For centuries, the formidable kingdom of Lydia dominated much of Asia Minor, including the vibrant Ionian colonies along the coast. Croesus, Lydia’s final ruler—a visionary yet expansionist monarch—inspired both admiration and trepidation throughout Greece. The tales of his wealth and splendor were legendary.
Yet, beneath the opulence lay a foundation destined to crumble. Like many empires throughout history, Lydia’s dazzling rise proved as breathtaking as its swift downfall. When the once-mighty Median power succumbed to the Persians, Croesus sought to bolster its waning strength. In doing so, he ignited a conflict with Cyrus and sealed Lydia’s fate.
The Persian Juggernaut: Ionian Subjugation and Beyond
Cyrus, the Persian king and founder of his eponymous empire, having overthrown the Medes, turned his unrelenting gaze toward Croesus. In his wake, Lydia fell, its capital—Sardis—sacked by the invaders. Cyrus had initially offered the Greek cities a chance to revolt; their refusal would become a bitter decision to regret. When they later wished to submit, now under Persian rule, Cyrus spared only Miletus. He unleashed his general Harpagus—a formidable Median warrior—to bring the remaining colonies in line.
The Phocaeans, celebrated for their maritime prowess, were the first to resist Harpagus. In a feint of cunning, they pretended to consider surrender terms, only to swiftly evacuate their beloved city under the cover of truce. Despite yearning for a peaceful settlement in the Greek isles, fate had other plans. Driven by vengeance for their losses, they returned to Phocaea, slaughtering the Persian garrison.
Their course was set for Corsica, where they had previously established a colony. Yet, the specter of the past haunted them. Solemnly they swore an oath – to never return to Phocaea until a cast iron lump rose from the ocean’s depths. Yet, even the strongest wills waver, and more than half broke the oath, succumbing to homesickness. Those who pressed on met with further conflict. Piracy provoked a brutal, unified counterattack by the Carthaginians and Tuscans. Though victorious, the losses were heavy. Flight, once again, became their only recourse.
Massilia, known to us today as Marseilles, emerged from that exodus. This Gallic haven was blessed with a superior harbor, and in time blossomed into a wealthy and influential city-state. Its reach extended far along the Gallic coast and even touched the shores of Spain.
The Teians, following the Phocaean example, set sail for Thrace, where they founded Abdera. The remaining cities, recognizing the futility of isolated resistance, made a desperate gamble by joining forces. Alas, defeat was swift. Facing Harpagus’ relentless advance, they accepted peace on whatever terms the Persians offered. Persia’s dominance of Asia Minor was complete.
The Consolidation and Expansion of the Persian Empire
Cyrus, conqueror of Babylon, was not merely a military mastermind. His governance of his sprawling empire demonstrated remarkable administrative prowess, revealing his quest to unify his vast dominion into a cohesive whole. Upon his death, his legacy passed to Cambyses. After a successful conquest of Egypt, Cambyses succumbed to madness, tragically ending his reign after only eight years. Following a brief interlude of turmoil, Darius, son of Hystaspes, ascended the throne. Darius, known for his administrative acumen, diligently fostered internal growth and increased imperial revenues. Yet, the specter of unrest loomed, necessitating a military campaign to quell the turbulent military elements of his diverse subjects, lest he face scorn as an unwarlike ruler – a fate abhorrent in the East.
Darius sought vengeance for a century-old Scythian invasion, targeting the barbarians of the vast Scythian territories (which encompass modern-day Russia and Tartary). From the Hellespont, his armies marched along the Euxine Sea’s western shores. Surrendering nations bowed in his path until he crossed the Danube and entered Scythia. Lacking fixed cities or cultivated lands, the Scythians lived a nomadic existence, subsisting on their herds. They strategically retreated, refusing to be drawn into battle by an enemy force consisting primarily of infantry. The harsh wilderness and scarcity of supplies left the Persians weakened and vulnerable. Their retreat was relentless, harried by a superior Scythian cavalry, until they crossed the Danube with heavy losses. Despite failing to subjugate Scythia, Darius’ audacity solidified his reputation and expanded his dominion through the subjugation of Thrace and Macedonia.
Persian dominion over its Greek vassal states was shrewdly maintained through appointed tyrants, beholden to the Persian king for their power. Histiaeus, tyrant of wealthy Miletus, enjoyed royal favor. Gifted with Thracian land rich in timber and silver, Histiaeus became a potential threat. Alarmed by the prospect of a revolt backed by the naval might of Greece, Darius lured Histiaeus to Susa under false pretenses, passing the reins of Miletus to his relative, Aristagoras.
