Summary

The Ionian revolt and associated rebellions that occurred in Aeolides, Doris, Cyprus, and Caria were military uprisings in different regions of Asia Minor against Persian rule and lasted from 499 BCE to 493 BCE. The cause of the rebellion was the dissatisfaction of the Greek cities of Asia Minor with the tyrants appointed by Persia to rule over them, as well as the actions of the two tyrants of Miletus, Histiæus and Aristagoras. The cities of Ionia had been conquered by Persia around 540 BCE and were subsequently ruled by tyrants from Asia Minor but appointed by the Persian satrap of Sardis. In 499 B.C. the then tyrant of Miletus, Aristagoras, launched a joint expedition with the Persian satrap Artafernes to conquer Naxos in an attempt to strengthen his position in the esteem of the Great King. The mission failed and warning of his imminent dismissal from the role of tyrant Aristagoras chose to incite all of Ionia to rebel against the Persian king Darius the Great.

In 498 BC, supported by troops from Athens and Eretria, the Ionians marched to Sardis, conquered it (except the acropolis) and set fire to it. But on the return journey to Ionia they were pursued by Persian troops and severely defeated at the Battle of Ephesus. This campaign was the only offensive action of the Ionians, who subsequently went on the defensive. The Persians responded in 497 B.C.E. with a tripartite attack aimed at recapturing the outlying areas of the rebellion, but the spread of the revolt into Caria caused the bulk of the Persian army, commanded by Dauryses, to be moved there. While the campaign was initially successful, the army was annihilated in an ambush at the Battle of Pedasus (496 BC). This led to a stalemate until 495 BCE.

In 494 B.C. the Persian army and navy joined forces and aimed for the heart of the rebellion, Miletus. The Ionian fleet tried to defend Miletus by sea, but was badly defeated at the Battle of Lade, after the defection of Samos. Miletus was then besieged and taken and its population enslaved by the Persians. This double defeat ended the revolt and the Carians surrendered. In 493 B.C. the Persians recaptured the cities on the west coast that still held out, before concluding a peace agreement with Ionia that was considered fair and equitable by all.

The Ionian revolt represented the first major conflict between Greece and the Persian Empire and marked the beginning of the first phase of the Persian Wars. Although Asia Minor had been brought back under Persian rule, Darius decided to punish Athens and Eretria for supporting the revolt. Moreover, since the myriad city-states of Greece posed a constant threat to the stability of his empire, according to Herodotus Darius decided to conquer all of Greece. In 492 B.C., the first Persian invasion of Greece began as a direct result of the Ionian revolt.

The only primary source for the Ionian revolt is the Greek historian Herodotus. He, also called the "Father of History," was born in 484 B.C. in Halicarnassus, Asia Minor (then under Persian rule). He wrote the Histories (Ancient Greek: Ἰστορίαι), between 440 and 430 BCE, and researched in them the origins of the Persian wars, which had not long passed since they finally ended in 450 BCE. Herodotus' approach to history was entirely new, so much so that he was credited with the authorship of historiography as it is today. As Holland said, "For the first time a historian sought to trace the origins of a conflict so close that it was not shrouded in fabulous circumstances, the whims and wishes of some god, the necessity of a people's destiny, by bringing in explanations that he could verify for himself."

Some later ancient historians, while following his lead, criticized him, starting with Thucydides. However, Thucydides had his own work begin where Herodotus had ended his (the siege of Sextus), so presumably he believed that Herodotus' version of events was accurate enough that it did not need to be rewritten or corrected. Plutarch criticized Herodotus in On the Malignity of Herodotus, where he describes him as a friend of the Persians (in ancient Greek: φιλοβάρβαρος, "friend of the barbarians") and not philhellenic enough, which, however, might show that Herodotus actually did an unbiased job. Until the Renaissance a negative view of Herodotus was handed down, who nevertheless remained a widely read author. Since the 19th century, however, the historian was rehabilitated thanks to some archaeological findings that repeatedly confirmed his version of events. Today it is believed that Herodotus did a remarkable job in his Histories, but that some of the specific details (especially troop numbers and dates) should be viewed with skepticism. Even so, there are still many historians who believe that Herodotus' account has an anti-Persian connotation and that much of his story was enriched with dramatic detail.

