The name is first found, under the form of Luddi, in the inscriptions

of the Assyrian king Asshurbanapal, who received tribute from Gyges

about 660 B.C. In Homer we read only of Mæonians, and the place of

the Lydian capital Sardis is taken by Hyde, unless this was the name

of the district in which Sardis stood. The earliest Greek writer who

mentions the name is Mimnermus of Colophon, in the 37th Olympiad.

According to Herodotus the Meiones (called Mæones by other writers)

were named Lydians after Lydus, the son of Attys, in the mythical epoch

which preceded the rise of the Heraclid dynasty. In historical times,

however, the Mæones were a tribe inhabiting the district of the Upper

Hermus, where a town called Mæonia (now Mennen) existed. The Lydians

must originally have been an allied tribe which bordered upon them

to the northwest, and occupied the plain of Sardis, or Magnesia, at

the foot of Tmolus and Sipylus. They were cut off from the sea by the

Greeks, who were in possession, not only of the Bay of Smyrna, but

also of the country north of Sipylus as far as Temnus, in the Boghaz,

or pass, through which the Hermus forces its way from the plain of

Magnesia into its lower valley. In an Homeric epigram the ridge north

of the Hermus, on which the ruins of Temnus lie, is called Sardene.

Northward the Lydians extended at least as far as the Gygæan Lake (Lake

Colœ, now Mermereh) and the Sardene range (now Dumanly Dagh). The

plateau of the Bin Bir Tepe, on the southern shore of the Gygæan Lake,

was the chief burial-place of the inhabitants of Sardis, and is thickly

studded with tumuli, among which the “tomb of Alyattes” towers to a

height of 260 feet.

Next to Sardis, Magnesia Sipylum was the chief city of the country,

having taken the place of the ancient Sipylus, now probably represented

by an almost inaccessible acropolis discovered by Mr. Humann not

far from Magnesia on the northern cliff of Mount Sipylus. In its

neighbourhood is the famous seated figure of “Niobe,” cut out of the

rock, and probably intended to represent the goddess Cybele, to

which the Greeks attached their legend of Niobe. According to Pliny,

Tantalis, afterwards swallowed up by earthquake in the pool Sale or

Salœ, was the ancient name of Sipylus and “the capital of Mæonia.”

Under the Heraclid dynasty the limits of Lydia must have been already

extended, since, according to Strabo, the authority of Gyges reached as

far as the Troad, and we learn from the Assyrian inscriptions that the

same king sent tribute to Asshurbanapal, whose dominions were bounded

on the west by the Halys.

But under the Mermnadæ Lydia became a maritime as well as an inland

power. The Greek cities were conquered, and the coast of Ionia included

within the Lydian kingdom. The successes of Crœsus finally changed the

Lydian kingdom into a Lydian empire, and all Asia Minor westward of

the Halys, with the exception of Lycia, owned the supremacy of Sardis.

Lydia never again shrank back into its original dimensions. After the

Persian conquest the Mæander was regarded as its southern boundary, and

in the Roman period it comprised the country between Mysia and Caria on

the one side, and Phrygia and the Ægean on the other.

Lydia proper was exceedingly fertile. The hillsides were clothed

with vine and fir, and the rich broad plain of Hermus produced large

quantities of corn and saffron. The climate of the plain was soft but

healthful, though the country was subject to frequent earthquakes.

The Pactolus, which flowed from the fountain of Tarne in the Tmolus

mountains, through the centre of Sardis into the Hermus, was believed

to be full of golden sand; and gold-mines were worked in Tmolus itself,

though by the time of Strabo the proceeds had become so small as hardly

to pay for the expense of working them. Mæonia on the east contained

the curious barren plateau known to the Greeks as the Catacecaumene or

Burnt Country, once a centre of volcanic disturbance. The Gygæan Lake,

where remains of pile dwellings have been found, still abounds with

carp, which frequently grow to a very large size.[d]

Strabo observes that this lake, which was afterwards called Colœ, was

forty stadia from Sardis. It was said to have been excavated by the

hand of man, as a bason for receiving the waters which overflowed

the neighbouring plains. Near the lake, towards Sardis, was the tomb

or tumulus of Alyattes, mentioned by Herodotus as one of the wonders

of Lydia; he says the foundation of this monument was of huge stone,

but the superstructure was a mound of earth. It was raised by the

artisans and courtesans of Sardis. The historian adds that in his time

there were extant on the top of the mound five pillars, on which were

inscribed the different portions of the work completed by the several

trades; whence it appeared that the courtesans had the greater share

in it. The circumference of this huge mound was six stadia and two

plethra, and the width thirteen plethra. Some writers affirmed it was

called “the tomb of the courtesan,” and that it had been constructed by

a mistress of King Gyges. Strabo reports that there were other tombs of

the Lydian kings besides that of Alyattes, which has been confirmed by

modern travellers.[f]

THE PEOPLE

Herodotus states that Lydus was a brother of Mysus and Car, which is

borne out by the few Lydian, Mysian, and Carian words that have been

preserved, as well as by the character of the civilisation of the three

nations. The language, so far as can be judged from its scanty remains,

was Indo-European, and more closely related to the western than to

the eastern branch of the family. The race was probably a mixed one,

consisting of aborigines and Aryan immigrants. It was characterised by

industry and a commercial spirit, and, before the Persian conquest, by

bravery as well.

The religion of the Lydians resembled that of the other civilised

nations of Asia Minor. It was a nature-worship, which at times became

wild and sensuous. By the side of the supreme god Medeus stood the

sun-god Attys, as in Phrygia, the chief object of the popular cult.

He was at once the son and bridegroom of Cybele or Cybebe, the mother

of the gods, whose image carved by Broteas, son of Tantalus, was

adored on the cliffs of Sipylus. Like the Semitic Tammuz or Adonis,

he was the beautiful youth who had mutilated himself in a moment of

frenzy or despair, and whose temples were served by eunuch priests. Or

again he was the dying sun-god, slain by the winter, and mourned by

Cybele, as Adonis was by Aphrodite in the old myth which the Greeks

had borrowed from Phœnicia. This worship of Attys was in great measure

due to foreign influence. Doubtless there had been an ancient native

god of the name, but the associated myths and rites came almost wholly

from abroad. The Hittites in their stronghold of Carchemish on the

Euphrates had adopted the Babylonian cult of Ishtar (Ashtoreth) and

Tammuz-Adonis, and had handed it on to the tribes of Asia Minor.

The close resemblance between the story of Attys and that of Adonis

was the result of a common origin. The old legends of the Semitic East

had come to the West through two channels. The Phœnicians brought them

by sea and the Hittites by land. But though the worship of Makar or

Melkarth on Lesbos shows that the Phœnician faith had found a home on

this part of the coast of Asia Minor, it could have had no influence

upon Lydia, which, as we have seen, was cut off from the sea before

the rise of the Mermnadæ. It was rather to the Hittites that Lydia,

like Phrygia and Cappadocia, owed its faith in Attys and Cybele. The

latter became “the mother of Asia,” and at Ephesus, where she was

adored under the form of a meteoric stone, was identified with the

Greek Artemis. Her mural crown is first seen in the Hittite sculptures

of Boghaz Keui on the Halys, and the bee was sacred to her. A gem

found near Aleppo represents her Hittite counterpart standing on this

insect. The priestesses by whom she was served are depicted in early

art as armed with the double-headed axe, and the dances they performed

in her honour with shield and bow gave rise to the myths which saw in

them the Amazons, a nation of woman-warriors. The pre-Hellenic cities

of the coast--Smyrna, Samorna (Ephesus), Myrina, Cyme, Priene, and

Pitane--were all of Amazonian origin, and the first three of them have

the same name as the Amazon Myrina, whose tomb was pointed out in the

Troad. The prostitution whereby the Lydian girls gained their dowries

was a religious exercise, as among the Semites, which marked their

devotion to the goddess Cybele. In the legend of Hercules, Omphale

takes the place of Cybele, and was perhaps her Lydian title. Hercules

is here the sun-god Attys in a new form; his Lydian name is unknown,

since E. Meyer has shown that Sandon belongs not to Lydia but to

Cilicia. By the side of Attys stood the moon-god Manes or Men.[d]

SARDIS AND THE NAME OF ASIA

The commercial and strategical superiority of the site of Sardis gives

us reason to think that it was always the seat of royal residence.

But it does not seem that the place always had the same name. It was

at a rather late period that the great city of the Tmolus took the

name it has ever since borne. When Strabo mentions it as subsequent

to the Troy war, he signifies, not that the place was deserted in the

Homeric epoch, but that it then had a different name. As far as one can

judge, the town had three successive titles, Asia, Hyde, Sardis, which

correspond to the three great periods of its history.

According to Stephen of Byzantium, there was, at the foot of Tmolus,

a town called Asia, and Asia took its name either from this town or

from Asies, a native hero. The same geographer assures us that the

territory of Sardis was called Esio-nia or Asia. Herodotus attests that

local traditions, according to Hermus, derived the name of Asia from

Asies and that in his time one of the Sardian tribes was called the

Asian. As, in referring to the Cimmerian invasion, in the course of

which Sardis was taken, Callinus speaks of it as directed against the

Esionians, Demetrius of Scepsis conjectures Esionians to be an Ionian

form of Asionians, for, according to him, Mæonia was originally called

Asia. Finally, the author of the _Iliad_ applies the term Asia to a

plain situated in the valley of the Cayster on the route from Ephesus

to Sardis. Strabo reports that there was shown by the side of the river

a building dedicated to the hero Asies.

[Illustration: RUINS OF THE ACROPOLIS OF SARDIS]

If one connects these different evidences and reflects on the other

hand that the hero Asies is, according to the legend, the grandson of

Manes and therefore either the brother or the nephew of Attys, eponymus

of the Attyads, which carries us back to the earliest Lydian dynasty,

one may reasonably suppose: (1) that Asia was the most ancient name of

Sardis; (2) that this name, by a kind of gradual shading off, extended

first to the district of which this town was the capital, then to the

entire province, then to the greater part of the continent; (3) that

it retained the name until the day when a new people, the Mæonians,

doubtless, became masters of the country and substituted another; (4)

that it did not even then completely disappear, but in accordance with

a fixed law, was still preserved in an obscure and restricted form as

a designation of insignificant sections of that organism of which it

formerly composed the whole.

It is not known when the name Hyde gave place to that of Sardis, a

Lydian word which signifies year. But this change could hardly have

taken place until towards 687. It is only comprehensible if it coincide

with the fall of the Mæonian power and the coming of the Lydian

people. The Mæonians, as long as their hegemony lasted, had no reason

for changing the name of their town. One can conceive on the contrary,

that Gyges, anxious to break all links with the past, would give a new

name and one agreeable to his men, to the capital he had conquered.

Perhaps this term Sardis, or “year,” which thenceforward designated

the residence of the Mermnadæ, was chosen by the first among them to

perpetuate that memorable date when the prince of Tyra, who was the

conqueror of Candaules and legitimised by Delphi, seated himself as

master on the Eastern throne.

EARLY HISTORY OF LYDIA

Besides these traditions of which we have just spoken, the early

history of Lydia offers only tales so purely legendary that it would

be vain to seek a rational foundation for them. Cambles, in an excess

of voracity provoked by philtres, devours his wife. Meles has a lion

by his concubine. The soothsayers of Telmessus predict to him that

Sardis will be impregnable if the animal be taken along the walls. So

Meles causes it to walk round the Acropolis at all those points where

it could be surprised or forced. As to that part of the citadel looking

towards Tmolus, he neglects it, deeming it inaccessible. Under the

reign of Alcimus, Lydia knew the Golden Age, enjoying profound peace

and amassing immense riches. Perhaps there is some truth in this last

story. There is nothing to hinder the belief that this Alcimus really

represents the time when, whether by the exploitation of mines, the

opening of the grand route from Sardis to Pteria, or other industrial

or commercial impulses, Lydia laid the basis of her immense economic

prosperity.

But these are only hypotheses. It is in the eighth century that more

solid ground is found. The last Heraclids emerge from the cloud of

mystery in which their predecessors are confusedly gathered. We know

the dates of their reigns and possess a few details of their lives.

By the Christian chronographers they are very briefly mentioned. To

supplement these references, we have a document of the first order, a

passage from the _Universal History_, composed in the time of Augustus

and at Herod’s request by the peripatetic Nicolaus of Damascus,

secretary to the Jewish king.

The extracts of Nicolaus of Damascus have an exceptional value. Under

the embellishments of the story, and although the facts are clothed

in concrete, fabulous, and symbolic forms, one can find serious

information scarcely affected by the myths, traits of a striking

reality, which are not due to popular imagination nor to the romantic

_verve_ of historians, but which bear the impress of a far-off origin

and an incontestable authenticity. Xanthus and his abbreviators are far

from having understood the traditions of which they make themselves the

echoes. But the very fidelity with which they record them helps us to

recover their true significance.

As fragment 49 is for the period which precedes and prepares the

elevation of Gyges, a leading document--in fact the only one which

permits a reconstruction of the political situation of Asia towards

the end of the eighth century--it will be better here to translate the

first part, that which shows the antecedents of the Lydian revolution.

