12 Matching Annotations
  1. Mar 2014
    1. If, however,it is true that they are engaged in such activities and what you, O king, have heard has a basis in fact, then you can see how unwisely you acted when you forced me to leave the coast.

      Hdt. 5.106 Histiaios asks to be returned to Miletus under the pretense of securing the rebelling cities. While he himself was the one who told Aristagoras to revolt in the first place 498 BCE.

    2. he called before him Histiaeus the Milesian

      Hdt. 5.106 Darius confronts Histiaios about the rebellion of provinces started by Aristagoras in Miletus (Histaios' former governorship) 498 BCE.

    3. Artaphrenes, however, bade them receive Hippias back, if they wanted to be safe.

      Hdt. 5.96 Artaphrenes responds to the pleas of the Athenians with an ultimatum commanding the Athenians to take Hippias back as their tyrant, 500 BCE.

    4. While Hippias was engaged in these activities, the Athenians heard of it and sent messengers to Sardis, warning the Persians not to believe banished Athenians.

      Hdt. 5.96 Athenians sent a message to Artaphrenes in order to dissuade the Persians from believing or helping Athenian exiles (like Hippias), 500 BCE.

    5. but Hippias, having come from Lacedaemon into Asia, left no stone unturned, maligning the Athenians to Artaphrenes, and doing all he could to bring Athens into subjection to himself and Darius.

      Hdt. 5.96 Hippias, the deposed tyrant of Athens, seeks help in re-securing power in Athens from Artaphrenes, the governor of Sardis (half brother to Darius)

    6. Then, desiring to make an alliance with the Persians, they despatched envoys to Sardis, for they knew that they had provoked the Lacedaemonians and Cleomenes to war.

      Hdt. 5.73 The Athenians come to Sardis to speak to the Persians about becoming allies, -507 BCE. The reader sees the Achaemenids and their past members (current revoltees) being replaced as the active agents in the narrative. Herodotus now has the Athenians and Spartans (Hellenes) speaking for their own interests rather than being dominated by outside forces (Achaemenid or otherwise).

    7. It was in the reign of Cleomenes that Aristagoras the tyrant of Miletus came to Sparta.

      Hdt. 5.49 Aristagaros comes to Sparta to speak with Kleomenes to convince the Spartans to join in his revolt against Darius and the Achaemenids. He brings his famous world map as a prop and visual aid.

    8. With all these fears in his mind, he began to plan revolt, for it chanced that at that very time there came from Susa Histiaeus' messenger

      Hdt. 5.35 Histiaios sends a messenger to Aristagoras telling him to revolt against Darius (which nicely coincides with Aristagoras' desire to revolt against the Achaemenids since he can't pay back his loan form Artaphrenes and Darius).

    9. Aristagoras came to Sardis and told Artaphrenes that Naxos was indeed an island of no great size, but that it was otherwise a beautiful and noble island lying near Ionia. Furthermore it had a store of wealth and slaves. “Therefore send an army against that country,” he said, “and bring back the men who have been banished from there.

      Hdt. 5.31 After promising to help the Naxians re-gain control of their island, Aristagoras instead tells Artaphrenes (the governor of Sardis) to help him attack it and seize it's wealth. Artaphrenes agrees to attack Naxos provided that Darius approve the plan.

    10. When the Naxians came to Miletus, they asked Aristagoras if he could give them enough power to return to their own country.

      Hdt. 5.30 The Naxians approach Aristagoras (ruler of Miletus in leu of Histiaios) about securing their island [Naxos]. Aristagoras agrees to help them (but he's secretly scheming against the Naxian's interests).

    11. let nothing prevent you from coming to me so that I may inform you of certain great purposes which I have in mind.

      Hdt. 5.24 Influenced by the advice of Megabazos, Darius recalls Histiaios to Sardis under the suspicion that Histiaios is plotting a rebelling - fortifying his principate as the seat of his tyranny. Instead of punishing Histiaios outright or letting him continue ruling in Myrcinus Darius makes him part of his personal council. Adhering to the old maxim: keep your friends close and your possibly-duplicitous-generals even closer.

    12. Then Megabazus, having made the Paeonians captive, sent as messengers into Macedonia the seven Persians who (after himself) were the most honorable in his army. These were sent to Amyntas to demand earth and water for Darius the king.

      Hdt. 5.17 Megabazos, a proxy for Darius and the Achaemenid Empire, sends messengers to the Macedonians demanding their supplication. The messengers converse with Amyntas of Macedon.