It became an important city in the 6th/5th century BC mentioned by many famous writers and actively involved in significant historical events. The Eretrians were Ionians and were thus natural allies of Athens. When the Ionian Greeks in Asia Minor rebelled against Persia in 499 BC, Eretria joined Athens in sending aid to the rebels, because Miletus supported Eretria in the Lelantine War. The rebels burned Sardis, but were defeated and the Eretrian general Eualcides was killed. Darius made a point of punishing Eretria during his invasion of Greece. In 490 BC the city was sacked and burned by the Persians under the admiral Datis. Attributed to the resistance during the siege, all the male citizens were killed, while women and children were deported to Arderikka in Susiana, Persia and forced into slavery barefoot. The great temple of Apollo, built around 510 BC, was destroyed by the Persians, and parts of a pediment were found in 1900, including the torso of an Athena statue.