“Alyattes, king of the Lydians, had twin sons, Cadys and Ardys. He left

them the government and they reigned together, loving each other and

adored by the people. But the wife of Cadys, Damonno, entered into

adulterous relations with a certain Spermos, her uncle’s cousin. The

two culprits resolved to kill the king. To do this, Damonno gave him

poison. Cadys fell ill, but without succumbing. A doctor cured him, and

he enjoyed even better health than before. Furious, Damonno resolved

to do away with the doctor. Judging that if she gave him poison he

would avoid its effects by his science, she had a deep hole dug in her

palace, caused it to be made invisible from the outside, put a couch

above it, and placed others in a row beside it. Then inviting her enemy

to a festival, she made him lie down where the trap was hidden. He fell

to the bottom, when she covered the place with earth, and thus made him

disappear.

“It happened that in his turn Cadys died also. Then Damonno, gaining

over a large number of the Lydians by bribery, in concert with Spermos,

expelled King Ardys, her brother-in-law. Then she married her lover and

proclaimed him king.

ARDYS

“Ardys, who had fled precipitately with his wife and daughter, found

himself at Cyme in such poverty that he was reduced to becoming first

a ploughman, and then an innkeeper. Every time any Lydians came to

his inn he received them with extreme urbanity; nor did he rest until

they were his friends. This conduct made Spermos anxious. So he sent

a brigand to Cyme, named Kerses, instructed to kill the exile. As a

reward Kerses was to marry the daughter of the usurper and receive a

present of a thousand stateres.

“On arriving at Cyme the bandit presented himself at the inn of Ardys.

The royal innkeeper was just as polite to him as to others. Kerses was

charmed with his manners, and became enamored of his daughter, who

busied herself with domestic cares. He asked her in marriage, promising

her father in return that he would render him an exceptional favour.

At first, Ardys, who despised the suitor’s base condition, and who was

a thorough aristocrat, refused to give his daughter. But, led away

at length by the assurances of the wooer, he ended by granting his

request. The agreement made, Kerses revealed the object of his journey.

Spermos, in exchange for Ardys’ head, had offered him his daughter,

but Kerses wanted Ardys’ daughter, and to win her he would bring the

exile his enemy’s head. Ardys approved. Kerses cut off the long hair he

had hitherto worn. Then, having furnished himself with a wooden head,

sculptured in the image of the outlaw, and having put on it the wig, he

set out for Lydia. Spermos, learning the return of his emissary, ran to

question him.

“‘All is done,’ Kerses assured him. (He had taken the precaution to

hide the head in a little room.) ‘Well,’ answered the other, ‘show me

the head you brought back.’ ‘No,’ said the bandit, ‘not before this

crowd. Come and see it in secret at the house.’ ‘So be it,’ replied

Spermos. The wooden figure lay on the ground. Kerses showed it to his

accomplice, who bent over to recognise it. Immediately the brigand

struck Spermos with his sword, knocked him down, cut off his head,

opened the door, and went to rejoin Ardys.

“At the end of some time the Lydians, who were awaiting Spermos, not

seeing him appear, entered the house and saw a decapitated corpse.

This spectacle, instead of distressing, gave them pleasure, for the

usurper was a bad man, and in his reign a drought had desolated the

earth. Thus Spermos perished, having held power two years. He is not

inscribed on the royal list. However, Kerses, in fleeing, came across

an inn. He went in, and being very joyful at having succeeded in his

enterprise, he drank to excess. In his drunkenness he confided in the

tavern-keeper, and showed him the head of Spermos. The latter, judging

from this that Ardys would recover the throne, managed to make the

bandit hopelessly drunk, and killed him; then carrying his head and

that of Spermos, went to find the fallen prince.

“When he had come to him: ‘I bring,’ he cried, ‘the greatest blessing

possible.’ ‘What is that?’ asked the other. ‘That Spermos is dead, and

that Kerses is not my son-in-law? There could be no greater blessing

for me.’ Thyessos--such was the innkeeper’s name--answered, ‘That is

exactly what I bring,’ and he showed the two heads. ‘What do you want

for this service?’ asked Ardys of him. ‘Oh, as for myself,’ answered

Thyessos, ‘I ask neither your daughter nor your gold. But I desire that

when you are king you shall make my tavern exempt from taxation.’ ‘That

I will promise,’ answered Ardys.

“As time went on, Thyessos became enriched by the revenue of his inn.

He opened a market near his house, and there consecrated a temple to

Hermes. The place thenceforth took the name of Hermaion-Thyessou.

“With regard to Ardys, he was recalled to the throne by the Lydians,

who sent an embassy composed partly of Heraclids. After his restoration

he brought back to Lydia the happy days of Alcimus. He was a just man,

and his subjects adored him. It was he who took a census of the army,

which was composed principally of cavalry. We are told he found it to

contain as many as thirty thousand riders.

“In his old age Ardys had for favourite a prince of the Mermnadian

line, Dascylus, son of Gyges. This Dascylus gradually got all the

power into his hands. So the king’s son, Alyattes, fearing that on his

father’s death he would seize supreme power, secretly assassinated

him. Fearing for her life, the victim’s widow, then pregnant, took

refuge in Phrygia, of which place she was a native. At the news of the

murder, Ardys, consumed with anger, convoked the Lydians in assembly.

As his great age rendered him helpless, he was borne to the meeting

in a litter. Before all the people he denounced the crime, hurled

imprecations on the heads of the guilty, and gave whoever should

discover them the right to kill them. Ardys died, after having reigned

seventy years.

“Under the reign of Meles, a famine having ravaged Lydia, the

inhabitants went to consult the oracle. The god answered that the kings

must expiate the murder of Dascylus. Learning from the diviners that

the crime must be atoned for by a three years’ exile, Meles voluntarily

retired to Babylon. Moreover, he sent to Phrygia, to the son of

Dascylus (the same who had been proscribed even before birth, and, like

his father, was named Dascylus) a message advising him to return to

Sardis, assuring him that an indemnity would be paid for the murder.

The young man refused, giving as a reason that he had never seen his

father; that at the time of the crime he was not born, and, therefore,

it was not his duty to interfere in the settlement of the affair.

“During his exile, Meles confided the government to Sadyattes, son of

Cadys. This prince, descended from a far-off ancestor named Tylon, was

regent in his master’s name, and when the three years were over and

Meles came back from Babylon, he faithfully restored the power. Under

the reign of Myrsus, Dascylus, the son of that Dascylus murdered by

Sadyattes, fearing that plots were being laid for him by the Heraclids,

abandoned Phrygia and took refuge among the Syrians who inhabited the

province of Pontus, round Sinope. There he married a native, and it was

from this marriage that Gyges was born.”

This narrative lends itself to diverse comments. First, does it offer a

complete list of the last Sandonids in order of succession? If so, the

catalogue in fragment 49 must be preferred to all the others, for the

observation in the course of the recital that Spermos was not inscribed

in the royal annals, shows that the author had drawn his information

from official registers.[c]

In striking contrast with this account of the origin of the Lydian

monarchy is the dramatic recital of Herodotus, which will be found in

Appendix A on the classical traditions. From this story of Ardys and

his successors, we may take up Professor Sayce’s brief summary of the

whole of Lydian history.[a]

EARLY DYNASTIES

According to the native historian Xanthus (460 B.C.), three dynasties

ruled in succession over Lydia. The first, that of the Attyads, is

wholly mythical. It was headed by a god, and included geographical

personages like Lydus, Asies, and Meles, or such heroes of folklore

as Cambletes, who devoured his wife. To this mythical age belongs the

colony which, according to Herodotus, Tyrsenus, the son of Attys,

led to Etruria. Xanthus, however, puts Torrhebus in the place of

Tyrsenus, and makes him the eponym of a district in Lydia. There was

no connection between the Etrurians and Lydians in either language

or race, and the story in Herodotus rests solely on the supposed

resemblance of Tyrrhenus and Torrhebus. It is doubtful whether Xanthus

recognised the Greek legends which brought Pelops from Lydia, or

rather Mæonia, and made him the son of Tantalus. The legends must

have grown up after the Greek colonisation of Æolis and Ionia, though

Dr. Schliemann’s discoveries at Mycenæ have shown a certain likeness

between the art of early Greece and that of Asia Minor, while the gold

found there in such abundance may have been derived from the mines of

Tmolus.

The second dynasty was also of divine origin, but the names which

head it prove its connection with the distant East. Its founder, a

descendant of Hercules and Omphale, was, Herodotus tells us, a son of

Ninus and grandson of Belus. The Assyrian inscriptions have shown that

the Assyrians had never crossed the Halys, much less known the name

of Lydia, before the age of Asshurbanapal, and consequently the old

theory which brought the Heraclids from Nineveh must be given up. But

we now know that the case was otherwise with another oriental people,

which was deeply imbued with the elements of Babylonian culture. The

Hittites had overrun Asia Minor and established themselves on the

shores of the Ægean before the reign of the Egyptian king, Ramses II.

The subject allies who then fight under their banners include the Nasu

or Mysians and the Dardani of the Troad from Iluna or Ilion and Pidasa

(Pedasus); and, if we follow Brugsch, Iluna should be read Mauna and

identified with Mæonia. At the same time the Hittites left memorials

of themselves in Lydia. Mr. G. Dennis has discovered an inscription in

Hittite hieroglyphics attached to the figure of “Niobe” on Sipylus, and

a similar inscription accompanies the figure (in which Herodotus wished

to see Sesostris or Ramses II) carved on the cliff of Karabel, the pass

which leads from the plain of Sardis to that of Ephesus. We learn from

Eusebius that Sardis was first captured by the Cimmerians 1078 B.C.;

and, since it was four centuries later before the real Cimmerians

appeared on the horizon of history, we may perhaps find in the

statement a tradition of the Hittite conquest. Possibly the Ninus of

Herodotus points to the fact that Carchemish was called “the old Ninus”

while the mention of Belus may indicate that Hittite civilisation came

from the land of Bel. At all events it was when the authority of the

Hittite satraps at Sardis began to decay that the Heraclid dynasty

arose. According to Xanthus, Sadyattes and Lixus were the successors of

Tylon, the son of Omphale.

GYGES

After lasting five hundred and five years, the dynasty came to an end

in the person of Sadyattes, as he is called by Nicolaus of Damascus,

whose account is doubtless derived from Xanthus. The name Candaules,

given him by Herodotus, meant “dog-strangler,” and was a title of the

Lydian Hermes. Gyges, termed Gugu in the Assyrian inscriptions, Gog in

the Old Testament, put him to death, and established the dynasty of the

Mermnads, 690 B.C. Gyges initiated a new policy, that of making Lydia a

maritime power; but his attempt to capture old Smyrna was unsuccessful.

Towards the middle of his reign the kingdom was overrun by the

Cimmerians, called Gimirræ in the Assyrian texts, Gomer in the Old

Testament, who had been driven from their old seats on the Sea of Azov

by an invasion of Scythians, and thrown upon Asia Minor by the defeat

they had suffered at the hands of Esarhaddon. The lower town of Sardis

was taken by them, and Gyges turned to Assyria for aid, consenting to

become the tributary of Asshurbanapal or Sardanapalus, and sending him,

among other presents, two Cimmerian chieftains he had himself captured

in battle (about 660 B.C.). At first no one could be found in Nineveh

who understood the language of the ambassadors.

A few years later, Gyges joined in the revolt against Assyria, which

was headed by the viceroy of Babylonia, Asshurbanapal’s own brother.

The Ionic and Carian mercenaries he despatched to Egypt enabled

Psamthek to make himself independent. Assyria, however, was soon

avenged. The Cimmerian hordes returned, Gyges was slain in battle after

a reign of thirty-eight years, and Ardys his son and successor returned

to his allegiance to Nineveh.

The second capture of Sardis on this occasion was alluded to by

Callisthenes. Alyattes, the grandson of Ardys, finally succeeded in

extirpating the Cimmerians, as well as in taking Smyrna, and thus

providing his kingdom with a port. The trade and wealth of Lydia

rapidly increased, and the Greek towns fell one after the other before

the attacks of the Lydian kings. Alyattes’ long reign of fifty-seven

years saw the foundation of the Lydian empire. All Asia Minor west of

the Halys owned his sway, and the six years’ contest he carried on

with the Medes was closed by the marriage of his daughter Aryenis to

Astyages, and an intimate alliance between the two empires. The Greek

cities were allowed to retain their own institutions and government

on condition of paying taxes and dues to the Lydian monarch, and the

proceeds of their commerce thus flowed into the imperial exchequer. The

result was that the king of Lydia became the richest prince of his age.

Alyattes was succeeded by Crœsus, who had probably already for some

years shared the royal power with his father, or perhaps grandfather,

as Floigl thinks (_Geschichte des Semitischen Alterthums_). He reigned

alone only fifteen years.[d]

THE TRIUMPH OF PERSIA

Crœsus succeeded in establishing what his predecessors had sought--a

powerful monarchy having close fiscal relations with the Hellenic

world and ruling through the might of gold. By his efforts Sardis was

raised to the height of opulence and became a general rendezvous and a

kind of favourite capital of the Greeks. He accomplished this without

violence; all his acts show a generous nature, a character inclined to

benevolence and forgiveness. In spite of all this he was treated as a

barbarian; but he was a refined and charming barbarian, Lydian in his

genius for affairs, Greek in his æsthetic tastes--such a Philhellenic

barbarian as some of the kings of Macedonia. He had but one fault, an

irrational optimism and an excessive faith in the schemes of diplomacy,

the virtue of alliances, and the power of gold. This over-confidence,

by leading him to defy Cyrus, was his ruin.

