The First Book of Samuel by SAREJESS (epub read online books txt) 📕

recommend the young man to Samuel yet at the same time he had a sharp wit and a sense of humor. One could not help but like the young man.

“Now if you will excuse me friend Samuel I have much to do. Make yourself comfortable. If you like, try the baths. They are very good. Theopolis take our friend down the street to the bath house and don’t let that rogue Odysseus charge you too much for the use of the private rooms.” “All right father your command and I obey” said the young man.

The music played softly in the background. The slaves had lit the torches and lamps shortly before the arrival of the guests. The aroma of roasting sheep filled the air as the guests filed in, the sounds of their voices carried to all corners of the villa. Some guests greeted each other like long lost friends. Serving girls moved in between the guests with jugs of wine refilling glasses with the cool chilled wine. In the kitchen an amphora broke. For a moment angry voices could be heard, and then the sound of the party getting under way once more drowned the sound of domestic upheaval.

Demetrius like a good host stood at the gate welcoming his guests. A patrol of soldiers passed by, stopping for a moment at the gate while Demetrious had a pitcher of wine brought for them. The commander, a legionnaire of the IVX brigade was well known round Athens and a keen follower of the games. “So citizen you think your son stands a good chance of winning the olive branch?” he asked. “If the gods favor us there we will win.” “But Theo he is a good boy. He will win. I have invested a lot in his training. I even had a German wrestler brought here to wrestle against him to bring him up to standard. You should have seen the German a great bear of a man. The man smelled like Hades but we soon convinced him to wash. Well my Theo watched and learned and finally bested the man” said Demetrious. The Legionnaire looked over to where his men were standing. They had almost finished their wine. He called for them to hurry up and not waste time drinking any more wine. Once they had drunk, the patrol reformed the legionnaires, thanking Demetrius for his kindness before marching off at the head of his band of brother soldiers.

Theopolis was having a great time standing with a group of the younger guests joking and talking. There were a number of hopefuls who were also taking part in the games who had been invited thus the younger men tended to stick together while the older guests spoke of their days of glory when it had been their turn to run or race for the olive branch.

Samuel found himself in the company of a man from Tyrnisia; a strange man who loved his food. The festivities had hardly begun before he started looking for food to eat. Samuel was led to understand that he was one of Demetrius’ late father-in-law’s business associates.

“So you are a Jew” said the man. “I knew a Jew once; very sharp, took me for a song made a lot of money between the two of us before he left me high and dry. Ah but I cannot hold that against you now can I” said the man. “No you can not” said Samuel, who shortly thereafter moved off into the crowd of growing guests. The man disgusted Samuel and he did not want to be around some one who had a grievance against Jews or even an imagined one. He had seen things turn ugly before in those types of confrontations and he did not fancy himself a willing victim. Even though he was the guest of Demetrious things could turn ugly and he did not want to spoil the evening for his new found friend.

As the evening wore on the guests began to move into the banqueting hall. Trestle tables had been brought in and couches were placed next to the walls of the hall where guests sat and ate in the roman style. The tables seemed to be groaning under the weight of the vast array of food that was placed on them. Platters of hot steaming vegetables, silver plates of roasted lamb lay succulent in gravy, the aroma filling the hall. There were also bowls of fresh fruit from all corners of the known world. Thee were dishes of garlic flavored meat, cheeses from the hills of Greece Onion salads and figs preserved in wine from Demetrius' own cellar. Various breads and pomegranate wines were brought in and the feast began in earnest. The sounds of voices were a little muted by the act of consuming the great feast. As they ate, the people spoke and joked. Later Demetrius rose from the table and on a signal the musicians struck up a chord. The drums began to beat, the lute players playing a feverishly fast tune. Demetrious began to dance soon he was joined by other men. As the dance continued, the shadows from the dancing men cast weird and wonderful images against the walls.

During the first dance Theo sat watching. When the second dance began he joined his father. When the dance had ended the men returned to the table to refresh their drinking vessels. When everybody was seated once again Demetrius stood up and addressed his guests.

“Friends tonight we feast in long preparation for the great games which we will shortly be setting out for. I want you to know that I am proud of my son Theopolis. Stand up Theopolis let the people see you. This young man with others will compete for the olive branch and for the glory of Athens. Join me in toasting their very good health and success at Olympia. Come friends for the glory of Athens let us drink!” so saying he dropped some of the liquid from his drinking vessel on the ground “A libation for the gods” he cried to which the guests roared their approval.