In the age that followed the collapse of Mycenaean civilization, a significant number of Greeks migrated to Asia Minor and settled there. These settlers came from three peoples: Aeolians, Dorians and Ionians. The Ionians settled along the coasts of Lydia and Caria, where they founded the twelve cities that made up Ionia. These cities were Miletus, Miunte, and Priene in Caria, Ephesus, Colophon, Lebedo, Theo, Clazomene, Phocaea, and Eritre in Lydia, and the islands of Samos and Chios. Although the Ionian cities were independent of each other, they recognized their common origin and had a common temple and meeting place, the Panionion. Thus a cultural league was born, which was joined by other cities or other Ionians. The Ionian cities had remained independent until they were conquered by the famous king of Lydia Croesus around 560 BCE. The Ionian cities remained under the rule of Lydia until Lydia was in turn conquered by the Achaemenid Empire of Cyrus the Great.

While he was fighting against the Lydians, Cyrus had sent messengers to the Ionians asking them to rebel against the old rulers, but the Greeks refused. After Cyrus had completed the conquest of Lydia, however, the Ionians asked to be his subjects under the same conditions as when they were subject to Croesus. Cyrus refused, remembering the Ionians' reluctance to help him previously. The Ionians thus prepared to defend themselves, and Cyrus sent the middle general Harpagus to conquer Ionia. He first attacked Phocaea, demanding of its inhabitants the demolition of a single bulwark and the granting of a single house in submission. The Phocians asked for a day to decide, and Harpagus, understanding their plan, recalled his army. In the meantime, the Phocians left the city on ships with all their movable property, and Harpagus occupied the area. Before the Phocians left the Aegean on their way to Corsica, however, they returned to their city and massacred the Persian garrison. After that they took a sacred oath that never again would they return to the city by sinking a mass of red-hot iron into the sea: in spite of this, part of them dissolved their oath and returned to their homeland. The remaining part of the Phocians, after a Cadmean victory against Carthaginians and Etruscans who had ganged up against them, sailed for Reggio Calabria. Some Theians also chose to emigrate when Harpagus attacked Theo, but the rest of the Ionians stayed and were conquered.

The Persians encountered serious difficulties in ruling the Ionians. In other parts of the empire Cyrus had been able to secure the support of the leaders of the peoples in their subjugation, such as the priesthood of Judea. In the Greek cities at that time there was no group of those characteristics; the aristocracy was divided into warring factions. The Persians thus decided to establish a tyrant in each Ionian city, even though this could have triggered internal conflicts among the Ionians. Moreover, a tyrant could have made his city independent, and so he would have had to be replaced. The tyrants themselves faced a difficult task: they had to appease their fellow citizens' hatred of the Persians, their conquerors.

About 40 years after the Persian conquest of Ionia, during the reign of the fourth Achaemenid king, Darius the Great, the tyrant of Miletus Aristagoras found himself in a favorable situation. His uncle, Histieus, had accompanied Darius on a military campaign in 513 B.C. and, when the king offered him a reward, he had asked for part of the conquered territory of Thrace for himself. Although this was indeed granted to him, Histieus' ambition alarmed Darius' advisers, and Histieus was thus further "rewarded" by being forced to remain in Susa as Darius' "Royal Table Companion." Given Histieus' reputation, Aristagoras was met with great discontent in Miletus. In 500 BC. Aristagoras was approached by exiles from Naxos, who asked him to conquer the island. Seizing the opportunity to strengthen his position in Miletus by conquering Naxos, Aristagoras approached the satrap of Lydia, Artafernes, with a proposal. If Artafernes provided him with an army, Aristagoras would conquer the island, thus extending the borders of the Persian Empire, and would then give Artafernes a share of the spoils to cover the cost of the army. The satrap approved the idea and asked Darius for permission to launch the expedition. The latter agreed, and a fleet of 200 triremes was arranged to attack Naxos the following year.

In the spring of 499 BC. Artafernes organized the Persian army and put his cousin Megabates in command. He then sent ships to Miletus, where the troops enlisted by Aristagoras embarked; the fleet then sailed for Naxos.

The expedition soon proved a failure. Aristagoras and Megabates quarreled during the journey, and Herodotus says that Megabates then sent messengers to Naxos to warn its inhabitants of the army's intention. It is also possible, however, that this version of events was spread by Aristagoras to justify the failure of the campaign. In any case, the inhabitants of the island managed to prepare adequately for the siege, and the Persians arrived when the island already appeared well defended. The Persians protracted the siege for four months, but eventually both the besieged and Aristagoras ran out of funds. The fleet then set a new course for the mainland.

