When Darius-I crossed the Danube he left the Ionian Greek tyrants to guard the boat bridge. When Darius failed to return in the prescribed time, some of the tyrants said they should depart and leave Darius stranded on the north bank of the Danube. Miltiades the Younger (c.550-489 BC) was strongly in favour of withdrawing, but when Histiaeus (d.494 BC), the tyrant of Miletus, reminded the other tyrants that each of them owed their position to Darius and if he fell then they would be unable to maintain their power they changed their minds. Darius and his army eventually crossed the bridge in safety.
As a reward for his good services Darius gave Histiaeus the town of Myrcinus in Thrace, but the Persian commander Megabazus, suspecting Histiaeus’ interest in this strategically important area, which controlled the key roads into Europe, persuaded Darius to take Histiaeus back with him to Susa as a friend and adviser. Histiaeus’ nephew and son-in-law Aristagoras (r.c.505-496 BC) was left in control of Miletus.
After his return from the failed invasion of Scythia, Darius appointed his brother Artaphernes satrap at Sardis. Around 500 BC Aristagoras gained the cooperation of Artaphernes for the expedition against Naxos. When the expedition failed Aristagoras realised his political position was at risk. In an attempt to save himself from the wrath of Persia he began to plan a revolt with the Milesians and the other Ionians. One of the conspirators, the historian Hecataeus (c.550-c.476 BC), argued against war with Persia, but when this was rejected he advised them to concentrate on winning mastery of the seas.
Ionian Revolt (499-494 BC)
As a first step it was resolved to put down the medising tyrants in several cities. Aristagoras set the example at Miletus by proclaiming ‘equality of rights’, thereby enlisting popular support for the revolt. Other tyrants were seized on board the fleet which had been used against Naxos and was now stationed at Myus, near the mouth of the Meander. Having arranged for the tyrants of the various towns to be replaced by ‘generals’, Aristagoras sailed to Greece in the winter of 499/8 BC to secure help in his struggle for freedom.
He went first to Sparta where he failed to persuade Cleomenes-I (r.c.520-c.489 BC) to support his cause because, according to Herodotus, when Cleomenes learned that the capital of the Persian Empire was a three-month march from Ionia he told Aristagoras that he must leave Sparta immediately. Quite apart from the vast size of the Persian Empire, Cleomenes knew that he could never take the risk of taking the Spartan army so far from home. Aristagoras had a better reception at Athens. Already embroiled with Persia for revoking the act of submission made by her envoys c.508 BC and for refusing to reinstate Hippias 504 BC, the Athenians agreed to send twenty ships to Ionia. Athens’ ally Eretria sent five ships.
In 498 BC the Athenian fleet crossed the Aegean and the troops landed at Ephesus, where they were joined by the Ionians. Together they marched up the Cayster Valley and made a surprised attack on Sardis. Seeing that he could not hold the town, Artaphernes retreated to the acropolis. The town was burnt down and the Greeks began to march back to Ionia, but on the way they were met by a troop of Persians and decisively beaten at the Battle of Ephesus. The rebellion spread to the Greek cities in Cyprus, as well as those of the Hellespont and the Propontis, but the Athenians returned home and took no further part in the revolt.
Onesilus (d.497 BC) usurped his brother Gorgus, king of the Greek city-state of Salamis on Cyprus, and captured every other city on the island except for the Phoenician city of Amathus, which stayed loyal to the Persians. Onesilus, hearing of the approach of the Persian general Artybius (d.497 BC), sent heralds to Ionia to ask for their help. An Ionian fleet came but while it lay at Salamis the Persians crossed from Cilicia and approached Salamis on foot. In the battle that ensued outside Salamis the Persians were successful; Artybius and Onesilus were both killed. The Phoenician fleet had sailed round to the east of the island and been defeated, but with Salamis on the point of surrendering to Gorgus, the Ionian fleet sailed home. By early 496 BC the last stronghold, Soli, capitulated in the fifth month of siege.
Meanwhile at Sardis, Darius had divided his principal force into three groups: Hymeas captured Cius on the Propontis and marched down the Hellespont and completed the conquest of the Troad; Otanes and Artaphernes attacked the coastal towns of Ionia and Aeolis – the former taking Clazomenae, the latter Cyme; and Daurises attacked the towns near the Hellespont, then moved southwards into Caria.
Caria, with Miletus within its region, offered determined resistance to Daurises. After winning two battles the Persians proceeded to assault the Carian cities, but Heraclides of Mylasa laid an ambush for them and their army was nearly destroyed in an attack in which Daurises and other Persian commanders were killed. Everywhere else the rebels were losing. Aristagoras decided on flight, he sailed to Myrcinus in Thrace and died shortly afterwards in battle with the natives.
Histiaeus persuaded the king to send him to Ionia. When he arrived at Sardis, however, Artaphernes accused him of treachery. Finding himself unsafe at Sardis, Histiaeus escaped and eventually obtained eight galleys from Lesbos. Then, according to Herodotus, he began committing acts of piracy in the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea from a base in Byzantium.
In 494 BC the Persians gathered their available land forces into one army and accompanied by a fleet consisting of Egyptians, Cilicians, Phoenicians and the resubjugated Cypriots, headed towards Miletus. Aware of its approach, the Ionians decided to leave the defence of Miletus to its garrison and try to destroy the Persians at sea. The Greeks assembled a large fleet of 353 warships, but this was little more than half the size of the Persian fleet.
The Greeks stationed their fleet off Miletus, near the island of Lade. The Persians offered inducements for surrender. As the Ionian fleet moved to engage, forty-nine Samian ships quickly hoisted sail and fled. Most of the other Greek ships followed, leaving only the Chians and Milesians to fight and lose. Without a major naval force to defend it, Miletus fell after a short siege. By summer 493 BC all the Greek cities of the Asiatic coast to the south of the Hellespont had been reduced. Histiaeus, after making an abortive attack on Thasos, was captured, killed and his head sent to Darius.
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