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The Ionian Revolt, and
associated revolts in Aeolis, Doris, Cyprus and Caria, were military rebellions
by several Greek regions of Asia Minor against Persian rule, lasting from 499
to 493. At the heart of the rebellion was the dissatisfaction of the Greek
cities of Asia Minor with the tyrants appointed by Persia to rule them, along
with the individual actions of two Milesian tyrants, Histiaeus -
Histiaeus and
Aristagoras. The cities
of Ionia had been conquered by Persia around 540, and thereafter were ruled by
native tyrants, nominated by the Persian satrap in Sardis. In 499, the tyrant
of Miletus, Aristagoras,
launched a joint expedition with the Persian satrap
Artaphernes to conquer
Naxos, in an attempt to
bolster his position. The mission was a debacle, and sensing his imminent
removal as tyrant, Aristagoras chose to incite the whole of Ionia into
rebellion against the Persian king Darius the Great. In 498 supported by troops
from Athens and Eretria, the Ionians marched on, captured, and burnt Sardis.
However, on their return journey to Ionia, they were followed by Persian
troops, and decisively beaten at the Battle of
Ephesus. This campaign was the only offensive action by the Ionians, who
subsequently went on the defensive. The Persians responded in 497 with a three
pronged attack aimed at recapturing the outlying areas of the rebellion, but
the spread of the revolt to Caria meant that the largest army, under Daurises,
relocated there. While initially campaigning successfully in Caria, this army
was annihilated in an ambush at the Battle of
Pedasus. This resulted in a
stalemate for the rest of 496 and 495. By 494 the Persian army and navy had
regrouped, and campaigned to Miletus. The Ionian fleet sought to defend Miletus
by sea, but was decisively beaten at the Battle of Lade, after the
defection of the Samians. Miletus was then besieged, captured, and its
population was brought under Persian rule. This double defeat effectively ended
the revolt, and the Carians surrendered to the Persians as a result. The
Persians spent 493 reducing the cities along the west coast that still held out
against them, before finally imposing a peace settlement on Ionia which was
generally considered to be both just and fair. The Ionian Revolt constituted
the first major conflict between Greece and the Persian Empire, and as such
represents the first phase of the Greco-Persian Wars. Although Asia Minor had
been brought back into the Persian fold, Darius vowed to punish Athens and
Eretria for their support of the revolt. Moreover, seeing that the myriad city
states of Greece posed a continued threat to the stability of his Empire,
according to Herodotus, Darius decided to conquer the whole of Greece. In 492,
the first Persian invasion of Greece, the next phase of the
Greco-Persian
Wars, began as a direct consequence of the Ionian Revolt.
While fighting the Lydians, Cyrus had sent messages to the Ionians asking them
to revolt against Lydian rule, which the Ionians had refused to do. After Cyrus
completed the conquest of Lydia, the Ionian cities now offered to be his
subjects under the same terms as they had been subjects of Croesus. Cyrus
refused, citing the Ionians' unwillingness to help him previously. The Ionians
thus prepared to defend themselves, and Cyrus sent the Median general Harpagus
to conquer Ionia. He first attacked Phocaea; the Phocaeans decided to entirely
abandon their city and sail into exile in Sicily, rather than become Persian
subjects (although many subsequently returned). Some Teians also chose to
emigrate when Harpagus attacked Teos, but the rest of the Ionians remained, and
were in turn conquered. The Persians found the Ionians difficult to rule.
Elsewhere in the empire, Cyrus was able to identify elite native groups to help
him rule his new subjects – such as the priesthood of Judea. No such group
existed in Greek cities at this time; while there was usually an aristocracy,
this was inevitably divided into feuding factions.The Persians thus settled for
sponsoring a tyrant in each Ionian city, even though this drew them into the
Ionians' internal conflicts. Furthermore, a tyrant might develop an independent
streak, and have to be replaced. The tyrants themselves faced a difficult task;
they had to deflect the worst of their fellow citizens' hatred, while staying
in the favour of the Persians.
About 40 years after the Persian conquest of Ionia, and in the reign of the
fourth Persian king, Darius the Great, the stand-in Milesian tyrant Aristagoras
found himself in this familiar predicament. Aristagoras's uncle Histiaeus had
accompanied Darius on campaign in 513, and when offered a reward, had asked for
part of the conquered Thracian territory. Although this was granted,
Histiaeus's ambition alarmed Darius's advisors, and Histiaeus was thus further
'rewarded' by being compelled to remain in Susa as Darius's "Royal
Table-Companion". Taking over from Histiaeus, Aristagoras was faced with
bubbling discontent in Miletus. In 500, Aristagoras was approached by some
exiles from Naxos, who asked him to take control of the island. Seeing an
opportunity to strengthen his position in Miletus by conquering Naxos,
Aristagoras approached the satrap of Lydia, Artaphernes, with a proposal. If
Artaphernes provided an army, Aristagoras would conquer the island, thus
extending the boundaries of the empire for Darius, and he would then give
Artaphernes a share of the spoils to cover the cost of raising the army.
Artaphernes agreed in principle, and asked Darius for permission to launch the
expedition. Darius assented to this, and a force of 200 triremes was assembled
in order to attack Naxos the following year. In the spring of 499, Artaphernes
readied the Persian force, and placed his cousin Megabates in command. He then
sent ships on to Miletus, where the Ionian troops levied by Aristagoras
embarked, and the force then set sail for Naxos. The expedition quickly
descended into a debacle. Aristagoras fell out with Megabates on the journey
towards Naxos, and Herodotus says that Megabates then sent messengers to Naxos,
warning the Naxians of the force's intention. It is also possible, however,
that this story was spread by Aristagoras after the event, by way of a
justification for the subsequent failure of the campaign. At any rate, the
Naxians were able to prepare properly for a siege, and the Persians arrived to
a well-defended expedition. The Persians laid siege to the Naxians for four
months, but eventually they and Aristagoras both ran out of money. The force
sailed back to the mainland without a victory. With the failure of his attempt
to conquer Naxos, Aristagoras found himself in dire straits; he was unable to
repay Artaphernes, and had, moreover, alienated himself from the Persian royal
family. He fully expected to be stripped of his position by Artaphernes. In a
desperate attempt to save himself, Aristagoras chose to incite his own
subjects, the Milesians, to revolt against their Persian masters, thereby
beginning the Ionian Revolt. In autumn 499 Aristagoras held a meeting with the
members of his faction in Miletus. He declared that in his opinion the
Milesians should revolt, to which all but the historian Hecataeus agreed. At
the same time, a messenger sent by Histiaeus arrived in Miletus, imploring
Aristagoras to rebel against Darius.
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