Because of the failure of his attempt to conquer Naxos, Aristagoras found himself in trouble: he was unable to repay Artafernes and had, moreover, distanced himself from the Persian royal family. He expected to be driven from his position by Artafernes. In a desperate attempt to save himself, Aristagoras chose to push his subjects, the Milesians, to rebel against Persia, thus starting the Ionian revolt.

In the fall of 499 BC. Aristagoras met with his trusted men in Miletus. He declared that in his opinion the Milesians should revolt; all agreed that this was true except the historian Hecataeus. At the same time a messenger sent from Histheus arrived in Miletus, asking Aristagoras to rebel against Darius. Herodotus adds that this probably occurred because Histigæus was desperate to return to Ionia, and believed he would be sent back there in case a rebellion broke out. Aristagoras then openly announced his revolt against Darius, abdicated his role as tyrant, and declared Miletus a democracy. Herodotus has no doubt that this was merely a pretext on the part of Aristagoras' faction to seize power, but it was designed to instill enthusiasm in the Milesians who had joined the revolt. The army that had been sent to Naxos was assembled at Myus and included contingents from other Greek cities in Asia Minor (i.e., Aeolia and Doris), and from Mytilene, Milas, Termera, and Cumae. Aristagoras sent men to capture all the Greek tyrants in the army and handed them over to their cities in order to gain the cooperation of those communities. Some of the tyrants were executed by their fellow citizens, but most of those were simply sent into exile. Apparently, the army was also incited to join Aristagoras' revolt (although Herodotus does not explicitly state this), and the rebels took possession of the Persians' ships. If the latter information is true, it may explain why it took the Persians so long to launch a naval attack on Ionia, since they would need to build a new fleet.

Although Herodotus shows the revolt as a result of the personal motivations of Aristagoras and Histigorus, who were afraid of losing their positions of power, nevertheless Ionia was ready for rebellion. The main sufferer was the tyrants installed by the Persians (among them Aristagoras himself). Although the states of the Hellas had in the past often been ruled by tyrants, at that time that form of government was not conceivable. Moreover, the tyrants of the past were, partly because it was necessary, capable of being strong and valiant leaders, while the governors appointed by the Persians were simply the representatives of those. Supported by the Persian army, these tyrants did not need the support of the population and could therefore act in absolute autonomy. The actions of Aristagoras, regardless of motives, were compared by some to the throwing of a flame into a container of potentially explosive substances: they sparked rebellion throughout Ionia, and, in place of tyrannies-abolished everywhere-democracies were established.

Aristagoras had revolted all of Hellenized Asia Minor, but he realized that the Ionians needed other allies to fight successfully against the Persians. In the winter of 499 B.C. he went to Sparta, the most important Greek city in military art. However, despite Aristagoras' pleas, the Spartan king Cleomenes I refused to support the revolt. Aristagoras then headed to Athens.

Athens had recently become a democracy, having overthrown its tyrant Hippias. In the struggle to establish democracy, the Athenians had sought aid from the Persians in exchange for entering the Persian area of influence. A few years later, Hippias had attempted to regain power in Athens with the support of the Spartans. This attempt failed, and Hippias fled to Artafernes, whom he tried to persuade to subjugate Athens. The Athenians sent ambassadors to Artafernes to dissuade him from taking military action, but the Persian intimated that the Athenians would again submit to the tyranny of Hippias. Of course, the Athenians did not agree and decided instead to openly declare war on Persia. Since it was already unfavorable to Persia, Athens was the right city to support the cities of Ionia in revolt. The fact that the Ionian democracies were inspired by Athenian democracy helped convince the Athenians to support Aristagoras' revolt, partly because the cities of Ionia were partly ancient Athenian colonies.

Aristagoras also managed to convince the city of Eretria to help the Ionians for reasons that are not entirely clear. These probably included commercial reasons, for Eretria was a mercantile city whose trade was threatened by Persian domination of the Aegean Sea. Herodotus states that the Eretrians supported the revolt in order to reciprocate the support that the Milesians had given them some time earlier, perhaps referring to the Lelantine war.

During the winter Aristagoras continued to foment rebellion. On one occasion he told a group of Peons, originally from Thrace and whom Darius had brought to live in Phrygia, to return to their homeland. Herodotus says that the only reason he said this was to anger the Persian high command.

