Aristagoras
Greek tyrant of the Ionian city of Miletus (died 497/6 BC) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Aristagoras (Greek: Ἀρισταγόρας ὁ Μιλήσιος), d. 497/496 BC, was the leader of the Ionian city of Miletus in the late 6th century BC and early 5th century BC and a key player during the early years of the Ionian Revolt against the Persian Achaemenid Empire. He was the son-in-law of Histiaeus, and inherited the tyranny of Miletus from him.
The Greeks had won the coast of Asia Minor from the preceding Hittite Empire during the Bronze Age, and thanks to their victory at Troy had kept it during the fall of the empire and retirement of the Hittites to Syria. They shared the coast with the Phrygians (proto-Armenians) coming in from the Balkans, but neither were prepared for the armed invasion of their lands by the Persians during the late 6th-century BC. The Ionian Greeks appealed to the mainland Greeks for assistance and not receiving it were forced to capitulate, becoming subjects of the new Achaemenid Empire. As long as they paid their taxes and were no threat to the rule of the Persians, the latter were willing to allow them self-rule under the Greek tyrants. The entire region, however, including those tyrants, kept a smouldering resentment against the Persian Empire.
Aristagoras is of historical note for his instigation of the Ionian revolt in collaboration with his father-in-law and predecessor, Histiaeus. The conspiracy gained the support of many Greek Ionian states, but it failed to win the full support of the mainland Greek states, and as a consequence failed to hold against the Persians, who were at first slow to believe that the Greeks, who had seemed to be loyal supporters, were capable of such treachery. Once the Persians were convinced of the truth they came down upon the Greeks in overwhelming numbers, breaking into Miletus. There they killed all the warriors, castrated the young men, and sold the women and children into slavery. It was their intent that Miletus would never again be repopulated, and for some decades it was not.
Aristagoras, anticipating the end, had escaped with a contingent of colonists, leaving the other citizens behind. Consequently he is the only general Herodotus labels as a coward. As the commander-in-chief he would have been obligated to assume command of the defence, but he chose instead to assume command of a hypothetical reserve, which he failed to establish anyway. Despite advice not to do so, Aristagoras tried to establish a Greek colony in Thrace. He landed to a hostile welcome from the Thracians, where he and many others soon perished in battle. The mainland Greeks were not to escape war with the Persians, despite their refusal to assist their Ionian countrymen, as the Persian king Darius resolved on the conquest of Greece.