Aristagoras of Miletus (), d. 497/496 BC, was the tyrant of the Ionian city of Miletus in the late 6th century BC and early 5th century BC. He acted as one of the instigators of the Ionian Revolt against the Persian Achaemenid Empire. He was the son-in-law of Histiaeus and was granted the tyranny of Miletus from him.
The Greeks had won the coast of Asia Minor from the preceding Hittite Empire during the Bronze Age, and thanks to their victory at Troy had kept it during the fall of the empire and retirement of the Hittites to Syria. They shared the coast with the Phrygians coming in from the Balkans, but neither were prepared for the armed invasion of their lands by the Persians during the late 6th-century BC. The Ionian Greeks appealed to the mainland Greeks for assistance and not receiving it were forced to capitulate, becoming subjects of the new Achaemenid Empire. However, as long as they paid their taxes and were no threat to the rule of the Persians, the latter were willing to allow them self-rule under the Greek tyrants. The entire region, however, including those tyrants, held a smoldering resentment against the Persian Empire.
Aristagoras is of historical note for his instigation of the Ionian revolt in collaboration with his father-in-law and predecessor, Histiaeus. The conspiracy gained the support of many Greek Ionian states but failed to win the full support of the mainland Greek states. Consequently, the Persians came down upon the Ionian Greeks in overwhelming numbers, sacking the rebel cities, including Miletus. At Miletus, the Persians killed all the warriors, castrated the young men, and sold the women and children into slavery. It was their intent that Miletus would never again be repopulated, and for some decades it was not.
Aristagoras, prior to the sacking of Miletus, had led a contingent of colonists to Thrace. Despite advice not to do so, Aristagoras took up occupation of the city of Myrcinus. He would then lay siege to another Thracian city, where he and all his men would be killed in combat. The first Persian invasion of mainland Greece would occur two years after the defeat of the Ionians. In 492 BC the Persian king Darius would order a naval attack in retaliation against Athens and Eretria for supporting the Greeks in the Ionian Revolt.
Background
By the time extant history hears of him, Aristagoras was already serving as deputy governor of Miletus, a polis on the western coast of Anatolia around 500 BC. He was the son of Molpagoras. Aside from his paternal relationship, little is known about him. He was also the son-in-law of Histiaeus, whom the Persians had set up as tyrant but did not trust. After general Megabazus presented his complaints about Histiaeus to Darius I of Persia, the latter summoned Histiaeus to his court and detained him at Susa, the reason given was that he wanted a trustworthy advisor. On the recommendation of Histiaeus, the Achaemenids then appointed Aristagoras as the new ruler of Miletus. Aristagoras ruled Miletus while Histiaeus remained in Susa, kept under observation away from his troops.
Aristagoras was the main driver of the Ionian Revolt on secret instruction from Histiaeus, when the latter learned of Persian plans to interfere directly in Miletus. Aristagoras took advantage of Greek dissatisfaction with Persian rule to incite an alliance of the Greek poleis of Ionia.
Failure of the Naxos expedition
Certain exiled citizens of Naxos came to Miletus to seek refuge. They asked Aristagoras to supply them with troops, so that they could regain control of their homeland. Aristagoras considered that if he was able to supply troops to the Naxians, then he could become ruler of Naxos. So he agreed to assist the Naxians.. He explained that he did not have enough troops of his own, but that Artaphernes, Darius' brother and the Persian satrap of Lydia, who commanded a large army and navy on the coast of Asia, could help supply troops. The Naxians agreed to Aristagoras seeking Artaphernes' support and supplied him with money.
Aristagoras travelled to Sardis and suggested that Artaphernes attack Naxos and restore the exiles. The Persians would then gain control of the island. He explained to Artaphernes that Naxos “was a fine and fertile island, close to the Ionian coast, and rich both in treasures and slaves.”. It was also the gateway to the Cyclades, which the Persians did not yet rule. Aristagoras promised that he would both fund the expedition and give Artaphernes a bonus sum. He also tempted Artaphernes by adding that capturing the island would place other poleis of the Cyclades under his control. They would serve as bases for an invasion of Euboea. After securing the permission of Susa, Artaphernes agreed and promised 200 ships.
The following spring, Aristagoras and the Naxian exiles sailed with the fleet. Unfortunately for the success of the invasion, Aristagoras quarreled with the Persian admiral Megabates. He interfered in Magabates' role in disciplining the ship captains to save a friend from harsh punishment for an infraction (failure to set a watch on his ship). Aristagoras saved his friend from punishment but lost the support of the Persian admiral, who expected to be in overall command. The schism was irreparable with Megabates deciding to sabotage the entire operation by secretly informing the Naxians that they were about to be attacked, taking away the element of surprise. Naxos then had enough time to prepare for a siege. Four months later, the siege still held, the Persians were out of supplies and had only limited funds remaining. The expedition was then considered a failure and the Persians sailed home..