Sardinians

In the spring of 498 B.C. an Athenian contingent of twenty triremes, accompanied by five boats from Eretria, sailed to Ionia and joined with the bulk of the rebel forces near Ephesus. Giving up leading the army personally, Aristagoras appointed his brother Caropinus and another man from Miletus, Hermophanthus, as generals.

The troops were then driven through the mountains to Sardis, capital of the satrapy of Artafernes. The Greeks caught the Persians by surprise and succeeded in capturing the lower part of the city. However, the Persians still held the citadel with a significant number of soldiers. A fire, according to Herodotus accidental, broke out in the lower city and spread rapidly. The Persians in the citadel, being surrounded by a burning city, went out into the market square, where they fought with the Greeks, repelling them. The latter, demoralized, retreated and returned to Ephesus. The Persians pursued them, inflicting a severe defeat.

Herodotus reports that when Darius heard about the burning of Sardis he vowed that he would take revenge against the Athenians (after asking who the Athenians really were), and he ordered a servant to remind him three times a day of his promise with the words, "Lord, remember the Athenians."

The Battle of Ephesus

Herodotus also says that when the Persians of Asia Minor learned of the attack on Sardis they gathered and marched to help Artaphernes. When they reached Sardis they found a city recently abandoned by the Greeks; so they followed their trail to Ephesus. They caught up with them just outside Ephesus and the Greeks were forced to turn around and prepare to fight. Holland writes that the Persian troops consisted mainly of cavalry (hence their ability to catch up with the Greeks).The Greeks, demoralized and tired, overwhelmed by the mobility of the cavalry were unable to withstand the Persian attack and were completely routed in the battle. Many of the rebels and their allies were killed, including the general of the Eretrians, Eualcides. The Ionians who escaped the battle returned to their cities, while the remaining Athenians and Eretrians were able to return to their ships and sailed back to Greece.

Diffusion of revolt

The Athenians withdrew their alliance with the Ionians because the Persians had proved to be anything but easy to defeat, as Aristagoras had said. However, the Ionians did not end the revolt and the Persians did not exploit their victory at Ephesus. Presumably the Persian troops were not ready to besiege a city. Despite the defeat at Ephesus, the revolt spread further. The Ionians sent men into Hellespont and Propontis and conquered Byzantium and other nearby cities. They also persuaded the Carians to join the rebellion. Seeing the rapid spread of the rebellion, the kingdoms of Cyprus also revolted against Persian rule without anyone from Ionia coming to incite them.

In Herodotus' work, the chronology about the events following the battle of Ephesus is ambiguous: historians generally place Sardis and Ephesus in 498 B.C. Herodotus then describes the spread of the revolt and says that the Cypriots had one year of freedom, so the events that happened in Cyprus are placed in 497 B.C. He then says that:

This implies the fact that the Persian generals attacked immediately after the battle of Ephesus. However, the cities that, according to Herodotus, were besieged by Dauryses were on the Hellespont, which (as the same historian had said earlier) was not involved in the revolt until after Ephesus. It is therefore more likely that Dauryses, Imee, and Othanas waited until the following season (in 497 BCE) before going on the counteroffensive. The Persian actions in the Hellespont and Caria that Herodotus describes seem to have happened in the same year and most historians place them in 497 BCE.

Cyprus

All the kingdoms in Cyprus rebelled except that of Amatunte. The leader of the revolt in the island was Onesilo, brother of the king of Salamis Gorgo. This one would not rebel, so Onesilo imprisoned him outside the city and appointed himself king. Gorgo switched sides to the Persians, and Onesilus convinced the other Cypriots, apart from the Amatuntans, to join the revolt. He then devoted himself to the siege of Amatunte.

The following year, 497 B.C., Onesilus, who was still besieging Amatunte, learned that a Persian army under Artibius had been sent to Cyprus. Onesilus then sent messengers to Ionia asking them to send reinforcements, which was done copiously. Persian troops arrived in Cyprus supported by a Phoenician fleet: the Ionians chose to fight at sea and defeated the Phoenicians. In the simultaneous land battle the Cypriots initially had the advantage, having killed Artibius; however, two Cypriot divisions defected and the islanders were turned to flight and Onesilus was killed. The Cypriot revolt was then crushed and the Ionians returned to their homeland.

Hellespont and Propontid

It appears that Persian troops in Asia Minor were reorganized in 497 B.C., and three of Darius' adopted sons, Dauryses, Imee, and Othanas, were placed at the head of the army. Herodotus says that these divided the rebel territory among themselves and thus acted independently in their own area.

