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Histiaeus 235
been persuaded of the usefulness of Histiaeus' plans, and furthermore
the Lesbians who manned the eight ships must have continued to be
confident that they were helping and not hindering the interests of
their own island. 4 With the same Lesbians he went against Chios after
hearing the outcome of the battle, and then with 'many lonians and
Aeolians' he campaigned against Thasos. That these operations were
not mere opportunist marauding is shown by his hasty return to Lesbos
on receiving news of the movement northwards of the Phoenician ships
(Hdt. 6. 28). Clearly he meant to confront them or in some way prevent
them from controlling the island, and the best sense one can make of
all this is that he intervened in Chios because he feared the island was
going to come to terms with the Persians, and that he attacked Thasos,
which was rich (cf. Hdt. 6. 46), to get money to continue the struggle.
Perhaps Histiaeus in a forlorn way was trying to maintain resistance
when resistance could only be in vain, like his son-in-law Aristagoras
a sort of hero of Greek liberty. But, of course, any such view is mere
conjecture. Herodotus' informants hated and belitttled Histiaeus and
all we can do is wonder. In any case he had little effect on the history of
the Revolt and the Persian recovery.
NOTES
1. Heinlein 1909 proposed that Histiaeus' aim was 'aus den griechischen
Inseln ein von dem persischen Konigs abhangiges Inselreich zu griinden'.
Literal acceptance of Herodotus' statement (5. 106. 6, 6. 2) that Histiaeus
promised Darius that he would make Sardinia tributary to Persia
is absurd; no doubt he may have beguiled Darius with his colourful talk and
'from Sardis to Sardinia' might have been a particularly beguiling line, but
it need reflect his real intentions not one jot.
2. Cf. S. Hornblower 1982: 26,140, 351, and 2002: 72. One may compare the
name Psammetichus, the 6th-cent. tyrant of Corinth; he was no Egyptian!
3. At Cyrop. 8. 6.10 Xenophon has Cyrus urge his satraps to have the young at
their court for proper training (a system similar to the Macedonian 'Pages').
The older Lydians, if we may take Myrsos, son of Gyges (Hdt. 5. 121), as
typical, saw where their advantage lay and served the new power. Young
Lydians may have borne Persian names but nourished anti-Persian sentiments.
4. Hdt. 6. 26. i has him seizing'the merchantmen of the lonians'as they sailed
out of the Pontus, a somewhat baffling detail. We know that Teos imported