The Athenians wanted to control Byzantium because they needed to import grain through the Strait from the Black Sea, and the Spartans wanted the city to stop the grain flow to Athens. Throughout the Peloponnesian War between Sparta and Athens, the area had split loyalties. He remained Byzantine governor until 470 BCE when he was recalled by the Spartans. With the Persians so close, he made peace with the Persian king Xerxes I, possibly offering to help the Persians to conquer Greece. The Spartan general, Pausanias, victorious against the Persians at the Battle of Plataea in 478 BCE, traveled northward and conquered the city, becoming its governor. Many of the residents of both Byzantium and Chalcedon fled, fearing reprisals from the Persians.

During the Ionian Revolt, Greeks forces captured the city but were unable to maintain control, losing it to the invading Persians. Darius destroyed the city, making the entire area part of the Achaemenid Empire in 513 BCE.

During the Greek and Persian Wars, the Byzantines initially supported Darius I in his Scythian campaign providing him with ships but turned against him later. Because of its location, the city became the center of the continued war between the Greeks & Persians.īecause of its location, the city became the center of the continued war between the Greeks and Persians.

The secret history byzantium