The Twitter Herodotus

5.91 Wanting to keep the Athenians weak, the Spartans summoned Hippias from exile and told their allies they wanted to restore him to power.

5.92 Most of the allies disapproved. A Corinthian, Socles, talked about the abuses committed by their tyrants, Cypselus and Periander.

5.93 Hippias told Socles he'd be sorry. But the rest of the allies agreed with Socles and asked Sparta not to impose a tyranny on Athens.

5.94 So Hippias went back to Sigeum on the Hellespont, which Pisistratus had taken by force from Mytilene. It had been fought over since.

5.95 During 1 fight re. Sigeum the poet Alcaeus fled, leaving behind his arms. He wrote a poem about it. Later Athens & Mytilene reconciled.

5.96 Hippias whined to Artaphrenes, who told the Athenians to restore Hippias to power. They refused & were thus openly at enmity w/Persia.

5.97 It was now that Aristagoras of Miletus came to Athens. The Athenians decided to send 20 ships to aid the Ionian rebels against Persia.

5.98 Aristagoras returned to Miletus and incited many of the Paeonians to run away from Asia and make their way back to Thrace.

5.99 The Athenians, meanwhile, arrived with their 20 ships, and the Eretrians came with 5. They joined in a rebel attack on Sardis.

5.100 The rebels captured all of the city except the acropolis, which was held by Artaphrenes.