The Monger (475-430 BC) was a Corinthian Greek crime boss during the 5th century BC. During the Peloponnesian War, he was responsible for smuggling weapons and for overseeing a notorious prostitution racket, and Corinth's streets fell under his brutal rule. In 430 BC, he was defeated and left for dead in a public fight with the mercenary Kassandra at the theater square, and he was then murdered by several hetaerae.
Biography[]
Rise to power[]
The Monger in c. 445 BC
The Monger was born in Corinth, Corinthia, Greece in c. 475 BC, and he was known as a "thug with a small mind", becoming a strong and brutish criminal. He had a taste for sadism and was notorious for his rapacity, and, after learning of the Cult of Kosmos (which was seeking powerful enforcers), he found their ideas and influence useful and appealing. With their help, he rose to be the most powerful man on the streets of Corinth. One did not need to see the Monger in the streets of Corinth to feel him there; his brutes had taken over. The city, once the richest and most prosperous port in all the Greek world, now wallowed in corruption. The Cult would use this thug, with a small mind and a firm grip, to do their bidding.
In 445 BC, at the start of his takeover, he was firmly opposed by the powerful hetaera Anthousa and her Spartan friend Myrrine; from then on, the hetaerae would prove to be his biggest enemies in the city. When Myrrine confronted him at the Lechaion docks, she swore that he would never rule Corinth, but he threatened to kill her and send her head to the Cult as proof.
Reign of terror[]
The Monger in 430 BC
By 431 BC, The Monger had become the undisputed street boss of Corinth, extorting pilgrims of their money, murdering his rivals on the streets, and establishing a firm grip on the Porneion sex market. He also had his lieutenants take sex slaves and bring them to the Abron House, a sex andron where the Monger took out his sadism on the unfortunate women. Not long after, the mercenary Kassandra came to Corinth to end his brutal rule. By 430 BC, she had shut down his sex market, allied herself with Anthousa and the hetaerae, and, with the help of the Spartan general Brasidas (who had been sent to pacify Corinth), she shut down his weapons smuggling racket at the Lechaion docks (from which he used to sell weapons to both sides of the Peloponnesian War). While Brasidas was tasked with ensuring that The Monger was quietly assassinated to ensure Corinth's stability, Anthousa wanted to make a public spectacle of the Monger's downfall, and Kassandra - who had promised Anthousa her help with this venture - ultimately decided to take him down in public and thus destroy his reputation.
Downfall[]
The Monger's death
The Monger agreed to Anthousa's challenge, appearing at the theatre center with a few of his guards. The Monger then appeared with two guards, and he brutishly asked Kassandra if she wanted a show. Kassandra replied by telling him that she wanted him to see the face of every person he had wronged. The Monger promised to cover their faces with Kassandra's blood, saying that he should have done the same to Myrrine. Kassandra was shocked to hear that the Monger knew her mother, and he revealed that she was big trouble for him, and swore to pay her back by sending her Kassandra's head. Kassandra promised to bring Myrrine the Monger's head instead, but the Monger said that the audience wouldn't have much to say if he smashed her brains all over the stage. The two proceeded to fight, with Kassandra killing the Monger's guards before engaging in a fierce fight with him; their ferocious battle even took them into the stands. Ultimately, the Monger was beaten down and forced to submit, and Anthousa and her followers encircled the Monger. Anthousa announced to the people of Corinth, "Behold the weasel that steals your bread! The scourge that spoils your crops!" Kassandra told Anthousa that she and her girls had waited too long to get their hands on him, and the hetaerae proceeded to stab and dismember him with their knives.