The original Greek settlements in Ionia, the region comprising the central sector of the western coast of Anatolia, were numerous and small.

Homer is reputed to have lived in Chios, an island situated five miles (eight kilometers) off the western coast of Anatolia in the Aegean Sea, which is the home of a school of bards, the Homerids (Homeridae).

In the eighth century BCE, it becomes one of the seven cities of the Pan-Ionian League, by which time the Ionians have confirmed their possession of the whole coastline and have consolidated themselves into twelve major cities, including the capitals of the islands Chios and …

…Samos.

The cities of Chalcis and Eretria (both on the island of Euboea) had jointly founded Cumae in Italy in about 750 BCE.

When they fall out in the late eighth century BCE over colonial disputes and trade rivalry, the war between them splits the Greek world in two: Samos, Corinth, Thessaly, and perhaps Erythrae (an Ionian city) join Chalcis, while Miletus, Megara, and perhaps Chios take the Eretrian side.

The Lelantine war, which derives its name from the Chalcidic victory won by Thessalian cavalry at the fertile Lelantine Plain separating Eretria and Chalcis, is the earliest Greek war (after the mythical “Trojan War”) that has any claim to be considered “general,” in the sense that it involves distant allies on each side.

Near East (549–538 BCE): Persian Expansion and Greek Displacement

Croesus, Cyrus, and the Fall of Lydia

Lydia, under King Croesus, initially appears poised for continued prominence. Seeking to limit the expanding Persian influence and avenge the deposition of his Median brother-in-law, Astyages, Croesus consults the oracle of Delphi, which cryptically proclaims that attacking Cyrus the Great will result in "a great empire" falling. Mistaking this prophecy as favoring Lydia, Croesus crosses the Halys River to confront Cyrus in 547 BCE. After an inconclusive battle, Croesus retreats to Sardis, presuming the fighting season concluded. Cyrus, employing innovative tactics including skilled mounted archers, swiftly marches against Sardis and captures it within two weeks. Croesus's "great empire" collapses, and he is taken prisoner, his life reportedly spared by Cyrus who appoints him an advisor at the Persian court until his death around 546 BCE.

Revolt in Lydia and Persian Consolidation

Following Croesus’s defeat, Pactyes, a Lydian entrusted with transferring the royal treasury to Persia, instigates an uprising in Sardis. Cyrus dispatches the commander Mazares, who swiftly subdues the revolting cities, including Magnesia and Priene, and captures Pactyas—who likely faces execution after extradition. Upon Mazares’s sudden death, Cyrus sends his general Harpagus to complete the conquest of Asia Minor. Harpagus extends Persian control over Lycia, Cilicia, and Phoenicia, notably capturing the Lycian stronghold of Xanthos around 540 BCE. Facing inevitable defeat, the Xanthians resort to mass suicide, destroying their city rather than submitting.

Phocaean Exodus and Greek Colonization

The Ionian city of Phocaea, renowned for its extensive maritime voyages, particularly in the Adriatic, Spain, and the western Mediterranean, faces Persian siege around 545 BCE. Rather than submit, most Phocaeans abandon their homeland, scattering to colonies such as Alalia in Corsica and Massalia (modern-day Marseille) in France, with some eventually founding Elea in Magna Graecia (southern Italy) around 540 BCE. This exodus highlights the significant displacement caused by Persian expansion into Ionian territories.

Persian Domination of Ionia and Caria

The Persian conquest dramatically reshapes the political landscape of Anatolia. While Miletus strategically aligns with Persia, other Ionian cities, including Ephesus, fiercely resist but ultimately succumb around 546 BCE. Cyrus imposes Persian-friendly tyrants to maintain order and swiftly incorporates Ionia into his expanding empire. Similarly, Caria, a culturally mixed region comprising Ionian cities such as Myus and Priene, falls under Persian rule, reflecting the broader consolidation of Persian authority over Anatolia.

Submission of Cnidus, Halicarnassus, and Chios

In southwestern Anatolia, the city of Cnidus unsuccessfully attempts to resist Persian advances by transforming its peninsula into an island. Unable to achieve this, Cnidus submits shortly after 546 BCE. Likewise, Halicarnassus, previously a member of the Doric Hexapolis, comes under Persian control around 540 BCE, as does the strategically significant island of Chios. These submissions further solidify Persian dominance across the Aegean region.

Cultural Displacement and Xenophanes of Colophon

The Persian conquest prompts significant cultural and intellectual displacement. Xenophanes of Colophon, a prominent poet and philosopher, becomes a wandering minstrel in response to the Persian takeover of Ionia, exemplifying the broader disruptions caused by Persian hegemony.