Ionian Revolt
Due to his failure to make good on his Naxian promises, Aristagoras' political position was at risk. He began to plan a revolt with the Milesians and the other Ionians. Meanwhile, Histiaeus, still detained at Susa, had tattooed a message upon the shaved head of a slave. Once his hair had grown back, he sent him to Aristagoras. The message told Aristagoras to revolt. Histiaeus, desperate to resume his authority at Miletus, hoped Darius would send him to deal with a Milesian revolt.
Both leaders being of the same mind, Aristagoras conferred with a council of his supporters, who agreed to a rebellion in Miletus in 499 BC. Aristagoras was supported by most of the citizens in council, except the historian Hecataeus.Book V, Chapter 36. The text is one of those telescoping of events that confuse translators and provide fuel for the fires of the critics. Aristagoras calls a consultative meeting (ebouleuonto) with his partisans, or supporters (stasiotai). The very next sentence describes a binding vote to revolt (exepheronto keleuontes apistasthai) and not to adopt the proposals of Hecataeus, a logopoios, not a partisan. A plenipotentiary emissary is sent to seize the fleet and arrest its Persian-employed commanders. As tyrants do not rely on voting to decide policy or send emissaries, the consultative body of partisans cannot be same as the voting body. Apparently after the consultation Aristagoras has given up tyranny and has convened an assembly of the people, which hears proposals and votes on them. Hecataeus voted against the revolt because he believed that the Ionians would be out-matched with defeat being inevitable. Once the vote was taken, however, there is no evidence that he excluded himself from the revolt. In fact, he had suggestions to make. Once the war began, the Ionians expected all to participate, although they could not stop the larger allies from withdrawing.
As soon as the vote for war was certain, Aristagoras took steps to secure the nearby Persian ships. The Naxos fleet was recovering from its ordeal at Myus. Now in a position of command, Herodotus is not specific, Aristagoras sent a party under Iatragoras to arrest the admirals still with the fleet, some several men. Ironically, these were mainly Greek. They were later released and sent home. Now that the rebellion was in the open, Aristagoras “set himself to damage Darius in every way he could think of”..
The scope of the revolt spread rapidly to all Ionia. Aristagoras foresaw that one city against the Persians would soon be crushed. He therefore set about creating an alliance of all the Ionian cities, but the members also came from regions beyond Ionia. He made a number of constitutional changes, not all of which are clear. First he relinquished his own tyranny. Approaching the other states, he convinced them to end theirs. Finally he ordered all of the states to create a board of generalsStrategoi, which can only be high-ranking military officers, and not some sort of magistrate as some translators say. As Herodotus does not clarify the duties of a strategos, considering that Aristagoras was interpreted as establishing democracies, most commentators presume that for Herodotus only, a strategos is an archon, or magistrate. The language precludes determining whether single strategoi or many strategoi were being set up in each city. The word "command," keleusas, refers to an instruction given by a figure in authority to a subordinate, so to interpret Aristagoras as democratically suggesting each Ionian city vote in its magistrates appears somewhat far-fetched as far as the language is concerned. to report, apparently, to him. When his government was in place he sailed to Lacedaemon and other states of Greece in search of allies.
There has been some question as to the exact meaning of Herodotus' governmental terms, and as to the form of government of the Ionian alliance. The most fundamental question is where Aristagoras got his authority over the Ionians in the first place. They were all under the satrapy of Lydia, not under Miletus. The satrap was Persian. The tyrant of Miletus was appointed by the satrap, but he also appointed all the other tyrants. For reasons not specified in Herodotus, Miletus took the lead.There are some credible theories. The use of koinon, Latin res publica, to refer to the Ionians under Aristagoras suggests that the former Ionian League, also termed a koinon, had been restored again with Aristagoras as chief officer:. In a second theory, pointing out that Histiaeus was arrested by the Chians as a Persian agent, and asserting "Histiaeus at Susa was not a pampered political prisoner," Georges attributes the influence of Miletus to Darius himself, in support of Histiaeus: .
One can only assume a leadership role of some kind of Aristagoras over the other tyrants, whether personal or according to some unspecified convention. In order to gain the participation of the people in the revolt, it was said that Aristagoras "let go" the tyranny and established isonomia, which translates roughly as "equality of government." According to Liddell and Scott, a standard dictionary of ancient Greek, Thucydides used it to mean the "equality of rights" in a democracy.
Aristagoras went on to "put a stop to tyranny" in all the other Ionian cities, and moreover to insist that they select boards of generals reporting to him. No voting is mentioned. Apparently a new sovereign entity had been formed with Aristagoras at its head. The state had the power to levy taxes and troops. Aristagoras was commander of the joint armed forces. Miletus was to be the new capital. The newly sovereign Ionia issued its own coinage between 499 and its destruction by the Persians in 494.
Spartan refusal to provide assistance