Histories

Book 5 begins by describing the Persians’ subjugation of the Thracians and their Greek neighbors living on the northern coast of the Aegean Sea after Darius’ failed campaign against the Scythians. The focus of the Book, however, is the revolt of the Ionian Greek city-states against Persia, which occurred between 499-494 BCE. The Ionian cities sought aid from Athens and Sparta during the rebellion, and Herodotus’ narrative of the revolt also includes a summary of the histories of Sparta and Athens during the latter half of the sixth century BCE. These digressions describe the overthrow of the Pisistratid tyranny and the establishment of democracy in Athens, as well as Sparta’s machinations to influence the Athenian government during these years.

After Darius returned to Asia, the Persians remaining in Europe under Megabazus subdued the Greek settlements on the Hellespont and conquered all the tribes inhabiting Thrace. Herodotus claims that Thrace (a region now occupied by modern Bulgaria and European Turkey) is the most populous nation in the world, other than India. He asserts that Thrace would be the most powerful country if it were able to achieve political unity, but is incapable of doing so. Nothing certain is known about the lands north of the Danube, according to the historian, but they seem to be mostly uninhabited.

While Megabazus was subjugating Thrace, Darius returned to Sardis and rewarded Histiaeus of Miletus, who had protected the bridge over the Danube, with a charter to establish a new city at Myrcinus in northern Greece. At this time, Darius was attracted by a beautiful Paeonian woman he saw in Sardis, whose brothers hoped to win the king’s favor in their bid to become tyrants in Paeonia. Impressed by the qualities of their sister, Darius ordered Megabazus to relocate the entire Paeonian nation from north of the Chalcidice in Europe to Asia. After Megabazus forcibly uprooted the Paeonians, the Persian general sent seven distinguished officers to Amyntas, the Macedonian king, demanding that he submit to Darius. Amyntas agreed and invited the Persians to a dinner where he entertained them hospitably.

The Persians became drunk and asked Amyntas for female companionship, a Persian custom at drinking parties. Amyntas reluctantly granted their request, and the Persians began fondling the women’s breasts, enraging Amyntas’ son, Alexandros. Concealing his anger, Alexandros told the Persians they could have any of the Macedonians’ wives and sisters they chose, but the women would like to bathe before intercourse. When the women withdrew, Alexandros dressed young men in their clothes, giving each youth a dagger. Returning to the Persian envoys in the women’s garments, the Macedonian youths slaughtered them. Alexandros concealed the murder and bribed the leader of a Persian search party looking for the envoys with money and the favors of his sister. As a result, the Persians never discovered that the legation had been massacred.

On returning to Asia, Megabazus advised Darius to recall Histiaeus from Myrcinus, fearing that once the Greek empowered himself there, he would create trouble for the Persians. Darius agreed, and, taking Histiaeus with him (ostensibly as counselor), he left Sardis for the Persian capital Susa. The Persian king appointed his own brother Artaphernes as governor of Sardis, and Otanes, one of the seven conspirators, succeeded Megabazus as general in the region. Otanes proceeded to conquer Byzantium and Chalcedon, as well as the Greek islands of Lemnos and Imbros in the northern Aegean.

After a short period of relative stability, however, the Ionians revolted against their Persian overlords. During the rebellion, the Ionians sought the assistance of Sparta and Athens, and Herodotus’ narrative of the complex chain of events leading up to the revolt resumes the account of Spartan and Athenian history that began in Book 1. Herodotus believes that the revolt was the beginning of great evils for the Greeks and barbarians, and it is a major turning point in his history of the conflict between the two nations.

The problem in Ionia began when a number of high-ranking exiles from the Aegean island of Naxos appealed to Aristagoras, Histiaeus’ son-in-law and provisional ruler of Miletus, for help in getting them reinstated on the island. Histiaeus, the tyrant of Miletus, had left Aristagoras in charge of the city when he accompanied Darius to Susa. Aristagoras, seeing an opportunity to seize power for himself in Naxos, agreed to assist the exiled Naxians. He asked Artaphernes for military support, promising the Persian governor that taking Naxos would give Darius a foothold in the central Aegean, from which he could conquer the surrounding islands and gain a commanding strategic position over the Greek mainland.

