In the Shadow of Sparta

In 744 B.C., Xenodokus of Amphia won the ninth Olympiad and thought he was on top of the world. A few months later, everything fell apart when the Spartans invaded his country unannounced. Together with the rest of the Messenians, he will stand up to an opponent who seemed invincible from the beginning. For twenty years the kings, the nobles and the people of Messinia will fight to keep their homeland free. This is the story of the First Messinian War through the eyes of the defeated. Those who remained in the shadow of Sparta.