Athenai (Wrath of Sparta)

Athenai is one of the oldest of the Greek cities, its site having been continually inhabited for almost 4,500 years. Once an important part of the Bronze Age Mycenaean Empire, the city's famous natural rock outcrop - the Acropolis - was previously the site of a major strategic fortress and palace.

It is thought that Athenai was once ruled by a line of hereditary kings who had the power to appoint other nobles to office, forming an early type of oligarchic government. Over the centuries, the city made excellent trade connections with its neighbours, causing a new social class to emerge; one which was no longer satisfied with autocratic noble rule. Periods of unrest, near tyranny, and reform followed, leading to Athenai becoming Greece's first democratic state, and a bastion of Hellenic culture and learning.

As a result of Athenian aid to the Greek cities of Asia Minor, the mighty Achaemenid Persian Empire made two separate attempts to invade mainland Greece. On each occasion, Athenai proved pivotal to their failure, being a major part of the climactic battles of Marathon, Plataea, and the climactic naval victory at Salamis in 479BC.

With its prestige at an all-time high, Athenian hegemony - through the newly-formed Delian League - now seems likely, and with it a chance to take the fight back to the Persians by invading Asia Minor. This is, of course, how it should be; Athenai leads the Greek world in mathematics, science, philosophy and architecture - it is only right that it should be its protector also. However, those soldiers with a city, the Spartans, have always seen themselves as the natural leaders of the Hellenic peoples, and resent Athenai's new found power and influence. In addition, there are also other, less significant states who object to the city’s chosen use of Delian League funds. Just fifty years since the end of the Persian invasions, war is once again poised to erupt all across the Peloponnesus; the prize is effective control over the entire country. Athenai's naval might is matched by Sparta's superior land forces, either one - or indeed their allies Korinthos and the Boiotian League - could emerge from the ensuing conflict, victorious, to claim it!