Dauryses, who seems to have had the largest army, initially took his troops to Hellespont. Arriving there, he besieged and conquered the cities of Dardanus, Abydos, Percote, Lampsacus, and Peso, according to Herodotus taking only one day for each. However, when he learned that the Carians were rebelling, he moved troops southward to try to crush this new revolt. From this we infer that the rebellion in Caria took place in early 497 BCE.

Imee headed toward the Propontid and captured the city of Cio. After Dauryses had moved his army toward Caria, Imee marched on the Hellespont and captured many of the cities of the Aeolis and some of the Troad. But his campaign ended with his death following an illness. Meanwhile, Othanas, together with Artafernes, waged war in Ionia.

Caria

The Carians, learning of Daurise's imminent arrival, gathered at the "White Pillars," on the Marsia (modern Çine) River, a tributary of the Meander. Pixodorus, a relative of the king of Cilicia, suggested that the Cari should cross the river and fight with it behind them, so as to prevent their retreat and make them fight more bravely. This proposal was rejected and the Carians arranged for the Persians to cross the river and fight against them with it behind them. The ensuing battle was, according to Herodotus, very long; the Carians fought hard before succumbing under the weight of the much more numerous Persians. Herodotus writes that 10,000 Carians and 2,000 Persians died.

The survivors of Marsyas retreated to a forest sacred to Zeus at Labraunda and discussed surrendering to the Persians or fleeing to Asia. As they deliberated, however, they were joined by an army from Miletus, whose support convinced them to continue fighting. The Persians attacked the rebel army at Labraunda and inflicted an even heavier defeat on it, killing a particularly large number of Milesians.

After the double victory against the Carians, Daurise set about destroying some of that population's strongholds. The Carians, however, wanted to continue to oppose the Persians and decided to ambush them on the road near Pedaso. Herodotus writes that this occurred immediately after Labraunda, but it has been suggested that the Battle of Pedaso occurred the following year, 496 B.C., so that the Carians had time to reorganize. The Persians arrived in Pedaso during the night and the ambush succeeded perfectly. The Persian army was annihilated and Dauryses and the other commanders were killed. The victory of the rebels at Pedaso seems to have given rise to a stalemate in the land campaign, and, apparently, very little warfare took place in 496 and 495 BCE.

Ionia

The third Persian army, under the command of Othanas and Artafernes, attacked Ionia and Aeolis. Clazomene and Cumae were recaptured, probably in 497 B.C.E., but, probably because of the defeat suffered in Caria, in 496 and 495 B.C.E. the operations of the Persians were slowed down.

At the height of the Persian counteroffensive Aristagoras, realizing the untenability of his position, decided to abandon leadership of Miletus and the revolt. He abandoned the city with all the members of his faction, who accompanied him as far as the part of Thrace that Darius had granted to Histiæus after the campaign of 513 B.C. Herodotus, who evidently gives us a rather negative view of him, says that Aristagoras simply lost his courage and fled. Some modern historians argue instead that he moved to Thrace to exploit the region's greater natural resources, and thus to support the revolt. Others reiterate that, having found himself at the center of an internal conflict in Miletus, he chose to go into exile rather than aggravate the situation.

In Thrace he took control of the city that Histieus had founded, Myrcinus (which would later become Amphipolis), and waged a campaign against the Thracian population of the area. But he was killed by the Thracians in the course of a campaign, probably in 497 or 496 BC. Aristagoras was the only person able to make sense of the revolt; after his death therefore the rebellion remained without a leader.

Shortly thereafter Histieus was able to free himself from his obligations in Susa and returned to Ionia. He had convinced Darius to let him travel there by promising that he would put down the Ionian revolt. However, for Herodotus there is no doubt that his real goal was simply to escape from semi-slavery in Persia. As soon as he arrived in Sardis he was accused by Artafernes of fomenting the rebellion along with Aristagoras: "I will tell you, Histieus, the truth about this matter: it was you who created this shoe, and Aristagoras was the one who wore it." Isthieus fled that night to Chios and eventually returned to Miletus. However, the Milesians had absolutely no intention of resubmitting to a tyrant, having just gotten rid of the previous one. He therefore headed for Mytilene and persuaded its inhabitants to provide him with eight triremes. He sailed for Byzantium with all who would follow him and settled there, living by capturing all ships that sailed across the Bosporus unless they decided to serve him.

