Siege of Sardis (498 BC)

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Siege of Sardis

Part of the Ionian Revolt & Persian Wars

Date	498 BC
Location	Sardis, Lydia
Result	Greeks sack and burn Sardis

Combatants

Sardis

Ionian Greeks,
Athens,
Eretria

Commanders

Unknown

Charopinos

Greco-Persian Wars
1st Naxos – Sardis – Ephesus – Lade – 2nd Naxos – Eretria – Marathon – Thermopylae – Artemisium – Salamis – Potidea – Olynthus – Plataea – Mycale – Sestus – Byzantium – Eion – Doriskos – Eurymedon – Pampremis – Prosoptis – Salamis in Cyprus

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

[edit] Background

Aristagoras of Miletos, who had led and lost the first siege of Naxos in 499 BC on behalf of Naxian exiles and Darius, resigned his tyranny of Miletos after the defeat and switched to the Greek side of the Ionian Revolt.

Aristagoras 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.

[edit] Sardis

According to Herodotus, Aristagorus 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 originated in Persepolis. The satrap, Artaphernes, managed to take refuge in the acropolis of Sardis together with a strong garrison.

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, which the Greek alliance lost.

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 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.