Two Famous Traps, a Drained Canal, and a Strange Truce: The Second Persian Invasion, the Revolt of Inaros II, and the Revolt of Megabyzus

The Second Persian Invasion of Greece (480–479 BC) and its Famous Traps

At the Battle of Thermopylae, the massive Persian army got stuck. They couldn’t get through the narrow pass because their huge numbers were useless there. The battle was a stalemate until a local man named Ephialtes betrayed the Greeks and showed the Persians a secret path around the mountains. This turned the perfect defensive position into a death trap. Later, at the naval Battle of Salamis, the Greeks used a similar idea. They lured the giant Persian fleet into a narrow channel of water where the big, clumsy ships couldn’t maneuver. They ended up getting in each other’s way and were picked off by the smaller, faster Greek ships.

Find out about the first historical mentions of the Second Persian invasion of Greece

The Egyptian Revolt of Inaros II (460–454 BC) and the Stranded Fleet

When a rebel named Inaros started a revolt in Egypt, he got help from Athens. They had a huge victory at a battle in Papremis where they killed the Persian governor, Achaemenes, who was the brother of the former king Xerxes. It was a massive blow to Persian prestige. But the war ended in a disaster for the rebels. The Persian army trapped the Egyptian and Athenian forces on an island in the Nile called Prosopitis. Then, according to the historian Thucydides, the Persians did something incredible. They built a dam and diverted the river, draining the channel. The entire Athenian fleet was left sitting on dry land, completely useless.

See the earliest records detailing the Egyptian revolt of Inaros II

The Revolt of Megabyzus in Syria (c. 449–447 BC) and the Rebel Who Won

This wasn’t a normal rebellion. Megabyzus wasn’t some local upstart. He was one of the Persian king’s best and most experienced generals. When he revolted, the king sent armies to crush him, and Megabyzus defeated them. Twice. He was winning the war. But here’s the strange part. After proving he could beat the king’s forces, he didn’t try to take over the empire. Instead, he made a deal with King Artaxerxes and was welcomed back into the royal court. The war ended not with a final, bloody battle, but with a bizarre political negotiation.

Discover when the Revolt of Megabyzus in Syria was first documented in ancient texts