Sikyos

The location of the city-state of Sikyos.

Sikyos is an independent Greek city-state that appears in Age of Mythology: The Titans in three scenarios of The New Atlantis. The city is run by General Melagius, an authoritarian sovereign and warlord.

Background

The city-state of Sikyos is a powerful city-state. supposedly sited to the west of the region of Thessaly, where the city-state of Iolkos lies.

According to Melagius' history files, the warrior class was the wealthiest and most politically powerful among the populace, and their social position gave them an identical stature in the aristocratic hierarchy, for they assumed complete authority as trierarchs of both land and sea forces.

Eventually, General Melagius rose to prominence as a tyrant and worked tirelessly to expand his influence in the Sikyos region, ordering that huge statues be erected in his honor, organizing elaborate hunts which nearly decimated the local wildlife in the area, and mining most of the gold for plating the several Plenty Vaults of the region.

Outer Region

The land around the city features many scattered Plenty Vaults, with two being close to the shore. Also, there is a cave where Polyphemus and other Cyclopses live, to the northeast of a fishery, that can be occupied by the Atlanteans. Polyphemus cave is also connected via an Underworld Passage to a cave where Relics can be found.

Apart from these, there are also some Statues of Melagius, erected to the general's honor. To the northwest of the player's starting position in Greetings from Greece, also lies a marsh (inhabited by Scyllas), and to the further north lies a Greek forward base, also connected by the cave of Relics.

Throughout outer Sikyos there are many ruins, especially among the southern coast southwest of a fishing village, whether these are purely by abandonment, being destroyed by unknown forces or destroyed by General Melagius to quash a rebel force is unknown.

Campaign appearances

War with Atlantis

One day, two Greek Kataskopi from a colony to the north of Atlantis encountered, to their surprise, Atlanteans. Then, they mistook them for worshipers of the Titans, as they intended to restore two Overgrown Temples, devoted to Kronos and Oranos.

After consecutive attacks from the local colonists, the Atlanteans destroyed the colony and followed the survivors to their mother city of Sikyos. Shocked by the sudden attacks of the Atlanteans, general Melagius requested reinforcements from the Norse and Egyptians, but was killed by Kastor's expedition, transported by one of Oranos' Sky Passages.

Kastor temporarily ceases the siege of the city, as reinforcements from Egypt and Scandinavia arrive, and are too many for the few numbers of Atlanteans to face yet.

The destruction of the city

After the pause of the siege, Kastor travelled to the North to destroy the Tower of Odin (something he eventually manages, thanks to Kronos' Deconstruction Wonder). At the meantime, another expedition travelled to Egypt, in order to steal four Relics from queen Amanra's forces.

The attacks on their homelands were unexpected, and Kastor manages to force the reinforcements to return to their respective homelands. Just after Kastor returns from the mission at Scandinavia, Krios informs him about another Sky Passage nearby, for which he claims that this can be used by the Greeks to strike the Atlanteans' flank.

It turns out however that this was a trick devised by the Servant of Kronos to weaken the influence of the Olympian gods; the death of the servants of Mount Olympus and the destruction of their temples enabled the liberation of the lesser titans. Prometheus was then released in Sikyos and started destroying the city.

Killing Prometheus

After managing to save Midgard and an Egyptian town to the Nile Delta, from two lesser Titans, Ymir and Cerberus, Kastor, Amanra and Ajax return to the now obliterated city of Sikyos, in order to restore balance to the land.

Prometheus drew his power from the havoc he wreaked on the land, so in order to defeat him, the heroes were assisted by Gaia, who turned out to be the only benevolent force among the Titans. By restoring lush terrain to some scorched areas of Sikyos, Prometheus was weakened and later, easily killed by the heroes.

After these events, the fate of the city is unknown, though it is possible that it was later restored by the survivors.

Scenario appearances

• Greetings from Greece
• Betrayal at Sikyos
• Making Amends

Gallery

The fortress where General Melagius can be found.

One of the many interesting places outside the city; a marsh, featuring a Relic and a Scylla.

A fishing village far from Sikyos, that can be captured by the player.

Sikyos allies', coming to the city's defense.

Prometheus, wreaking havoc on the city of Sikyos.

Trivia

• In reality, no city-state known as Sikyos existed.
  • There was however a city-state, dated from the Mycenaean times, to the west of Corinth named Sicyon (Ancient Greek: Σικυών).
  • Southeast of Thessaly is the island city of Skyros which is where Theseus was thrown off a cliff to his death, where Achilles son Neoptolemous was born. Also, Skyros is two letters away from Sikyos, and is the likely inspiration of Sikyos especially due to the similarity of the geography (mountains, hilly, craggy, sourrounded by water etc.).
  • Comically, "sikyos" (σικυός) meant cucumber in Ancient Greek, and is one of the recommended etymologies for Sicyon.
  • It's possible that at one point Agamemnon was considered to return, as was the city of Mycenae instead of the similar Melagius and Sikyos, due to the appearance of a Statue texture of Agamemnon. It is unknown (if this was true) why it was changed, although in Greek Mythological canon, Agamemnon was assassinated when he returned from Troy by either his wife, Clytemnestra or her lover, so there would be no reason for the return of Mycenae if that were the case.