Origins of the Persian Wars Packages of Information

Origins of the Persian Wars – packages of information

1. Persian imperialism:

In the middle of the 5th century, there were three great empires in the East: the Lydian Empire (in Modern day Turkey), the Babylonian Empire (in modern day Syria, Jordan, Palestine and Iraq) and the Median Empire (in Modern day Iran and Afghanistan).
In 559 BC, Cyrus (later known as ‘the Great’) became ruler of Persis, a small kingdom in the south of the Median Empire.
In 550, he rebelled against the Medes and conquered the whole of their empire. In 546, he conquered the Lydian Empire and declared himself “King of the Medes and Persians”. In 539, he conquered the Babylonian Empire.
Cyrus died in battle in 530, and was replaced by his son Cambyses, who conquered Egypt in 525.
Cambyses died in 522 was replaced by Darius, who was one of Cyrus’ and Cambyses’ satraps. Darius put an end to imperial expansion, concentrating instead on consolidating his empire.

2. Persian expansion into Europe:

Greeks began migrating across the Aegean Sea in the 9thand 8thcenturies BC. They settled on the coast of Asian minor. Their cities – such as Miletus, Mycale, Ephesus, Halicarnassus and Mytilene – became known as the Ionian cities. They became trading links between the Mediterranean world and the great Mesopotamian empires.
In 546 the Ionian cities fell under the control of the Persian Empire. As was their custom, the Persians put local tyrants in power in these cities, to rule on their behalf. These Greek tyrants were not always popular with their subjects, and neededPersian support to remain in power.
In 513 BC Darius conquered Thrace (modern day Bulgaria). The Ionian states were obliged to contribute 600 ships to this invading force.
Darius then invaded Scythia, to the north of Thrace, but the campaign was unsuccessful. Even so, he did manage to get Macedonia to submit to him.
The Persian Empire was now at the very gates of mainland Greece. It seemed likely that Darius would invade the Greek city states and incorporate them into the empire.

3. The Ionian Revolt:

By 500, the Ionian cities had become very unhappy with Persian rule. Although ruled by tyrants prior to their conquest by Persia, these cites had been independent entities and had grown rich from trade. Now, their leaders had to serve the interests of Persia, which meant paying taxes to both the local satrap and the Great King, and providing ships and soldiers to the Persian army.
The Ionian Revolt began in 500 BC on the island of Naxos, when the oligarchs (rich families) who ran the island were expelled by democrats. These oligarchs fled to Miletus, where they requested help from the local tyrant, Aristagoras. Aristagoras persuaded the Persian satrap Artaphernes to send a fleet of ships to Naxos to restore the oligarchs to power, however the invasion failed after a four month siege. Fearing Artaphernes would now punish him for failing to subdue Naxos, Aristagoras led a revolt against the Persians.
Aristagoras now went to Athens to try to persuade it to join the rebellion. Herodotus tells us that Athens agreed because Artaphernes (the Persian satrap) was demanding that it accept the return of its former tyrant, Hippias, who had taken refuge in Persia since his overthrow in 512 BC. Historians have also suggested that Athens resented Persia’s control of the Hellespont, as it was interfering with itsBlack Sea trade.
With Athens onside, the revolt spread quickly. Many Ionian cities joined because they resented Persian control of their affairs. They also felt that they had a real chance of success following the Persians’ disastrous campaigns against Naxos and the Scythians.
Herodotus notes that Athens’ decision to help the Ionian Revolt “was the beginning of trouble not only for Greece but for other peoples.”

4. The course of the Ionian Revolt:

The revolt began with the Ionian cities driving out their tyrants and establishing democracies. Even Aristagoras gave up power in Miletus and allowed the people to rule. Then, together with a force from Athens, the Ionians marched on the local Persian capital Sardis and, according to Herodotus, unintentionally burnt it to the ground. On their way back to the coast they met with a Persian force and were defeated.
The revolt continued until 494 BC, when the Persians captured Miletus. As punishment, they destroyed the city, killed all the menand sold the women and children into slavery. They then defeated the Greek fleet at the Battle of Lade.The revolt was over.

5. The impact of the Ionian Revolt:

Darius sent his son-in-law Mardonius to recapture the Ionian cities, which he did in 492. Surprisingly, he did not put the tyrants back in power, but allowed those cities to retaintheir democratic governments. Even so, they were still under Persian control and had to pay their taxes.
Mardonius also moved into Europe, reimposing Persian control over Thrace and conquering Macedonia. Herodotus says that Darius intended Mardonius to continue on to Greece but that this was prevented by a disaster at sea at Athos on the coast of Thrace. The Persian navy was destroyed by a storm. (Herodotus claims the Persians lost 300 ships and 20,000 men, though this is almost certainly an exaggeration.)
Herodotus tells us that Darius was furious about the destruction of Sardis, and vowed to exact revenge on Athens. It is unlikely that he would have planned to destroy the city, as it would have been a valuable asset to him. Instead, he probably planned to put Hippias back in power (as evidenced by the fact that Hippias accompanied the invasion force).Herodotus says Darius wanted to enslave the Athenian population, and have these slaves brought before him.
Darius might have had other reasons for the invasion of Greece. In 507 BC Athenian envoys had visited Sardis to propose an alliance between Athens and Persia. Some historians believe Darius might have got the impression that Athens was already a supplicant state, and therefore viewed Athens’ participation in the attack on Sardis as treason.

6. Causes of the First Persian War:

Long-term causes:

Raphael Sealey attibutes the Graeco-Persian wars to “the tendency of empires to expand” and the fact that “the Persian ruling class set a value on conquest.”

King Darius may have felt the need to outdo, or at least match, the achievements of his predecessors. Cyrus the Great conquered Media, Lydia and Babylonia; Cambyses conquered Egypt; Darius’ contribution would be to expand into Europe. This is the view propounded by Herodotus.

Herodotus also saw the conflict as one between two incompatible civilisations – tyranny and democracy. J.B. Bury points out that the Ionian tyrants would never have rebelled against Persia because they depended on it to remain in power; therefore the spread of democracy must be seen as a major cause of the war.

Short-term causes:

Darius wanted to punish Athens and Eretria for supporting the Ionian revolt. In particular, he needed to avenge the destruction of Sardis.

Hippias, the former tyrant of Athens, helped persuade Darius to invade Greece as a way of regaining power for himself.

The Greek states chose to resist the Persian invasion through fear that they would meet the same fate as Miletus.