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The Chians

Ionian Greeks of the island of Chios, off the Lydian coast, in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE

In the game: Level 7: Sardis Burns

The Chians were Ionian Greeks who lived on the island of Chios and came under Persian rule after Harpagus's conquest of Ionia. At Lade in 494 they sent 100 ships, the largest number Herodotus gives for any Ionian city, and they fought on after others left. Persia took their island after that defeat.

In the game: The game names the Chians in the Chronicle, decrees and field briefings, and gives them no mechanic of their own beyond what those texts show. Its note that they went over to the King departs from Herodotus, who has them fight on at Lade and be conquered.

Chios under the Persians

Ancient account

Herodotus says the Chians handed over the Lydian rebel Pactyes to the Persians and received the district of Atarneus on the mainland as payment. He tells this after the conquest of Lydia under Cyrus. He adds that the Chians did not use the grain of Atarneus in sacrifices to the gods.

Herodotus 1.160

A tyrant at the Ister

Ancient account

Herodotus lists Strattis of Chios among the Greek tyrants who guarded the bridge over the Ister during Darius's Scythian campaign. The Persians relied on local rulers of this kind to hold the Ionian cities. Herodotus says the revolt of 499 began by removing such tyrants.

Herodotus 4.138

The Chians at Lade

Ancient account

Herodotus says the Chians brought 100 ships to Lade, each carrying forty picked citizens as fighting men. He says the Ionians grew tired of the hard training imposed by Dionysius of Phocaea. Most Samian ships sailed off, and the Lesbians followed them. The Chians kept fighting, repeatedly broke the enemy line, and lost most of their ships.

Herodotus 6.12-15

Disputed conduct of the Samians

Disputed

Herodotus blames most of the Samian captains for deserting and says they had made a private arrangement with the Persians. He also names eleven Samian captains who stayed and were honoured at home. Modern historians doubt that this one-sided account can be accepted without question, since it comes from a Greek tradition after the war.

Herodotus 6.13-14

The fall of Miletus and Chios

Ancient account

Herodotus says Miletus was taken by siege after Lade, with the Persians undermining its walls. He says the Persians then took the islands, and that the Chians who survived Lade were overcome and their island was subdued.

Herodotus 6.18-32

After Mycale

Ancient account

After the victory at Mycale in 479, Herodotus says the Greeks admitted the Samians, Chians, Lesbians and other islanders into their alliance. They took oaths to stay loyal and not to desert it.

Herodotus 9.106