While we are on the topic of Greek alt-hists, this is the beginning of an alt-hist that I started a while back but never finished. Now that I have time, I think I will finish it, and so will post the beginning here as a reminder to myself to finish the rest.
Part I (499 BCE)
This is the Showing forth of the Inquiry of Herodotus of Halicarnassos, to the end that neither the deeds of men may be forgotten by lapse of time, nor the works great and marvelous, which have been produced some by Hellenes and some by Barbarians, may lose their renown; and especially that the causes may be remembered for which these waged war with one another
So you wish, young Herodotus, to learn of the events which caused our current conflicts. You ask well, though I suppose if tried to do justice to my tale, I would have to start at the beginning of time itself. Nevertheless, if you promise to keep my mug full of beer, Ill relate the story as I heard it from my father who lived at fought in those days.
We may start, I suppose with Aristagoras, the tyrant of Miletus. In those days, Miletus, and indeed all of Ionia was not as it is now, but rather was ruled by the Empire of the Persians. Now it came to pass that there was an island nearby Ionia, called Naxos, from which certain men of the wealthier class were driven. Now these men fled to Miletus and regaled Aristagoras with tales of its wealth and promised that if he would help restore them, that wealth would be his. This Aristagoras agreed to, for he thought to himself that if he did this, he could make himself king over Naxos. However, Naxos was strong, with over eight thousand shields strong and a large fleet besides, and Aristagoras did not know whether he would be able to defeat Naxos or not. Therefore he went to Artaphernes, who was the brother of Darius the king, and ruler of all the people of the sea-coasts in Asia, and had a great army and many ships.
Aristagoras, therefore, went to Artaphernes, who dwelt in Sardis, and told him of the great wealth of Naxos, and the ease of capturing it for the glory of the Persians, and promised him many things besides, which he could only hope to pay if Naxos was captured. When he heard these things, Artaphernes agreed to help Aristagoras and promised two hundred ships to him, as well as a large sum of money, and many Persians and many of their allies. Now of these forces, Megabates, a cousin of Darius and a general of some renown, was named commander.
The gods, however, were not with this expedition, for they wished to use this in order to make a cause for war between the Persians and the Greeks. Therefore, they caused a quarrel to develop between Megabates and Aristagoras over the punishment of an Ionian. Because of this, Megabates was enraged, and sent a messenger by night to Naxos in order to inform them of the coming fleet. Naxos, therefore, got together all its crops, and strengthened its walls, and prepared for a long siege. Therefore, when the Persian fleet arrived at Naxos, they found it well fortified, so that they could not quickly take it. Despite this, the Persians disembarked their troops, and surrounded the city, and besieged it for four months. After this time, the Persian money had run out, and Aristagoras had spent a large sum of his own money besides, and so they were forced to return to the mainland again.
Because of the failure of his campaign, Aristagoras feared greatly, for he could not fulfill the promises he made to Artaphernes, and had spent a large sum of the Persians money and had nothing to show for it. Besides all of this, because of his quarrel, he made a great enemy of Megabates. Therefore, he planed for a revolt, fearing that he would be disposed by the Persians anyway, and at least in this manner he may have a chance of keeping his throne. So he called together many leading men of Miletus and proposed his plan to them. This plan they agreed to, and also agreed to send messengers around in order to get other cities to join them, and to send another of their number to seize the Persian fleet which had so recently sailed to Naxos. So Iatragoras was sent for this purpose and seized by craft the fleet of the Persians, and many of their commanders. Then Aristagoras openly made revolt and devised all that he could to the hurt of Darius.
He was joined in this revolt by many of the chief cities of Ionia, for he had sent messengers around, inciting the people to revolt. And some revolted because the Persians had taxed them grievously, and some revolted because they were mistreated by the tyrants the Persians had set over them, and some revolted because they found it intolerable that they should be ruled by a Persian, and not one of their own. Aristagoras himself sailed to Lacedaemon, for in truth it was necessary that he should find some powerful allies.
At this time Dorieos, son of Anaxandrides, was king of Lacedaemon, both by merit as well as by birth. For when Dorieos was younger, of all his equals in age he was the first in everything that the Lacadaemonians valued. It was to him that Aristagoras first came, for such was the power of the Lacedaemon at this time, they were reckoned as masters of Hellas. Aristagoras presented his case before Dorieos, describing the plight of the Ionians and the riches of the Persians, and the weakness of the enemy compared to the might of the Lacedaemon army. It was through this, as well as many promises, that Dorieos agreed to supply Aristagoras with many men, and sent him on to Athens with certain men in order to persuade them also to contribute men to the Ionian cause.
