Aristagoras of Miletus

Aristagoras started the Ionian Revolt against Persia in 499 BC, which began the wars between Greece and Persia. He was the son-in-law and deputy of Histiaeus, the tyrant of Miletus, and governed the city while Histiaeus was detained at the Persian court. In 500 BC exiles from Naxos asked for help in returning. Aristagoras persuaded the Persian satrap Artaphernes to back an expedition, promising an easy conquest and the eventual submission of the Cyclades. The Persians supplied two hundred ships under Megabates. The two quarrelled, the Naxians were warned — Herodotus says Megabates himself told them — and after four months the siege failed. Aristagoras had spent a large amount of Persian money and had promised results he could not deliver. Facing ruin, he chose revolt instead, renouncing his own tyranny and encouraging the Ionian cities to expel their Persian-installed rulers and establish popular governments. He then sailed to mainland Greece for support. At Sparta he showed King Cleomenes a bronze map of the world engraved on a tablet — one of the earliest maps mentioned in Greek literature — and described the wealth of the Persian empire. Cleomenes asked how far it was to Susa, and on hearing three months' march refused outright. Athens sent twenty ships and Eretria five. In 498 BC the Ionians and their allies marched inland and burned Sardis, the satrapal capital, though the citadel held. Herodotus called those ships the beginning of evils, since Darius resolved on revenge against Athens. Aristagoras left for Thrace as the revolt collapsed and was killed there around 497 BC.

• Nationality: Turkish
• Roles: tyrant, rebel_leader