Page 375 - Four Thousand Years Ago by Geoffrey Bibby

Acnaean lands and could not, of course, be tolerated. Atreus
raised a force of a hundred chariots and nearly a thousand in­

fantry and ciossed the border into the Hittite empire, burning
crops and cutting down vineyards as he went. As he had ex­
pected, this brought out Maduwatas with his Hittite garrison,

and the two forces met in one of the narrow valleys.
Menelaus never forgot his first battle: the rush of the two-
horsed chariot at the tensely waiting line, the shock of the en­

counter, and the sudden transformation of the orderly ranks into
a melee where it was hard to distinguish friend from foe and
where a throwing spear proved to be the ideal weapon for in­

fighting. The confused stabbing and thrusting lasted only a
couple of minutes (though it seemed longer), and then the
charioteer had swung his horses and retired to re-form and charge
again. In the middle of one of the re-forming maneuvers a squad­

ron of the Hittite heavy chariots, massive four-horsed battle-
wagons, had taken them in the flank, and Menelaus had a
stand-up fight with a big black-bearded Hurrian with iron sword

and figure-of-eight shield which was only interrupted when the
wheel horse of the Hurrian received an arrow in the rump and
bolted.

It had been a good fight, Agamemnon agreed that evening,
as they lay rolled in their cloaks by the bivouac fire. Admittedly
the Achaeans had had to retire when the Hittites brought up

their heavy chariots, but they had done a great deal of damage
and driven off much cattle during their raid, and Maduwatas
would think twice about claiming a second time to be ruler of

Achaean lands.
On the approach of winter Atreus and his sons sailed home

by the northern route, by Troy and the Thracian coast. Mene­
laus was even more impressed by Troy than by Miletus. It was
smaller, but it rose on a hillock high above the surrounding
plain, and its sheer walls, newly built after the earthquake ten

years ago, made the town look impregnable. They spent some
days as the guests of King Priam and his many sons, who took
the two princes to their hearts, trying strength and speed and

skill with them in all forms of sport and weapon use, and capping
their casually told tales of battles in Lydia with equally casual