Holocaust at dawn

Spartan generals know that they can always secure a victory on the most ferocious enemies, but at a very high price: they must sacrifice their best warrior to Ares, the God of War. In today's battle against the Athenians, they cannot risk a defeat. The sacrificial victim is a Philistine mercenary -a huge man, stronger than three Greek soldiers- who has served Sparta for two years now. Last night, he has been narcotized and his eyes  torn out, and today at sunrise he has been brought to the ceremonial pier of Kalamata. Ares himself crosses the Messenian Gulf to collect the tribute. By the time victory is announced in Sparta, the towering Philistine will have been given as food to Kerberos, the hound of Hades.