Aphrodisa of Cyprus

Aphrodisa during the reign of Alexander the Great

It is 323 and Alexander the Great, king of Macedon, has died in Babylon after conquering the Persian empire. Aphrodisa and her family moved to Macedon to be where the action is. The expansion of Macedon changed Greek culture. It was the beginning of the Hellenistic culture. With Philip's expansion, Aphrodisa decided to help resist Philip's conquest of Greece while Mantu decided to travel with Alexander's army which, caused more problems between the married couple from what was already a problem.

Aphrodisa heard that King Philip had made and broke a treaty with Athens and now going over there to attack Amphipolis but later surrender it to the Greeks when he came into power. The city fell back into the hands of Macedonia after an intense siege. Aphrodisa tried to protect the gold minds of nearby Mount Pangaeus but she failed, and King Philip took possession to help finance his future wars.

The resistance kept Aphrodisa busy. She was also trying to continue her work on slavery too but the resistance took much of her time because she felt what King Philip was doing was wrong and it only gotten worse when his son Alexander the Great came to power. Aphrodisa's daughter Eris had decided to leave Greece because she couldn't take it anymore with what her mother was doing. Not that she doesn't care. She does and believe that her mother is doing the right thing but because how she is putting so much attention on herself, Eris doesn't want a part of that. She worried that because of who her mother is she will never get married and therefore she had decided to leave Greece.

Mantu didn't like what his wife was doing. He was fighting in Alexander's army as one of his generals and believe what Alexander is doing isn't the right thing to do. He viewed Aphrodisa's decision on resistance to be very troubling like everyone else view it to be. It was bad enough to him that she focus so much on ending slavery in Greece and having so much empathy for other city states that are not Spartans. This really conflicted with them since they were on opposite sides. It put a strang on their marriage because of their different views. Mantu still love his wife and doesn't want anything to happen to her because of what she is doing but at the same time he can't denial the fact that he doesn't agree with everything she is about. They are just two different people. They did however, travel to Alexandria when Alexander travelled to Egypt and founded a small town and named it Alexandria. Aphrodisa was fascinated by the town and thought about moving there with her husband and hopefully her daughter and Athenaii when this is all over. When everything is over Aphrodisa wants to focus on her family and work on her marriage with Mantu. Aphrodisa's best friend Athenaii plans on working at the Great Library as a scrib when it is built.

But at this point Aphrodisa was causing so much trouble she had become a wanting woman. They wanted to execute Aphrodisa like when they execute socrates for "corrupting the youth." Even though Mantu did disagree with her politics, he tried to protect his wife because he couldn't bare to see her killed. He had defended her on their accusations about her and threatens if they ever touch her they he will kill them.

After when Alexander the Great died in Babylon, the people wept. When Mantu heard of this news he was concern for Aphrodisa because he believed that she might be suspect of the kings death. He packed her things and told her that she should go into hiding but Aphrodisa refused. She claimed that she didn't kill him and therefore has nothing to hide. The soldiers came in a few days later and grab her out of the house. "Let her go, she didn't do it" he pleaded but it was no use. They took her away to face judgement. They believed that she was in Babylon the night of his death and poisoned Alexander.

They had decided for what she was doing with the slaves, helping other city states, resistant Philip and Alexander, and the supposed death of Alexander, she will be crucified. In front of everybody including her husband, they fastened her to a board with iron collars around her wrists, ankles, and neck, and the collar around the neck was tighten to strangle Aphrodisa. Before she died Mantu gave her a kiss on her leg and tears fell on his face. He stayed with her until she took her last breathe and after when she died they refused to give her a barrier which upset Mantu because he felt that his wife deserve one after everything they have been through. He had Athenaii, Aphrodisa's trusted friend to help with the private barrier. Eris didn't come to visit after when her mother was killed because she couldn't bare the pain of going back there after everything that happened.