Naxos, Betrayal, and Ionian Fire: The Seeds of the Greco-Persian Wars
In the prosperous and bustling island of Naxos, a clash of political factions had erupted. The victorious democrats banished their wealthy rivals, who then sought the aid of Aristagoras, the ambitious tyrant of Miletus. Seizing an opportunity for power, Aristagoras concocted a scheme to restore the Naxian exiles and position himself as their puppet ruler. To bolster his strength, he sought support from Artaphernes, the powerful Persian satrap and brother of King Darius.
With Artaphernes’ blessing, an imposing armada of 200 galleys and a Persian force led by Megabates, a noble of royal blood, set sail under the pretense of a Hellespont campaign. However, a rift between the commanders led Megabates to betray the expedition’s true goal to the Naxians, giving them ample time to prepare their defenses. After a grueling but fruitless four-month siege, the Persians retreated, having squandered both Artaphernes’ funds and a sizeable portion of Aristagoras’ own wealth.
Fearing reprisal from both a vengeful Megabates and a displeased Artaphernes, Aristagoras foresaw his downfall. At this pivotal moment, a clandestine message arrived from his father-in-law, Histiaeus, who was held captive at the Persian court in Susa. Histiaeus, weary of his indefinite detention, urged Aristagoras towards a desperate act—fomenting a full-scale revolt amongst the restless Greeks under Persian rule. With his resolve hardened, Aristagoras, cleverly seizing control of the returning Naxos expedition, relinquished his tyrannical rule and dramatically declared the return of democracy. It was a dazzling act that sparked popular revolt throughout Ionia and Aeolis.
Aristagoras embarked on a diplomatic mission to mainland Greece, seeking military aid. While Sparta balked, Athens, seething with rage at a recent Persian demand to restore their own exiled tyrant, granted Athenian ships and support to their besieged Ionian brethren. This united force, in a bold stroke, captured and plundered the Lydian capital of Sardis. However, this initial success was short-lived. Misfortune struck as flames from a burning house ignited the city, rallying the inhabitants. In the face of this determined defense, the Greeks retreated.
The humiliation inflicted upon Sardis brought swift Persian retribution. A powerful army descended upon the rebels, culminating in a decisive battle at Ephesus. The Greek forces were ruthlessly crushed, their commanders slain, and their alliance shattered. Athens, chastened by the defeat, withdrew.
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Reconquest of Asiatic Greeks and taking of Miletus
The Ionians, a Hellenic people residing along the coast of Asia Minor, boldly challenged the might of the Persian Empire. Their revolt spread swiftly, finding allies in Byzantium and across the Propontis. To the south, Caria joined the uprising as well. In Cyprus, King Onesilus of Salamis rallied his people against Persian rule, laying siege to the lone holdout of Amathus. However, Persian reinforcements were imminent.
The Ionians, recognizing the threat, dispatched their fleet to aid the Cypriots. But the naval support arrived tragically late. The Cypriots bravely fought a two-front battle, yet succumbed to the superior Persian forces, losing both King Onesilus and their hard-won independence.
Meanwhile, the Persian armies swept through Ionia and Aeolis, crushing resistance. Cuma, a vital Aeolian town, fell, as did Clazomenae in Ionia. Despite a surprise victory for the Carians, the tide seemed irreversible. Persian forces converged on Miletus, the epicenter of the revolt, initiating a relentless siege.
Aristagoras, the instigator of the uprising, despaired. Branded a traitor by Persia, he abandoned Miletus for the Thracian colony of Myrcinus, where he met his end while besieging a local town.
Histiaeus, once an advisor to the Persian King Darius, found himself dismissed from court and entangled in the revolt he helped instigate. Suspected of treachery, he found refuge among his countrymen in Ionia, turning to piracy to strike at both Persian and Greek targets. Ultimately, he too met his end, captured on an Asian raid and crucified at Sardis.
Cut off by land and sea, Miletus’s fate was sealed. The defenders called a Panionian assembly, resolving to make their stand at sea. Three hundred and fifty-three Greek triremes, sleek warships bristling with warriors, faced a daunting Persian armada of six hundred vessels, composed mainly of Phoenician, Cyprian, Cilician, and Egyptian ships. Despite their numerical disadvantage, the Greeks were renowned for their naval prowess. Yet, the Persian commanders, fearing a costly engagement, sowed discord through secret negotiations and threats directed at the various Greek contingents.
