Aristagoras, Istiaios’ son-in-law, and tyrant of Miletus, incited the Ionians to rebel against Darius in order to gain their independence. The Ionians’ fight for freedom had political, national and economic reasons. Aristagoras asked for help from Greece. The Spartans and their king Clemens refused any help, while the Athenians sent him only twenty ships. The revolutionary missions started with the attack of the coalition forces against Sardis, the capital of the Persians. Then the rebellion expanded in all the Minor Asia and Cyprus. The Ionians’ final battle took place in Miletus. The Ionians’ coalition with three hundred and fifty three (353) ships (100 from Chios with 40 citizens on each one, 80 from Miletus, 70 from Lesvos, 60 from Samos) confronted the Persian ships (six hundred), in Ladi, an island on the Minor Asia coastline, opposite Miletus. In the naval battle the Chian soldiers had a major role and they fought with bravery and discipline. Even though the Persians seemed to be winning, they did not abandon the fight, as the rest of the allies did, but they remained, till the end, doing great damage to the Persian fleet. The next year (493 B.C.) the Persian fleet sailed to Chios and destroyed a great part of the island. Part of the population was captured and women and children were led to the harems of the east. It is possible that the temple of Fanaiou Apollo in Fana was destroyed during that Persian attack, as well as the temple in the harbour of Emporios.

The Ionian revolution was of great importance for the entire world, because for the first time Persia had to confront the rebellion of an enslaved population, which they managed to repress after hard battles. That way the Ionians set an example to the other suppressed peoples of the Persian empire to rebel against them.