After the repression of the Ionians revolution, Darius’ son and successor, Xerxes mobilised one of the biggest armies of the antiquity in order to enslave Greece. There were one thousand two hundred (1200) triremes, four hundred and fifty seven (457) of which were given to him by the Greek nationals of the Persian empire and one hundred (100) were Ionians. The ship crews were Greek, while the soldiers and admirals of the fleet were Persians. In the naval battle of Salamis (480 B.C.) the Ionian forces drew up on the left of the Persian forces, opposite the Lacedaemon ones. The Persians were totally defeated in the naval battle and that was mainly due not only to the inefficiency of the Persian admirals, but also to the fact that the Greeks had and extremely experienced naval force. Themistocles’ participation in that battle was of major significance because he sidetracked the cumbersome Persian fleet to Salamis’s narrow passes, and had the enemy on the run. The Chians, then, had the chance to send a delegation of six young men from Chios to Aegina, where the Greek fleet had been waiting. They wanted to ask for help from the Greeks, as they wanted to rebel against the Persians, after they had already tried to murder the tyrant Stratis but without any success. Few months later, a three-member delegation from Samos managed to convince the admiral Leotihidas to lead the Greek fleet from Delos to Samos in order to start their rebellion against the Persians. The Greek ships reached Mycale (a peninsula opposite Samos), the army disembarked and had the Persians on the run. The battle of Mycale (479 B.C.) led up to the Greek victory against the Persians. The Greeks burned down the Persian ships and their camp. That victory sparked off the liberation of the Ionian cities from the Persian yoke and the tyrants’ expulsion (like the tyrant Stratis, who had ruled Chios for more than thirty-three years). It was then proposed by the Peloponnesian generals that the Ionians should abandon their land for safety reasons, but they rejected that proposal and so did the Athenians. This was the reason why later the Ionians went over to the Athenian alliance or the alliance of Delos, as it was also called (478 B.C.).

The main aim of the alliance of Delos was the protection of the Greeks inhabiting in the Minor Asia and the islands from the Persians. The alliance was organised by Aristides, who determined the tax (regarded as their contribution to the alliance) of each member of the alliance. Chios was excluded from that policy (as well as Samos and Lesvos), because they provided the alliance with martial ships. The cities of Chios and Athens got on very well for a long period of time. During the golden age of Pericles, coining was prohibited (448 B.C.). So Chios was forced to comply itself with the law and to close down its mint, which it reopened in429 B.C.. Pericles tried to limit the autonomy of the Ionian cities and to turn the alliance into Athens ruling. As a result, many cities rebelled in order to gain their freedom, but their rebellion was suppressed by the Athenians. In the rebellion of Samos, Chios people helped the Athenians, by sending those twenty five ships the first time and thirty ships the second one. During the period of time starting from the repression of the rebellion of Samos until the Peloponnesian war, nothing is mentioned about Chios.