Sykes' History of Persia - Heritage Institute

CHAP. XVI PERSIA AND HELLAS 199
early Persian monarchs understood their value or the best
methods of
dealing with a race which differed so profoundly
from any other which had been subdued by the
might of Iran. Moreover, as the Greeks lived on the
extreme confines of the Persian it is Empire, not probable
that they attracted much attention.
The Intercourse between Hellas and Asia Minor.—
Intercourse of every kind with Hellas, especially
in such
matters as commerce, travel, and marriage, had not been
affected by the substitution of a lenient Persian Satrap for
a Lydian monarch at Sardes.
Refugees from Asia Minor
still found support in Hellas, just as they had done in the
reign of Croesus, and deposed Greek rulers appealed to
their brethren in Asia Minor or to the Persian Satrap.
This state of affairs, foreshadowed in the message of Sparta
to Cyrus, grew more and more intolerable to a world
empire like Persia, till it culminated in the Ionic Revolt.
At the same time, the constant appeals from Hellas would
naturally tempt an ambitious Satrap to earn distinction by
?
augmenting not only the prestige, but the territories, of
the Great King. It seems probable that the Satraps ofl
Sardes, if not Darius himself, had contemplated such anj
^expansion of the empire for some years.
The Position in Greece.—Before we approach the events
which actually caused the invasion of Greece, the position
>f affairs in Hellas itself demands our attention. Athens,
^which was the objective of the campaign and the key of
[Hellas, had been in a state of disunion for many years.
Hippias, the tyrant of the family of Pisistratus, who had
Sheen expelled in 510 B.C. by the Spartans, had taken
Irefuge at Sigeium in the Troad. There he sought the aid
lof the Persian Satrap at Sardes and intrigued against
Athens in every possible manner.
After the downfall of the tyranny, Cleisthenes, a
member of the noble Alcmaeonid family, reformed the
constitution of Athens on democratic lines. This aroused
the resentment and antagonism of the aristocratic party,
which appealed to Sparta as the leading state of Hellas.
fSparta responded by an invasion and Cleisthenes had to
[yield to force. The Athenians, enraged, rose against the