Ionian Revolt

In 499 BC, the Greek cities of Ionia, on the western coast of Asia Minor, rose up against the Persian Empire, which had ruled them for about half a century. The revolt was led by Aristagoras, the ruler of Miletus, who had fallen out with the Persians after a failed expedition against the island of Naxos. The Ionian cities overthrew the tyrants Persia had placed over them and asked mainland Greece for help. Sparta refused, but Athens sent 20 ships and Eretria sent 5. In 498 BC, the rebels and their allies marched inland and burned Sardis, the regional Persian capital. The revolt spread to Cyprus and other Greek cities, but it lacked unity and strong leadership. Persia gradually regained control, and the decisive naval defeat at Lade in 494 BC doomed the uprising. Miletus was captured and destroyed, and its people were killed or deported. The Persian king Darius I never forgot that Athens and Eretria had helped the rebels. Their involvement gave him his reason to invade Greece, leading directly to the Persian Wars.