In all this Samuel was an observer, little realizing that only a few short years the Olympic Games would be suspended by the Emperor, who would proclaim them pagan and against the spirit of the new state religion, Christianity which was already knocking at the door of Greece. The baby who had been born in Samuel’s stable had really started things off in a new direction. But until such time the world would continue to enjoy the games that had been played for a thousand-years in a secluded valley in Greece.

Trip to the Olympic Games 367
Demetrius embraced his son saying as he did so “Theo my boy you go and do us proud. I will not see you again until you race for Athens. Remember son that we all want you to win. you will do us all proud. May mighty Zeus and glorious Apollo bless you and may the great goddess Athena give you wisdom to outwit your opponents thus saying the older man released his son.” They were standing at the cross roads that leads to Olympia. For a moment they stood looking at each other, the emotion of the moment overwhelming them. There were tears in the older man’s eyes. The younger man looked once more at his father before joining the crowd of gathered athletes who were on their way to the athlete’s camp. Demetrious and Samuel would continue on to the secluded valley where they would camp with thousands of others who had come to watch the games. Getting this far had been quite something, having left Athens sailing across the Aegean Sea to the small port of Delphi. They had set out traveling up river until they had come to the conflux of the two great rivers, the departure point of the athletes from the rest of the population who had come to view the games.

Demetrious turned and set out with a hurried step. “Come friend Samuel we must reach the camp before nightfall and there is still quite a way to go” said Demetrious. Samuel took up the pace walking alongside the Greek although he was heavy for his age he moved with an agility, which surprised Samuel.

“We must reach the camp in time to make offerings to the gods” said Demetrious, to no one in particular. The crowd of Athenians around him sensed his urgency and continued on at their hurried pace. Coming to a small pathway they spread out to file through the small gap. On passing through the gap, one was able to observe the valley below into which thousands of people had already filled. Below them lay tents of branches cut from the forests and woods. Here every four years the entire Greek world came together to celebrate a battle between the gods which had happened eons before. Now the battle was in the field of sport Greek freeman against freeman competing for the glory of their cities.

As Samuel looked down he was struck by the fact that for such a small valley there were apparently hundreds of thousands of people from every corner of the known world. The Greek colonies from Asia Minor, from near and far they had come to compete in these games. The only other time he had seen some thing like this was many centuries earlier when the Hebrews had filed through the gates of Jerusalem to celebrate Passover at the temple. For a moment Samuel experienced a pang of heartache thinking now of the destroyed temple. The moment passed, Samuel turned to hear Demetrius speaking to one of his slaves; “Comacroplis if you drop that I will beat you! Now hurry up and follow me.” he said as they once more set out. The slave Comacroplis hurried after his master with a large jug on his shoulder.

Shortly before dusk when their party had reached the valley floor, having found a place for their booths they settled down. Demetrious sought out Samuel. Finding him sitting under a tree asked, “Friend Samuel you must come and see we are about to sacrifice to the gods. It is to thank them for bringing us thus far and to ask for favor for the games of tomorrow please join us.” Samuel rose and followed the Greek to a place near the center of the camp where a large number of people had gathered.

A priest of the temple of Zeus stood on a podium before an alter holding a sharp stone knife which had most probably been passed down for thousands of years from priest to priest while behind him stood two eunuchs holding a pig which had been brought for slaughter. “Hear oh servants of mighty Zeus! We are gathered here to give thanks and ask favor.” Thus saying, the two eunuchs lay the pig on the altar, thereafter the priest used the stone knife to slit the pig’s throat. Calling for libations the priest poured a healthy amount of wine over the dying pig before setting fire to the wood beneath the altar. The crowd roared its approval.

It was the third day of the games. As usual the spectators had risen at dawn and had rushed off to the stadium. Today was going to be a big day in the Grecian sporting calendar. The sacred flame was to be lit. On the first day Samuel and Demetrius had risen and hurried to the stadium with thousands of other spectators for the ceremonies, which were to follow. The monitors and trainees from the nearby city of Elis had marched in first waving their staffs of office proudly followed by the