Herodotus Tweets - Book 5
Book 4 | Book 3 | Book 2 | Book 1
5.126 But Aristagoras went to Myrcinus with a number of his people. He was killed by Thracians while laying siege to a town there.
5.125 Hecataeus thought Aristagoras should fortify the island of Leros and use that as his base.
5.124 Aristagoras, in light of the Persian wins, wanted to flee. He talked with his people about where they could go. Myrcinus in Thrace?
5.123 Artaphrenes, the governor of Sardis, and Otanes marched against Ionia and Aeolia. They captured Cyme and Clazomenae.
5.122 Another Persian general, Hymaees, went to the Hellespont after Daurises left and captured territory there. But he got sick and died.
5.121 The Carians rallied and ambushed the Persians at Pedasus. The Persians were destroyed. Among the dead was their general Daurises.
5.120 They were joined there by the Milesians & other allies, but the Persians came & defeated them again. The Milesians lost the most men.
5.119 The Persians crossed the river and defeated the Carians: 2000 Persian dead against 10,000 Carians. The Carians withdrew to Labraunda.
5.118 The Carians decided they would engage the Persians just south of the Maeander, so that the Persians had the river at their backs.
5.117 Daurises next captured cities in the Hellespont. But when he heard the Carians had revolted he left the Hellespont and invaded Caria.
5.116 Daurises (Darius' son-in-law) and other Persian generals pursued the Ionians and defeated them. They plundered Ionia.
5.115 When they heard about what had happened on land, the Ionians sailed back to Ionia. The Persians ultimately recaptured all of Cyprus.
5.114 The Amathusians cut off Onesilus' head & hung it up. But after bees moved into it, and per the advice of an oracle, they buried it.
5.113 But finally the Persians defeated the Cypriots, and among the dead was Onesilus, who had brought about the revolt on Cyprus.
5.112 So the battle was fought. The Ionians beat the Phoenicians, and on land Onesilus and his squire took down Artybius and his horse.
5.111 Artybius had a horse trained to fight against the enemy. Onesilus' plan was to attack Artybius while his squire took down the horse.
5.110 The Persians came to the plain of Salamis, on Cyprus. Onesilus and his men were drawn up opposite the Persian general Artybius.
5.109 The rebels decided that the Ionians would confront the Phoenicians by sea, while the Cypriots fought the Persians on land.
5.108 Meanwhile, a Persian army was en route to Cyprus. The rebel leader Onesilus called in the Ionians for help, and they came in force.
5.107 Histiaeus was lying, of course, but Darius was fooled and sent him off, telling him to return to Susa when he was finished.
5.106 Darius questioned Histiaeus to see if he was behind Aristagoras' revolt. H. denied it and asked to be sent home to put things right.
5.105 When Darius heard about Sardis, he shot an arrow into the sky and prayed that Zeus grant him the chance of punishing the Athenians.
5.104 Cyprus joined the Ionian rebellion too, except for the Amathusians.
5.103 After Sardis, the Athenians went home and refused Aristagoras' entreaties, and the rebels went on to successes in the Hellespont.
5.102 So Sardis burned, and with it the temple of Cybebe. But the Persians followed the Ionians to Ephesus and defeated them in battle.
5.101 The Ionians started a fire that spread across the city. The defenders gathered near a river, and the rebels were forced to retreat.
5.100 The rebels captured all of the city except the acropolis, which was held by Artaphrenes.
5.99 The Athenians, meanwhile, arrived with their 20 ships, and the Eretrians came with 5. They joined in a rebel attack on Sardis.
5.98 Aristagoras returned to Miletus and incited many of the Paeonians to run away from Asia and make their way back to Thrace.
5.97 It was now that Aristagoras of Miletus came to Athens. The Athenians decided to send 20 ships to aid the Ionian rebels against Persia.
5.96 Hippias whined to Artaphrenes, who told the Athenians to restore Hippias to power. They refused & were thus openly at enmity w/Persia.
5.95 During 1 fight re. Sigeum the poet Alcaeus fled, leaving behind his arms. He wrote a poem about it. Later Athens & Mytilene reconciled.
