Post battle

Stiff, dry bodies littered the battlefield.  A careful look at the face of the young man suited in the blue of his outfit staring up into the vast sky revealed a sense of calm, of resignation.  He lay there motionless while a soldier dressed in light tan carefully examined his head wounds, then ran his hands down his chest, waist and hips, recovering any weapons which may remain on the body.  The soldier then turned the head to the left, to the right, straightened the corpse so that its arms lay at its side, and pulled the legs together, tightly so that the entire appearance was uniform and straight.  He then went to the next body which lay atop a pile, pulled it from the pile, and lay it  down beside the soldier already laid out.  As he had done with the previous, he studied the eyes, closed them if open, turned the head to the left, then to the right, ran his hands down the chest, checked for weapons that could be hidden under the skirt of the uniform, and then pulled the arms to the side, and the legs straight down.  Each soldier was taken from the pile in this manner, carefully examined to see if he had any life in him a tall, and when  found dead, taken and examined from head to toe, lined up in a row against each other so that all men are counted and examined.  In this manner, each and every corpse was counted and identified, all weaponry removed, and each readied for official burial.

The blue of the uniform designated the members of this famous band of warriors known as the Sacred Band.  They had fought valiantly according to their own code and rule, defending one another to the very last member of their renowned group.  Some were so seriously wounded and maimed as to be considered unacceptable for burial so were assigned to be cremated with the band of soldiers from Athens.

To be continued