Not that the idea of opposing Persia was in itself wrong; Crœsus was

obeying a feeling of great foresight when he began preparations for war

in 549 B.C. At this date Astyages was dethroned, the Median empire was

destroyed, and the equilibrium of the Orient disturbed. The dominions

of Cyrus had been extended as far as the Halys, and Persia thus brought

into contact with the Lydian kingdom.

Apart from the annoyance of having such a neighbour, Crœsus could not

forget that Astyages was his brother-in-law and that both sentiment and

interest made it his duty to avenge the Median king.

Moreover, there were economic reasons that influenced him. The

Persians were poor mountaineers who knew nothing of business, esteemed

nothing but the trade of arms, and professed a profound disdain of all

commerce, comfort, and culture. These prejudices of a military people

caused particular alarm among the merchant states of the valleys of the

Hermus and the Euphrates. From the day when the savage bands from Iran

replaced the Median garrisons in Cappadocia it was easy to foresee the

annihilation of the rich trade over the ancient route of Pteria.

Thus personal feeling, political fears, and commercial necessities

actuated Crœsus to challenge Persia. With this end in view he formed

a series of alliances. Nabonidus of Babylon and Aahmes II of Egypt,

menaced like Crœsus himself by the ambition of Cyrus, promised him

their aid. Foreseeing a conflict with one or another of the powers of

the Orient, Crœsus had some time before assured himself of the help

of the greatest military power of the time, Sparta. Now that war was

imminent, he sent an embassy which by flattery and the representation

that the enterprise had the sanction of the Delphic oracle easily

induced the Spartans to sign the compact of alliance and friendship.

After this brilliant diplomatic campaign Crœsus believed success was

certain. Lacedæmonia was fitting out vessels and equipping troops.

Aahmes despatched his contingent. Nabonidus was only awaiting a signal

to take the field; his tributaries, the Phœnicians, were ready to obey.

Lydian agents were recruiting mercenaries in Thrace. If the forces of

the league could have effected their junction, Cyrus would have found

himself in grave peril.

But he was warned in time. An Ephesian whom Crœsus despatched to the

Peloponnesus to enlist soldiers deserted to Cyrus and informed him of

the coalition that was forming against him. The Persian king hastened

to act before his enemies were ready. Babylon being his nearest

adversary, he at once attacked the city.

Without waiting for the union of all his forces, without which such an

undertaking was quite hopeless, Crœsus hastened to go to the relief

of his ally. He crossed the Halys and took the city of Pteria without

much difficulty. But he had not counted on the fearful energy of his

foe. Cyrus at once set out for the north with his entire army. Passing

through the defiles of Cappadocia, he quickly made himself master of

the Anti-Taurus, and was in a position from which he could make an

attack wherever he chose. Then he proposed a peaceful settlement,

offering Crœsus, if he would become a vassal of Persia, the retention

of his kingdom with the title and dignity of satrap. The Lydian

king defiantly replied that he had never served any one, as had the

Persians, the former slaves of the Medes and future slaves of the

Lydians.

But these boastful words were not borne out in the campaign that

followed. Not only did Crœsus prove himself to possess none of the

qualities of a good general, but his heterogeneous army of mercenaries

and foreign auxiliaries was utterly unable to cope with the seasoned

troops of Cyrus. There was a single furious and bloody battle, which,

according to Herodotus, was indecisive, but which other writers,

probably with greater accuracy, declare was a victory for the Persians.

Crœsus evacuated Pteria, abandoned the bend of the Halys, although it

presented an excellent line of defence, and returned to Sardis. He felt

quite secure here, for he did not dream that Cyrus would follow at once.

But Cyrus did follow very promptly, after having removed the danger of

an attack in the rear by a treaty with Nabonidus. The sudden appearance

of the Persians before the gates of Sardis astonished Crœsus, but did

not dismay him.

The short campaign which ensued culminated in a great battle on the

plain of Thymbrium. (Herodotus says “the plain before Sardis.”)

The forces of Crœsus were much depleted by the dispersion of his

mercenaries, especially of the Greek hoplites. Of his allies Aahmes was

the only one who had sent his contingent. Crœsus’ great hope lay in

his famous cavalry, which was considered the bravest and most skilful

in the world. Nor were the Persians without fear of these terrible

lancers, who might create irremediable disorder should they once

succeed in breaking the Persian lines and penetrating the squares of

the infantry. To avoid this danger Cyrus employed a stratagem that was

suggested by a Mede. He covered the front of his army with a line of

camels. Charging upon these enormous beasts that were opposed to them,

the Lydian horses were so startled at the sight of them and so annoyed

by their odour that they were thrown into confusion and the riders

forced to dismount. But in spite of their courage they were overwhelmed

and routed by the rude foot-soldiers of Iran. The survivors reached

Sardis in safety, and were besieged there by Cyrus.

The defeat of Thymbrium placed Crœsus in a most critical situation. He

despatched couriers everywhere, especially to Sparta, to beg his allies

for help. The Lacedæmonians, whose soldiers were ready and vessels

equipped, were about to give the order to set sail when a new message

brought consternation to the city. Sardis had been taken and the king

was a captive. [546 B.C.]

Among the conflicting accounts of the fall of Sardis, that of Herodotus

appears to be the most trustworthy. According to him the walls were

stormed at a vulnerable point that had been discovered accidentally by

a Persian soldier.

Although the tradition of the funeral pile of Crœsus has often been

attacked by modern critics, principally on the ground that it would

have been contrary to the religion of the Persians, after all no valid

objection has been brought against it. In condemning Crœsus to the fire

the Persians were not acting on their own initiative; they were simply

tolerating a usage common to Semitic religions. Death by fire was one

of the characteristic traits of Lydian civilisation. A solemn festival

was celebrated at Sardis every year, in which the principal divinity of

the Lydians, Heracles-Sandon, was represented as perishing on a funeral

pile. In delivering himself up to the flames the last king of Lydia was

but making himself like a god and securing for himself a glorious end.

[See the legend in Appendix A.]

Then by some means of which we are ignorant, perhaps nothing more than

an ordinary tempest of rain, the consummation of the sacrifice was

prevented.

Crœsus, after his escape from death, found favour with Cyrus, who

treated him with great distinction, made him his adviser, and took him

with him on his expeditions. The last that is known of him is that he

accompanied Cambyses on his Egyptian expedition in 525 B.C.

Such was the end of the house of Gyges. This sudden fall of a powerful

empire stupefied the Greeks. Crœsus had dazzled them by his power, his

wealth, and his liberality, and they were sorry for him. According to

Justin, his fall was considered in all Hellas as a public calamity.

The cordial reception and the honours accorded to Greek merchants,

soldiers, and artists at his court were not forgotten. His name became

familiar, and Greek imagination took delight in embellishing his

legend.[c]

[Illustration: LYDIAN COINS

(Now in the British Museum)]

LYDIAN CIVILISATION

The Lydian empire may be described as the industrial power of the

ancient world. The Lydians were credited with being the inventors,

not only of games such as dice, huckle-bones, and ball, but also of

coined money. The oldest known coins are the electrum coins of the

earlier Mermnads, stamped on one side with a lion’s head or the figure

of a king with bow and quiver; these were replaced by Crœsus with a

coinage of pure gold and silver. To the latter monarch were probably

due the earliest gold coins of Ephesus.[12] Mr. Head has shown that

the electrum coins of Lydia were of two kinds, one weighing 168.4

grains for the inland trade, and another of 224 grains for the trade

with Ionia. The standard was the silver “mina of Carchemish,” as the

Assyrians called it, which contained 8656 grains.

Originally derived by the Hittites from Babylonia, but modified by

themselves, this standard was passed on to the nations of Asia Minor

during the period of Hittite conquest, but was eventually superseded

by the Phœnician mina of 11,225 grains, and continued to survive only

in Cyprus and Cilicia. The inns, which the Lydians were said to have

been the first to establish,[13] were connected with their attention to

commercial pursuits. Their literature has wholly perished, and the only

specimen of their writing we possess is on a marble base found by Mr.

Wood at Ephesus.[14]

They were celebrated for their music and gymnastic exercises; and

their art formed a link between that of Asia Minor and that of Greece.

A marble lion at Achmetly represents in a modified form the Assyrian

type, and the engraved gems found in the neighbourhood of Sardis and

Old Smyrna resemble the rude imitations of Assyrian workmanship met

with in Cyprus and on the coasts of Asia Minor. For a description of

a pectoral of white gold, ornamented with the heads of animals, human

faces, and the figure of a goddess, discovered in a tomb on Tmolus,

see _Academy_, January 15, 1881, p. 45. Lydian sculpture was probably

similar to that of the Phrygians as displayed at Doghanlu, Kumbet, and

Ayazin, a necropolis lately discovered by Mr. Ramsay. Phallic emblems,

for averting evil, were plentiful; even the summit of the tomb of

Alyattes is crowned with an enormous one of stone, about 9 feet in

diameter. The tumulus itself is 281 yards in diameter and about half a

mile in circumference. It has been partially excavated by Spiegelthal

and Dennis, and a sepulchral chamber discovered in the middle, composed

of large, well-cut, and highly polished blocks of marble, the chamber

being 11 feet long, nearly 8 feet broad, and 7 feet high. Nothing was

found in it except a few ashes and a broken vase of Egyptian alabaster.

The stone basement which, according to Herodotus, formerly surrounded

the mound, has now disappeared.[d]

Of the glories of Lydian civilisation it would be well to have a

portrayal. None could be more vivid than Radet’s glowing revivification

of the probable splendours of such a scene.

A PICTURE OF LIFE IN LYDIA

One would like to know more of Sardis, that glorious capital of

the Lydian state, that strange city which was the advance guard of

Hellenism towards the interior, and at the same time the last stage of

the Semitic world towards the west: it is not impossible to imagine

it. Of complex physiognomy, it reflected the very character of the

population who dwelt there. It was a city of contrasts. The traveller

coming over the Leuco-Syrian route was informed of the strange

sights awaiting him by the monuments of every style along the road.

There were colossal figures graven in the rock, figures of strange

gods, processions of priests with pointed tiaras, and soldiers with

boots turned up at the toe, while lion and bull fights spread along

the skirts of the mountain. Occasionally hieroglyphics accompanied

these rock-hewn bas-reliefs, witnessing to their Pterian origin;

again, the alphabet of the inscriptions showed they were the work of

Phrygian sculptors. In places were enormous conical mounds, tombs in

the Thracian style, high as little hills, uniformly surmounted by a

phallus. The most recent of these funeral mounds were ornamented with

friezes. These, showing hunting scenes, files of warriors, groups

of animals, all bore the mark of oriental inspiration but in style

revealed Greek handiwork. It was like being in a land of transition

where the most diverse influences crossed and mingled.

Whether coming from the direction of Sipylus or issuing from the

Catacecaumenian gorges, what struck one first on reaching the vast

mountain amphitheatre, in the centre of which Sardis rises, was the

imposing mass. The official and military town, the fortress, the

acropolis with its broken outline, its abrupt façade rising above the

plain in the fashion of a promontory, the vast circle of ramparts;

then, beyond the walls, above the battlements, temples, as for instance

that of Apollo, grand public buildings, as the royal treasury--a

confused mass of roofs, pediments, and towers, standing in bold relief

against the background of the Tmolus, whose heights receded far beyond,

sombre and confused, in a striking disorder of peaks, ravines, and

woods.

The impression of majesty which the capital of Asia Minor gave from

the distance, the idea it suggested of a centre of splendour and

opulence, vanished as one drew nearer. In the suburbs, on coming out

of the immense flat plain which surrounds them, the picture ceased to

be majestic and became picturesque, gaining by wildness what it lost

in magnificence. The city, on this side, with its gardens, meadows,

fields, clusters of trees, thatched huts trellised with roses, had an

air of wild forest land. It retained something of the Homeric Hyde,

the wild and green land whose sombre oak groves were often ravaged by

lightning. It was the quarter of the poor. Straw huts, rough plank

cottages, homesteads half in ruins, smothered in high grass or hidden

by trees, sheltered a whole population of workmen, mule proprietors or

drivers, caravan conductors, miserable horse breeders.

Higher up, on the semicircular terraces seen at the foot of the

acropolis, appeared the commercial part, with bazaars, shops, markets,

caravanseries, and baths. The extreme west was marked by the agora

which spread along the two banks of the Pactolus round the temple of

Cybele. Probably more to the east, facing the plain stood the palace of

Crœsus, its solid brick walls rising above the confused mass of badly

built small houses.

This part of the town was always extremely lively. Carefully driven

chariots spun with surprising swiftness along the narrow and tortuous

streets. The horses, short, strong, well built, collarless and quick

footed, easily carried men or loads. Here and there a convoy of

merchandise disappeared into a caravansery. Through the open door could

be seen an immense court, a group of plane trees shading a well, and

rows of cells with doors opening out under a wooden gallery.