The Samian fleet, already demoralized and distrustful, was the first to succumb to Persian promises of leniency. Their shameful flight at the battle’s outset triggered a chaotic collapse. Though the Chians fought valiantly, the rout was complete. Dionysius, the Phocaean commander, with his meager three remaining ships, achieved a symbolic victory before fleeing Phocaea forever. Turning pirate, he ravaged Phoenician, Carthaginian, and Tuscan shipping.
The Persians relentlessly tightened their grip on Miletus, finally breaching its defenses in the sixth year of the revolt. A city once bursting with vitality was reduced to ashes. The conquered endured a grim fate: men slaughtered, women and children enslaved, and their ancestral lands turned over to Persian rule. In a rare act of conciliation, the traitor Aeaces was allowed to retain control of Samos, while the defiant Samians took to exile in Sicily. Persian forces swept through the islands of the Aegean, extinguishing the last embers of resistance.
In the aftermath, Persian authority focused on rebuilding and establishing order. Artaphemes, the Persian satrap, worked with Greek representatives to curtail destructive regional conflicts and ensure legal recourse for disputes. Surprisingly, he reinstated the pre-war level of tribute, a concession that would outlive his administration.
The Persian Threat and the Rise of Hellenic Resistance
Following the conquest of Miletus, the Persian Empire, under Darius’ rule, embarked on a campaign of vengeance against Athens and Eretria for the burning of Sardis. The young general Mardonius, newly married to Darius’ daughter, led this expedition. In a shrewd move to win support from the Ionian and Aeolian Greeks, Mardonius abandoned the usual Persian practice of imposing tyrannical rule, instead establishing democracies in the Greek cities.
Mardonius amassed a formidable army and fleet, crossing the Hellespont into Thrace. The Thracians, with the exception of a few fierce mountain tribes, were already subjugated. Macedonia, previously tributary to Persia, reaffirmed its submission. However, disaster struck as a violent storm wrecked some 300 Persian ships and claimed over 20,000 lives while rounding the promontory of Athos. Further, a night ambush by the Brygian Thracians resulted in significant casualties and wounded Mardonius himself. Despite subduing the Brygians, the Persian forces, demoralized and their fleet severely damaged, retreated to Asia for the winter.
The preceding year, Darius had sought to assert his dominance by dispatching heralds throughout Greece, demanding earth and water as symbols of submission. While many continental towns and most of the islands acquiesced, Athens and Sparta defiantly refused. In a brutal act violating international custom, the Athenians and Spartans killed the heralds — the Athenians casting them into a pit, the Spartans into a well. Amidst those who submitted were Thebes and Aegina. Aegina’s longstanding rivalry with Athens prompted the Athenians to accuse the Aeginetans of betraying Greece and to appeal to Sparta for assistance.
Recent Athenian-Spartan hostilities were temporarily set aside in the face of the Persian threat, a circumstance Sparta welcomed. King Cleomenes of Sparta rashly ventured to Aegina himself to apprehend those responsible for the submission. Though prevented, the Aeginetans acknowledged Sparta’s leadership, arguing that Cleomenes lacked official sanction from his state for such an action.
Meanwhile, Cleomenes’ rival, King Demaratus, exploited his absence to undermine his authority. A dispute over Demaratus’ legitimacy arose, which Cleomenes capitalized upon. By bribing the Delphic Oracle to pronounce Demaratus illegitimate, Cleomenes ensured Demaratus’ deposition and flight to Persia, paving the way for Leotychides to ascend to the throne. Joined by Leotychides, Cleomenes returned to Aegina where, under Spartan leadership, Aegina surrendered. Ten prominent Aeginetans were handed over to Athens as hostages to ensure the island’s loyalty to the Hellenic cause.
The Rise and Fall of Cleomenes I
Cleomenes, King of Sparta, was a complex figure of ambition and brutality. After a decisive victory over Argos, where he slaughtered many who sought sanctuary in a sacred grove, Cleomenes found himself an outcast for his sacrilege. The act, along with the alleged bribing of the Delphic Oracle, brought suspicion that his subsequent madness was a form of divine retribution. Some attributed it to the Argive massacre, while Spartans condemned his excessive drinking habits.
Political strife led to an alliance between Athens and exiled rebels from the island of Aegina, setting off a war between the two powers. Athens aided Aegina, which had its own internal conflicts, but the island ultimately fell to Sparta.
