Ancient Greek Music: Dorian Modes, Dance Rituals, and Theatrical Legacy

Mycale (the modern-day Dilek Dagi in Turkey) is a mountain on the western coast of Asia Minor north of the Meander River, with the island of Samos about a mile offshore. In antiquity, it was a famous promontory, with the city of Pirene to the south and Miletus lying across the southern bay, into which the Meander flowed. To its north was Ephesus. The promontory, therefore, was crucial to three major cities and an island, all in Ionia.

The mountains of this region are steep, running west to east with rivers flowing westward through the rifts. Mycale is part of these ridges, which continue out into the sea and onto the island of Samos. The region was originally inhabited by Carians, and during the Dark Ages or Geometric period, Greek colonization occurred. The promontory became an important site for navigators, as it allowed them to spot the region of Samos from the Aegean before the island and cities could be seen.

What made Mycale important politically and militarily was the great battle that took place in 479 against Persia. Legend had it that on the same day that the Spartans and Greek army won at Plataea in central Greece, the allied fleet under the Spartan admiral-king Leotychidas won a great naval battle. One of the two kings in Sparta, Leotychidas was from the Eurypontids and came to power in 491 by challenging Demaratus for the throne, who then went into exile to Persia. In 480, after the other king of Sparta, Leonidas, had died at Thermopylae, Leotychidas commanded the fleet, and in 479, Sparta had a force of 110 ships at Delos to support anti-Persian uprisings in the east. It was here that Leotychidas decided to bring his fleet to Samos to induce them to defect, and perhaps cripple the Persian fleet.

The Persian army under Xerxes had crossed over into Europe in 480 and defeated the Spartans at Thermopylae and taken Athens. In the late summer, his fleet was defeated, but not destroyed, at Salamis by the Athenian and Greek fleets. Xerxes then retreated into Asia with his fleet and most of his army, but he left behind a large force under his general, Mardonius, to finish off the Greek army in 479. The Spartans marched north to Plataea and defeated and killed Mardonius, ending the military conquest of Greece.

Leotychidas now followed the same plan to eliminate the Persian fleet. Augmented by the arrival of a large Athenian fleet under Xanthippus, the Greek fleet probably numbered about 300 warships, equal to the Persian fleet, which had been reduced in size since the Phoenician fleet was sent home. It is unclear why the Persians sent the Phoenicians away. It is possible that the Persians feared losing all of their fleet in one battle, and Xerxes may have wished to have a large fleet in reserve. It is also possible that he was afraid that Egypt, which Persian never thoroughly conquered or controlled, might rise up in rebellion if the fleet was away or destroyed. Regardless, the Persian fleet was greatly reduced not only from the Phoenician fleet’s removal, but also from the losses from Salamis. More important, the defeat at Salamis thoroughly demoralized the Persian navy. The Persian navy also had a large number of Ionian Greek ships and crews, and the Persians were not confident about their loyalty. Xanthippus was an Athenian general who married into the Alcmaeonid clan when he married Cleisthenes’s niece; he was also the father of Pericles. He was in conflict with Themistocles and ostracized, only to be recalled when the Persians invaded. He probably fought at Salamis since he was given command of the fleet the next year.

The allied fleet made its way to Delos to fight the Persians, who then fled to Samos with the Greek fleet in pursuit. When the Persians received reports of the allied fleet approaching, the commanders decided to sail to the Ionian coast, beach the ships, and build a palisade or fortress to defend them. It is clear that the Persians had decided not to attempt to engage the Greek fleet in an open sea battle. At this point, the Phoenician fleet was sent away, and the remainder of the Persian fleet went to the region under Mount Mycale. The Persians were commanded by Tigranes, the governor of Ionia. When the Greek fleet arrived at Samos and realized that the Persian fleet was gone, they were uncertain about their next move. When they sailed near Mycale and the Persian fleet did not engage them, Leotychidas and the allies decided to engage them on land. The ensuing battle, therefore, should be seen not as a naval battle, but rather as a land battle waged by the Greek marines, heavy hoplites, and other lightly armed troops against the Persian naval crews. The ships were not involved in the actual fighting.

It is said that Leotychidas sent out heralds to exhort the Greek Ionians in the Persian camp to be ready to fight for the Greeks. This was said to have been done in Greek so that the Persians would not understand them, and even if they did (which was probable), to sow discord among the Persians and Ionians. This tactic apparently succeeded, as the Persians disarmed the Samians and sent those from Miletus into the mountains, ostensibly to guard the passes but really to put them out of commission in case they decided to join the Greek navy. Before the battle, it is said that news reached Leotychidas, perhaps by signal stations, that the Greeks had just won at Plataea, and rumor spread of the victory among the Persians and Ionians. While there is no way to know if it is true, the story had the battles occurring on the same day, amplifying both victories for the Greeks showing their superiority in battle against the Persians. The allied fleet beached their ships, disembarked, and prepared for a land battle.

The historian Herodotus states in his account that Tigranes and the Persians had 60,000 men, while Diodorus, a later Greek writer from the first century, indicates that they had 100,000. It is possible that the 40,000 difference lay with the Persian navy, which Herodotus did not include in the total, an amount that would come close to the number of men needed to outfit a warship, with 200 men on each of the 300 ships. Although the 100,000 figure is probably exaggerated, it is conceivable that there were 60,000 Persians. Most of the men would have been spearmen and archers, but probably not front-line troops; there were also Greek mercenaries and Ionians, but they defected to the Greeks during the battle. The Greeks probably had 300 warships with 200 men each, with marines numbering anywhere between 14 to 40 per ship, or 3,300 to 11,000 hoplites and 18,000 to 45,000 auxiliaries (i.e., lightly armed rowers who probably did not fight, or if they did, only as skirmishers). The actual number was probably between these extremes.

The Persians marched out from a strong defensive position and engaged the Greeks. The Persians gave up any tactical advantage and met the heavily armed Greek hoplites, who were superior on land. The Athenians and their allies formed on the right wing near the sea and marched over even territory toward the Persian camp. The Spartans on the left wing had to traverse the rocky terrain, which took more time to advance compared to those on the plain near the sea. The Athenians engaged the Persians, who held their ground for a bit, but the Athenians desired to achieve a complete victory before the Spartan wing arrived, so they continued to press them hard. The Persians finally broke and fled to their camp. The Athenians followed, breaching the camp before it could close. Many of the Persian troops fled except for the Medes and Persians.

At this point, the Spartan wing arrived and attacked the rear of the camp. During the battle, the disarmed Samians attacked the Persians, presumably when the fighting was happening in the camp, and the other Ionians went over to the Greeks. Herodotus indicated that the fighting was hard and casualties heavy, but when the Persian camp was taken, the Persian fleet was burned and destroyed by the Greeks. The victory was complete.

After the Battle of Mycale ended, the Greeks sailed to the Hellespont to destroy Xerxes’s great bridge, but when they arrived, they found it already destroyed. The Spartans returned home, while the Athenians attacked Sestos and encouraged other Greek cities to revolt. This led to the formation of the Delian League. The twin battles of Plataea and Mycale ended the Persian threat for Greece. Without a significant army and navy, Persia could not retake the initiative. Both battles showed the superiority of the Greek hoplite system over the Persians, an observation begun at Marathon ten years earlier. Although it was uncertain at the time that Xerxes would not come back, the liberation of the Greeks from Persia began at Mycale.