In the bazaar were tiny shops, long and narrow, built one against

the other like cells in a hive. Here were sold all the products

of the East. The different trades were assembled in groups. Here

was the leather market, with every invention in red, blue, yellow,

stitched, spangled, and embroidered leather to be found at an Asiatic

leather-seller’s; bright-coloured purses, laced sandals, peaked shoes,

dyed and embroidered straps, sheaths and lashes, all giving out

agreeable odours in the heavy air. In another place was the weavers’

quarter, where were purple stuffs, luxurious hangings, trappings of

soft tints, and carpets of striking colours. Farther on, glittered the

goldsmiths’ wares; marvels of Assyrian jewelry, necklaces, bangles,

rings, whole sets in electrum and silver, and ivory playthings. One of

the most curious corners was the perfumery section. There were piled up

drugs without number, powders exposed in sacks or heaps, coffers and

cases full of pastiles, sachets, smelling salts; essences coloured the

flasks; there were pots containing pomades or unguents. Many of these

balms and aromatics had saffron as a base. It was with saffron that

the most celebrated Lydian composition, _baccaris_, was made, whose

odour, heady and bewildering, was felt above all those that filled the

atmosphere.

Buyers and sellers and hangers-on belonged to the most diverse races.

Lydians sold everything, and notably eunuchs. Pterians brought wool and

grain; Phrygians, cattle; Greeks spread out pottery, jewels, objects

of art conceived after Asiatic types, but fashioned with much more

elegance and finish; Carians brought arms, plumed helmets, and graven

bucklers, while the Chaldeans offered amulets with a mysterious air.

In a town so cosmopolitan, where industry and commerce brought together

so much wealth, morals were naturally very dissolute. Luxury, show, and

pleasure were sought after. Every one wore clothes of vivid colour,

long and floating tunics, like the bassara, which fell to the feet.

Princes had caftans of purple with gold embroidery. As to the coiffure,

it generally consisted in a simple ribbon of cloth or gold which bound

the hair and prevented it falling over the face. This was the ampyx,

used above all by the Greek-loving Lydians. Partisans of old Eastern

fashions preferred the mitre. Rings swung in the pierced ears. On the

garments shone a profusion of jewels, necklaces, bracelets, anklets,

and pendeloques. Every one was scented, locks glistened with aromatic

oils, faces had that sickly look given by rouge and cosmetics.

All minds were continuously set on pleasure. At Colophon, where

Lydian customs were widely copied, flute and zither players received

an official salary to play from dawn till dusk. It is probable that

the same custom existed at Sardis. To the Lydians are attributed the

invention of the majority of games, such as dice and ball. Their

banquets were models of careful taste. This was in contrast to

Thessalonian banquets, which were orgies of guzzlers, with piles of

victuals, whose sole merit was in being able to fill chariots. In his

_Gastronomy_, the poet Archestratus, a connoisseur and good liver,

recommends the real lover of delicacies to have a Lydian pastry cook.

Herodotus likewise boasts of the confectionery of Callatebus. At

Sardis the favourite dishes were _karuke_ and _kandaulos_, stews so

complicated that the recipes, as transmitted to us by the authors, are

as unintelligible grammatically as they are amazing in a culinary way.

What is most clearly known of these strange compositions is that they

were made of aphrodisiac ingredients and had the reputation of inciting

to love. Their action on the organism was compared to that of whips.

There was at Sardis a rendezvous for all the debauchées. This was a

sort of park, planted with trees of such thick foliage that the stars

could not pierce their impenetrable branchings. According to the

imitation that Polycrates made of it at Samos, it was not a simple

garden ornamented with arbours and shrubberies, flower beds and

fountains, rare animals and exotic plants, but a real town, full of

buildings and lanes, small hotels and shops.

This place of feasting and orgy was called the Happy Corner or the

Woman’s Theatre.

It was above all in times of grand religious ceremony that the Lydian

nature gave play to its two favourite passions, parade and exaltation.

During the Cybelean orgies a wild bacchanalia was seen on the slopes

of Tmolus. At night, to mourn the death of Attys, the people wandered

about in the darkness. Mournful wailing mingled with the sound of

muffled drums and piercing notes from the flute. Among the mountain

peaks moved and howled fantastic shadows, made disproportionally large

by the light of flickering torches. Then, the dawn having come, when

the divine lover was restored to light, the terror and anguish were

followed by delirious joy. An immense cortège paraded through the

town in magnificent procession, every one rivalling his neighbour in

magnificence and showing his most sumptuous treasures.

Such was Sardis. Like all towns situated at the confluence of several

worlds, it offers us contradictory traits. A sensual materialism

reigned, united with ardent mysticism. In this centre, full of

surprises, the love of realities was allied with a taste for art. The

fever of enjoyment did not detract from practical sense. Ease went

hand in hand with boldness. When, on the return from an expedition in

the interior, a squadron of Lydian cavalry came in to the sound of the

syrinx, and double flute, the Greek--Solon or Thales--philosophising in

the streets and seeing the forest of lances high above the roofs, could

but ask himself whether the merchants, so pale, languid, and painted,

whom he saw in a cloud of perfume in the shadowy shops, really belonged

to the same race as these men, so proud, robust, weather-beaten by the

winds of the Phrygian Mountains and tanned by the heat of the higher

plateaus, showing glorious wounds and curvetting on powerful horses.

Yet there was not one of those careless-looking merchants who had not,

many times in his life, known the hard toil of caravan traffic--rising

before dawn, marching in all weathers, sleeping on hard ground with

frequent surprises and needing to be always vigilant.

The spirit of enterprise was the mainspring of the Lydian nature.

The Greek did not always understand this, and too frequently looked

upon the Lydians merely as instructors in vice. Doubtless they

showed no aptitude for intellectual research or moral observation

or philosophical speculation. But if not metaphysicians they were

remarkable economists, excelling in producing and spreading riches.

Above all, they were prudent, tolerant, amiable, genial and frank,

well fitted for the task of serving as a bond between the East and the

West.[c]

FOOTNOTES

[12] Head, _Coinage of Ephesus_, p. 16.

[13] Herodotus, I, 94.

[14] Schliemann, _Ilios_, p. 698.

APPENDIX A.--CLASSICAL TRADITIONS

On Asia Minor the necessity for a liberal quotation from the classics

is both imperative and fruitful of much delight. In this place we may

be permitted to read of the Amazons, of Gyges and the curious fatality

that lifted him from shepherd to king, and finally of the opulence and

downfall of the king Crœsus who has become a very proverb of wealth.

We shall quote, then, from Justin, from Pomponius Mela, from Diodorus,

and from the ever-dramatic Herodotus, keeping usually to the antique

flavour of old English versions.[a]

JUSTIN’S ACCOUNT OF THE SCYTHIANS AND THE AMAZONS

Scythia, which far and wide extendeth towards the East, is bounded on

one side with Pontus, and on the other with the Rhipæi Mountains, on

the back with Asia and the river Phasis. It is very long & of no less

breadth. The Inhabitants have no boundaries to their Possessions, no

Houses, or certain Places of Abode. Their whole Business is to feed

vast Herds of Cattle, as they wander thro’ uncultivated Desarts. They

carry their Wives and Children with them in Carts cover’d with Hides

to defend them from the Cold and Rain, and these serve them instead of

Houses.

Their Justice is rather owing to their own natural temper than to their

laws. No Crime is reckoned by them so heinous as Theft; for as their

Flocks and Herds have no Housing or fence to secure ’em, what could

they call their own in such a vast Tract of Wood if Stealing were

permitted? They scorn Gold and Silver as much as the rest of Mankind

covet it. Their Food is Milk and Hony. The Use of Wool for Cloathing is

unknown to them, and tho’ the Cold Weather never abandons them, they

only wear the Furs of several Animals. This natural indifference for

Wealth has so far improv’d their Justice that they don’t covet what

belongs to another, for Riches are only desired in those Places where

they can be used. It were to be wish’d that the rest of Mankind were

indued with the same generous Principle of Moderation, and abstaining

from what is our Neighbours, for then we should not have had so many

bloody Wars in all Ages and Countries of the World, neither would

the Sword destroy more numbers of Men than the natural Condition of

Mortality. So that ’tis really to be admir’d that Nature should frankly

give to these People that which the Grecians with all the learning of

their Wise Men, and all the repeated Precepts of their Philosophers,

were never able to attain, and that so refin’d and Polish’d a Nation,

should in these Respects be inferiour to a barbarous uncultivated

People; so much greater influence has the Ignorance of Vice on the

Lives of the latter, than the Knowledge of Virtue in the former.

They thrice attempted the Empire of Asia, but as for themselves they

always remained untouch’d from a foreign Power, or came off Conquerors

when invaded. They obliged Darius, King of Persia, to retire with a

great but ignominious Precipitation, out of their Country. They cut

Cyrus with his whole Army to pieces. With the like Success, they gave a

total Defeat to Zopyrion, one of the Generals of Alexander the Great.

They heard of the Roman Arms, but never felt them.

They erected the Parthian and Bactrian Empires. The People with

continual Wars and Labour are fierce and hardy, and of a prodigious

Strength, they lay up nothing which they are afraid to lose, and when

they are Victors in the Field, they desire nothing but honour.

Vexoris, King of Egypt was the first that made War upon the Scythians,

and sent Ambassadors, to them first, to let them know under what

Conditions they should be subject to him. But the Scythians being

inform’d beforehand by their Neighbours, that the King was marching

towards them return’d this Answer to the Ambassadors, that their

Master, who was the Head of so wealthy a People, was certainly

ill-advised to fall upon a parcel of poor wretches, whom he had more

Reason to expect at home; that the Hazards of War were great, the

Rewards of Victory in respect of them none at all, but the Losses

evident; for which Reason the Scythians would not tarry till the King

came up to them, since the Enemy had so much rich Booty about them,

but would make hast to seize it for their own use. This was no sooner

said, but put in Execution; but the King hearing with what speed they

advanced towards him, betakes himself to flight, and leaving his Army

and all his Military provisions behind him, retires in great Fear to

his own Kingdom. The Morrasses hindered the Scythians from making a

Descent into Egypt; however, in their return from thence they conquered

Asia imposing a gentle Tribute upon the Inhabitants, rather as an

Acknowledgment of their Title than Reward of Victory. Having spent

fifteen Years in the reducing of Asia, they are recall’d Home by the

importunity of their Wives, who despatched Messengers on purpose to

acquaint them, that unless they speedily return’d, they would have

recourse to their Neighbours for Issue, and that it should never happen

thro’ the Fault of the Women, that the Scythian Race should be extinct.

Thus Asia became tributary to them for the space of a Thousand five

Hundred Years. Ninus, King of Assyria, put an end to the paying of this

Tribute.

But in this interval of time, two Youths of Royal Extraction, whose

names were Hylinos and Scolopitos, being driven out of their Native

Country by a Faction of the Nobility, carried vast Multitudes of young

Men with them, and settled in Cappadocia near the River Thirmodon,

and having possessed themselves by force of the Themiscyrean Plains,

took up their Quarters there. Here they continu’d for several Years to

ravage their Neighbours. At last by a Combination of the Natives, they

were all cut to pieces in an Ambuscade. Their Wives finding so cruel

a Loss as this added to their Banishment, take Arms and make a shift

to defend their borders, by dislodging the Enemy first from thence,

and afterwards carrying the War into his Country. They laid aside all

Inclinations of Marrying with their Neighbours, calling it Servitude

and not Matrimony, and what cannot be paralleled in History, they

encreased their Dominions, without the Alliance of Men, and afterwards

in perfect defiance of them, defended their own Acquisitions. To

prevent Envy, lest some should seem to be happier than the rest, they

fairly killed all the Men that had tarried at Home, and revenged the

Loss of their slain Husbands, by retaliating upon their Neighbours.

When they had obtained Peace by their Arms, they copulated with the

adjoyning Nations to keep up their Race and Name.

They kill’d all their Male Children; As for the Females they bred them

up like themselves not in Idleness, nor Spinning, but in Exercises

of War, in Hunting and Riding; and burnt off their right Paps, when

Infants, that they might not hinder their Shooting, from whence they

derived the Name of Amazons. They had two Queens, Marpesia and Lampedo,

who being now considerable for their Wealth and Power, divided their

Troops into two Bodies, carrying on War, and defending their Frontier

by turns, and to procure the greater Authority to their Victories, they

gave out that they were the Daughters of Mars. Thus having subdued the

greatest part of Europe, they possess’d themselves of some Cities in

Asia: After they had founded Ephesus, and several other Cities there,

they sent part of their Army with a great Booty Home. The rest that

tarried behind to secure their Acquisition in Asia, being attacked

by the Barbarians, were all cut to pieces, together with their Queen

Marpesia. Her Daughter Orithya succeeded her in the Kingdom, who

besides her admirable Skill in Military Affairs, has made her name

celebrated to all Ages, by preferring her Virginity.

