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Baltic's
Book
The Voyages of Jason, part 3
Chapter
3
Hercules
visited Stymphalus and drove away the frightening birds. Undoubtedly,
he mentioned Balticos asked him to do it, because message arrived
from Agapenor, that he will no more require tribute and wants to
be regarded ally of Iolcus. This was wonderful news, as well as
the appearance of Zeus, who promised to lift the curse if Balticos
can bring the Golden fleece from Colchis. Balticos was a warrior
and hero, too, but was too occupied governing the city - and anyway,
Zeus himself said that only Jason can succeed. Iolcus started to
prepare goods for a big expedition.
First
thing to do was to build a sanctuary to Athena. Its sacred grove
would supply the city with olives to make oil, and Athena is known
to bless shepherds and oil makers often. Money and marble were the
biggest problem. Iolcus maximized its exports, received a few gifts
and imported some marble. The construction began, and in less than
three years it was finished thanks to Naxos, that supplied needed
sculptures on request - only two had to be imported. Yet another
year later, Iolcus built the first trireme wharf in the city and
started construction of Hermes sanctuary. Athena boosted the production
of fleece and oil, so there were enough resources to upgrade the
whole city to tenements. When trireme construction and sanctuaries
required more workers, the first block was developed up to townhouses.
It
was time to attract some wealthier citizens to Iolcus. That meant
to increase wheat production and build horse ranches, import some
armor and design a new housing area in the East. Still no taxes
were collected, and the imports of armor were quite expensive, so
this stage lasted for 3 years. Eventually, Jason arrived, and sailed
off to Colchis. When he returned with the Golden fleece, Ares' dragon
followed him and landed near the wharves. Before Jason could kill
him, the dragon sank two triremes and burned their wharves...
Chapter
4 - Corinth
 Still
excited by Jason's tales of heroic deeds of the Argonauts, Balticos
dismissed the idea of founding a new colony at the blessed island
of Corcyra, and chose Corinth for the first colony of Iolcus. Corinth
has a strategic position and some allies became quite nervous when
they saw that men from Iolcus are going to claim this land. Lemnos
became rival soon, and launched an attack at Corinth. Fortunately,
it was just a demonstration of power - not a real invasion. As soon
as the Amazons landed, they sailed off again... probably they wanted
to support their outrageous demand of 28 suits of armor in 3 months.
Balticos didn't have the goods, as he has recently dispatched some
on request to parent city; but I doubt he would give them any even
if he could! The demand was very unpolite, to express it mildly.
Naxos remained friendly, but required olive oil quite often and
in large quantities, so that Balticos was unable to fulfill most
requests. Stymphalos asked for wood, some time later Troezan started
to ask for money... Balticos had to be very careful to which requests
he will comply and to which not, and sometimes he sent a gift to
calm down the emotions stirred by a current refusal.
As
if that wasn't enough, Hephaestus moved his workshop under a mountain
north of Corinth. First earthquake and a few years later lava destroyed
part of the city that was built on the meadows... and when everything
looked fine, big tidal wave swept away half of the elite block and
both piers! Constant rebuilding cost lots of money, quite often
there weren't enough people to fill all jobs and production slowed
down. Fortunately, exports of wine and armor were very lucrative
and allies helped when the situation was too bad.
 Now
did I tell you something about the city itself..? Oh, fine, then
let's say it now. First block was built in the north, on the meadow,
because Balticos knew that the goods from Iolcus will arrive soon
and wanted to have operational storehouses by then. This block was
damaged by earthquake and half of it was covered with lava after
a few years, but the rest remained inhabited as a sign of determination
to survive, no matter what happens. Second block was at the southern
edge of the meadow and was barely missed when lava flowed from the
earthquake cracks. Center of the city with palace, stadium, housing
block, armories and sanctuary to Athena was built between the two
elevations. Surprised about the sanctuary? Balticos decided that
Corinth needs a reliable source of oil, and good defense, and refused
to leave the city before it has a sanctuary to Athena. It took quite
a long time to import all the materials and build it, and just as
construction was about to be completed, Troezan attacked precisely
in that area! Fortunately, hoplites and rabble were well-trained
by that time and drove the enemy out pretty quickly. As soon as
the sanctuary was complete, Balticos ordered to build triremes for
defense against attacks from sea, and returned to Iolcus.
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