Persia from the Earliest Period to the Arab

1
40 HISTORY OF PERSIA.
two Persian invasions of Greece, really sprang out of
a comparatively petty quarrel between Aristagoras of
Miletus and a Persian general named Megabates;
the result being a general uprising in all the Greek
cities of Asia Minor against their Persian rulers, and
the almost universal overthrow of the Persian authority.
The first outbreak was confined to the cities of Ionia
and Aeolis, but as it was soon seen that they could
not stand alone, help was sought from Greece, but
given with a grudging hand, even by Athens, while
Sparta gave none. The chief early event of the
outbreak was the capture and burning of Sardis, the
western capital of the great king's empire. So daring
a deed could not be left unavenged : moreover the
flames of rebellion soon included many places far distant
from one another and but little interested in the causes
that had led to the first insurrection. Sending, there-
fore, an efficient force, Darius gradually reconquered
each place, defeated the Ionian fleet utterly in the battle
of Lade, and retook Miletus, the Greeks having to rue
the day when they allowed themselves to entertain
the wild schemes of Aristagoras; moreover the
character of the outbreak naturally led Darius to
plan a further attack on his own part, in which he
hoped to make an example of those European
their Asiatic
powers who had thought fit to brethren.
help
For this purpose Mardonius, the son of Gobryas,
and the son-in-law of Darius, was ordered to advance
with a powerful force by the way of Thrace, Macedonia
and Thessaly, against Eretria and Athens. On
his way, by doing all he could to conciliate the