In Ionia, especially in its largest city Miletus, Greek science had its beginnings as people such as Thales and Anaximander attempted among other things to explain the natural world. When Aristagoras, the tyrant of Miletus, came to sparta to enlist King Cleomenes' support for the Ionian Revolt, Aristagoras showed him one of the latest products of Ionian academic endeavor: a map. on the basis of the geographical work of Ionian scholars such as Hecataeus of Miletus (BNJ 1) who compiled a gazetteer of the known world - a list of the names of peoples and places, complete with ethnographical, botanical, and other information about each place and people - the first maps were being produced.
Herodotus describes some of these early maps (see Figure 9.1):
I am amused by all the people who have already drawn maps of the world and not a man of them who has the least notion. For not only do they draw Ocean as a stream which flows around the land (which is so round that it appears to have been made by a compass), but they also make Asia the same size as Europe. But in Just a few words I shall now show what size each of them has and how each ought to be drawn. . . (Hdt. IV 36)
Cartography was still in its infancy, and the Ionian geographers had an overly schematic approach to the shape of the inhabitable world (a circle) as well as to the relative sizes of the landmasses (Europe was the same size as Asia plus Africa).
As one might surmise, these early maps were not necessarily accurate in scale. As Aristagoras expatiated upon the ease with which Cleomenes might lead the Lacedaemonians all the way to Susa, Cleomenes listened with interest - in particular to Aristagoras' description of the Persian Empire and its wealth. Eventually, however, Cleomenes asked his guest about the length of the march from the coast to Susa. When Aristagoras replied that it took three months, Cleomenes threw him out on his ear. Cleomenes, clearly, was nobody's fool, and his inability to apprehend from the map itself the distance to Susa suggests that it had major problems with scale.
Switched sides during the battle which quickly became a rout. Thereafter the Persians reconquered the towns of Cyprus one by one (Hdt. V 108-115).
In Asia Minor another Persian commander, Daurises, reconquered much of the territory on the Asian side of the Hellespont in a swift campaign and then turned his attention to Caria. He defeated the Carians and their Greek allies in two major battles before falling victim to an ambush (Hdt. V 116-121). A third Persian commander, Hymaees, campaigned energetically in the Hellespont until he died of disease (Hdt. V 122). Finally, Artaphernes, the satrap, recaptured Clazomenae in Ionia and Cyme in the Aeolis (Hdt. V 123). The Persians had gained the upper hand by now, and Aristagoras turned his back
Figure 9.1 Reconstruction of the map of the world (Hecataeus’?) which Herodotus ridiculed
On the Ionians and with a few loyal troops fled to Thrace where he managed to conquer a place called Myrcinus. There he ruled until he fell in battle against the Thracians (Hdt. V 124-126).
Meanwhile, Histiaeus, his predecessor as tyrant in Miletus, had returned to Ionia, sent by Darius to help deal with the revolt. Yet Artaphernes suspected Histiaeus of complicity in the revolt and Histiaeus, whether guilty or not, deserted to the rebels and went to Chios. After various adventures and in charge of some troops from Mytilene he gained control of Byzantium - on the European side of the strait (Hdt. VI 1-5). By this time the Persians had brought a large fleet into the Aegean. It consisted of Phoenician, Cilician, Cyprian, and Egyptian contingents and prepared to fight the rebels’ fleet, the strength of
Which, Herodotus states, took the Persians by surprise and made them hesitate to attack (Hdt. VI 6-9).
The decisive battle, in 494, took place off the island of Lade in the inlet of the sea to the north of Miletus (see Figure 1.2). The Persians, apprehensive about engaging the Greek fleet, had secretly made offers to the commanders of various rebellious towns’ contingents (Hdt. VI 9-10), and when the battle began the Samian ships sailed away instead of fighting since their commanders had made a deal with the Persians, a deal brokered by Samos’ ex-tyrant, Aeaces II (Hdt. VI 13-14). Other contingents followed the Samian example, and the Persian fleet made short work of the few contingents - principally the Milesians and the Chians - which remained to fight (Hdt. VI 14-15). Thereafter the Persians besieged Miletus by land and by sea; when it finally fell the Persians razed it to the ground. Many women and children were enslaved, and many of the surviving men were deported and resettled near the mouth of the River Tigris on the Persian Gulf (Hdt. VI 18-20).
There remained only mopping-up operations. The Carian cities surrendered in short order. Histiaeus engaged in various ineffectual operations on Chios and Lesbos until the Persians captured him near the River Caicus. Artaphernes had him summarily executed. Without any trouble, the Persian fleet, sailing northwards, took possession both of the islands off the coast as well as the towns on the mainland. The fleet then sailed up the Hellespont and took possession of the towns on the European side. At this time Miltiades, the Athenian ruler of the Chersonese, fled homewards to Athens (Hdt. VI 25-33 and 41).
The revolt had ended; and Persia had re-established its control.
World History
