The fifth book begins the concentration on purely Greek history. Darius
had left Megabazus in command in Europe, retiring himself to Sardis. In
that city he was much struck by the appearance of a Paeonian woman and
ordered Megabazus to invade the country. He subdued it and Macedonia in
506-4, but in the process some of his commanders were punished for an
insult to Macedonian women, revenge being taken by Alexander, son of
King Amyntas; a bride shut the lips of a party sent to discover their
fate. In Thrace, Megabazus began to suspect Histiaeus, the Ionian who
had saved Darius and in return had been given a strong town, Myrcinus on
the River Strymon. The King by a trick drew Histiaeus to Sardis and
took him to the Capital, leaving his brother Artaphernes as governor
in Sardis. But Histiaeus had been succeeded in Miletus by his nephew
Aristagoras; to him in 502 came certain nobles from Naxos, one of the
Cyclades isles, begging restoration from banishment. He decided to apply
to Artaphernes for Persian help; this the viceroy willingly gave as it
would further the Persian progress to the objective, the Greek mainland,
across the Aegean in a direct line. The Persian admiral Megabates soon
quarrelled with Aristagoras about the command and informed the Naxians
of the coming attack. The expedition thus failed. Aristagoras, afraid
to face Artaphemes whose treasure he had wasted, decided on raising a
revolt of the whole of Ionia; at that very moment a slave came to him
from his uncle in Susa with a message tattooed on his head, bidding him
rebel.
Aristagoras first applied to Sparta for aid. When arguments failed, he
tried to bribe the king Cleomenes. In the room was the King's little
daughter Gorgo. Hearing Aristagoras gradually raise his offer from ten
to fifty talents, the child said, "Father, depart, or the stranger will
corrupt thee". Aristagoras received a better welcome at Athens. That
city in 510 had expelled Hippias, the tyrant son of Peisistratus, who
appealed to Artaphernes for aid. Hearing this, the Athenians sent an
embassy asking the satrap not to assist the exile, but the answer was
that if they wished to survive, they must receive their ruler back.
Aristagoras therefore found the Athenians in a fit frame of mind to
listen. They lent him a fleet of twenty sail and marched with him to
Sardis which they captured and burned in 501. The revolt speedily spread
over all the Asiatic sea-coast. On hearing of the Athenians for the
first time, Darius directed a slave to say to him thrice a day, "Sire,
remember the Athenians". He summoned Histiaeus and accused him of
complicity in the revolt, but Histiaeus assured him of his loyalty and
obtained permission to go to the coast. Meanwhile the Persians took
strong action against the rebels, subduing many towns and districts. The
book ends with the flight of Aristagoras to Myrcinus and his death in
battle against the Thracians in 496.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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