By her Gallantry, and Prowess the Amazons got such a reputation in

the World, that the King, who set Hercules upon his twelve Labours,

commanded him, as if it had been a thing utterly impossible to bring

him the Armour of the Queen of Amazons. So he sail’d thither in nine

Ships, several of the young Grecian Princes accompanying him in this

Expedition, and invaded them unawares. At that time two Sisters jointly

governed the Amazons; Antiope and Orithya: But the latter was then

engaged in Wars abroad; so that when Hercules landed there was but a

small Body of them with their Queen Antiope, who had not the least

Apprehensions of an Hostile Invasion: By which means only a few that

were alarmed in the Hurry could take Arms, and these gave a cheap and

easy Victory to the Enemy. Many were slain and taken Prisoners. Amongst

the rest the two Sisters of Antiope were made Captives, Menalippe by

Hercules; Hyppolite by Theseus. But Theseus obtaining her for his

Reward, took her to Wife, and of her begot Hippolytus. Hercules after

his Victory restored his Prisoner Menalippe to her Sister, and received

the Queen’s Armour as his Recompence. Thus having performed what he was

commanded, he returned back to the King.

But Orithya, so soon as she understood that War had been made upon her

Sister, and that the Prince of the Athenians was chiefly concerned in

it, persuades her Companions to revenge this Affront, telling them

that they had in vain conquered Pontus and Asia, if they lay thus

exposed, not so much to the Wars as the Rapines of the Grecians. Then

she desired Sagillus King of Scythia to assist her with some Forces

representing to him that they were of Scythian Extraction, the Loss of

their Husbands, the necessity of their taking Arms, and the Reasons of

the War; Lastly, that to their Bravery it was owing that the Scythian

Women were not inferiour to the Men. This Prince, touch’d with the

Glory of his own Nation, sent his Son Panasagorus with a great Body of

Horse to her assistance, but a Quarrel happening between them before

the Battle, they were deserted by their Auxiliaries, and soon overcome

by the Athenians. However they took Sanctuary in the camp of their

late Allies, by whose Protection, other Nations not daring to meddle

with them, they returned safe to their own Country.

After Orithya, Penthesilea reign’d, who signalized herself by several

gallant Actions in the Trojan War, whom she assisted against the

Grecians: But being slain at last, and her Army quite destroyed, some

few which tarried at Home, defending themselves with much ado from

the Insults of their Neighbours, continued till the time of Alexander

the Great. Minithya or Thalestris was then their Queen, who lay with

Alexander thirteen Nights successively, in order to have Issue by him,

and then returned to her Kingdom, where she dy’d, and with her the

whole Name of the Amazons.

But the Scythians in their Third Expedition into Asia, having been

absent eight Years from their Wives and Children, were received on

their return by a War with their own Slaves. For their Wives, weary

of expecting their coming so long, and imagining that they were not

detained by the War, but were all destroyed, married their Slaves that

were left at Home to look after the Cattle, and these Fellows when they

heard that their Masters were returning with Victory, marched to the

Frontier, and would suffer them to come no farther, as if they had been

Strangers to the Country. Several Skirmishes happen’d on both sides

with different Success.

At last the Scythians were advised to alter their Method of fighting,

calling to mind that they had not to do with the Enemy, but their own

Slaves, who were not to be overcome by the Right of Arms, but the

Authority of Masters: That therefore they should bring Whips and Rods,

and such other Instruments that Slaves are used to be frightened with,

into the Field. All approve of this advice, and being accordingly

provided, when they came upon the Enemy, they surprised them so, with

showing them their Whips that those People whom they could not overcome

by Dint of Sword, they routed by the pure apprehensions of Stripes, so

that they fled not like a vanquished Enemy, but run-away Slaves. All

that could be taken of them were rewarded for this Insolence with the

Gallows. The Women, too, being conscious to themselves that they had

done amiss, partly Stab’d and partly Hang’d themselves.

After this, the Scythians lived in Peace till the time of Jancyrus

their King. Upon whom, as we have already related, Darius, King of

Persia, made War, after he could not obtain his Daughter in Marriage,

and invaded Scythia with an Army of Seven Hundred Thousand fighting

Men. But not being able to bring them to a pitch’d Battle, and fearing

lest if his Bridge over the Ister was broken down, he should be

disabled from making a Retreat after the loss of Eighty Thousand Men,

which, however, made no show in so prodigious a Multitude, he retired

in great Precipitation. Then he Conquer’d Asia and Macedonia, overcame

the Ionians in an Engagement at Sea, and finding that the Athenians had

assisted them against him, he turned the whole Force and Fury of the

War upon them.[b]

POMPONIUS MELA ON THE SCYTHIANS AND OTHER TRIBES

The marches and situation of Asia extending to our Sea and the River

Tanais are suche as I have shewed afore. Nowe to them that rowe

backe againe downe the same river into Mæotis, on the right hand is

Europe which was directlie on the left side of them as they sayled up

the streame, it butteth upon the mountain Rhipæ, for the same also

extendeth hither. The snow which falleth continually, dooth make ye

Countrie so ontraivellable that a man is not able to see any farnesse

into it.

Beyond is a Countrie of very rich soyle, but oninhabitable not

withstanding, because the Griffins (cruell and eger kinde of wild

Beastes) do wonderfully love the golde which lieth altogether

discovered above the ground and doo wonderfully keep it, and are very

fierce oppon them that touch it. The first men are Scythians, and of

the Scythians, the first are the Arimaspi; which are reported to have

but one eye a-piece. From thence are the Essedones onto Mæotis. The

River Buges cutteth the compasse of the Lake, and the Agathyrsi, and

the Sauromatæ, inhabite about it, who because they dwell in Cartes, are

named Hamaxobii. Then the coast that runneth out askew to the Bosphorus

is enclosed betweene Pontus and Mæotis. The side to-ward the Lake is

possessed by the Satarchæ. The brest toward the Bosphorus of Cimmeria,

hath the Townes of Myrmecium, Panticapæum, Theodosia, and Hermisium.

The other side toward Pontus Euxinus, is possessed by the Taurians.

Above them is a Bay full of Havens, and therefore is called the Fayre

Haven, and it is enclosed betweene two Forelands whereof the one called

the Rammes head butteth against the Foreland of Carambis, which we

saide before to be in Asia: and the other called Parthenium hath neere

onto it a towne called Chersonesus builded (if it may be beleeved) by

Diana, and is very famous fore the cave Nymphæum in the toppe thereof

hallowed to the nymphes. When the Sea fleeteth onder a banke and

following continually oppon the shores flying backe (which the Satarchæ

and Saurians possesst) ontyl he be but five miles from Mæotis, maketh a

Recesse. That which is betweene the Lake and the Bay it selfe is called

Taphræ and the Bay it selfe is called Carcinites. In the same is the

Cittie Carcine by the which doo run two rivers Gerhus and Hypacyris,

which fall into the sea in one mouth, but come from sevral heads, and

from two sevral places. For Gerhus, sweepeth betweene the Basilads and

Nomades. Then are there woods whereof those countries beare very great

store, and there is the river Panticapes, which dissevreth the Nomades

and Georgians. From thence the land wideneth far, and ending in a

slender shanke joineth with the sea shore, afterward enlarging againe

measurably, it sharpeneth it selfe by little and little and gathering

his long sides as it were into a point, groweth into the likeness of

the blade of a sworde laide flatlinges.

Achilles entering the Sea of Pontus with a Navie lyke an enimie after

he had gotten victorie is reported to have made a gaming in the same

place for ioy thereof, and to have exercised himselfe and his men in

running while they rested from warre and therefore the place is called

Achilles race. There runneth Boristhenes by a nation of the same name,

the pleasantest of all the Rivers of Scythia. For whereas all the Other

are thicke and muddie: he runneth exceeding cleere, more gentle than

the rest, and most pleasant to drinke of. It cherisheth most fine and

fatting pasture, and great Fishes which are of very delicat taste and

have no bones. He commeth from farre, and springing from an unknown

head, beareth in his channel forty daies jorney: and being all that way

able to beare shippes, he falleth into the sea, hard by Borysthenis and

Olbia, Greeke Citties.

Hypanis, rising out of a great Poole, which the dwellers by call the

mother of Hypanis, incloseth the Callipeds, and along while together

rinneth the same that he was at his head. At length not farre from

the Sea, he taketh so bytter waters out of a little Fountaine called

Exampæus, that from thenceforth he runneth onlike himselfe and

altogether onsaverie. The next which is called Axiaces, commeth downe

among the Callipedæ and Axiacæ. The River Tyras separateth these Axiacæ

from the Istrians: it springeth among the Neures, and falleth into the

sea by a Towne of his own name. But that famous River which parteth

the nations of Scythia from the Nations following, rysing from hys

spring in Germanie, hath an other name at his head, than at his falling

into the Sea. For through huge Countries of great Nations, a long while

together he beareth the name of Danow. Afterwarde being diversely

termed by the dwellers by, hee taketh the name of Ister, and receiving

many rivers into him, wereth huge, and giving place in greatnesse to

none of all the Rivers that fall into our Sea, saving onelie to Nile,

he runneth into the sea with as many mouths as he, whereof three are

but final. The rest are able to beare shippes.

The natures and behaviours of the Nations differ. The Essedones

solemnise the deaths of their Parents merilie, with sacrifices and

feasting of their neighbours and acquaintances. They cutte their bodies

in pieces, and chopping them finelie with the inwards of beasts make

a feast of them and eate them up. The heads of them, when they have

cunningly polished them, they bind about with gold and occupie them

for cups. These are the last dueties of naturall love amonge them.

The Agathyrsies paint their faces and their lims: and as any of them

cometh of better Auncestors, so dooth he more or less die himself: but

all that are of one lineage are died with one kinde of marke and that

in such sort as it cannot be gotten out. The Sarmatæ, being altogether

onacquainted with golde and silver, the greatest plagues in the world,

doo in stead thereof oft exchange of one thing for another. And because

of the cruell coldnesse of the winter which lasteth continually, they

make them houses within the ground, and dwell together in Caves or

else in Sellars. They goe in longe side garments downe to the ground,

and are covered face and all, saving onelie their eies. The Taurians

(who be chiefly renowned with the arrivall of Iphigenia, and Orestes)

are horrible of conditions and have a horrible report going of them,

namely that they are wont to murder strangers, and to offer them up in

sacrifice.

The originall of the Nation of the Basilides, commeth from Hercules

and Echidna. Theyr manners are Prince-like, their weapons are onelie

arrows. The wandering Nomades, follow the pastures for their cattell

and as feeding for them lasteth so is their continuance of abiding in

one place. The Georgi occupy tillage of ye ground and husbandrie. The

Axiacæ knowe not what stealing means; and therefore they neither keep

theyr own nor touch another man’s. They that dwel more upland live

after a hard sort, and have a country less husbanded. They love warre

and slaughter, and it is their custome to sucke the bloode cleane out

of the wounds of him they kill first. As everie of them hath slain

most, so is he counted the joliest fellowe among them. But to be cleere

from slaughter, is of all reproaches the greatest. Not so much as

their love-daies are made without blood-shed. For they that ondertake

the matter, wound themselves, and letting their blood drop out into a

vessel, wher they have stird it together they drinke of it thinking

that to be a most assured pledge of the promise to be performed. In

their feasting their greatest myrth and commonest talke, is in making

report what everie man hath slaine, and they that have told of most,

are set betweene two cuppes full of drinke, for that is the cheefe

honour among them. As the Essedones make cuppes of the heads of their

Parents; so doo these of the heads of their enimies.

Among the Androphagi, the daintiest dishes are made of mens’ fleshe.

The Geloni apparell themselves and their horses, in the skins of their

enimies heads, themselves with the skinnes of the rest of their bodies.

The Melanchlæni goe in blacke cloathes, and thereof they have their

name. The Neuri have a certain time to evrie of them limited wherein

they may (if they will) be chaunged into Woolves, and returne to their

former shape againe. The God of them all is Mars, to whome in steade

of Images they dedicate Swords and Tents, and offer to him men in

Sacrifice. The Countries spread verie large, and by reason that the

rivers doo divers times over flow their bankes there is everie where

great store of good pasture. But some places are in all other respects

so barreine that the inhabiters, for lacke of Woodde, are fayne to make

fyre of bones.[c]

DIODORUS ON THE AMAZONS AND THE HYPERBOREANS

The Scythians anciently enjoy’d but a small Tract of Ground, but

(through their Valour) growing stronger by degrees, they inlarg’d their

Dominion far and near, and attain’d at last to a vast and glorious

Empire.

At the First a very few of them, and those very despicable for their

mean original seated themselves near to the River Araxes. Afterwards

one of their Ancient Kings, who was a warlike Prince, and skilful in

Arms, gain’d to their Country all the Mountainous Parts as far as to

Mount Caucasus, and all the Champain Country, to the Ocean, and the

Lake Mæotis, and all the rest of the plain to the River Tanais. Then

they tell a Story, That a Virgin was born among them of the Earth, of

the shape of a Woman from the Middle upwards, and of a Viper downwards:

and that Jupiter begot of her a Son call’d Scythes: they say, that from

this Prince (being more eminent than any of his Ancestors) the People

were call’d Scythians: There were Two Brothers that descended from this

King, that were remarkable for Valour, the one call’d Palus and the

other Napas. These Two Brothers, after many Glorious Actions done by

them, divided the Country between them, and from their own Names call’d

one part of the Inhabitants Palians, and the other Napians.

Some time afterwards their Posterity becoming famous and eminent for

Valour and martial affairs, subdu’d many Territories beyond Tanais.

