| |
The battle of the Maeander in
497 was the first of three battles between Carian rebels and the Persians that
eventually disrupted the first major Persian counterattack during the Ionian
Revolt. The revolt broke out in 499, and at first it only involved the Greek
cities of Ionia. In 498 the rebels attacked Sardis, capital of the Persian
satrapy of Lydia (north of Caria), and in the aftermath of this limited success
the Carians decided to join the revolt.
Ionian Revolt, 499-493:
Darius responded to the revolt by sending three commanders to Asia Minor. At
first the new Persian commanders met with success. One army, under Daurises, a
son-in-law of Darius, moved to the Hellespont and recaptured Dardanus, Abydus,
Percote, Lampsacus and Paesus. Daurises was forced to abandon this campaign
when news of the Carian revolt reached him. He turned south and began to march
across Anatolia towards Caria. The Carians had advance warning of the Persian
attack. They met in council at White Pillars on the River Marsyas, where they
decided to make their stand on the south bank of the River Maeander, on their
northern border. This would put the river behind the Persians and increase the
scale of any potential Carian victory. Daurises crossed the Maeander close to
its junction with the River Marsyas, which flows north into it. According to
Herodotus the battle was long and hard fought, but eventually their greater
numbers gave the Persians the victory. The Carians were said to have suffered
10,000 casualties, the Persians 2,000, suggesting a fairly even fight at least
at the start. The surviving Carians fled south to the sanctuary of Zeus the God
of War at Labraunda, west of the River Marsyas, and at the eastern end of the
peninsula that led out to Miletus. They received reinforcements from Miletus,
and decided to fight again, but suffered a second, even heavier defeat (battle
of Labraunda, in 497.
|
|
