#
The march to Athens was long and slow. During the day, the sun beat down on my cheekbones and the back of my neck. I was always too hot or too cold. Hunger, thirst, and weariness became my unwavering companions.
My belly flattened and my face narrowed. The moment we left the palace, Machia had the priests and myself carry supplies—as if we were mules or something. "No man shall go spared," he had declared. Apparently it had slipped his notice that I was a woman. When the weight on my shoulders grew unbearable, a disgruntled or sympathetic soldier would relieve me of some of my packs.
When we finally arrived at Korfos, the unexpected happened. The king refused to provide naval support, perhaps he was hoping to gain some favor from the enemy by making a stand. I did not know how he thought he could succeed. The city barely had a standing army and most of its strong navy was out at sea, blockading someone else's port. Thus Machia decided to commandeer the merchant ships… after he taught the people of Korfos why Mycenae was to be obeyed.
I watched in a haze as our men slaughtered the people of sea city. Our men, the men I had marched with, shared laughter and hardship with, our men dutifully followed our orders and ravaged this beautiful city. The sea glittered underneath the clear blue sky as every man's face became splattered with blood.
"Obey or die!" Machia shouted as he raced around in his chariot. Without hesitation, he beheaded a soldier who was just standing there, bewildered and scared. "Anyone who stands back shall be beaten 100 times then flayed alive!"
I screamed as I witnessed Aeschylios, who had four children and was expecting a fifth, drive his sword through an old man trying to run , who would always save some of his bread to feed the birds, speared a child just for crying.
These were not our men. These were monsters transformed by the evil of Ares. I wanted this to stop. I sobbed and cowered but was drowned out by the wails of innocent civilians damned by our men.
By nightfall, our men had herded all the Korfosian males into a cave and thrown bottles of oil on the ground. Anyone who tried to escape was instantly slain.
After we retreated to a safe distance, several of our soldiers threw blazing torches into the oil.1 I do not know how I stayed on my feet as I smelled the scorch of human flesh, heard the howls of pain, and saw the flailing limbs ignited on fire.
"Do you not fear torture in the afterlife?" I whispered to Dievon. Although he had not personally participated in the slaughter, he had looked on with an eerie calm. I angrily dragged my wrist across my teary face.
Dievon just stared at me blankly. "Why would I be tortured in the afterlife?"
"You are the second in command, you could have done something to stop this…"
"I am second in command," he cut me off. "Not first. The chain of command cannot be broken. One break in the link is enough to shatter the entire army…"
I wished to hear no more of his lecture. I turned away and walked till the smoke no longer hurt my eyes. By that time it was already dawn.
#
In the morning, Machia surveyed his carnage in broad daylight. All the males who had escaped a fiery death were promptly speared, even the infants. I did not know which was worse to hear, the cries of the children or the mothers.
A girl clutching a baby insisted it was a sister, not a brother, but refused to prove it, saying it was indecent. She nervously twisted the wooden bracelet she wore. The soldier took the baby from her, sliced through its midsection, and returned the top half.
"Do not lie to me," the man told her. The poor girl stared mutely, letting the infant's blood soak her clothes.2
I refused to believe this mockery of humanity. If this was life, then how fortunate it was that it could be ended.
Why weren't the gods doing anything? Where was Athena with her aegis and blade of justice? Did Zeus not hate Ares the most out of all his offspring because of War's unnatural ways? I prayed to no avail that any god, Olympian, Titan, or heathen, would swoop down from the heavens and put an end to this madness. Instead, our mortal general reigned supreme.
Machia rode around on his chariot, yelling orders. "A city destroyed must be replenished and the children must follow the loyalties of their fathers. Round up all the maidens!"
About ninety women threw themselves down a well, but there were more bodies than water. The ones at the top were dragged out and the wretched survivors were lined up next to a row of soldiers.3
Machia stood at the front of the double line with his sword raised in the air.
"Do you accept this man as your husband?" he asked.
The first woman in line gave a tremulous no. The commander's sword came down in a flash, and my hands flew to my face just in time to hide the hot tears that flooded my eyes.4 Dievon trod on my foot and I lowered my hands once I managed to hold in the scream that was demanding to burst from my lips. If anyone noticed my discomfort, I would only draw unwanted attention to myself.
One woman was holding a naked baby. When she came to the head of the line, Machia repeated his question. She silently handed her child to the woman behind her. Then her head thudded to the ground.
When the men caught on, they began to shuffle around and squabble over the prettier brides.
The girl with the wooden bracelet was still clutching her mutilated brother. I held my own breath as she hesitated before giving her answer. Her groom tugged her away from the line and pulled the corpse out of her arms before tossing it aside. My indignation almost surpassed my horror.
Every time metal meets flesh and bone, the blade grows dull. Our dear General Machia encountered this problem about halfway through the line. The sword did not cut off the woman's head cleanly, it merely made a nasty gash in her neck.5 She staggered around, clutching her wound. I thought Zeus might be merciful, but another soldier finished the deed by ramming his knife through the more delicate stomach. Machia grumbled and tried several other swords, but they, too, were well worn, although we sharpened them every night. He eventually settled for cutting throats.
I carefully trained my eyes on a tree in the distance, but could not close my ears. I flinched each time a woman gasped for the last time upon this earth. When these vile marriages were completed, Machia turned to me for Hestia's blessing.
"Hestia's hearth shall forever burn in your homes," I managed to choke.
