Siege of Sardis (498 BC)

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Siege of Sardis (498 BC)
partof=the Ionian Revolt & Persian Wars
date=498 BC
place=Sardis, Lydia
result=Greeks raze Sardis, after victory.
territory=None by the Greek; Persia keeps Sardis.
combatant1=Ionians,
Athens,
Eretria
combatant2=Achaemenid Empire
commander1=Aristagoras,
Eualcides
commander2= Artaphernes
strength1=5,000 men,Fact|date=November 2007
25 ships
strength2=6,000 menFact|date=November 2007
casualties1=Unknown
casualties2=Unknown

The Siege of Sardis (498 BC), was fought between the people of Sardis and an alliance of Greeks from Ionia, Athens, and Eretria. The Greeks were under the command of Aristagoras of Miletos and Eualcides of Eretria. The Siege of Sardis was part of the Ionian Revolt (499 BC - 494 BC) and the Persian Wars (500 BC - 484 BC).

Background

Aristagoras of Miletos, who had led and lost the first siege of Naxos in 499 BC on behalf of the Naxian exiles and Darius the Great, resigned his tyranny of Miletos after the defeat and proceeded to incite the Ionian Greeks into open rebellion against the Persian Empire in what is known as the Ionian Revolt.

Aristagorus asked Athens and Sparta for military support for a campaign against Darius. Sparta refused due to its current conflicts in the Peloponnese, but Athens agreed and sent 20 ships and ally Eretria sent a further five ships, which were under the leadership of Eualcides.

ardis

According to Herodotus,Aristagoras remained at Miletos and entrusted command of the Ionian army to his brother Charopinos and another citizen named Hermophantos. The combined army of the Ionians and their allies sacked and burned the city. Sardis was of strategical importance because it was the seat of the nearest Persian satrapy to Greece and the end station of the Persian Royal Road which originates in Persepolis. The satrap, Artaphernes, managed to take refuge in the acropolis of Sardis together with a strong garrison.

Aftermath

Due to the hostility of the local Lydians, the Greeks retreated back to Ephesus, pursued by Artaphernes. The Persian troops then confronted them in the Battle of Ephesus, whom subsequently defeated the allied Greek force.

The involvement of Athens and Eretria in the burning of Sardis would not be forgiven and these two cities would be marked for destruction by the Persians as a result. In 490 BC a Persian force headed for Greece with the aim of punishing Athens and Eretria. The Persians succeeded in sacking Naxos and Eretria which was destroyed and its inhabitants enslaved. However, Athens was spared the same fate, for a time, by victory at the battle of Marathon.

References

*cite book | author=Burn, A. R. | title=The Penguin History of Greece | location=London | publisher=Penguin Press | year=1990 | id=ISBN 0-14-013751-3
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext01/2hofh10.txt Herodotus, The Histories, Book Five, chapter 102.] (Project Gutenburg)