Professor Polly Lowe

So the Samian Revolt actually starts off in a local conflict between two members of the alliance.

Samos, which is a big, very wealthy, very important island in the East and Southeast Aegean, and the city of Miletus, which had been part of the Persian Empire and then had been liberated.

Miletus is sort of the biggest mainland town sort of opposite Samos.

Samos allegedly has been interfering or was trying to steal some land, lay claims to some land that the Milesians think belongs to them.

And then this sort of escalates and the Athenians initially are intervening to stop

conflict between two members of the alliance, which is the thing that shouldn't be happening.

But then this escalates.

The Athenians are very heavy-handed in their intervention, and this provokes further resistance from the Samians, and the Athenians have to intervene even more strongly to stop the Samians from resisting.

what the Athenians are up to.

The whole thing blows up really into what you should really call it the Samian War because it's a sort of full-on conflict, requires a lot of investment.

We know that it's extremely expensive because we have, again, an account of the money the Athenians borrow from the goddess Athena to spend on the war that they have to fight against the Samians.

And that was set up

on the Acropolis.

Eventually, the Athenians manage to defeat the Samians, and they treat the Samians according to Plutarch, who reports the story.

He says he doesn't know if he should quite believe it, but he reports this tale of extreme brutality in the treatment of the Samians.

The Samian leaders were taken to Miletus, the place that they tried to steal land from,

and crucified in the marketplace there and then beaten to death.

So a very sort of violent and brutal end to this war.

Samos is no longer allowed to contribute ships to the alliance after this episode, perhaps unsurprisingly, and is required to pay very extensive reparations to Athens to repay the cost of the war.

that the Athenians had fought.