The Ionian Revolt

The event

Along the Aegean coast of Asia Minor, a string of Greek city-states known as Ionia had long lived under Persian control. In 499 BC they rose in revolt, and the city of Athens sent a modest force of ships to support them. Darius I crushed the rebellion by 494 BC, but he never forgot that distant Athens had dared to intervene against his empire.

According to the Greek historian Herodotus, Darius was so incensed that he had a servant repeat to him at every meal, 'Master, remember the Athenians.' That grievance becomes the spark for the great Greco-Persian Wars — a conflict that will shape the destiny of the ancient Mediterranean world and, in God's larger providence, help preserve the very Greek culture and language that would one day carry the gospel across the empire that succeeded Persia's.

Dating

The revolt's outbreak in 499 BC is undisputed. Its end is dated either to 494 BC (the Battle of Lade and the fall of Miletus, which decisively broke the revolt) or to 493 BC, when Persian forces finished subduing the remaining rebel cities and imposed a settlement on Ionia. This entry uses 494 BC, the decisive military end; many reference works, including Britannica, give 499–493 BC.