The Twitter Herodotus

3.146 Maeandrius gave his bro an army & left Samos. The Samians attacked the unsuspecting Persians but were driven back into their citadel.

3.147 Otanes, forgetting his orders to take Samos w/o bloodshed, bid the Persians kill everyone they met, even kids, even in sacred places.

3.148 Maeandrius left Samos & went to Sparta, where he tried to bribe Sparta's king Cleomenes. Instead, Cleomenes kicked him out of Sparta.

3.149 The Persians combed Samos thoroughly for inhabitants and gave it to Syloson entirely empty of people. Later Otanes helped resettle it.

3.150 Babylon revolted from Persia. In preparation for a siege, they selected some women to keep or send away, and they strangled the rest.

3.151 Darius laid siege, and the Babylonians mocked him from their walls. "You'll take Babylon when mules bear foals!" one of them said.

3.152 Nineteen months later, Darius still hadn't taken the city, despite trying every sort of strategem.

3.153 20 months in, a mule owned by Megabyzus' son Zopyrus foaled. He remembered what the soldier had said & figured Babylon could be taken.

3.154 Zopyrus therefore mutilated himself. He cut off his nose and ears and he shaved his head & whipped himself, and he reported to Darius.

3.155 Zopyrus's plan was to desert to Babylon as tho abused by D. He'd be given an army & wd repeatedly defeat D's men--by prearrangement.

3.156 So Zopyrus went off to Babylon and told them Darius had mutilated him, and he said he wanted to punish Darius for what he'd done.

3.157 The Babylonians were completely deceived. They gave him an army & after several successes vs. Darius they made him commander-in-chief.

3.158 When Darius made an assault on the city, Zopyrus opened the gates and let him in. The Babylonians realized then they'd been betrayed.

3.159 So Darius retook Babylon & tore down its walls. He impaled 3000 of its citizens & brought in women from other towns to repopulate it.

3.160 Darius honored Zopyrus greatly for his sacrifice & gave him Babylon to rule. Later, Zopyrus' grandson Zopyrus would desert to Athens.