Histiaeus of Miletus

Tyrant of Miletus (r. late sixth century b, c.e,)

Born: Mid-sixth century b. c.e.; place unknown Died: 493 b. c.e.; Sardis, Asia Minor Category: Government and politics

Life The Greek historian Herodotus portrayed Histiaeus (hihs-tuh-EE-uhs) of Miletus, the son of Lysagoras, as the selfish, slavish instigator of his kinsman Aristagoras’s failed Ionian Revolt of 499-494 b. c.e.

During Persian king Darius the Great’s Scythian expedition (c. 513 b. c.e.), Histiaeus saved the king by convincing other tyrants not to destroy a bridge the king needed on his return trip. A grateful Darius gave him Thracian Myrcinus on the Strymon River but grew distrustful and summoned him to Susa, where he became a virtual prisoner. Deterred and de-

The Greeks preserve the bridge of Darius. (F. R. Niglutsch)

Tained, Histiaeus fooled Darius into restoring him to the coast by first ordering his son-in-law Aristagoras, Miletus’s new ruler, to revolt and then promising Darius that he could subdue the rebels.

Histiaeus headed for the coast but instead of joining in the decisive sea battle at Lade, in which the Greek forces were destroyed, he pirated merchant ships at Byzantium. After the revolt was over, he plundered the coast and mainland until Harpagus and Artaphernes impaled and beheaded him.

Influence Despite Histiaeus’s efforts to stop it, the Ionian Revolt spread from Cyprus to the Black Sea and lasted for six years. It won help from Athens, Eretria, and the Persians themselves. The rebels burned Sardis, produced their own coinage, and created a “commonwealth” of Ionians. They also seized control of Black Sea shipping, deposed tyrants, and reformed Ionian governance after the war. This revolt inspired a Greek tragedy by Phrynichus. Histiaeus may have tried to build his own Greco-Persian western empire on Lydia, Caria, and the Hellespont with all the great islands.

Further Reading

Burn, A. R. Persia and the Greeks: The Defense of the West, 546-478 B. C.

Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1984.

Herodotus. On the War for Greek Freedom: Selections from the Histories. Translations by Samuel Shirley, edited, with introduction and notes, by James Romm. Indianapolis, Ind.: Hackett, 2003.

Huxley, G. L. The Early Ionians. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1972.

O. Kimball Armayor

See also: Herodotus; Ionian Revolt.