Miltiades The Younger - Thracian Chersonese

Thracian Chersonese

Miltiades made himself the tyrant of the Greek colonies on the Thracian Chersonese, forcibly seizing it from his rivals and imprisoning them. His step-uncle Miltiades the Elder, and his brother Stesagoras, had been the ruler before him. When Stesagoras had died, Miltiades was sent to rule the Chersonese, around 520 BCE. His brother's reign had been tumultuous, full of war and revolt. Wishing for a tighter reign than his brother, he feigned mourning for his brother's death. When men of rank from the Chersonese came to console him, he imprisoned them. He then assured his power by taking in 500 troops. He also married Hegesipyle, the daughter of king Olorus of Thrace.

Thracian Chersonese was forced to submit to Persian rule. Miltiades became a vassal of Darius I of Persia, joining Darius' expedition against the Scythians around 513 BCE. Miltiades had suggested destroying the bridge across the Danube which Darius used to cross into Scythia, leaving Darius to die. The others were afraid to do this, and so it never happened, but Darius was aware of Miltiades' scheming; and so his rule in the Chersonese was a perilous affair since this point. He joined the Ionian Revolt of 499 BCE against Persian rule, establishing friendly relations with Athens and capturing the islands of Lemnos and Imbros, which he eventually ceded to Athens, who had ancient claims to these lands. However, the revolt collapsed in 494 BCE and in 492 BCE Miltiades fled to Athens to escape a retaliatory Persian invasion. His son Metiochos was captured by the Persian fleet and made a lifelong prisoner, but was nonetheless treated honorably as a de facto member of the Persian nobility. Arriving in Athens, Miltiades initially faced a hostile reception for his tyrannical rule in the Thracian Chersonese. Having spent three years in prison he was sentenced to death for the crime of tyranny. However, he successfully presented himself as a defender of Greek freedoms against Persian despotism and escaped punishment.