The Persian Wars

Darius I of Persia (522-486)

A benevolent and extremely competent ruler, Darius had the misfortune of trying to rule the Greeks. He knew they were troublesome and he realized that the Ionian Greeks would be a perpetual bother so long as they could gain help and encouragement from the Greek mainland.

So, he determined to conquer Greece proper, to secure his western frontier. The Persian Empire was enormous, and one portion or another was regularly in revolt, so it was some time before Darius was able to turn his attention to Asia Minor.

As it happened, the Greeks themselves gave Darius a pretext for action. The fires of rebellion had smoldered in Ionia for a generation or more, but the spark was provided by one man: Aristagoras of Miletus.

History of Western Civilization

E.L. Skip Knox
Boise State University

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