Battle of Lade

By the sixth year of the revolt, 494 BCE, the Persian troops had assembled. The available land forces were gathered into a single army and were joined by a fleet consisting of Cypriots, Egyptians, Cilicians and Phoenicians. The Persians headed straight for Miletus, paying little attention to the other strongholds, presumably intending to deal a heavy blow right at the center of the revolt. It is known that the middle general Dati, an expert in Greek politics, was sent to Ionia by Darius; it is therefore possible that this was in command of the Persian offensive.

Learning of the size of the enemy army, the Ionians met at the Panionion and decided not to fight on land, leaving the Milesians to defend their city. Rather, they chose to gather as many ships as possible and head to the island of Lade, off Miletus, in order to "fight for Miletus at sea." The Ionians received reinforcements from the Aeolides and Lesvos, managing to have a total of 353 triremes.

According to Herodotus, the Persian commanders feared that they would not be able to defeat the Ionian fleet and, therefore, would not be able to conquer Miletus. So they sent the former Ionian tyrants to Lades, where they tried to convince their fellow citizens to switch to the Persians' side. This attempt is initially unsuccessful, but in the period before the battle divisions arose within the rebel camp. These disagreements caused the Samian soldiers to secretly accept the Persians' terms, but they remained with the other Ionians for some time.

Shortly thereafter the Persian fleet moved to attack the Ionians, who were sailing toward them. However, since the two sides were approaching each other, the Samian ships left the place where they were and returned home, as they had agreed with the Persians. The Lesbians, seeing them fleeing, decided to emulate them, causing the dissolution of the rest of the Ionian army. The troops from Chios, along with a small number of ships from other cities, remained to fight valiantly against the Persians, but most of the Ionians returned to their homeland. The remaining rebels at one point broke through the Persian line and captured many ships, but they in turn suffered many losses; the remaining Chian ships probably left, thus ending the battle.

Fall of Miletus

With the defeat of the Ionian fleet, the revolt could be considered effectively over. Miletus was tightly besieged, and the Persians conquered it using every means at their disposal. According to Herodotus most of the men were killed, while the women and children were enslaved. Archaeological evidence supports this view; in fact, signs of destruction and abandonment of much of the city were found just days after Lade. However, some Milesians remained in the city, or returned soon after, thinking that Miletus would, one day, regain its former greatness.

Miletus was thus "left empty of Milesians"; the Persians conquered the city and kept that and the coastal territory for themselves, then ceded the rest of the land of Miletus to the Carians. The Milesians captives were taken to Darius, to Susa, who ordered them to settle on the Persian Gulf coast near the mouth of the Tigris.

Many of the people of Samos became concerned upon seeing the actions of their generals in Lade and decided to emigrate before their previous tyrant, Aeace of Samos, returned to rule the island. They accepted an invitation from the people of Zancles to settle on the coast of Sicily and took with them the Milesians who had managed to escape the Persians. Samos, however, was spared destruction by the defection of its soldiers at the Battle of Lade. Most of Caria surrendered to the Persians, although some strongholds had to be taken by force.

Istieo's campaign

When Histieus heard of the fall of Miletus he appointed himself the leader of the resistance against Persia. He set out from Byzantium with soldiers from Lesbos and sailed to Chios. The inhabitants of that island refused to take him in, so he attacked and destroyed what remained of the Chian fleet. Blocked by the two defeats at sea, the island then submitted to Histiæus.

Histieus then gathered a large army of Ionians and Aeolians and laid siege to Thassos. However, he received news that the Persian fleet was sailing from Miletus to attack the rest of that Ionia, so he hurriedly returned to Lesbos. To provide sustenance for his army he led foraging expeditions to the mainland near Atarneus and Miunte. Unfortunately, there was in the area a large Persian army commanded by Harpagus, which intercepted a foraging expedition near Malene. The ensuing battle was fought very tenaciously, but ended with a Persian cavalry charge that broke through the Greek array. Histiæus surrendered to the Persians, thinking that he might try to win forgiveness from Darius. Instead he was taken into custody by Artafernes, who, aware of Histieus' earlier treachery, had him executed and sent his embalmed head to Darius.

