ANCIENT HISTORY ASSESSMENT TASK - Ben Pilgrim

Salamis or Plataea

The Ionian revolt provoked the Greeks and the Persians to start what is known as the Persian Wars. With the large pockets of Ionians living in Persia getting more and more discontent, a revolt was imminent. The first thing the revolting Ionians set out to do was to rid the Ionian cities of tyrants and set up democracies in their place. The Ionians were not alone, the Athenians sent 20 ships and the small city of Eretria managed to send 5 ships to aid the Ionians. In 498 BC, Sardis, the headquarters of the Persian satraps, was attacked. An accidental fire broke out and the city was destroyed. The Ionians suffered a defeat while retreating from the burning city of Sardis. They fought with a Persian force at Ephesus and were defeated. When news filtered back to the Persian king Darius of the Athenians actions, he was enraged.

Map showing major incidents of the second Persian ...

Schematic diagram illustrating events during the B...

English: Sketch map, and diagram of the later move...

He told a servant to repeat the words "remember the Athenians" three times a day. With the revolt now widespread throughout Ionia, many cities gained freedom from Persia. The revolt ended in the siege of Miletus in 494. The Persian Fleet of around 600 ships had blockaded the city. The Greek fleet only had around half the number of ships as the Persians, and the ensuing battle had disastrous results for the Greeks. With Lesbos and Samos medising and joining the Persians, the Persians had a comfortable victory and later ransacked the city of Miletus.

Its is generally believed that the Persians' reason for attacking Greece in 490 BC was to gain revenge on Athens and Eretria for the role they played in the Ionian revolution. The Persians easily conquered smaller states such as Boeotia and Thessaly, while in Sparta and Athens,