5.94 So Hippias went back to Sigeum on the Hellespont, which Pisistratus had taken by force from Mytilene. It had been fought over since.
5.93 Hippias told Socles he'd be sorry. But the rest of the allies agreed with Socles and asked Sparta not to impose a tyranny on Athens.
5.92 Most of the allies disapproved. A Corinthian, Socles, talked about the abuses committed by their tyrants, Cypselus and Periander.
5.91 Wanting to keep the Athenians weak, the Spartans summoned Hippias from exile and told their allies they wanted to restore him to power.
5.90 Athens thus prepared for war. Meanwhile, the Spartans found out the Alcmaeonidae had bribed Delphi to get the Spartans to oust Hippias.
5.89 So the Aeginetans helped the Boeotians. An oracle said the Athenians shd wait 30 yrs before fighting Aegina, but they didn't want to.
5.88 After that, the Athenians made their women stop using brooch pins. And in Argos & Aegina laws required that brooch pins be 50% longer.
5.87 But all agree only one survived. When he got back to Athens, the wives of the men who'd died stabbed him to death w/their brooch pins.
5.86 The Aeginetans say the Athenians attacked with a fleet, and their Argive allies came to help & cut the Athenians off from their ships.
5.85 The Athenians say they sent men to Aegina to take the images, but they went crazy and killed each other. Only one of them survived.
5.84 The Epidaurians stopped making their annual offerings. The Athenians, angered, demanded Aegina hand over the images, but they refused.
5.83 The Aeginetans and Epidaurians fell out, and the Aeginetans stole the sacred images and set them up in their own land.
5.82 The enmity began after the Epidaurians carved images from Attic olive trees. In return they agreed to make annual offerings to Athena.
5.81 The images didn't help, so the Boeotians asked for men. The Aeginetans, remembering their enmity w/Athens, attacked the Athenian coast.
5.80 They finally realized the oracle meant they should ask Aegina for help. They did & the Aeginetans sent them images of Aeginetan heroes.
5.79 In Boeotia, the Thebans asked the Delphic oracle about taking vengeance. It advised them to beg those nearest them for help.
5.78 Equality and free speech are in all respects a good. The Athenians, once rid of Hippias, sought to do their best. Not so under tyranny.
5.77 The Athenians took revenge by attacking Boeotia and Chalchis (on Euboea). They took more than 700 prisoners, whom they later ransomed.
5.76 Finally the other allies went home. This was the Spartans’ 4th invasion of Attica. (They’d tried twice to banish the Pisistratids.)
5.75 But before there was a fight, the Corinthians abandoned the Spartans, and Demaratus, the other Spartan king, also turned back.
5.74 Cleomenes, insulted by his ouster, gathered a great army and invaded Attica. His allies overran other parts of Attica at the same time.
5.73 Knowing the Spartans would be back, the Athenians sent to Persia to make an alliance. The messengers gave Darius earth and water.
5.72 The Spartans drove out Cleisthenes and 700 Athenian families, then seized the Acropolis, but the Athenians forced them to leave.
5.71 The curse started bc an Alcmaeonid had once killed the failed would-be tyrant Cylon & his minions, despite that they were suppliants.
5.70 Isagoras in turn called upon Cleomenes for help. Cleom. demanded the Athenians banish Cleisthenes et al. because his family was cursed.
5.69 Cleisthenes of Athens likewise reorganized Athens' tribal structure, assigning the demes to tribes. He thus won the support of the ppl.
5.68 Cleisthenes of Sicyon also changed the names of the tribes in Sicyon. He gave them animal names--like Hoggies--in order to mock them.
5.67 I think Cleisthenes was emulating his grandpa, Cleisthenes, tyrant of Sicyon. He stopped the worship of the hero Adrastus in Sicyon.
5.66 Next, the Alcmaeonid Cleisthenes & Isagoras vied for power. C. gained popular support & organized the ppl into 10 tribes instead of 4.
5.65 The Pisistratids (Hippias et al.) agreed to leave Athens to gain release of their kids, who'd been captured. They had ruled for 36 yrs.