Then turning their Arms the other way they led their Forces as far

as to the River Nile in Egypt, and having subdu’d many Nations lying

between, they inlarg’d the Empire of the Scythians as far as to the

Eastern Ocean one way, and to the Caspian Sea and the Lake of Mæotis

another.

This Nation prosper’d still more and more, and had Kings that were very

famous; from whom the Sacæ, the Massagetæ, and the Arimaspani, and many

others call’d by other Names derive their Original. Amongst others,

there were two remarkable Colonies that were drawn out of the conquer’d

Nations by those Kings; the one they brought out of Assyria, and

settl’d in the Country lying between Paphlagonia and Pontus; the other

out of Media, which they placed near the River Tanais, which People

are call’d Sauromatians, who many Years after increasing in number and

power, wasting the greatest part of Scythia, and rooting out all that

they conquer’d, totally ruinated the whole Nation. Afterwards the Royal

Line failing, they say, Women remarkable for Courage and Strength of

Body reign’d instead of Kings. For in these Nations, Women like Men,

are train’d up for the Wars, being nothing inferior to Men for Courage.

Henceforward many and great things were done by famous Women, not only

in Scythia, but in the Neighbouring Nations. For when Cyrus King of

Persia the most Powerful Prince in his Age, led a mighty Army into

Scythia, the Queen of Scythia routed the Persian Army, and taking

Cyrus himself in the Battel Prisoner, afterwards Crucify’d him.

And such was the Valour of the Amazons, after they had strengthened

themselves, that they not only overran their Neighbours, but conquer’d

a great part both of Europe and Asia. But since now we have begun to

speak of the Amazons, we conceive it not impertinent if we here relate

cursorily those things concerning them which for the strangeness of the

matter may seem to resemble Romantic Fables.

There was heretofore a Potent Nation seated upon the River Thermodon,

govern’d always by Women, as their Queens; in which the Women, like

Men, manag’d all their Martial Affairs. Amongst these Female Princes

(they say) there was one that excell’d all the rest for strength and

valour, who got together an Army of Women, and having train’d them up

in Martial Discipline, first subdued some of her Neighbouring Nations;

afterwards by her Valour growing more fam’d and renown’d, she led her

Army against the rest, and Fortune favouring her Arms, she was so puft

up, that she call’d herself The Daughter of Mars, and ordered the Men

to spin Wool, and do the Womens Work within Doors.

She made Laws also, whereby she in join’d the Women to go forth to

the Wars, and the Men to be as Slaves, and do all the Servile work

at Home. Therefore when any Male Child was born, they broke their

Thighs and Arms, to render them useless and unfit for War: And for

the Females they sear’d off the right Breast, lest it should be an

hinderance to them in Fight: And hence they were call’d Amazons.

At length grown eminent for Policy and Skill in Military Affairs,

she built a large City call’d Themiscyra, at the Mouth of the River

Thermodon, and beautify’d it with a stately Palace. She was very exact

in Martial Discipline, and keeping good Order: She first conquer’d

all the Neighbouring Nations, as far as to the River Tanais; and

having perform’d all these noble Exploits (they say) in a Battel, she

afterwards fought, (having first signallized her Valour) she ended

her Days like an Hero. Upon her Death her Daughter succeeded her in

the Kingdom, who imitating her Mother’s Valour, in some Exploits

excell’d her: For she caus’d the Girls from their very Infancy to be

exercis’d in Hunting, and daily train’d up in Martial Discipline. Then

she instituted solemn Festivals and Sacrifices to be offer’d to Mars

and Diana, call’d Tauropoli. She advanc’d her Arms beyond Tanais, and

brought under all the Nations as far as to Thrace. Then returning to

her own Country with a rich Booty, she erected stately Temples to those

Deities before mention’d, and gain’d the Hearts of her Subjects by her

easie and gentle Government. Afterwards she undertook an Expedition

against them that lay on the other side of the River, and added a great

part of Asia to her Dominion, and extended her Arms as far as to Syria.

After her Death, the Crown descended still to the next of Kin, and

every one in their time govern’d with great Commendation, and advanc’d

the Honour and Renown of the Amazons Kingdom.

Many Ages after (the Fame and Renown of the Amazons being spread Abroad

all the World over) they say, that Hercules, the Son of Jupiter and

Alcmena, was enjoin’d by Eurystheus to fight Hippolyta, the Amazon

Queen, and to strip her of her Belt. Upon which, he made War upon the

Amazons, and in a great Battel routed them, and took Hippolyta, and her

Belt together, which so weaken’d them, that the Neighbouring Barbarians

knowing their low Condition, despis’d them; and remembring what ruin

and destruction they had formerly made amongst them, so wasted them

with continual War, that not so much as the Name of Amazons is now to

be found any where in the World. For a few Years after Hercules’s

Time, the Trojan War broke forth, at which time Penthesilia, Queen of

those Amazons that were left, and Daughter of Mars (having committed

a cruel Murther among her own People) for the horridness of the Fact

fled, and after the Death of Hector, brought aid to the Trojans; and

though she bravely behav’d her self, and kill’d many of the Greeks,

yet at last she was slain by Achilles, and so in Heroick Actions ended

her Days. This, they say, was the last Queen of the Amazons, a brave

spirited Woman, after whom the Nation (growing by degrees weaker and

weaker) was at length wholly extinct: So that these later Ages look

upon all those old Stories concerning the valiant Acts of the Amazons,

to be but meer Fictions and Fables.

Now since we have thus far spoken of the Northern Parts of Asia, it’s

convenient to observe something relating to the Antiquity of the

Hyperboreans.

Amongst them that have written old Stories much like Fables, Hecateus

and some others say, that there is an Island in the Ocean over against

Gall, (as big as Sicily) under the Artick Pole, where the Hyperboreans

inhabit, so call’d, because they lye beyond the Breezes of the North

Wind. That the Soyl here is very rich, and very fruitful; and the

Climate temperate, insomuch as there are Two Crops in the Year.

They say that Latona was born here, and therefore they that worship

Apollo above all other Gods; and because they are daily saying Songs

in praise of this God, and ascribing to him the highest Honours, they

say that these Inhabitants demean themselves, as if they were Apollo’s

Priests, who has there a stately Grove, and renown’d Temple of a round

Form, beautify’d with many rich Gifts.

That there is a City likewise consecrated to this God, whose Citizens

are most of them Harpers, who playing on the Harp, chant Sacred

Hymns to Apollo in the Temple, setting forth his glorious Acts. The

Hyperboreans use their own natural Language: But of long and ancient

time, have had a special Kindness for the Grecians; and more especially

for the Athenians, and them of Delos. And that some of the Grecians

pass’d over to the Hyperboreans, and left behind them divers Presents,

inscrib’d with Greek Characters; and that Abaris formerly travell’d

thence into Greece, and renew’d the ancient League of Friendship with

the Delians.

They say moreover, that the Moon in this Island seems as if it were

near to the Earth, and represents in the face of it Excrescences like

Spots in the Earth. And that Apollo once in Nineteen Years comes

into the Island; in which space of time, the Stars perform their

Courses, and return to the same Point; and therefore the Greeks call

the Revolution of Nineteen Years, the Great Year. At this time of his

appearance (they say) that he plays upon the Harps, and sings and

daunces all the Night from the Vernal Equinox, to the rising of the

Pleiades, solacing himself with the Praises of his own successful

Adventures. The Sovereignty of this City, and the care of the Temple

(they say) belongs to the Boreades, the Posterity of Boreas, who hold

the Principality by Descent in a direct Line from that Ancestor.[d]

HERODOTUS ON THE LEGENDARY GYGES

The family of Crœsus were named the Mermnadæ, and it may be proper to

relate by what means the empire descended to them from the Heraclidæ.

Candaules, whom the Greeks call Myrsilus, was king of Sardis, and of

the family of Alcæus the son of Hercules. The first of the Heraclidæ

was Agron, who reigned also at Sardis; he was the son of Ninus, the

grandson of Belus, the great-grandson of Alcæus. Candaules, the son of

Myrsus, was the last of this race. The people of this district were in

ancient times called Mæonians; they were afterwards named Lydians, from

Lydus the son of Attys. From him, before the time of Agron, the princes

of the country derived their origin. The Heraclidæ, descended from

Hercules and a female slave of Jardanus, enjoyed a delegated authority

from these princes, and afterwards obtained the supreme dignity from

the declaration of an oracle. They retained their power, in regular and

uninterrupted succession, from father to son, to the time of Candaules,

a period equal to twenty-two ages of man, being no less than five

hundred and five years.

Candaules was so vehemently attached to his wife that in his passion he

conceived her beauty to be beyond all competition.[15] Among those who

attended near his person, Gyges, the son of Dascylus, had rendered him

essential service, and was honoured by his particular confidence. To

him he frequently extolled the beauty of his wife in exaggerated terms.

Under the influence of a most fatal delusion he took an opportunity of

thus addressing him:

“Gyges, I am satisfied that we receive less conviction from what we

hear than from what we see, and as you do not seem to credit all I tell

you of my wife’s personal accomplishments, I am determined that you

shall see her naked.”

Gyges replied, much agitated, “What you propose is exceedingly

improper. Remember, sir, that with her clothes a woman puts off

her modesty. Many are the precepts recorded by wise men for our

instruction, but there is none more entitled to our regard than

that ‘it becomes a man to look into those things only which concern

himself.’ I give implicit confidence to your assertions; I am willing

to believe my mistress the most beautiful of her sex; but I entreat you

to forbear repeating an unlawful request.”

Gyges, from apprehension of the event, would have persevered in his

refusal; but the king could not be dissuaded from his purpose.

“Gyges,” he resumed, “you have nothing to fear from me or from your

mistress; I do not want to make experiment of your fidelity, and I

shall render it impossible for the queen to detect you. I myself will

place you behind an open door of the apartment in which we sleep. As

soon as I enter, my wife will make her appearance. It is her custom

to undress herself at leisure, and to place her garments one by one

on a chair near the entrance. You will have the best opportunity of

contemplating her person. As soon as she approaches the bed, and her

face is turned from you, you must be careful to leave the room without

being discovered.”

Gyges had no alternative but compliance. At the time of retiring to

rest he accompanied Candaules to his chamber, and the queen soon

afterwards appeared. He saw her enter, and gradually disrobe herself.

She approached the bed; and Gyges endeavoured to retire, but the queen

saw and knew him. She instantly conceived her husband to be the cause

of her disgrace, and determined on revenge. She had the presence of

mind to restrain the emotions of her wounded delicacy, and to seem

entirely ignorant of what had happened; although, among all the

Barbarian nations, and among the Lydians in particular, it is deemed a

matter of the greatest turpitude even for a man to be seen naked.

The queen preserved the strictest silence; and in the morning having

prepared some confidential servants for the occasion, she sent for

Gyges. Not at all suspicious that she knew what had happened, he

complied with the message, as he had been accustomed to do at other

times, and appeared before his mistress. As soon as he came into her

presence, she thus addressed him:

“Gyges, I submit two proposals to your choice: destroy Candaules and

take possession of me and of the Lydian kingdom, or expect immediate

death. From your unqualified obedience to your master, you may again be

a spectator of what modesty forbids: the king has been the author of my

disgrace; you also, in seeing me naked, have violated decorum; and it

is necessary that one of you should die.”

Gyges, after he had somewhat recovered from his astonishment, implored

her not to compel him to so delicate and difficult an alternative. But

when he found that expostulations were vain, and that he must either

kill Candaules or die himself by the hands of others, he chose rather

to be the survivor.

“Since my master must perish,” he replied, “and, notwithstanding

my reluctance, by my hands, tell me how your purpose shall be

accomplished?”

“The deed,” she answered, “shall be perpetrated in that very place

where he exhibited me naked; but you shall kill him in his sleep.”

Their measures were accordingly concerted: Gyges had no opportunity of

escape, nor of evading the alternative proposed. At the approach of

night, the queen conducted him to her chamber, and placed him behind

the same door, with a dagger in his hand. Candaules was murdered in

his sleep, and Gyges took immediate possession of his wife and of the

empire. Of the above event, Archilochus of Paros, who lived about the

same period, has made mention in some trimeter iambics.

A declaration of the Delphic oracle confirmed Gyges in his possession

of the sovereignty. The Lydians resented the fate of Candaules, and

had recourse to arms. A stipulation was at length made betwixt the

different parties, that if the oracle decided in favour of Gyges, he

should continue on the throne; if otherwise, it should revert to the

Heraclidæ. Although Gyges retained the supreme authority, the words of

the oracle expressly intimated, that the Heraclidæ should be avenged

in the person of the fifth descendant of Gyges. To this prediction,

until it was ultimately accomplished, neither princes nor people paid

the smallest attention. Thus did the Mermnadæ obtain the empire to the

injurious exclusion of the Heraclidæ.

THE STORY OF CRŒSUS AS TOLD BY HERODOTUS

On the death of his father Crœsus succeeded to the throne; he began

to reign at the age of thirty-five, and he immediately commenced

hostilities with the Ephesians. Whilst he besieged Ephesus with an

army, the inhabitants made a solemn dedication of their city to

Minerva, connecting with a rope their walls to the temple of the

goddess. This temple is at a distance of about seven stadia from the

old town, which was then besieged. These Crœsus attacked first. Soon

afterwards he made war on every state, both of the Ionians and the

Æolians: the motives which he assigned were various, important in

some instances; but when such could not be found, frivolous pretexts

sufficed.

