Battle of Lade
The
Battle of Lade was fought in
494 BC between the
Ionians and the
Persians. It was the culmination of the
Ionian Revolt.
The Ionian Revolt began in
499 BC when
Aristagoras of
Miletus rose up against the Persians, who had conquered the area. Aristagoras appealed for help from mainland
Greece, and in
498 BC the
Athenians captured and burned
Sardis, the centre of the local Persian government. The Persians responded with a naval attack in 494.
The Persian commander
Artaphernes had recaptured many of the Ionian cities by 494, and was besieging Miletus from both land and sea. That year the Persian fleet met the Greek fleet off of Miletus' port of
Lade. The Ionians joined with many of the islands of the
Aegean Sea and had a force of 353
triremes, while the Persians had 600 ships. The Ionians were led by
Dionysius of Phocaea, who, according to
Herodotus, worked them so hard in preparation for the battle that for some time they refused to fight. As the battle began, many of the Ionian ships were still refusing to engage the Persians; upon realizing this, 49 ships from
Samos left the line. This act caused the 70 ships from
Lesbos to leave as well, and a chain reaction followed as other ships also withdrew. Dionysius' ships fled when they realized the battle was lost. The remaining Greek fleet was annihilated, and Miletus surrendered shortly thereafter.
The Ionian Revolt was crushed, and in
492 BC the Persians conquered
Macedon and
Thrace. They were not defeated on mainland Greece until
490 BC at the
Battle of Marathon. Meanwhile, Dionysius became a
pirate in
Sicily.
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Livius Picture Archive: Lade (Batiköy)