Final Operations

The Persian fleet and army wintered in Miletus and then left in 493 B.C. to finally eradicate the last outbreaks of the revolt. They attacked and conquered the islands of Chios, Lesvos, and Tenedos. On each of those they carried out troop sweeps to unearth any rebel hideouts. Then they concentrated on the mainland and took all the remaining cities of Ionia, in which they searched for more rebels as they had done in the islands. Herodotus says that the Persians chose the handsomest boys from each city and castrated them, and sent the most beautiful girls to the king's harem; then they set fire to the temples. Although this fact is probably true, Herodotus certainly exaggerates the extent of the damage. Within a few years the cities were back to normal, and they were able to equip a large fleet for the Second Persian War only 13 years later.

The Persian army then recaptured the Asian part of the Propontid, while the fleet sailed along the European coast of the Hellespont capturing all the cities it encountered. Since all of Asia Minor was permanently back under Persian rule, the revolt could be considered finally over.

After punishing the rebels, the Persians implemented a policy of peace toward them. For since these regions were again Persian territory, it made no sense to further damage their economies, perhaps to spark further rebellions. Darius I therefore thought about restoring a peaceful relationship with his subjects. He summoned the representatives of each Ionian city to Sardis and told them that from then on, before it came to war, disputes would be settled through arbitrators, for example by a court of judges. He also reviewed the territory of each city to establish a tribute proportional to its size. Artafernes recognized the Ionians' aversion to tyranny and resumed the idea of direct rule over the region. The following year Mardonius another adopted son of Darius, came to Ionia and abolished tyrannies and replaced them with democracies. The period of peace initiated by Artafernes was long remembered as just and equitable. Darius actively incited the Persian nobility in the area to participate in Greek religious practices, particularly those regarding Apollo. Chronicles of the time report that Persian and Greek nobility began to unite with bonds such as marriage and the children of Persian nobles were given Greek names instead of Persian. These concessions by Darius were used as the king's propaganda to the Greeks on the continent, so much so that in 491 B.C.E., when Darius sent messengers throughout Greece to ask for his submission (they demanded these in fact "land and water"), initially most poleis accepted the offers, with the sole exceptions of Athens and Sparta.

The only unfinished business remaining for the Persians at the end of 493 BCE was the punishment of Athens and Eretria for supporting the revolt. This had seriously threatened the stability of the Achaemenid Empire, and the states of mainland Greece would continue to do so if they were not dealt with. Darius thus began to plan the complete conquest of Greece, beginning with the destruction of Athens and Eretria.

The first invasion of Greece began the following year, 492 BCE, when Mardonius was sent to complete the pacification of Ionia, attempting, if possible, to launch attacks on Athens and Eretria. Thrace was resubdued after disobeying Persian laws during the revolt, and Macedonia was forced to become a vassal state of Persia. However, the progress of the expedition was halted by the sinking of the Persian fleet. A second expedition was launched in 490 BC under the command of Dati and Artafernes, son of the satrap of the same name. This army sailed across the Aegean, subduing the Cycladic islands before arriving in Euboea. Eretria was besieged, conquered and destroyed, and the troops headed into Attica. Landing in Marathon Bay, they clashed with a small Athenian army and were defeated at the Battle of Marathon, which ended the first attempt by the Persians to subdue Greece.

The Ionian revolt is most important as the spark of the Persian Wars, which included the two invasions of Greece and the famous battles of Marathon, Thermopylae, and Salamis. For the rebels, the revolt ended in failure and great material and economic losses. However, with the exception of Miletus, they recovered their wealth relatively quickly and prospered under Persian rule for the following forty years. For the Persians the revolt was important as the first warlike approach to the states of Greece, which was followed by a war that lasted for fifty years with considerable losses on both sides.

In the military aspect, it is difficult to draw firm conclusions from the Ionian revolt other than the fact that Greeks and Persians knew each other in terms of the mode of warfare. The Athenians, and the Greeks in general, were impressed by the power of the Persian cavalry, which is reflected in the fact that, later, the Hellenes paid close attention in clashes with the cavalry of the Persians. Conversely, it seems that the Persians did not understand or notice the war potential of the Greek hoplites, who represented the heavy infantry. At the Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C., the Persians held the hoplites in low regard, and this was the real reason for their defeat. Moreover, despite the possibility of recruiting heavy infantry from their domains, the Persians waged the Second Persian War without doing so and therefore again encountered great problems in the face of the Greek armies. It is possible that, given the ease of their victories at Ephesus, Marsyas and Labraunda, the Persians simply ignored, to their cost, the military valor of the Hoplite phalanx.

Sources

1. Ionian Revolt
2. Rivolta ionica