5.64 The Spartans made a 2nd expedition against Athens by land, under Cleomenes. He besieged the Acropolis, where Hippias and his crew were.
5.63 They got Delphi to convince the Spartans they should help restore the Alcmaeonidae. The Spartans attacked Athens but were defeated.
5.62 But back to the story. Hippias was ruling harshly. The Alcmaeonidae had been exiled under Hippias & were trying to get back to Athens.
5.61 Another tripod was dedicated by Laodamas, the king of the Cadmeans.
5.60 The inscription on one of the tripods in the shrine says it was dedicated by Scaeus. This could be Hippocoon's son, from Oedipus' day.
5.59 I've seen Cadmean letters myself, in a shrine to Apollo in Boeotia. They're like Ionic Greek letters in many ways.
5.58 The Phoenicians who came with Cadmus brought the alphabet to Greece. The Greeks learned the letters and altered their forms somewhat.
5.57 The assassins, Harmodius and Aristogiiton, were descended from the Gephyraeans, who came with Cadmus from Phoenicia to Boeotia.
5.56 Hipparchus dreamt of his death the night before he died. The next day he was killed while conducting Athens' Panathenaic procession.
5.55 Aristagoras next went to Athens, which was now rid of its tyrant Hippias. He had ruled harshly after his brother Hipparchus was killed.
5.54 So Aristagoras told the truth when he said the trip would take 3 months. If you're starting from Ephesus, it would take another 3 days.
5.53 There are 111 stations in all. The journey along the Royal Road from Sardis to Susa takes exactly ninety days.
5.52 The Royal Road from the coast to the capital of Susa is safe. All along it stations are set up at intervals where you can stop & rest.
5.51 Aristagoras followed Cleomenes home & tried to bribe him, but C. left the room after his daughter cried out that A. would corrupt him.
5.50 Two days later, hearing it would take 3 months to get from the sea to Persia's capital, Cleomenes told A. to leave: the answer was no.
5.49 Aristagoras went to Cleomenes asking that the Spartans help the Ionians revolt from Persia. Cleomenes postponed answering for two days.
5.48. So, Dorieus died. Had he lived, he would have ruled Sparta: Cleomenes didn't live long and he left no sons--just a daughter, Gorgo.
5.47 One of the men who died with Dorieus was Philippus of Croton, an Olympic victor and the handsomest man of his day.
5.46 Dorieus then sailed to Sicily. He and all but one of his men promptly died in battle against the Phoenicians and Egestans.
5.45 Both sides offer evidence. (E.g., the Crotoniates say that if D. had helped he would have received allotments of land, but he didn't.)
5.44 In Italy Dorieus joined Croton in a war against Sybaris. That's what the Sybarites say, at least, but the Crotoniates deny it.
5.43 He sailed off to found a colony in Sicily instead. But first he went to Italy.CONVERT BREAKS: 0
5.42 When Cleomenes got the kingship instead of him, Dorieus sailed off in a huff to found a colony in Libya. 2 yrs later he was driven out.
5.41 So Cleomenes was born to #2, then #1 suddenly got pregnant. She eventually had three sons, Dorieus, Leonidas, and Cleombrotus.
5.40 Anaxandrides had been asked by the ephors to take a second wife because his first had not borne children. So he had two wives at once.
5.39 At this time Cleomenes, the son of Anaxandrides and his 2nd wife, was one of Sparta’s kings.
5.38 Most let their tyrants go but the Mytilenaeans stoned Cöes. Aristagoras next sailed to Sparta looking for allies to help w/the revolt.
5.37 Aristagoras resigned his tyranny & drove other tyrants out of Ionia. He gave the arrested generals (who were tyrants) to their cities.
5.36 Aristagoras talked w/his peeps. All but Hecataeus agreed Miletus should revolt. 1st they would arrest the generals of the Naxos fleet.
5.35 Aristagoras was worried bc of his failure. Meanwhile, Histiaeus sent him a msg via a tattooed slave, urging him to revolt from Persia.
5.34 Thus the Naxians were prepared for the attack. The Persians could not take the island and abandoned the attempt after a 4-month siege.
