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Histiaeus, died 493, the son of Lysagoras,
was a Greek ruler of Miletus in the late 6th century. Histiaeus was a Tyrant
under Darius I, king of Persia, who had subjugated Miletus and the other Ionian
states in Asia Minor, and was in the habit of appointing Greek tyrants to rule
the Greek cities of Ionia in his territory.
Scythian campaign of Darius I (circa 513):
According to Herodotus, Histiaeus, along with the other Chiefs/Tyrants under
Darius' rule, took part in the Persian expedition against the Scythians, and
were put in charge of defending the bridge that Darius' troops had placed
across the Danube River. The Scythians attempted to persuade Histiaeus and the
others to abandon the bridge; one faction, led by Miltiades of Athens, at that
time tyrant of the Chersonese, wanted to follow the Scythians' advice. However,
Histiaeus argued that they should stay, as they owed their positions as tyrants
to Darius and would surely be overthrown if he were killed. Instead, according
to Herodotus, Histiaeus suggested that they pretend to follow the Scythian
plan. So Histiaeus was sent as an ambassador to the Scythians to tell them that
the tyrants would accept the Scythian plan, while the rest of the tyrants acted
as if they were demolishing the bridge. Histiaeus persuaded the Scythians to
look for the Persian forces. Herodotus writes that while the Scythians were
away, the Persians returned to the Danube and Histiaeus organized the ships to
successfully ferry them across the river.
During the expedition, Histiaeus' troops had started building a settlement at
Myrcinus (site of the later Amphipolis) on the Strymon River. After returning
with Darius to Sardis, Darius asked Histiaeus what he wanted in return for his
service. Histiaeus responded that he wanted to be given control over Myrcinus,
to which Darius agreed. However, the Persian commander
Megabazus suspected
Histiaeus' interest in the strategically important area, which controlled key
roads from Persian controlled territory into Europe, as well as known sources
of silver and timber. Nevertheless, Darius considered Histiaeus to be loyal,
and asked him to come back to Susa with him as a friend and advisor. Histiaeus'
nephew and son-in-law Aristagoras was left in
control of Miletus.
Ionian revolt
(499-494):
However, according to Herodotus, Histiaeus was unhappy having to stay in Susa,
and made plans to return to his position as King of Miletus by instigating a
revolt in Ionia. In 499, he shaved the head of his most trusted slave, tattooed
a message on his head, and then waited for his hair to grow back. The slave was
then sent to Aristagoras, who was instructed to shave the slave's head again
and read the message, which told him to revolt against the Persians.
Aristagoras, who was disliked by his own subjects after an expedition to Naxos
ended in failure, followed Histiaeus' command, and with help from the Athenians
and Eretrians, attacked and burned Sardis. When Darius learned of the revolt,
he sent for Histiaeus, who pretended to have no knowledge of its origins, but
asked to be sent back to Miletus to put down the revolt. Herodotus writes that
Darius permitted him to leave. On his way back, Histiaeus went to Sardis, where
the satrap Artaphernes suspected Histiaeus' role in the revolt, forcing
Histiaeus to flee to Chios. Histiaeus tried unsuccessfully to build a fleet
while on Chios. He then returned to Miletus with the aim of becoming tyrant
once more. However, the Miletians did not want a return to tyranny and exiled
him to Lesbos. There, he gathered some ships and, according to Herodotus, began
committing acts of piracy in the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea from a base in
Byzantium. Meanwhile, the Persians defeated the leaders of the Ionian revolt at
the Battle of Lade in 494.
When Histiaeus learned of this he left Byzantium, and his troops attacked
Chios, blockaded Thasos and then attempted to land on the mainland to attack
the Persians. After joining a Greek force in battle against the Persians, he
was captured by the Persian general, Harpagus in 493. The satrap Artaphernes
did not want to send him back to Susa, where he suspected that Darius would
pardon him, so he executed him by impaling, and sent his head to Darius.
According to Herodotus, Darius still did not believe Histiaeus was a traitor
and gave his head an honourable burial.