Darius approved the plan and Aristagoras, accompanied by the exiled Naxians, led a fleet of 200 Persian ships under the command of the Persian general Megabates on the mission. One evening, Megabates noticed that one of the Greek ships accompanying the fleet had failed to post a night watch. He had the captain of the ship chained, which angered Aristogoras. Aristagoras berated Megabates in a humiliating manner and released the man from his shackles. This infuriated the Persian general and he secretly dispatched a boat to Naxos the next evening, warning the islanders of the impending assault. The Naxians fortified their city for a siege, and after four months, their provisions spent, the Persians withdrew in failure.

Fearing Artaphernes’ anger, anxious that he would be removed from power in Miletus, and bankrupted by the expedition, Aristagoras decided to plan a revolt. At that moment, he received a message from Histiaeus in Susa, encouraging him to rebel. Yearning for home, Histiaeus hoped that Darius would allow him to return to Ionia to squelch the incipient Greek revolt. All of Aristagoras’ advisers supported the idea of rebellion, except for Hecataeus, the Milesian geographer and historian. Noting the power of the Persian king and immensity of his empire, Hecataeus argued that a revolt was foolish, but if it was to have any chance of success, the Ionians must gain control of the sea. He advised them to seize the treasure that Croesus had deposited in the sanctuary at Didyma to fund the venture. The Milesians rejected his suggestions, however, and, resolving to revolt, arrested the Greek captains who had commanded the fleet to Naxos, which was still assembled. Aristagoras, hoping to win popular support, abolished the tyranny in Miletus and proceeded to expel the Persian-backed tyrants throughout the Ionian cities and replace them with popular governments. He then sailed to Sparta to ask the Lacedaemonians for aid against the Persians.

Cleomenes was king in Sparta at this time. Not of sound mind, Cleomenes succeeded to the throne over his half-brother Dorieus, who, feeling he had a more legitimate claim to the succession, left Sparta to found a city in Sicily. Dorieus, however, perished there while helping the citizens of Crotona in their war against Sybaris.

When Aristagoras arrived in Sparta, he displayed a bronze map of the world to Cleomenes, pointing out all the lands and nations the Persians had subdued and entreating the Spartan king to help liberate the Asiatic Greeks that had been enslaved by Darius. Aristagoras admonished Cleomenes that the Spartans would win much more wealth and glory by invading Asia than squabbling with their Peloponnesian neighbors over the hardscrabble, impoverished Greek countryside. When hearing that it was a three months’ journey to the Persian capital Susa from the Ionian coast, however, Cleomenes broke off the audience and ordered Aristagoras to leave Sparta by nightfall. Aristagoras persisted and tried to bribe Cleomenes to assist him, but the Spartan king’s young daughter admonished her father, saying he had better avoid the Milesian before he was corrupted by him. So ended Aristagoras’ appeal to the Spartans on behalf of the Ionian revolt. Herodotus concludes by describing the Royal Road to Susa from the Lydian capital Sardis and affirms it would take three months to traverse, as Aristagoras claimed.

Aristagoras next went to Athens to seek an alliance. Herodotus synopsizes historical developments in the city since the time of the tyrant Pisistratus, whom he treated during his discussion of Croesus’ career in Book 1. Ten years before Aristagoras’ mission to the city, the Athenians overthrew the tyranny of the Pisistratids, who had ruled Athens from 546-510 BCE. Hipparchus, the son of Pisistratus and brother of the tyrant Hippias, was killed by Harmodius and Aristogeiton in 514 BCE. Embittered by the assassination, Hippias increased the oppressiveness of his rule and was energetically opposed by the Alcmaeonids, an Athenian clan whom the Pisistratids had exiled. The Alcmaeonids bribed the priestess of Apollo at Delphi to urge all Spartans who came to the oracle to liberate Athens. The Spartans finally heeded the divine injunction, and though their first attempt to oust Hippias, with whom they had been on friendly terms, was unsuccessful, a second attempt led by Cleomenes forced the tyrant into exile.