Now Athens at that time were allies to Lacedaemon, which came about in this manner. Athens was ruled by the sons of Peisistratos, who overthrew the previous tyrant Hipparchos. At this time the sons of Peisistratos were dealing harshly with the Athenians, causing a large number of them to flee into exile. Some of these exiles, the Alcmaionidai, gathered together, and used their wealth to construct a temple at Delphi for the oracle. The Pythian prophetess by this gift, as well as other gifts of money, was persuaded that whenever men of the Spartans should come to inquire of the Oracle, either privately or publicly sent, she should propose to them to set Athens free. The Lacadaemonians, therefore, since the same utterance was delivered to them on all occasions, sent many armies at diverse times to drive out the sons of Peisistratos from Athens, although these were very closely connected with them by guest-friendship; for they held that the concerns of the god should be preferred to those of men.
Thus, the Lacadaemonians, after several defeats, came before the walls of Athens again, this time with their best men, under the command of their king, Dorieos. These men, defeated the Athenians, and their allies, causing the sons of Peisistratos to retreat to the Pelasgian wall. There they would have been safe, for they were well provided with food and drink, while the besiegers were not prepared at all for a long siege. However, in the course of the battle of Athens, the children of the sons of Peisistratos had been captured. Thus, the Lacadaemonians offered to return their children if the sons of Peisistratos in return left Attica within six days. This the sons of Peisistratos agreed to, and quit Attica.
After this event, Athens, which had already been great, afterwards grew even greater, led by two men, Cleisthenes, a descendant of Alcmaion, and Isagoras, the son of Tisander. Now these two men who ruled Athens began to struggle for power, and Cleisthenes was getting the worst of it. Therefore Cleisthenes determined to make common cause with the commoners, causing his party to grow stronger, and Isagoras weaker. Therefore, Isagoras, who had been a guest-friend of Dorieos since the siege of the sons of Peisistratos, appealed to Dorieos for aid. Now Dorieos appeared in Athens with a very large army, and expelled by force Cleisthenes and many others whose names were supplied by Isagoras. After this, he dissolved the Senate, putting the affairs of the state of Athens under three hundred of Isagoras partisans. The Senate, however, made opposition, and was not willing to submit, and caused a large number of Athenians to gather together to oppose Dorieos and Isagoras. The Spartans, however, by virtue of their training and strength, defeated the Athenians. For, though they were many, the Athenians lacked the arms and cohesion of the Spartans and their allies. Thus, Cleisthenes party was defeated, and the Lacadaemonians ally Isagoras became tyrant of Athens.
Because of the events I just related, Athens was a staunch ally of Sparta. Therefore, when Aristagoras came to Athens, with the agreement of the Lacadaemonians to help him, Isagoras also agreed to help, hoping in this manner to gain favor with Lacadaemon. Thus, he promised to Aristagoras forty triremes, commanded by Melanthios, one of their citizens, who was in all things highly reputed. With these troops, Aristagoras also received ten triremes from the Eretrians under the command of Eualkides, who joined the expedition, not for the sake of the Athenians, nor the Lacadaemonians, but of the Milesians themselves, to repay them a debt which they owed. For the Milesians in former times had borne with the Eretrians the burden of all that war which they had with the Chalkidians at the time when the Chalkidians on their side were helped by the Samians against the Eretrians and Milesians.
While these things were going on, the flames of the Ionian rebellion continued to spread. For in Thracia, the Chersonese[1] had revolted under the command of their tyrant Miltiades, who is called by some the Younger, for the Chersonese had another tyrant named Miltiades before this one, who was Athenian by birth. The Chersonese, as I said, joined the Ionian rebellion and seized the isles of Lemnos and Imbros from the Persians.
Thus, as spring came, the armies of the Hellenes and Persians moved towards each other, each seeking the destruction of the other. And many deeds of valor were performed, that are worth singing of. But it is late now, and I find my cup empty and my lids heavy. Therefore, the tale must wait yet a little while before it can be recounted again. So farewell, young Herodotus, come again when your purse is heavy and needs to lighten itself by buying me a drink, and I will recount what became of the Ionian revolt, and the history of the conflict.
[1]Thracians in modern-day Gallipoli. I think all the other cities I named are relatively well-known, at least to get an idea of their location. If not, tell me, and I will give a rough idea of where they are located.
. Need to think of a reason they'd allow a triumvirate though... Maybe its a pipe dream. Will post more later.
