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[[File: Ionian Revolt 1.jpg|250px|thumb|left|Ruins of Miletus]]
In 500 BCE, the Satrap of Asia Minor held an assembly with the rulers who governed the Ionian cities in the name of Darius. There was increasingly rivalry among the tyrants, as they were known. Each sought to expand their territories at the expense of their neighbors. To preserve peace and stability in Ionia, the rulers were obliged to ally and foreswore to attack each other. However, in BC 499, Aristagoras, the tyrant of Miletus sought to conquer the independent island of Naxos and add it to his territories. He tried to win support from his fellow Ionian tyrants, but they refused. Aristagoras then secured some mighty Persians support and sought to conquer Naxos in the name of Darius.<ref>Herodotus, v, 118</ref>
However, this invasion of Naxos was a military disaster, and he owed some of his backers a great deal of money. Aristagoras knew he could be imprisoned or executed for his failure on Naxos. The tyrant of Miletus decided to gamble on a rebellion. He devised an audacious plan; he encouraged the other Ionians Ionian cities to depose their pro-Persian rulers and to restore their old governments. The region was ripe for rebellion. He managed to incite a series of revolutions in Ionia that led to the inhabitants expelling or killing their pro-Persian governors. Violence also spread to the Aeolian and Dorian Greek communities on the Aegean Coast.
====The Ionian Revolt====
Aristagoras knew that the Persians would not accept Ionian independence and that Darius would swiftly seek to re-conquer the region with a huge army. In desperation, he traveled to Sparta to secure help from the most powerful state in Greece. When it refused, he traveled around Greece, seeking men, money, and ships. Only the Athenians and the Eretians agreed to provide help to the Ionian rebels whom they regarded as their fellow kin.<ref>Herodotus, v, 114</ref>
Furthermore, both of these cities were democracies, and Aristagoras' impassioned pleadings swayed the popular assemblies. The Athenians and Eretians sent a large number of hoplites and ships to support the Ionians. The arrivals of these reinforcements persuaded the rebel to go on the offensive in 498 BC. The allies marched on the principal city of Sardis and burned most of the town but could not seize the citadel. The rebels retreated to Ephesus, but they were demolished by a large force of Persians <ref>Brosius, Maria. "The Ionian Revolt, 498–494 BC." The Encyclopaedia of Ancient Battles (2017): 1-7</ref>. Aristagoras, decided to continue the revolt and convinced more Greek cities to join him and even persuaded the Carians to join an anti-Persian alliance.<ref>, Herodotus, v 115</ref>
Then various kingdoms on the island Cyprus joined the revolt, but the Athenians withdrew their support at this time. In 497 BC, the Persian Emperor, sent three of his sons-in-law with a large army to crush the rebellion. Soon they had restored Cyprus to obedience and executed its rulers. Part of Darius' army was able to defeat the Carians at the Battle of the Marsyas River. Milesian forces joined the remnants of the Carian army, but Darius' soldiers badly defeated this new army<ref>Herodotus, v, 120</ref>. A Persian commander ordered an attack on the Carians, presumably to end their resistance once and for all.
However, they had found out about the plan and launched a night-time ambush and destroyed the enemy forces with all its generals. This attack brought the rebels some respite. The following year the Persians changed their strategy, and they directly attacked the Ionian cities, and they besieged and seized several towns. Aristogros knew that his rebellion was doomed, and he fled to Thrace, where he was later killed. The Milesians and others continued to defy Darius, and they placed their faith in their large fleet.
The Persian commanders assembled a sizeable naval taskforce, crewed by their subject peoples, notably the Phoenicians. This armada sailed to Ionia and met the rebel fleet at Lade in 494 BC. The larger Persian fleet utterly defeated the rebel navy <ref>Holland, p 99</ref>. Also, in 494 BCE, the army of Darius captured the city of Miletus, which was devastated. By now , leaderless, the rebellion collapsed, and Ionia was reincorporated into the Persian Empire, and by 493 BC, the last remnants of resistance to Darius had collapsed.
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The Greek-city states managed to recover quickly, and they were soon able to secure a great level of autonomy. The Persian Empire was decentralized, and they did not seek to rule the Ionians directly.<ref>Herodotus, v, 119</ref> It was a tributary Empire and did not want to conquer lands and peoples but demanded that they pay taxes and provide their Satraps with soldiers and ships when requested.
Darius wanted the city-states, to remain prosperous so that they could continue to provide him with tribute and especially ships. The Persian Emperor was a farsighted ruler, and his policy of clemency was to prove to be successful. During the two invasions of Greece, the Ionians provided their Persian overlords with sailors and ships. The number of vessels would indicate that they had recovered rapidly after the revolt. The cities continued to prosper for centuries, right down to the Byzantine Empire. They even remained culturally Greek for centuries.
====The End of the Ionian Enlightenment====
However, the Persians had become concerned about potential unrest in the western reaches of their Empire. Athens had shown itself to be a threat to their interests, and it was feared that it could encourage more uprising in the future. This was to lead to the first Persian Invasion of Greece. This can be considered to be a punitive expedition that was aimed at punishing those who supported the Ionian rebels.<ref> Herodotus, v 119</ref>
In 490 BC, a Persian amphibious force attacked several Greek cities and islands before landing near Athens. The Athenians defeated them at the Battle of Marathon 490 BC.<ref> Holland, p 119</ref> This defeat made Darius more determined than ever to punish the Athenians, but he died before he could invade Greece. Therefore, the defeat at Marathon did not end the Persian ambitions to subdue the Greeks. Xerxes, the successor of Darius, did not only want to punish the Athenians but wanted to conquer all of Greece. He launched the second invasion of Greece, and he moved his army via the Balkans into the Hellenic territory but was later defeated on the sea at Salamis and the land at Platea. It is highly likely that if it were not for the Ionian Revolt that there may not have been any Persian attacks on mainland Greece. This rebellion caused two significant wars, and these conflicts directly led to the rise of Athens and Sparta and weakened Persia.
====Conclusion====
