Classical Acheron
Classical Acheron is defined based off of the development of civilization in the west, with most emphasis placed along the western shore, where the classical tradition began in the mythological age. For information on non-Akaeian peoples, click the appropriate link below:
Contents
The Seven Tribes and the Oath of Meranen
'And so after fierce fighting, the Novitreians forced the Seven Tribes out of the Sacred Hills, and they left behind them the ancestral village of Telos and went into the east. And it was that after a time they came upon the Menaros River, at a place called Meranen. And there they divided into the Seven Tribes, and chose for themselves seven different chiefs, and they went their own ways. But before they departed, they erected at Meranan a pillar of stone, and carved upon it an oath of loyalty among the Seven for all time, and sealed it with blood from the palm of every chief. And it was sworn that in two years' time, the Seven would return and renew the oath, and thus began the Seven Tribes.
' And the Seven went their own ways, and there came from this the Seven Cities: Akaeia, Kovenandros, Oculopis, Ios, Aesepus, Aolia, and Atlaeia. And in two year's time the chiefs came again to Meranen, and renewed the oath, saying "We the Seven, in the light of our ancestral bonds, bind again this day by our blood and the blood of our kin the sacred oath taken at this place, so that among the Seven there might be eternal friendship and prosperity, and that we might defend one another from enemies and injustices. Let this thus be sealed, and the Oath renewed in two years' time." '
An excerpt from The Ancestral Histories by Enos Menaerex, 11 A.R.A.D
The Seven Tribes
Scholars generally set the coming of the Seven Tribes from the ancestral city of Telos as 771 B.C.E. Conflict with the refugees expanding westward from the west coast at this time forced a general migration of existing peoples towards the east. The first written Parsid record known is from 773, when Praeos Iasshestus II defeats another migrating group in the Battle of the Dancing Crane.
The Seven Tribes each built a city state of their own near the lower Menaros and the coast of the Sea of Menaros. The furthest north was Ios, just a few stads south of the modern city of Dauvanatris. After the third retaking of the oath, in 777 B.C.E., the chief of Ios requested assistance from the other chiefs against a native tribe in the north of the city, known as the Ilii. For the next two hundred years, the biannual retaking of the oath served as a kind of meeting of the leaders. After the renewing of the oath, each city would discuss what it was hoping to achieve over the next two years and the Seven coordinated their military excursions against other local tribes which threatened them. Kovenandros and Akaeia grew to be the largest of the Seven, but in the bianual councils they had an equal voice with the other tribes. A primitive network of roads was constructed late in the 600's to increase the trade between the Seven and allow for faster movement of military forces to counter attacks on the territory of any one of the Seven. By the early 500's B.C.E., most of the Seven controlled not just their respective city, but also a network of outlying towns across the whole of the Menaros River Valley. The war with the Ilii had trained the militaries of the Seven well and given unto the Seven allies in the ranks of the Ilii when peace was restored.
The Seven had remained basically the way they had been when they fled the west. They spoke a common language, built in a common style, and until the 400's they maintained approximately the same government structures. Each city had at it's head a Chief, who passed on his rule to his firstborn son, and a council of elders, which met with the Chief. After the Parsid attack, however, all of that would change.
The Parsid Offensive
During the 500's the Parsid nation to the east had been conquering a fairly larger Empire. Extending north to modern Odeanna and east to the Salis, the Parsids had become the largest nation then in existance on Acheron. Praeos Harrashutsus IV turned his attenion in the early 400's on the west and the trade routes with the west which passed through territory occupied by the Seven Tribes. Assembling an army of 35,000, the Parsid General Surestut marched against the Seven.
News of the Parsid offensive reach the Seven while the army was still a week distant, and an emergency council of the Seven was held. The chiefs of each of the Seven Tribes vowed to unite against this threat from the east and chose one among them as leader of the united forces. For a time it seemed as though the Akaeian chief Trasus Aeantos would be chosen, but ultimately the Seven chose the Kovenandros chief, Draius Eskinaxas.
'And under him command of the forces of the Seven was placed, and he charged with the duty to defeat the Parsids, and granted the power to do so. And the number of the forces of the Seven was 13,000, and Draius Eskinaxas set out to stop the Parsids while they were stil three days off, and prepared against them an ambush in the Taian Forest. And from the Ilii another 5,000 came, and from Novitreia 200, and from the north rode forth a host of cavalry in the number of 2,300, and these Draius arrayed before the Parsids, and prepared to fight them.
And so in the month of Oikomenos, on the 24th day, in the year 426 B.C.E., 35,000 Parsids drew up before the forces of the Seven and their allies, numbering 20,500. And in the Battle of the Taian Forest the Parsids rode to victory over the Seven, and the force was smashed, and forced to retreat. And the Seven in Meranen paniced at the failure of their army, and fled north. And a second army was drawn up, and went against the Parsids in the Battle of the Burning Fields, numbering 27,000 in all, and by the treachery of the Ilii was defeated, and the Seven seemed doomed to conquest.
But in Parsis the Praeos was sickening, and died, and his successor recalled the army in fear of internal rebellion. Another force was thence drawn up by the Seven and marched out against the parsids, and defeated those left behind to maintain control of the territory, in the Battle of the Eastern Road. And with the Parsids defeated, the Seven reconvened in Menaros, and their fear was great that the Parsids would return, and defeat them once and for all time. And so they met in Meranen, and made between them the Confederational Charter. And thus the Union came to be.'
An excerpt from The Ancestral Histories by Enos Menaerex, 11 A.R.A.D
The Union of the Akaeium
The Union of the Akaeium was brought into existance by the threat from the east, and for the next hundred years, the Parsid Empire and the Union of the Akaeium found themselves in frequent conflict. Following the initial Parsid offensive, the Seven entered a period of peace and prosperity. However, the near-conquest of the cities by the Parsids wakened the Seven to the need for reform, and quickly. With this in mind, the Seven renewed the Oath at the 173 Renewing in 425 B.C.E., and began negotiations for a detailed confederacy between the Seven Tribes. The product of this negotiation was the Confederational Charter, by which the Union of the Akaeium and the new government over the Seven made official.
