ampsacus
sums up in a few words the account given by Herodotus of the
adventures of Paktyas, but without mentioning the treachery
of the islanders: he confines himself to saying Cyrus caught
the fugitive after the latter had successively left Chios
and Mytilene.
** Herodotus attributes the taking of this city to the
Persian Tabules, who is evidently the Tabalos of Herodotus.
The Median Harpagus, to whom tradition assigns so curious a part as
regards Astyages and the infant Cyrus, succeeded him as governor of the
ancient Lydian kingdom, and completed the work which he had begun.
The first two places to be besieged were Phocaea and Teos, but their
inhabitants preferred exile to slavery; the Phocaeans sailed away to
found Marseilles in the western regions of the Mediterranean, and
the people of Teos settled along the coast of Thracia, near to the
gold-mines of the Pangseus, and there built Abdera on the site of an
ancient Clazomenian colony. The other Greek towns were either taken by
assault or voluntarily opened their gates, so that ere long both Ionians
and AEolians were, with the exception of the Samians, under Persian rule.
The very position of the latter rendered them safe from attack; without
a fleet they could not be approached, and the only people who could have
furnished Cyrus with vessels were the Phoenicians, who were not as yet
under his power. The rebellion having been suppressed in this quarter,
Harpagus made a descent into Caria; the natives hastened to place
themselves under the Persian yoke, and the Dorian colonies scattered
along the coast, Halicarnas-sus, Cnidos, and the islands of Cos and
Rhodes, followed their examples, but Lycia refused to yield without a
struggle.
[Illustration: 083.jpg A LYCIAN CITY UPON ITS INACCESSIBLE ROCK]
The rock and tombs of Tlos, drawn by Boudier, from the view
in Fellows.
Its steep mountain chains, its sequestered valleys, its towns and
fortresses perched on inaccessible rocks, all rendered it easy for the
inhabitants to carry on a successful petty warfare against the enemy.
The inhabitants of Xanthos, although very inferior in numbers, issued
down into the plain and disputed the victory with the invaders for a
considerable time; at length their defeat and the capitulation of their
town induced the remainder of the Lycians to lay down arms, and brought
about the final pacification of the peninsula. It was parcelled out
|