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Histiaeus (d.c.494/493) Was the
Tyrant of Miletus during the reign of Darius I and was said to have helped save
the Persian army during an expedition across the Danube, before later turning
on Darius and encouraging the Ionian Revolt of 500/499. Histiaeus was the ruler
of the Greek city of Miletus on Anatolia at a time when the area was ruled by
the Persian Empire. In 513 Darius I, the Persian Emperor, decided to campaign
against the Scythians north of the Danube. The Persians left their Greek
subjects in charge of the bridge over the Danube while they attempted to come
to grips with the nomads. Darius's campaign soon became bogged down, and he
decided to return to the bridge. While he had been away the Greeks had been
discussing if they should destroy the bridge. Histiaeus managed to convince
them to leave the bridge intact, allowing Darius and his army to retreat
intact. Histiaeus was rewarded with lands in Thrace as a reward.
Ionian Revolt, 499-493:
Histiaeus soon fell out of favour with Darius, and was forced to move to Susa,
where he became a virtual prisoner. His son in law Aristagoras replaced him at Miletus. According to
Herodotus Histiaeus began to send messages to Aristagoras in an attempt to
convince the Ionian cities to revolt. In order to get the message past Darius
he had one of his slaves shave his head, tattoed the message on his head, and
then allowed his hair to re-grow. Once the message was hidden, the slave was
sent to Miletus, where he told Aristagoras to shave his head and read the
message. One can't help think a verbal message would have been easier. When the
revolt finally broke out, Histiaeus convinced Darius that he could put down the
revolts and then go on to conquer Sardinia for him (a rather random promise).
Darius was convinced, and allowed Histiaeus to return to Asia Minor. He arrived
at Sardis at about the same time as the failure of the first Persian
counterattack in 397-396, and just after Aristagoras, his successor at Miletus,
had lost his nerve and fled to Thrace. He was unable to convince the local
Persian satrap, Artaphernes, of his loyalty and
was soon forced to flee to Chios.
The Chians didn’t trust him either, and locked him up. He was soon able to
convince them that he was on their side, and was released. His is said to have
told the Chians that Darius had planned to swap the populations of Ionia and
Phoenicia, a rather odd plot. Next he attempted to ferment trouble at Sardis,
using a messenger called Hermippus of Atarneus to take messages to discontented
Persians in the city. Hermippus betrayed him and took the messages straight to
Artaphernes, who used them to gather evidence against the potential rebels, who
were then executed. Histiaeus's next move was an attempt to regain power at
Miletus. He was rejected by the Milesians, and an attempt to regain power by
force failed. He was wounded in the attempt and had to return to Chios. By now
the Chians appear to have been sick of him, and refused his request to be given
a fleet.
His next move was to Mytilene on Lesbos. The Lesbians granted him eight ships,
and he took them to Byzantium, where he became something of a pirate,
intercepting ships coming from the Black Sea and only releasing them if they
acknowledged him as the Ionian leader. In 494 the Persians launched a major
offensive against Miletus. The Ionians gathered a major fleet, but they were
defeated in a naval battle at Lade in 494, an
island close to Miletus. Miletus was besieged and captured, and the Ionian
cause was close to collapse. Histiaeus's motives after this battle are hard to
understand. If he was attempting to act as the leader of Ionian resistance then
his first actions are difficult to excuse. He left Byzantium, and sailed to
Chios. A local garrison refused to let him pass, he attacked them, and then
conquered the island with the help of his Lesbian allies. The Chians had
suffered the heaviest losses at Lade, where they had refused to flee until most
of their fleet had been sunk. He used Chios as a base for an attack on Thasos,
off the coast of Thrace. This attack had to be abandoned after the Persian
fleet left Miletus and began to advance around the coast of Asia Minor. He
withdrew from Chios and moved to Lesbos, where he prepared to defend the
island. Supplies soon ran short, and Histiaeus decided to raid the mainland to
harvest food in Atarneus, on the mainland opposite Lesbos.
He landed at Malene, close to the city, but unfortunately for him a Persian
army under a general called Harpagus was in the vicinity. The Persians
intercepted Histiaeus, and defeated him in battle (battle of Malene, 494). Histiaeus was taken to
Artaphernes, who decided that it was too dangerous to send him to the court of
Darius, where he would probably be able to talk his way out of trouble. Instead
he had Histiaeus impaled and sent his embalmed head to Darius. Artaphernes was
right to be concerned. Darius castigated him for executing Histiaeus, and
ordered his head to be treated with respect and buried with honours.
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