By Dimosthenis Vasiloudis

Following Persia's conquest of the cities of Ionia (on the Aegean coast of Minor Asia) around 540 BC, the Persian satrap in Sardis appointed local tyrants to control the region. That marked the start of a two-century-long chain of incidents and war retaliations between the Greeks and Persians.

One of the most pivotal chapters in the annals of ancient world history was the ongoing conflict between the Persian Empire and the city-states of ancient Greece, notably Athens. This animosity culminated in a series of wars known as the Persian Wars (499–449 BC), which left a lasting imprint on the societies of both cultures. Central to this narrative are the notorious retaliatory burnings: the destruction of Athens by the Persians and the subsequent destruction of Persepolis by the Greeks. These events shaped the course of ancient history and have become emblematic of the cyclical nature of retribution and vengeance in war.

In an effort to strengthen his authority, the tyrant of Miletus, Aristagoras, joined forces with the Persian satrap Artaphernes and launched an expedition to seize the Greek island of Naxos in 499 BC.

The mission was a failure, and Aristagoras decided to urge the entire Ionian region to rebel against the Persian king Darius the Great as he sensed his impending ouster as dictator.

The insurrection of Miletus was started by Aristagoras, who made the desperate decision to urge his own people, the Milesians, to rebel against their Persian overlords.

This marked the beginning of the Ionian Revolt, which lasted from 499 BC to 493 BC and was followed by related uprisings in Aeolis, Doris, Cyprus, and Caria. These were uprisings by various Greek provinces in Asia Minor against Persian control.

The revolt was sparked by two Milesian tyrants, Histiaeus and Aristagoras, as well as the discontent of the Greek cities of Asia Minor with the tyrants assigned by Persia to rule them.

The Greco-Persian Wars began with the Ionian Rebellion, which was the first significant battle between Greece and the Persian Empire.

The Ionians advanced in 498 BC with help from Athens' and Eretria's military forces. Aristagoras designated his brother Charopinus and another Milesian, Hermophantus, as generals instead of taking personal command of the army.

The Ephesians then led this force through the mountains to Artaphernes' satrapal city of Sardis. The Greeks managed to seize the lower city by surprising the Persians.

Nonetheless, Artaphernes maintained control of the citadel with a sizeable male force. Herodotus claims that a fire unintentionally started in the lower city and swiftly spread.

Being encircled by a burning city, the Persians in the citadel made their way out into Sardis' market, where they engaged the Greeks in combat and drove them back. Demoralized, the Greeks withdrew from the city and started to travel back to Ephesus.

According to Herodotus, when Darius learned about the burning of Sardis, he vowed to exact revenge on the Athenians (after enquiring as to who they were) and assigned a servant to remind him of his word three times every day: "Master, remember the Athenians."

The insurrection was finally put an end to by the Persian counteroffensive (497–495 BC), which brought all of Asia Minor securely back under Persian authority. At the end of 493 BC, the Persians' only remaining task was to wreak retribution on Athens and Eretria for aiding the uprising.

The nations of mainland Greece would continue to pose a serious danger to the integrity of Darius' empire until something was done about the Ionian Rebellion. So Darius started to plan the total conquest of Greece, starting with the obliteration of Athens and Eretria.

Achaemenid destruction of Athens

With Xerxes I's victory at the Battle of Thermopylae, the Achaemenid Army conquered all of Boeotia in 480 BCE. Thespiae and Plataea, the two cities that had resisted Xerxes, were taken captive and destroyed.

The remaining Athenians were then evacuated to Salamis with the aid of the Allied navy because Attica was also vulnerable to attack. By erecting a wall, destroying the causeway from Megara, and establishing a defensive line across the Isthmus of Corinth, the Peloponnesian Allies effectively abandoned Athens to the Persians.

Sept. 480 BCE marked the first time Athens had fallen. After finally defeating the few Athenians who had fortified the Acropolis, Xerxes gave the order to set Athens on fire. The Old Parthenon and the Old Temple of Athena were destroyed, along with the Acropolis.

Those Persians who had come up first betook themselves to the gates, which they opened, and slew the suppliants; and when they had laid all the Athenians low, they plundered the temple and burnt the whole of the acropolis.

— Herodotus VIII.53

"Perserschutt," or "Persian rubble," refers to the numerous statue ruins destroyed by the Achaemenids.

The Achaemenids severely destroyed the statue known as "Nike (Victory) of Callimachus," which had been built close to the Older Parthenon in celebration of Callimachus and his triumph at the Battle of Marathon.

On top of an engraved column, a statue of Nike (Victory) in the shape of a female with wings is shown. It is 4.68 meters tall and constructed of Parian marble. Parts of the statue's body and hands, as well as its head, were never found.

A few statues were also taken by Xerxes, including the bronze statue of Harmodius and Haristogiton, popularly known as "the Tyrant-slayers," which Alexander the Great later found in the Achaemenid city of Susa.

Themistocles used the Parthenon column drums for the North Acropolis wall so that Athenians would always be reminded of the agony caused by Persian atrocities against Greeks.

Retaliatory burning of the Palace of Persepolis

After defeating the Persian Emperor Darius III (r. 336-330 BCE) at the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BCE, Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE) seized control of the Achaemenid Persian Empire.

Following a drinking party and at the suggestion of Thais, an Athens-based hetaira (courtesan), Alexander marched to the Persian capital city of Persepolis after defeating Darius III. He looted the city's treasures and then burned the great palace and the surrounding city to the ground (according to several much later Greek and Roman accounts, including those of Plutarch, Arrian, Diodorus Siculus, and Quintus Curtius Rufus).

When the king [Alexander] had caught fire at their words, all leaped up from their couches and passed the word along to form a victory procession in honour of Dionysus. Promptly many torches were gathered. Female musicians were present at the banquet, so the king led them all out for the comus to the sound of voices and flutes and pipes, Thaïs the courtesan leading the whole performance. She was the first, after the king, to hurl her blazing torch into the palace. As the others all did the same, immediately the entire palace area was consumed, so great was the conflagration. It was remarkable that the impious act of Xerxes, king of the Persians, against the acropolis at Athens should have been repaid in kind after many years by one woman, a citizen of the land which had suffered it, and in sport.

— Diodorus of Sicily (XVII.72)

The retaliatory burnings of Athens and Persepolis underscore the cyclical and devastating nature of warfare, where one act of destruction often leads to another. These events not only influenced the course of ancient history but also served as poignant reminders of the destructive capabilities of war and the enduring human instinct for retaliation. The ruins of the Acropolis and Persepolis, meticulously preserved, stand today as a testament to these monumental episodes of history, signifying the resilience of human societies in the face of conflict and devastation.