As Greece teetered on the brink of instability, the looming threat of the Persian Empire was again on the rise. The former Persian general, Mardonius, was replaced by a new leadership duo eager to exact revenge on Athens and Eretria for previous setbacks. They launched a campaign of island conquest across the Aegean. The city of Eretria was besieged for six days and ultimately betrayed from within. Persia’s arrival in Attica, at Marathon, was a prelude to a dramatic showdown that would heavily feature a rising Athenian military leader: Miltiades.
Miltiades, nephew of the former Thracian Chersonese tyrant, inherited the position through shrewd tactics and strategic marriage. Despite a questionable early proposal to leave Darius and his army stranded in Scythia, potentially turning the tide of Persian power, he was expelled and later reinstated in his position. Fearing Persian repercussions, he fled to Athens where he was initially treated with suspicion but ultimately embraced by the Athenians for his military talents. His appointment as a general, and his subsequent decisive leadership, would prove crucial in the battles to come.
The Battle of Marathon: A Decisive Athenian Victory
With their generals locked in debate over whether to defend Athens or confront the Persians on the battlefield, the decision fell to Polemarch Callimachus. The seasoned strategist Miltiades urged action, highlighting the potential for internal discord and treachery during a prolonged siege. He convincingly argued that a swift, decisive battle offered a chance for unity and victory. Persuaded, Callimachus and the Athenian army marched alongside their steadfast Platean allies toward the plain of Marathon to face the imposing Persian force. This force, rumored at 100,000, far outnumbered the combined armies of Athens and Plataea.
Miltiades, intimately familiar with Persian tactics, understood the inherent limitations of the numerically superior, but less disciplined Persian army. He knew their strength lay primarily in cavalry and archery, not close combat. He devised a strategy exploiting the terrain. Confined to the narrow plain of Marathon, the vast Persian forces could not encircle the Greeks, nullifying their numerical advantage. Further, he weakened the center of his line, strengthening the wings, and ordered his soldiers to charge at a run to rapidly close the distance. This tactic minimized the effectiveness of the Persian archers and forced a melee-style of combat favoring the Greeks’ heavily-armored phalanx.
The clash was fierce. Briefly, the Persians broke through the Athenian center but were quickly routed on the flanks. The Athenians, pivoting with remarkable discipline, closed upon the Persian center, inflicting heavy casualties and causing a panicked retreat to their ships. With astonishing speed, Miltiades rallied his troops, returning to Athens just ahead of the Persian fleet, which abandoned their conquest attempt upon finding the city defended.
The Battle of Marathon was a remarkable triumph. The losses were asymmetrical: 6400 Persians fell compared to a mere 192 Athenians and Plataeans. Darius, the Persian king, displayed an unexpected measure of mercy to the captives from Eretria, who were exiled but well-treated.
The courage displayed at Marathon became a source of enduring pride. Athens had asked Sparta for aid, and despite initial reluctance, 2000 Spartan soldiers arrived shortly after the battle eager to honor the Athenian sacrifice. Importantly, Herodotus notes the Athenians “first of the Greeks advanced running on their enemies.” The Battle of Marathon shattered the myth of Persian invincibility and ignited Hellenic spirit in the wars to come.
Miltiades: Athenian Hero or Opportunistic Warlord?
Miltiades, the celebrated Athenian general whose strategies secured victory at Marathon, enjoyed unparalleled public esteem. This goodwill empowered him to secure an impressive fleet of seventy ships without disclosing his true intentions. Under the premise of enriching Athens and punishing Paros for their service to Persia, he sailed forth. But personal vengeance, it would seem, was his driving force.
After failing to extract a massive tribute from the Parians, Miltiades suffered both a military defeat and a personal wound. His inglorious return to Athens was met not with accolades, but with a trial initiated by the reputable Xanthippus. No longer able to wield his oratorical prowess due to his injury, Miltiades’ legacy became his only defense. Athenian sympathy, fueled by lingering admiration for his past victories, spared him the death penalty. Yet, a substantial fine of fifty talents, later paid by his son Cimon, was imposed. His wound festered and claimed his life shortly thereafter.
Historical narratives often paint Miltiades’ treatment as a shameful display of Athenian ingratitude. However, a critical examination reveals a far more complex picture. Miltiades’ unprovoked assault on Paros, driven by personal motives, was a flagrant abuse of power that demanded accountability. Popular resentment likely stemmed less from his moral failings and more from his failure to deliver promised riches. The relatively modest fine, considering Cimon’s wealth, suggests lingering public compassion for Miltiades, ultimately resulting in a lenient sentence for crimes that could have warranted far harsher consequences.