Not satisfied with compelling the Asiatic Greeks to pay him tribute,

he determined to build a fleet, and attack those who lived in the

islands. He was deterred from this purpose, although he had made

great preparations by the memorable reply of Bias of Priene, who was

at that time in Sardis; or, as others say, of Pittacus of Mytilene.

The king was inquiring of this person whether there was any news from

Greece: “The Islanders, Sir,” he replied, “are collecting a body of

ten thousand horse to attack you and Sardis.” The king, supposing

him serious, said, he hoped the gods might put it into the minds of

the Islanders to invade the Lydians with Cavalry. The other thus

interrupted him: “Your wish to see the inhabitants of the islands

pursue such measures is certainly reasonable; but do you not imagine

that your building a fleet to attack the Islanders must give them equal

satisfaction? They can wish for no better opportunity of revenging the

cause of those Greeks on the continent, reduced by you to servitude,

than by meeting the Lydians on the ocean.” The wisdom of the remark was

acceptable to Crœsus; he declined all thoughts of constructing a fleet,

and entered into an amicable alliance with the Ionians of the Islands.

He afterwards progressively subdued almost all the nations which are

situate on this side the river Halys. The Cilicians and the Lycians

alone were not brought under his yoke; but he totally vanquished the

Lydians, Phrygians, Mysians, Mariandinians, Chalybians, Paphlagonians,

Thracians, Thynians, Bithynians, Carians, Ionians, Dorians, Æolians,

and Pamphylians.

After Crœsus had obtained all these victories, and extended the power

of the Lydians, Sardis became the resort of the great and the affluent,

as well as of those who were celebrated in Greece for their talents and

their wisdom. Among these was Solon: at the request of the Athenians,

he had formed a code of laws for their use. He had then engaged in

a course of travels, which was to be of ten years’ continuance; his

avowed purpose was of a philosophical nature; but his real object

was to avoid the necessity of abrogating the laws he had enacted.

The Athenians were of themselves unable to do this, having bound

themselves, by the most solemn oaths, to preserve inviolate, for ten

years, the institutions of Solon.

_Crœsus and Solon_

On account of these laws, as well as to see the world, Solon in his

travels had visited Amasis [Aahmes], in Egypt, and came now to Crœsus,

at Sardis. He was received on his arrival with the kindest hospitality,

and entertained in the palace of Crœsus. In a few days, the king

directed his servants to attend Solon to the different repositories of

his wealth, and to show him their splendid and valuable contents. When

he had observed them all, Crœsus thus addressed him:

“My Athenian guest, the voice of fame speaks loudly of your wisdom. I

have heard much of your travels; that you have been led, by a truly

philosophic spirit, to visit a considerable portion of the globe. I am

hence induced to inquire of you what man, of all whom you have beheld,

seemed to you most happy?”

The expectation of being himself esteemed the happiest of mankind,

prompted his inquiry. Solon proved by his reply, his attachment to

truth, and abhorrence of flattery.

“I think,” said he, “O king, that Tellus the Athenian best deserved

the appellation of happy.” Crœsus was astonished. “On what,” he asked,

“were the claims of Tellus, to this distinction, founded?”

“Because,” answered Solon, “under the protection of a most excellent

form of government, Tellus had many virtuous and amiable children;

he saw their offspring, and they all survived him: at the close of a

prosperous life we celebrated his funeral, with every circumstance of

honour. In a contest with some of their neighbours, at Eleusis, he flew

to the assistance of his countrymen: he contributed to the defeat of

the enemy, and met death in the field of glory. The Athenians publicly

buried him, in the place where he fell; and his funeral pomp was

magnificently attended.”

Solon was continuing to make respectful mention of Tellus, when Crœsus

anxiously interrupted him, and desired to know whom, next to Tellus,

he esteemed most happy, not doubting but the answer would now be

favourable to himself.

“Cleobis and Bito,” replied Solon; “they were Argives by birth,

fortunate in their circumstances, and so remarkable for their bodily

prowess that they had both of them been crowned as conquerors in

their public games. It is further related of them, that on a certain

festival of Juno their mother was to have been carried to the temple

in a chariot drawn by oxen. The beasts were not ready for the purpose;

but the young men instantly took the yokes upon themselves, and

drew their mother in the carriage to the temple, through a space

of forty-five furlongs. Having performed this in the presence of

innumerable spectators, they terminated their lives in a manner which

was singularly fortunate. In this event the deity made it appear that

death is a greater blessing to mankind than life. The surrounding

multitude proclaimed their praise; the men commended their prowess; the

women envied their mother, who was delighted with the deed itself and

the glory which attended it. Standing before the shrine, she implored

the divinity, in whose honour her sons’ exertions had been made to

grant them the greatest blessing man could receive. After her prayers,

and when the succeeding sacrifice and festival was ended, the young men

retired to rest within the temple; but they rose no more. The Argives

have preserved at Delphi the figures of Cleobis and Bito, as of men

deserving superior distinction. This, according to Solon’s estimate,

was happiness in the second degree.”

Crœsus was still dissatisfied. “Man of Athens,” he resumed, “think you

so meanly of my prosperity as to place me even beneath men of private

and obscure condition?”

“Crœsus,” he replied, “you inquire of me my sentiments of human nature;

of me, who consider the divine beings as viewing men with invidious and

malignant aspects. In the space of a protracted life, how many things

occur which we see with reluctance and support with anguish. I will

suppose the term of human life to extend to seventy years; this period,

if we except the intercalatory months, will amount to twenty-five

thousand two hundred days: to make our computation regular and exact,

suppose we add this month to each alternate year, we shall then have

thirty-five additional months, or one thousand two hundred and fifty

days. The whole seventy years will therefore consist of twenty-six

thousand two hundred and fifty days, yet of this number every day will

be productive of some new incident. Thus, Crœsus, our nature appears

a continued series of calamity. I see you as the sovereign of many

nations, and possessed of extraordinary affluence and power. But I

shall not be able to give a satisfactory answer to the question you

propose, till I know that your scene of life shall have closed with

tranquillity. The man of affluence is not, in fact, more happy than the

possessor of a bare sufficiency; unless, in addition to his wealth,

his end of life be fortunate. We often discern misery in the midst of

splendid plenty, whilst real happiness is found in humbler stations.

The rich man, who knows not happiness, surpasses but in two things the

humbler but more fortunate character, with whom we compare him. Yet

there are a variety of incidents in which the latter excels the former.

The rich man can gratify his passions, and has little to apprehend from

accidental injuries. The poor man’s condition exempts him entirely

from these sources of affliction. He, moreover, possesses strength

and health; a stranger to misfortune, he is blessed in his children,

and amiable in himself. If at the end of such a life his death be

fortunate, this, O king, is the truly happy man; the object of your

inquiry.

“Call no man happy till you know the nature of his death; he is at

best but fortunate. All these requisites for happiness it is in no

man’s power to obtain, for no one region can supply them; it affords,

perhaps, the enjoyment of some, but it is remarkable for the absence of

others. That which yields the more numerous sources of gratification,

is so far the best: such also is the imperfection of man, excellent in

some respects, weak and defective in others. He who possesses the most

advantages, and afterwards leaves the world with composure, he alone,

O Crœsus, is entitled to our admiration. It is the part of wisdom to

look to the event of things; for the Deity often overwhelms with misery

those who have formerly been placed at the summit of felicity.”

To these words of Solon, Crœsus refused both his esteem and praise,

and he afterwards dismissed the philosopher with indifference. The

sentiment which prompts us not to be elate with temporary bliss, but

to look beyond the present moment, appeared to Crœsus neither wise nor

just.

_The Vision of Crœsus_

Solon was no sooner departed than, as if to punish Crœsus for his

arrogance in esteeming himself the happiest of mankind, a wonderful

event befell him, which seemed a visitation from heaven. He saw in his

sleep a vision, menacing the calamity which afterwards deprived him

of his son; Crœsus had two sons: the one marked by natural defect,

being dumb; the other, whose name was Atys, was distinguished by his

superior accomplishments. The intimation of the vision which Crœsus

saw, was, that Atys should die by the point of an iron spear. Roused

and terrified by his dream, he revolved the matter seriously in his

mind. His first step was to settle his son in marriage: he then took

from him the command of the Lydian troops, whom he before conducted in

their warlike expeditions; the spears and darts, with every other kind

of hostile weapon, he removed from the apartments of the men to those

of the women, that his son might not suffer injury from the fall of

them, as they were suspended.

Whilst the nuptials of this son employed his attention, an unfortunate

homicide arrived at Sardis, a Phrygian by nation, and of the royal

family. He presented himself at the palace of Crœsus, from whom he

required and received expiation with the usual ceremonies. The Lydian

mode of expiation nearly resembles that of the Greeks. When Crœsus had

performed what custom exacted, he inquired who and whence he was.

“From what part,” said he, “of Phrygia do you come? why are you a

suppliant to me? what man or woman have you slain?”--“O king,” replied

the stranger, “I am the son of Gordius, who was the son of Midas. My

name is Adrastus: unwillingly I have killed my brother, for which I am

banished by my father, and rendered entirely destitute.”--“You come,”

replied Crœsus, “of a family whom I esteem my friends. My protection

shall, in return, be extended to you. You shall reside in my palace,

and be provided with every necessary. You will do well not to suffer

your misfortune to distress you too much.” Crœsus then received him

into his family.

There appeared about this time near Olympus, in Mysia, a wild boar of

an extraordinary size, which, issuing from the mountain, did great

injury to the Mysians. They had frequently attacked it; but their

attempts to destroy it, so far from proving successful, had been

attended with loss to themselves. In the extremity, therefore, of their

distress, they sent to Crœsus a message of the following import: “There

has appeared among us, O king, a wild boar of a most extraordinary

size, injuring us much; but to destroy which all our most strenuous

endeavours have proved ineffectual. We entreat you, therefore, to send

to us your son, at the head of a chosen band, with a number of dogs,

to relieve us from this formidable animal.” Crœsus, remembering his

dream, answered them thus: “Of my son you must forbear to make mention;

him I cannot send; he is lately married, and his time and attention

sufficiently employed. But a chosen band of Lydians, hunters and dogs,

shall attend you; and I shall charge them to take every possible means

of relieving you, as soon as possible, from the attacks of the boar.”

This answer of Crœsus satisfied the Mysians; but the young man hearing

of the matter, and that his father had refused the solicitations of

the Mysians for him to accompany them, hastened to the presence of the

king, and spoke to him as follows: “It was formerly, sir, esteemed, in

our nation, both excellent and honourable to seek renown in war, or

in the hunting of wild beasts; but you now deprive me of both these

opportunities of signalizing myself, without having reason to accuse

me either of cowardice or sloth. Whenever I am now seen in public, how

mean and contemptible shall I appear! How will my fellow-citizens, or

my new wife, esteem me? what can be her opinion of the man whom she has

married? Suffer me, then, sir, either to proceed on this expedition,

or condescend to convince me that the motives of your refusal are

reasonable and sufficient.”

“My son,” replied Crœsus, “I do not in any respect think unfavourably

of your courage or your conduct. My behaviour towards you is influenced

by a vision, which has lately warned me that your life will be short,

and that you must perish from the wound of an iron spear. This, first

of all, induced me to accelerate your nuptials, and also to refuse your

presence in the proposed expedition, wishing by my caution to preserve

you at least as long as I shall live. I esteem you as my only son; for

your brother, on account of his infirmity, is in a manner lost to me.”

“Having had such a vision,” returned Atys to his father, “I can easily

forgive your anxiety concerning me; but as you apparently misconceive

the matter, suffer me to explain what seems to have escaped you. The

vision, as you affirm, intimated that my death should be occasioned by

the point of a spear; but what arms or spear has a wild boar, that you

should dread? If, indeed, it had been told you that I was to perish by

a tusk, or something of a similar nature, your conduct would have been

strictly proper; but as a spear’s point is the object of your alarm,

and we are not going to contend with men, I hope for your permission to

join this party.”

“Son,” answered Crœsus, “your reasoning, concerning my dream, has

induced me to alter my opinion, and I permit you to go to this chase.”

_Crœsus Loses His Son_

The king then sent for Adrastus the Phrygian, whom, on his appearing,

he thus addressed: “I do not mean to remind you of your former

calamities; but you must have in memory that I expiated you in your

distress, took you into my family, and supplied all your necessities.

I have now, therefore, to solicit that return of kindness which my

conduct claims. In this proposed hunting excursion, you must be the

guardian of my son: preserve him on the way from any secret treachery,

which may threaten your common security. It is consistent that you

should go where bravery may be distinguished, and reputation gained;

valour has been the distinction of your family, and with personal

vigour has descended to yourself.”

“At your request, O king,” replied Adrastus, “I shall comply with what

I should otherwise have refused. It becomes not a man like myself,

oppressed by so great a calamity, to appear among my more fortunate

equals; I have never wished, and I have frequently avoided it. My

gratitude, in the present instance, impels me to obey your commands. I

will therefore engage to accompany and guard your son, and promise, as

far as my care can avail, to restore him to you safe.”