The wedding festivities provided the men with an opportunity to drink too much wine. The women either wept or accepted their plight with resignation. Many of the girls were too young to bear the weight of a man, much less carry a child in the womb.
"Be sure to fill your wives with seed." Machia raised his cup. "We leave in a few days. The survivors will return. Five men shall be left behind to govern this place during our absence."
I sidled closer to Dievon, who was crouching in the grass and waving a biscuit at a wild rabbit.
"Do you not think this will invite vengeance?" I hissed loudly. I was a little angry at him for not having interfered. But then, what could he have done? He was just a mortal man.
"Only women are left of this place," he responded "What woman can wield a sword and avenge her people?"
I stiffened. Sometimes I truly disliked the way in which he so calmly accepted the cruelty of the Fates. "Women bear sons, do they not? The father may put food on the table, but the mother puts warmth or hate in the child's heart. In the end, loyalty to the mother will supersede obedience to the father." How much more anger will you leave in your path. You cannot kill everyone, and those who are left will grow to resent you.
"We are doing a noble deed," he said. "If we burn one city to the ground and set an example, the other cities will bow their heads rather than providing futile resistance. Their choice is to submit or die. Besides, my fussy friend, even if Machia were to die, he would only be replaced by one like him."
That depended on who the second in command happened to be. It gave me an idea.
A few days later, Machia died at the hand of a mysterious assassin who was never caught.
Dievon assumed the position of first general.
#
Dievon studied a giant map of Greece, mulling strategy and numbers with his new second, General Meklellion. They were anticipating the worst, the allies could have already reached Athens. Also, there was no word from the reinforcements, which most likely meant that they had run into the enemy. As usual, I stood silently in a corner of the tent in case someone needed a blessing.
"We should break into three groups," Dievon decided. "One force seeks the enemy to cut them off from the ports along this side of the shore. A second group marches through the Isthmus of Corinth and along the northern coast of the Saronic Gulf. The third group will sail across the Saronic from here to Piraeus."
"Piraeus!" Meklellion roared. "It is nothing but a lump of rock! How will you cross the channel that cuts it off from Athens? It is too deep to cross by foot and too shallow to ford. If you try to swim, you'll have no way to get the equipment across and the violent tides will drown you anyway."
"We will wait till dawn, when the water level may be low enough to expose the land bridge."
"You call the Halipedon a land bridge? It is slippery and may flood in mid passage!"
"Piraeus also happens to be part of the most direct route to Athens, which is so obvious and yet risky that Aegeus' generals will never anticipate it. Any other port in the vicinity will undoubtedly be blockaded."6
I didn't like the sound of the land route either. I stared at the Isthmus of Corinth, which was but a skinny line of brown connecting the Peloponnese to Attica. It would not be an ideal battleground should we meet the enemy. However, it was probably Dievon's intention for us to slow the forces that were marching from southwestern Peloponnese.
Meklollion conceded about the Piraeus landing but pointed out that we did not have enough numbers to split into three. "We're losing the war and many men."
"More deserters?" Dievon scorned. "I do despise the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot.7
I thought privately that it was not the men that were weak, but the cause.
We ended up dividing into two instead. I was put in the group to march with Meklellion. Dievon was to lead the other half of the troops by sea.
A group of men went deep into the forest and caught a wild boar to sacrifice. Dievon placed the half maimed animal on a large rock, poured barley over its body, and slit its throat. Then he crossed his arms in prayer and asked Athena and Hestia for her guidance and wisdom. Many of the men muttered uncomfortably, complaining that Poseidon and Ares had been neglected. I, too, wished he would at least appease Poseidon. I feared that half of our soldiers would perish in the waters.
The boar was cooked over a great bonfire but most of the foot soldiers did not even bother to look at it, for they knew that there would be none left for them. As the highest ranking officer, Dievon was offered the first cut of meat, but he silently passed his portion to a young and squalid camp follower. Her limbs were thin and her belly swollen with a child that would never know its father.
1 This scene is an allusion to an actual event in history, France's war to colonize Algeria. This bloody struggle dragged from 1830 to 1847 partly due to strong internal resistance. The French troops resorted to tactics such as trapping civilians in caves and burning them alive. Mahfoud Bennoune's The Making of Contemporary Algeria, 1830-1987 provides more detail about the violent Franco-Algerian relationship.
2 Happened during the Armenian genocide while trying to escape. I don't remember the exact context.
3 I borrowed this suicide by drowning and abduction scene from an eyewitness and participatory account given by a survivor of the 1947 Partition of India. Urvashi Butalia's The Other Side of Silence provides and analyzes one of the largest groups that was victimized and politicized by the Partition, women.
4 I was once told that according to myth, when Romulus founded Rome, he coerced the indigenous women into marrying his soldiers in the same manner. The crossed swords that are emblematic of modern military weddings supposedly represent Romulus' deed.
5 A similar issue of dull swords arose in the Pacific front of WWII. Imperial Japanese troops assisted and ordered mass suicides of the Okinawan civilians so the latter could not be captured alive by American forces. I once read the testimony of an Okinawan woman who survived an attempted beheading by an imperial soldier when she was left for dead and later nursed back to health.
6 Macarthur inchon landing
7 Thomas Paine was the first to warn against the "summer soldier and sunshine patriot" in his pro-Revolutionary pamphlet, Common Sense.