Legacy of the Era

The decade between 549 and 538 BCE is characterized by rapid Persian territorial expansion and profound geopolitical shifts. The fall of Lydia and subjugation of Ionia under Persian rule displaces Greek populations and reshapes cultural dynamics across the region. This period lays crucial groundwork for subsequent Greek-Persian conflicts, significantly influencing the historical trajectory of the Near East.

The Phocaeans according to Herodotus were the first Greeks to make long sea-voyages, having discovered the coasts of the Adriatic, Tyrrhenia and Spain.

Herodotus relates that they so impressed Arganthonios, king of Tartessus in Spain, that he invited them to settle there, and, when they declined, gave them a great sum of money to build a wall around their city.

Phocaean sea travel is extensive.

To the south, they probably conduct trade with the Greek colony of Naucratis in Egypt, which is the colony of their fellow Ionian city Miletus.

To the north, they probably had helped settle Amisos (Samsun) on the Black Sea, and Lampsacus at the north end of the Hellespont (now the Dardanelles).

However Phocaea's major colonies are to the west.

These include Alalia in Corsica, Emporiae and Rhoda in Spain, and especially Massalia (Marseille) in France.

Phocaea remains independent until the reign of the Lydian king Croesus (circa 560–545 BCE), when they, along with the rest of mainland Ionia, first, fall under Lydian control and then, along with Lydia (who had allied itself with Sparta) are conquered by Cyrus the Great of Persia in 546 BCE, in one of the opening skirmishes of the great Greco-Persian conflict.

When in about 545 BCE the Persians besiege Phocaea, most of the citizens choose emigration rather than submission.

Abandoning their city, some may have fled to Chios, others to their colonies on Corsica and elsewhere in the Mediterranean, with some eventually returning to Phocaea.

Many, however, in around 540 BCE become the founders of Elea in Magna Graecia.

Halicarnassus, formerly one of the six cities of the Doric or Dorian Hexapolis before its expulsion, comes under Persian domination around 540, as does the island of Chios.

The Persians crush the Ionian fleet in the decisive sea battle at Lade (a tiny island) near Miletus in 494 BCE; the Ephesians massacre the Chiot survivors of the battle.

The massacre may have occurred because Ephesus is a commercial rival of the chief rebels, Chios and Miletus.

Miletus is taken and destroyed; the Persians put all of the city's male inhabitants to the sword and deport the surviving inhabitants.

Given the Persians’ return to Greece after the small-scale humiliation of Marathon in 490, there can be no immediate certainty that they will abandon their plans to conquer Greece after the far greater humiliations of 480 and 479.

A leader is required in the event of another Persian return.

The eastern Greeks of the islands and mainland feel themselves particularly vulnerable and appeal to the natural leader, Sparta.

The Spartans' proposed solution, a plan to evacuate Ionia and resettle its Greek inhabitants elsewhere, is unacceptable; this would be a remarkable usurpation of Athens' colonial or pseudocolonial role as well as a traumatic upheaval for the victims.

Samos, Chios, Lesbos, and other islanders are received into the Hellenic League.

With the Persian menace removed, however, petty squabbling begins among the members of the Greek alliance.

Sparta, feeling that its job is completed, leaves the association, and Athens assumes domination of the league.

As Sparta is as much a prisoner of the helot problem as ever, she cannot rely on the loyalty of Arcadia or the Peloponnese generally: Mantineia and Elis had sent their contingents to the Battle of Plataea suspiciously late.

Spartan worries about Arcadia are relevant to this “Great Refusal” of leadership in 479, which makes possible the coming Athenian empire.

The second phase of the Peloponnesian War begins in 414 BCE, when Sparta repulses a massive Athenian invasion of Sicily; Persia gives support to the Spartan cause.

By 411, the Athenian's Syracusan debacle and the subsequent renewal of war with Sparta as occasioned revolts in the Athenian empire and serious political turmoil at home.

Aided by Persian resources, Sparta becomes a naval power, and foments the rebellion of Athens's allies.

The Spartans move north from Chios to the Hellespont, gradually overcoming the Athenian navy despite effective countermeasures taken by Alcibiades and others. (This stage of the Peloponnesian war is called "Decelean" from the name of a town in Attica, Decelea, which Sparta fortifies—to the enormous cost of the Athenians.)

Representatives of Tissaphernes and of Pharnabazus, hereditary satrap of Dascylium in Hellespontine Phrygia, as well as ambassadors from Chios, …