5.33 En route to Naxos Aristagoras & Megabates fought over M.'s punishment of one of the fleet's captains. M. took revenge by warning Naxos.
5.32 Artaphrenes, after consulting with Darius, prepared a fleet of 200 triremes for the expedition, with his cousin Megabates as general.
5.31 Aristagoras went to Sardis to sell Artaphrenes on the idea of capturing Naxos, which might lead to other conquests in the Aegean.
5.30 So, some Naxian rebels asked Aristagoras, acting tyrant of Miletus, for help w/restoration to Naxos. He said he'd talk to Artaphrenes.
5.29 The Parians helped by restructuring their government. They gave authority in Miletus to the Milesians whose farms were best run.
5.28 Other troubles came, in Naxos and Miletus. The Milesians had once been torn by faction, but they had been reconciled by the Parians.
5.27 Lycaretus was made governor of the Lemnians, but he was killed on the job because he was a bully and enslaved everybody.
5.26 Otanes captured, among other places, Byzantium and the islands of Lemnos and Imbros.
5.25 Darius made his brother-by-another-mother Artaphrenes satrap of Sardis & gave Otanes (not the conspirator) Megabazus' job.
5.24 Darius summoned Histiaeus and brought him with him to Susa, where Histiaeus was to serve as his trusted advisor.
5.23 Megabazus returned to Sardis from Thrace and suggested Darius recall Histiaeus: he was fortifying Myrcinus and might become a threat.
5.22 The Macedonians are of Greek descent. The Olympic officials thought as much, as they allowed Alexander to participate in a footrace.
5.21 So the ambassadors were all killed. Alexander later made the problem go away by marrying his sister to the guy charged w/finding them.
5.20 Amyntas left. Alexander told the women to go bathe, and he replaced them with armed boys, who killed the Persians when they got fresh.
5.19 Amyntas endured the insult, fearing the Persians, but his son Alexander was angry & persuaded Amyntas to go to bed: he would play host.
5.18 Amyntas complied & feasted the Persians. He allowed women to join the party, against Macedonian custom. The Persians pawed at them.
5.17 After the Paeonians, Megabazus sent seven Persian emissaries to Macedon to ask the Macedonian king, Amyntas, for earth and water.
5.16 Some of the Paeonians were not captured, including those who live in houses on stilts over the water. Their men marry multiple wives.
5.15 Many of the Paeonians surrendered to Megabazus after he had captured their cities.
5.14 He sent orders to Megabazus to capture the Paeonians and bring them to Asia. Megabazus duly marched on Paeonia.
5.13 Speaking to her brothers, Darius became convinced that the Paeonians as a whole were an industrious people.
5.12 Darius decided to bring the Paeonians of Thrace to Asia after watching a Paeonian girl walk through Sardis one day while spinning flax.
5.11 Darius rewarded Histiaeus and Cöes for their service in Scythia: Histiaeus wanted Myrcinus in Thrace, Cöes to be tyrant of Mytilene.
5.10 The Thracians say no one can travel beyond the Ister because of the bees there, but I doubt this, as bees are sensitive to cold.
5.9 No one knows who lives north of the Thracians. The only ppl I know who live beyond the Ister are the Sigynnae, who have shaggy horses.
5.8 The burial of wealthy people involves the sacrifice of lots of victims and a feast, with a festival and contests.
5.7 They worship Ares, Dionysus, and Artemis, but their kings chiefly worship Hermes.
5.6 The Thracians let their daughters mate with anyone they want. They sell their children for export. Tattoos & war are good & farming bad.
5.5 When 1 of the Thracians who live above the Crestonaeans dies, his favorite wife is slaughtered over his tomb. The other wives feel bad.
5.4 I've already written re. the Getae [4.94]. The Trausi mourn at someone's birth & rejoice when he dies. [1/2 OF THE HISTORY NOW TWEETED!]
5.3 The Thracians are the largest nation of all mankind, but they are not united. The various tribes have similar customs except for three.
5.2 Next, per Darius' orders, Megabazus subdued all of Thrace.
5.1 Back in the Hellespont area, Megabazus, Darius' general, 1st subdued the Perinthians.