After the tyranny was abolished, Cleisthenes of the Alcmaeonids and another prominent aristocrat, Isagoras, vied for power in Athens. Isagoras was backed by the Spartans, but Cleisthenes secured the support of the masses by increasing their privileges and restructuring the political organization of the Athenian tribes. Previously there had been four tribes based on kinship; he increased the number to 10, weakening their familial affiliations in an effort to promote greater egalitarianism among the citizenhood. Cleisthenes’ popular reforms solidified his power in the city and led Isagoras to ask Cleomenes to oust the Alcmaeonids from Athens. Isagoras claimed that the Alcmaeonids were guilty of having killed a political rival who sought sanctuary in a sacred precinct on the Acropolis decades earlier and thus were “accursed.” Cleomenes complied, marching on Athens and banishing 700 families whose names had been provided by Isagoras; he then attempted to abolish the Athenian council and appoint Isagoras to power. The council resisted, and Cleomenes, Isagoras, and their party occupied the Acropolis for two days before a truce between the factions was concluded. Cleomenes and the Spartans were ejected from Athens, and Cleisthenes and the exiled families recalled.

Realizing the ongoing danger posed to them by Sparta, the Athenians appealed to Artaphernes in Sardis for an alliance with Persia. The Athenian envoys accepted Artaphernes’ terms—the usual gift of earth and water signifying subjection to the Persian king—and returned home. Meanwhile, Cleomenes collected an army from every part of the Peloponnese with the intent of attacking Athens and placing Isagoras in power in the city. He marched to Eleusis, a dozen miles from Athens, while the Chalcidians and Boeotians attacked outlying Attic settlements from the north. The Athenians decided to oppose the main Spartan force. Just before the battle began, however, the Corinthian allies of Sparta abandoned Cleomenes, and Demaratus, the other Spartan king, followed suit, refusing to support his rival. The rest of the Peloponnesians similarly abandoned their positions, forcing Cleomenes to retreat before engaging the Athenians.

The Athenians then turned on the Boeotians and Chalcidians, routing both armies on the same day. Herodotus reports that the Athenians ransomed the prisoners of war taken in the battles, and with the proceeds had a bronze chariot and horse team erected on the Acropolis. The chains with which their enemies had been fettered were hung in the citadel as well, still on display in Herodotus’ day. Herodotus credits Athenian democracy—or “equality before the law”—for the resounding victories and successes its citizens enjoyed since the populist reforms of Cleisthenes.

The Thebans also wanted to settle an old score with the Athenians and now allied themselves with the inhabitants of Aegina, an island south of Athens, for that purpose. Some years earlier, the Aeginetans had stolen statues made of sacred olive wood that Athens had donated to the Epidaurians, and the Athenians sued for their return. When the Aeginetans refused their demand, the Athenians attacked the island but were routed by an Argive force that came to the aid of the islanders. Cut off from their ships, all the Athenians were killed except for one survivor, who was murdered by the grief-stricken widows of the dead soldiers when he made it back to Athens. Ever since, a mutual hatred existed between the two city-states, and the Aeginetans now began making raids on the Attic coast.

Meanwhile, the Spartans were plotting to reinstate Pisistratus’ son, Hippias, as tyrant of Athens. The Spartans discovered that the Alcmaeonids had corrupted the Delphic oracle, at whose instigation they had previously expelled Hippias. They also learned of unsettling prophecies about disasters to occur at the hands of the Athenians that Cleomenes discovered when he occupied the Acropolis. Realizing that a democratic Athens would be a powerful match for them, the Spartans conferred with their allies about restoring tyranny to the Athenians and thereby preserving their own preeminence among the Greeks.

