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In 413 BC, during the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, the Athenians suffered a devastating defeat in Sicily and of the one hundred Plataeans who’d accompanied the doomed Athenian army, less than a handful survived; saved by Clytes of Eleusis, a play actor/warrior who’d been a staunch friend and ally of the Plataeans since the Theban attack on their home state eighteen years previously.

Of the many deaths on Sicily, the one that affected the Eleusinian the most was that of his friend Glaucus of Thessaly, a larger-than-life red headed helmsman, renowned for his skills with a double-headed axe. This elaborately engraved weapon, of some age and history, subsequently became the prized possession of Clytes, being a tangible connection with a man he’d thought of as a brother.

With the loss of so many men and ships it was believed that Athens would soon fall, and the theatre of war moved onto the sea when the Persians joined forces with the Spartans, taking the opportunity of Athens’ weakness to recover their lost territories in Asia Minor.

During the many sea-battles that followed, the Thracian axe became the watchword for Clytes’ fearsome presence!