Niceas of Taras

=Niceas of Taras=

Taras
Niceas of Taras was born in 351BC in the Greek Polis of Taras, an apoikia of Sparta. He was born to one of the leading Oligarchs of Taras, Xenares. As the first born son of one of the richest men in Taras Niceas’ upbringing was essentially sheltered, with only a little of the formal training at arms that any citizen was required to do. When Niceas was 15 the moderate democracy of Taras was overthrown, and a Oligarchic council of 200 seized power in a (relatively) bloodless coup. This Government, whilst never spectacularly popular was met with universal acceptance so long as Taras, or rather its citizen elite, remained prosperous.

Sicily and Syracuse
A young, bored Niceas decided at 16 to accompany one of his fathers trading expeditions to Iberia. However Xenares, his father, had made a rare bad decision in his choice of the commander of the expedition. Dienikes, who was in command of the 3 ships suggested augmenting the profits of the expedition by raids on Carthaginian Sicily, a policy which an adventure hungry Niceas firmly endorsed. After a few Weeks a Carthaginian squadron chased the amateur Pirates ashore, and landed marines to hunt them down. Fortunately a Mercenary troop under the command of Agathocles (Later to become Tyrant of Syracuse, but at this moment in time exiled for political reasons) was on hand to save Niceas and Dienikes beleaguered troop. Signing up to serve with these Mercenaries seemed a better option than returning to explain to Xenares how they had managed to lose his Cargo. After nearly a year of warring Agathocles returned to Syracuse at the end of his first of two exiles. Niceas became a furious political agitator and street orator for Agathocles' faction, and Dienikes eagerly participated in the frequent and bloody riots between rival parties that plauged the streets of Syracuse.

When this political turmoil was ended Niceas, Dienikes and Agathocles were on the vanquished side, and were exiled from the great Sicilian city. Agathocles reformed his Mercenary company and travelled to Taras with Dienikes, which was warring with its neighbours. Niceas decided to leave his two companions as the life of a Tarantine nobleman seemed terrifingly stuffy and conservative compared to his recent exploits.

Carthage
Taking advantage of a window of peace Niceas travelled to Carthage itself, eager to learn of this city which he had fought against and heard so much of. Despite some difficult times after his arrival Niceas soon found himself in partnership with a Carthaginian smuggler, using his knowledge of the Greek trading emporia and his Fathers trading contacts to forge documents and open up new markets for his partner. Niceas learnt the language of Phoenicia in the years he spent in Carthage, and his sharp mind meant he quickly grew rich at his partners expense and was able to set up a legitimate trading consortium with four ships and his own mansion. However his Partner was less than pleased at this turn of events and framed Niceas as a spy for Syracuse.

Egypt
Niceas fled on one of his ships taking as much treasure as he could swiftly move with him, following the coast of Africa and arriving in Egypt in 331BC, just as the country was being invaded by Alexander the Great. Whilst celebrating his 20th birthday in Thebes in his usual excessive style Niceas was staggering across the road, and was kicked to the floor by a Hetaroi leading the God King's retinue with the words 'Make way for your betters drunken fool!' This apparently trivial incident led to a deep seated dislike of Emperors, Kings and Empires in Niceas' heart. Niceas meanwhile had procured a copy of Herodotus' Histories in Cyrene, and determined to see the fountains that were the source of the Nile for himself. His lengthy and fruitless expedition used up whatever funds remained from his nefarious dealing in Carthage, and Niceas, long since abandoned by the sorry remnants of his original crew (Who returned to Taras, and excused their desertion by claiming Niceas had been eaten by a Crocodile) signed on as a crewmen on a Phoenican Merchant Ship after a two year expedition he would describe in later life as his 'Sandy & Hot Period'.

Phoenicia & Greece
Niceas spent several years trading along the Levant and as far North as Halicarnassus. Already Multi-lingual to an extent in this period of his life Niceas picked up several more dialects, and began to come to an understanding of the basic building blocks of language, meaning that he was often able to pick up other languages he was exposed to relatively quickly. By the time he was 26 Miceas left the Phoenican ship and joined up on a Greek Merchant, trading amongst the Ionian Isles and Attica. Whilst ashore in Athens Niceas met an exiled Tarantine named Pytheas.

Pytheas was a determined democrat, and the two became fast friends, Niceas spending many nights in Pytheas company, being introduced to others of his exiled party, of whom there were nearly thirty. Eventually the exiles were ready to return to Taras and attempt to overthrow the Oligarchic government. Niceas was ready to go with them, as he saw in the replacement of the Oligarchic government a swifter route to power for himself than waiting for his father to die - although the daring nature of the enterprise also appealed to him.

Return to Taras.
Niceas therefore set sail with the conspirators, who entered Taras disguised as simple merchants and met his old friend Dienikes. In a fairly desperate attempt at a coup the ‘Thirty’ scaled the walls of the Acropolis late one night with daggers in their mouths, and seized the Citadel that dominated the city. The next morning many supporters of the old democratic regime took to the streets and the Council of 200 fled or were captured. A series of trials followed and many were put to death in the dark days of turmoil, but Niceas Father, Xenares was instead exiled, even after he repeatedly disowned his son, and demanded to be put to death with his fellow ‘Councillors’.

Niceas promptly began engineering a place for himself in this new radical democracy that sprung up. The fact that the Thirty had spent much time in Athens meant that the Tarantine democracy was heavily modelled on the government that Athens had enjoyed during the majority of he 5th century. Niceas proved popular in the assembly, the Oligarchs who survived the coup initially saw him as a traitor to his own, whilst the demos saw him as the potential leader of another oligarchy. However, several well placed allies and a more than a few sudden changes of policies, allegiances and opinion saw Niceas rise to a position where only a determined coalition of his many rivals could seriously hinder any motions he proposes. This happened in late 309 when several opponents of Niceas managed to pass a law alleviating the citizens of Taras to forego military service in exchange for a monetary contribution which would be used to hire Mercenaries. Niceas thought this would eventually weaken the Polis, but was unable to revoke this law until an alliance with Sparta saw a contingent of Spartans arrive who reawakened the military ardour of the Tarantines and saw a program of citizen training begin.

The Hellenic League
This alliance between Sparta and Taras was just the first bond that Queen Leonida made in forging the Hellenic league, and Niceas of Taras played a significant role in bringing the majority of Italian and Sicilian Greek Polis’ into the fledgling League. When war broke out in the Macedonian-Hellenistic War Niceas led a force of nearly 10,000 men to Greece, although they arrived too late to take part in any fighting their appearance late in the war may have played a small part in convincing Cassander to agree to a negotiated peace.

The First Greco-Roman War
Whilst in Athens following the Macedonian-Hellenistic War Niceas of Taras met a young Alexander IV, and convinced him that he could win glory in battle and serve the Hellenistic league best by sailing to Italia and making war on the Romans. As a reason for this war Niceas cited several threats that had been made to Greek Polis by Oppius Laebinus Bellicus, even though he had long since been ousted from power and replaced by Lucius Galba. This war became known as the Greco-Roman War. The Army of Taras won some startling victories over the Roman military, but due to a failure to secure their lines of supply they were forced to withdraw.