Author(s): Michael Scott

History

Athens, 404 BC. The democratic city-state has been ravaged by a long and bloody war with neighbouring Sparta. The search for scapegoats begins and Athens, liberty's beacon in the ancient world, turns its sword on its own way of life. Defining moments of Greek history, culture, politics, religion and identity are debated ferociously in Athenian public spaces, back streets and battlefields. Meanwhile, the mastership of Greece is left open for the taking. Who can rise to the challenge? Cities such as Sparta and Thebes make their play. Powerful tyrants seek to push themselves onto the world stage. The ruler of the mighty Persian empire seeks to expand his kingdom. Rules are abandoned as friend becomes enemy and enemy friend in ever more turbulent rounds of diplomacy, war and backstabbing. By 323 BC, less than 100 years after Athens' downfall, Athens and the rest of Greece, not to mention a large part of the known world, has come under the control of an absolute monarch, a master of self-publicity and a model for despots for millennia to come: 'megas alexandros', Alexander the Great.