Leonidas of Sparta, Leonidas of Thermopylae, had this story of the destruction of his people, which he heard over and over again as an adolescent, always like a thorn in his side.
The infamous defeat of the Lacedaemonians when they attempted to dethrone the tyrant of Samos, Polycrates, a humiliating defeat that so marred the prestige of the proud Lacedaemonians and was to be a landmark in their war history.
An event made even more tragic by its protagonist, the great king Kleomenes of Sparta, son of Anaxandridas and half-brother of Leonidas. The first real personality of Sparta (more historical than mythical, therefore), about which we have more certain data and more information thanks to Herodotus.
One of the most important kings Sparta ever knew, Kleomenis strengthened his city-state between 519-490 BC by creating the Peloponnesian Alliance and destroying its most important enemy in the Peloponnese, Argos. He then engaged himself in the interior of Athens, had many adventures there, left his mark on Aegina, and did many things in Greece until his countrymen called him mad and banished him.
He died in prison and committed suicide in his delirium of persecution, as Herodotus attests, but it is not impossible that he fell victim to murder, according to recent historical research. In his long royal career, however, by Persian Wars he had made Sparta the leader and defender of the Greek element, an event never liked by his contemporaries and that begins with the Samians sending ambassadors to almighty Sparta to ask for its help.
The resounding defeat: the failed campaign against Polycrates
Polycrates, son of Aiakis, became a tyrant of Samos sometime in the second half of the 6th century BC when he took advantage of a feast where everyone was out of town and, with the help of his two brothers Pantagnotos and Syloson, overthrew the regime and established his own tyranny.
After dividing the island into three parts, Polycrates finally killed Pantagnotos and exiled Siloson to further solidify his rule over the entire island. And one of the first things he will do is build a good fleet and army to raid the neighboring Aegean islands. The new ship he built, his famous Samana, not only made Samos "the first of all, Greeks and barbarians", as Herodotus writes, but also allowed him to achieve many triumphs.
The combined fleet of Miletus and Lesbos knew this, as did the inhabitants of Priene, for Samos had become a naval ruler. He even repulsed Cyrus when he tried to occupy his island! However, in all this, he committed "hubris" by defying Sparta, the greatest military power in Greece, establishing colonies in the Aegean, Crete, Thrace, and Sicily, and establishing relations with enemies of the Lacedaemonians.
He even allied himself with the tyrants of Athens and Naxos, as well as with the 18th Dynasty of pharaoh Amasi, whom he betrayed by eventually being an ally with Cambyses II in his campaign against Egypt. And he did this only to get rid of his internal adversaries, asking the Persian king to find a way to get rid of his political enemies.
However, the Samian expeditionary corps recognized his intentions and returned safely from Egypt to expel the tyrant. In the naval battle that took place, they won the victory, but Polycrates repulsed them on land and forced them to board their ships and flee into the open sea.
And here, for the first time in the history of Samos, appears the mighty Kleomenes, who gave forces to the Samian envoys to drive out the tyrant, believing that their task would be exceedingly easy. The Corinthians did the same believing that, weakened and indebted by his works and bigotry, Polycrates would be an easy target.
And yet, after a 40-day siege and despite their superior forces, as Herodotus tells us, the Spartans and their allies surrendered, counting a resounding defeat that was heard to the ends of the Greek world! Polycrates, however, managed to not get involved in a war with the Persians for supporting the Lacedaemonians on an island that had long been targeted by the enemy from the east.
Polycrates was murdered in 522 BC when he fell into the trap of the satrap of Sardis, Oroitis, who hated the tyrant of Samos to the core. Oroitis lured Polycrates by asking for his help in getting his vast fortune to safety, as the Persians outnumbered him. Polycrates went to Sardis despite the recommendations and fell into the hands of the Persians, who skinned him and nailed him to a stake on a hill so that he could watch his beloved city as he died as a martyr.
After Polycrates was out, the Persians did as they pleased in Samos. They made Meandrius the leader, a former supporter of Polycrates who proved less than loyal to their orders, and so the Persians returned a little later to persecute him and form a tyranny under the exiled Solosson.
Meandrius loaded his great fortune onto the ships and fled to Sparta. Herodotus reports about the power of Kleomenes and that the exiled tyrant turned to him personally and not to the ephors of Sparta "because he was the most powerful".
The Persians occupied Samos but faced unrest and bloody incidents from the followers of Meandrius. He thought that because Kleomenes had helped the Samians, he would do it again. But he did not know the consequences of his failure to overthrow the tyrant Polycrates within Sparta!
Kleomenes allowed him to stay in Sparta for a while but had no intention of returning to the island. So he persuaded the ephors to expel him as undesirable, on the grounds that a possible confrontation between Spartans and Persians over the island was not worth it.
However, everyone knew why the long-serving Kleomenes avoided leading his army back in Samos.