The Spartans admitted to their allies they had made a mistake in overthrowing Hippias and leaving Athens in the hands of the rabble, which had thanked Sparta for their liberation by driving Cleomenes and his retinue out of the city. The Spartans’ request for help to reinstall Hippias, and thereby keep Athens dependent upon Sparta, met with disapproval, however. Sosicles of Corinth railed vigorously against the evils of tyranny, recounting how several generations earlier the Cypselid autocracy had damaged his city and killed many of its citizens. Herodotus recounts that Corinthian aristocrats had received an oracle that a child born to the ruling clan would bring destruction. They dispatched a party to kill the infant but its mother hid it in a chest and the child survived to adulthood. Now grown, Cypselus (the name means “chest” in Greek) received an oracle encouraging him to seize power in Corinth. After doing so, he exiled and murdered many of the city’s citizens, and expropriated others’ property.

Cypeslus’ son and successor, Periander, was even more violent and oppressive than his father; Herodotus claims that “there was no crime against the Corinthians that he did not commit,” including forcing all the Corinthian women to strip naked in public (314). Sosicles’ speech swayed the other allies in the assembly and the Spartans abandoned their plan to reinstate Hippias in Athens.

Hippias then went to Asia and tried to set Atarphernes and Darius against Athens. The Athenians heard of this and sent an envoy to Sardis urging Artaphernes not to listen to the exiled tyrant. Artaphernes replied that the Athenians must take Hippias back; refusing the demand, they made up their minds to accept open hostility with Persia as a result. It was at this moment that Aristagoras of Miletus, having been rejected by the Spartan king Cleomenes, arrived at Athens seeking aid for the Ionian revolt. The Athenian popular assembly approved his request and dispatched 20 ships to Ionia. Aristagoras arrived in Miletus ahead of the Athenian squadron and incited the Paeonians, who had been relocated to Phrygia by Darius, to revolt. The Paeonians made it to the coast where they were ferried by the Chians and Lesbians to Europe, and from there they traveled on foot back to their original homeland.

When the Athenian contingent arrived, Aristagoras assembled his allies and attacked Sardis. The Ionians took the city without resistance except for the Acropolis, where Artaphernes had holed up with a large force. A fire swept through Sardis, destroying the city, and the Athenians retreated to their ships, fleeing the conflagration. The combined Persian forces in western Asia now pursued the Ionians to Ephesus and soundly defeated them. After this battle, the Athenians would have nothing more to do with the Ionian rebellion, despite Aristagoras’ repeated pleas for help. Resolved to continue the war, the Ionians sailed to the Hellespont and freed Byzantium and the surrounding towns; they also liberated most of Caria and induced the Cyprians to revolt against Darius.

When Darius heard about the destruction of Sardis, he called for his bow and shot an arrow into the air, imploring God that he might punish the Athenians himself. He commanded one of his servants to repeat to him the words “Master, remember the Athenians” whenever he sat down to dinner. Darius then called Histiaeus the Milesian and reproached him for the treachery of his son-in-law Aristagoras, the leader of the Ionian rebellion. Histiaeus feigned ignorance of the matter and convinced Darius to send him back to Miletus to restore order and deliver Aristagoras to the Persian court for punishment.

Meanwhile, the Persians landed in Cyprus and engaged the Cyprian forces, while the Phoenician fleet, fighting on behalf of Darius, was opposed by the Ionians at sea. The Ionians prevailed in the naval battle, but the Cyprians were routed by the Persians on land. Faced with the total defeat of their Cyprian allies, the Ionians returned to their homes. After one year of freedom, Herodotus observes, Cyprus was once more subjected to Persian rule. At the same time, the Persians pursued the Ionians who had attacked Sardis and put them to flight. Three Persian commanders, all of whom had married daughters of Darius, then began to reconquer the Greek settlements on the Hellespont that had revolted, as well as subdue the Aeolians near Troy and the Carians to the south of Ionia. Artaphernes, Darius’ brother, joined in the campaign and recaptured the Ionian Greek cities of Clazomenae and Cyme.

Realizing that the revolt had failed and fearing Darius, Aristagoras fled to Myrcinus, the city his father-in-law Histiaeus had established near Thrace. He gained control of the territory he sought but was later killed by the Thracians along with all his men. In closing this episode, Herodotus disapprovingly notes that Aristagoras was “after all, but a poor-spirited creature […] responsible for setting Ionia by the ears and all the subsequent trouble” resulting from the failed Ionian revolt (324).