and Eurydike. But we do not want to speak about myths in these days of wars and oppression. What has happened to us, the Greeks, to our heroes and tales?

Truth be told, the gods have justly decided that we had to be punished for our mistakes. The war between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians brought hatred and mistrust over Hellas. This was proven to all by the so-called King's Peace, which was presented as a just solution to our internal wars, but in truth - Zeus may forgive us! - it only led us back into the Persian Slavery. Then the king of the gods bestowed a great fortune on us, when Alexander the Hero, the Great, the Semi-God, rose to the throne of Macedon and began his adventure in the East. He brought down the Barbarian Empire and spread Greek glory and genius all over the world! But his destruction of Thebes would also live on in the memories of the Hellenes and remains a warning to all of us who love freedom.

Alexander was a fair and mighty king, but the gods, inconsistent as ever, took him away from us mortals and left his empire to be divided between his greedy generals. Ever since then, wars have ravaged the Oikumene and Hellas in particular. Hades has come over us, but Antigonos and Demetrios also promised all of our cities freedom and independence. But these two were defeated in the grand battle of Ipsos (301 BC) and others rose to power. Ptolemaios, it has to be said, established a great and just rule over the Egyptians, which is worth the praise from every true Greek. Seleukos, meanwhile, built up another huge empire on the remnants of the Persian rule in the East. He was a close and faithful friend of Ptolemaios and backed by his friend in Egypt, he expanded to the West and eventually defeated both Demetrios and Lysimachos. However, after the battle of Kouroupedion (281 BC) the murder of Seleukos by the coward Ptolemaios Keraunos plunged the Greek World into chaos once again. Worse was to follow when the Celts invaded Hellas. Oh, the terrible disaster! Pain and sorrow were brought to the Greeks. The blonde Barbarians in their trousers pillaged our farms, ravaged our homes and sacked our towns. Neither respect for the Gods nor for our families could stop them, and the Kingdom of Macedon fell prey to their ferocious attacks. After Keraunos was killed, the Aitolian League assembled the Greeks in our time of need and won a glorious victory over our foes. Delphi was saved and the Galatians were forced to leave Hellas once and for all. Praise to the Aitolians! Praise to the Gods!

But now the time has come to shake off the Macedonian burden and to show their new king Antigonos Gonatas what a true Greek is made of! The benign king Ptolemaios II offers aid to Athens and Sparta, and Chremonides, son of Eteokles from the Aithalidai, has demanded an alliance against Macedon. To him we must listen! The time has come to claim back our freedom and lead Hellas back into an age of glory! For this we must unite and finally put the quarrels among us aside! Old and new rivals alike, Aitolians and Achaians, Athenians and Lakedaimonians, must end the bloodshed and turn against the tyrants who rule our world. Our Hoplites must be armed, our skirmishers must be trained, and our finest warriors will already be eagerly awaiting the start of this epic battle.

Yes, fight and you may die. Run and you'll live - at least a while. And dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom?! May Athena protect us - Greece will be free!