Immediately a band of youths were selected, the dogs of chase prepared,

and the train departed. Arriving in the vicinity of Olympus, they

sought the beast; and having found his haunt, they surrounded it in

a body, and attacked him with their spears. It so happened, that the

stranger Adrastus, who had been purified for murder, directing a blow

at the boar, missed his aim, and killed the son of Crœsus. Thus he

was destroyed by the point of a spear, and the vision proved to be

prophetic. A messenger immediately hastened to Sardis, informing Crœsus

of the event which occasioned the death of his son.

Crœsus, much as he was afflicted with his domestic loss, bore it the

less patiently, because it was inflicted by him whom he had himself

purified and protected. He broke into violent complaints at his

misfortune, and invoked Jupiter, the deity of expiation, in attestation

of the injury he had received. He invoked him also as the guardian

of hospitality and friendship; of hospitality, because, in receiving

a stranger, he had received the murderer of his son; of friendship,

because the man whose aid he might have expected had proved his

greatest enemy.

Whilst his thoughts were thus occupied, the Lydians appeared with the

body of his son; the homicide followed. He advanced towards Crœsus,

and, with extended hands, implored that he might suffer death upon

the body of him whom he had slain. He recited his former calamities,

to which was now to be added that he was the destroyer of the man who

had expiated him; he was consequently no longer fit to live. Crœsus

listened to him with attention; and, although oppressed by his own

paternal grief, he could not refuse his compassion to Adrastus, to whom

he spake as follows: “My friend, I am sufficiently revenged by your

voluntary condemnation of yourself. You are not guilty of this event,

for you did it without design. The offended deity, who warned me of the

evil, has accomplished it.” Crœsus, therefore, buried his son with the

proper ceremonies; but the unfortunate descendant of Midas, who had

killed his brother and his friend, retired at the dead of night to the

place where Atys was buried, and, confessing himself to be the most

miserable of mankind, slew himself on the tomb.

_Crœsus Consults the Oracles_

The two years which succeeded the death of his son were passed by

Crœsus in extreme affliction. His grief was at length suspended by

the increasing greatness of the Persian empire, as well as by that of

Cyrus, son of Cambyses, who had deprived Astyages, son of Cyaxares,

of his dominions. To restrain the power of Persia before it should

become too great and too extensive, was the object of his solicitude.

Listening to these suggestions, he determined to consult the different

oracles of Greece, and also that of Libya; and for this purpose he sent

messengers to Delphi, the Phocian Abæ, and to Dodona: he sent also to

Amphiaraus, Trophonius, and the Milesian Branchidæ. The above-mentioned

are the oracles which Crœsus consulted in Greece; he sent also to the

Libyan Ammon. His motive in these consultations was to form an idea of

the truth of the oracles respectively, meaning afterwards to obtain

from them a decisive opinion concerning an expedition against the

Persians.

He took this method of proving the truth of their different

communications. He settled with his Lydian messengers, that each should

consult the different oracles, on the hundredth day of their departure

from Sardis, and respectively ask what Crœsus, the son of Alyattes, was

doing: they were to write down and communicate to Crœsus the reply of

each particular oracle. Of the oracular answers in general we have no

account remaining; but the Lydians had no sooner entered the temple of

Delphi, and proposed their questions, than the Pythian answered thus,

in heroic verse:

I count the sand, I measure out the sea;

The silent and the dumb are heard by me:

E’en now the odours to my sense that rise,

A tortoise boiling with a lamb supplies,

Where brass below and brass above it lies.

They wrote down the communication of the Pythian, and returned to

Sardis. Of the answers which his other messengers brought on their

return, Crœsus found none which were satisfactory. But a fervour of

gratitude and piety was excited in him, as soon as he was informed of

the reply of the Pythian; and he exclaimed, without reserve, that there

was no true oracle but at Delphi, for this alone had explained his

employment at the stipulated time. It seems that on the day appointed

for his servants to consult the different oracles, determining to do

what it would be equally difficult to discover or explain, he had cut

in pieces a tortoise and a lamb, and boiled them together in a covered

vessel of brass.

Crœsus, after these things, determined to conciliate the divinity of

Delphi, by a great and magnificent sacrifice. He offered up three

thousand chosen victims; he collected a great number of couches

decorated with gold and silver, many goblets of gold, and vests of

purple; all these he consumed together upon one immense pile, thinking

by these means to render the deity more auspicious to his hopes:

he persuaded his subjects also to offer up, in like manner, the

proper objects for sacrifice they respectively possessed. As, at the

conclusion of the above ceremony, a considerable quantity of gold had

run together, he formed of it a number of tiles. The larger of these

were six palms long, the smaller three, but none of them were less

than a palm in thickness, and they were one hundred and seventeen in

number: four were of the purest gold, weighing each one talent and

a half; the rest were of inferior quality, but of the weight of two

talents. He constructed also a lion of pure gold, which weighed ten

talents. It was originally placed in the Delphian temple, on the above

gold tiles; but when this edifice was burned, it fell from its place,

and now stands in the Corinthian treasury: it lost, however, by the

fire, three talents and a half of its former weight.

Crœsus, moreover, sent to Delphi two large cisterns, one of gold,

and one of silver: that of gold was placed on the right hand, in

the vestibule of the temple; the silver one was placed on the left.

These also were removed when the temple was consumed by fire: the

golden goblet weighed eight talents and a half and twelve minæ, and

was afterwards placed in the Clazomenian treasury: that of silver is

capable of holding six hundred amphoræ; it is placed at the entrance of

the temple, and used by the inhabitants of Delphi in their Theophanian

festival; they assert it to have been the work of Theodorus of Samos,

to which opinion, as it is evidently the production of no mean artist,

I am inclined to accede. The Corinthian treasury also possesses four

silver casks, which were sent by Crœsus, in addition to the above,

to Delphi. His munificence did not yet cease: he presented also two

basins, one of gold, another of silver. An inscription on that of

gold, asserts it to have been the gift of the Lacedæmonians; but it

is not true, for this also was the gift of Crœsus. To gratify the

Lacedæmonians, a certain Delphian wrote this inscription: I know his

name, but forbear to disclose it. The boy through whose hand the water

flows, was given by the Lacedæmonians; the basins undoubtedly were not.

Many other smaller presents accompanied these; among which were some

silver dishes, and the figure of a woman in gold, three cubits high,

who, according to the Delphians, was the person who made bread for the

family of Crœsus. This prince, besides all that we have enumerated,

consecrated at Delphi his wife’s necklaces and girdles.

To Amphiaraus, having heard of his valour and misfortunes, he sent a

shield of solid gold, with a strong spear made entirely of gold, both

shaft and head. These were all, within my memory, preserved at Thebes,

in the temple of the Ismenian Apollo.

_The Reply of the Oracles_

The Lydians, who were entrusted with the care of these presents, were

directed to inquire whether Crœsus might auspiciously undertake an

expedition against the Persians, and whether he should procure any

confederate assistance. On their arrival at the destined places, they

deposited their presents, and made their inquiries of the oracles

precisely in the following terms: “Crœsus, sovereign of Lydia, and of

various nations, esteems these the only genuine oracles; in return for

the sagacity which has marked your declarations, he sends these proofs

of his liberality: he finally desires to know whether he may proceed

against the Persians, and whether he should require the assistance of

allies.” The answers of the oracles tended to the same purpose; both

of them assuring Crœsus, that if he prosecuted a war with Persia, he

should overthrow a mighty empire; and both recommended him to form an

alliance with the most powerful states of Greece.

The report of these communications transported Crœsus with excess

of joy: elated with the idea of becoming the conqueror of Cyrus, he

sent again to Delphi, inquired the number of inhabitants there, and

presented each with two golden staters. In acknowledgment for his

liberality, the Delphians assigned to Crœsus and the Lydians the

privilege of first consulting the oracle, in preference to other

nations; a distinguished seat in their temple; together with the

immutable right, to such of them as pleased to accept it, of being

enrolled among the citizens of Delphi.

After the above-mentioned marks of his munificence to the Delphians,

Crœsus consulted their oracle a third time. His experience of its

veracity increased the ardour of his curiosity; he was now anxious to

be informed whether his power would be perpetual. The following was the

answer of the Pythian:

When o’er the Medes a mule shall sit on high,

O’er pebbly Hermus then, soft Lydian, fly;

Fly with all haste; for safety scorn thy fame,

Nor scruple to deserve a coward’s name.

When the above verses were communicated to Crœsus, he was more

delighted than ever: confident that a mule would never be sovereign

of the Medes, and that consequently he could have nothing to fear for

himself or his posterity. His first object was to discover which were

the most powerful of the Grecian states, and to obtain their alliance.

_Crœsus Makes an Alliance with Sparta_

Crœsus accordingly sent messengers to Sparta with presents, at the same

time directing them to form an offensive alliance with the people. They

delivered their message in these terms: “Crœsus, sovereign of Lydia,

and of various nations, thus addresses himself to Sparta: I am directed

by the oracles to form a Grecian alliance; and, as I know you to be

pre-eminent above all the states of Greece, I, without collusion of

any kind, desire to become your friend and ally.” The Lacedæmonians

having heard of the oracular declaration to Crœsus, were rejoiced at

his distinction in their favour, and instantly acceded to the proposed

terms of confederacy. It is to be observed, that Crœsus had formerly

rendered kindness to the Lacedæmonians: they had sent to Sardis to

purchase some gold for the purpose of erecting the statue of Apollo,

which is still to be seen at Mount Thornax; Crœsus presented them with

all they wanted.

Influenced by this consideration, as well as by his decided partiality

to them, they entered into all his views: they declared themselves

ready to give such assistance as he wanted; and, farther to mark their

attachment, they prepared, as a present for the king, a brazen vessel,

capable of containing three hundred amphoræ, and ornamented round the

brim with the figures of various animals. This, however, never reached

Sardis; the occasion of which is thus differently explained. The

Lacedæmonians affirm, that their vessel was intercepted near Samos, on

its way to Sardis, by the Samians, who had fitted out some ships of

war for this particular purpose. The Samians, on the contrary, assert,

that the Lacedæmonians employed on this business did not arrive in

time; but, hearing that Sardis was lost, and Crœsus in captivity, they

disposed of their charge to some private individuals of Samos, who

presented it to the temple of Juno. They who acted this part, might

perhaps, on their return to Sparta, declare that the vessel had been

violently taken from them by the Samians. Such is the story of this

vessel.

Crœsus, deluded by the words of the oracle, prepared to lead his forces

into Cappadocia, in full expectation of becoming conqueror of Cyrus and

of Persia. Whilst he was employed in providing for this expedition,

a certain Lydian, named Sardanis, who had always among his countrymen

the reputation of wisdom, and became still more memorable from this

occasion, thus addressed Crœsus: “You meditate, O king! an attack

upon men who are clothed with the skins of animals; who, inhabiting

a country but little cultivated, live on what they can procure, not

on what they wish: strangers to the taste of wine, they drink water

only; even figs are a delicacy with which they are unacquainted, and

all our luxuries are entirely unknown to them. If you conquer them,

what can you take from such as have nothing? but if you shall be

defeated, it becomes you to think of what you, on your part, will be

deprived. When they shall once have tasted our delicacies, we shall

never again be able to get rid of them. I indeed am thankful to the

gods for not inspiring the Persians with the wish of invading Lydia.”

Crœsus disregarded this admonition: it is nevertheless certain, that

the Persians, before their conquest of Lydia, were strangers to every

species of luxury.

The Cappadocians are by the Greeks called Syrians. Before the empire

of Persia existed, they were under the dominion of the Medes, though

at this period in subjection to Cyrus. The different empires of the

Lydians and the Medes were divided by the river Halys; which rising

in a mountain of Armenia, passes through Cilicia, leaving in its

progress the Matienians on the right, and Phrygia on the left: then

stretching towards the north, it separates the Cappadocian Syrians

from Paphlagonia, which is on the left of the stream. Thus the river

Halys separates all the lower parts of Asia from the sea, which flows

opposite to Cyprus, as far as the Euxine, a space over which an active

man could not travel in less than five days.

_Crœsus Invades Cappadocia_

Crœsus continued to advance towards Cappadocia; he was desirous of

adding the country to his dominions, but he was principally influenced

by his confidence in the oracle, and his zeal for revenging on Cyrus

the cause of Astyages. Astyages was son of Cyaxares, king of the Medes,

and brother-in-law to Crœsus; he was now vanquished, and detained

in captivity by Cyrus, son of Cambyses. The affinity betwixt Crœsus

and Astyages was of this nature: Some tumult having arisen among

the Scythian Nomads, a number of them retired clandestinely into

the territories of the Medes, where Cyaxares, son of Phraortes, and

grandson of Deioces, was at that time king. He received the fugitives

under his protection, and, after showing them many marks of his favour,

he entrusted some boys to their care, to learn the language, and the

Scythian management of the bow. These Scythians employed much of their

time in hunting, in which they were generally, though not always,

successful. Cyaxares, it seems, was of an irritable disposition, and

meeting them one day, when they returned without any game, he treated

them with much insolence and asperity. They conceived themselves

injured, and determined not to acquiesce in the affront. After some

consultation among themselves, they determined to kill one of the

children entrusted to their care, to dress him as they were accustomed

to do their game, and to serve him up to Cyaxares. Having done this,

they resolve to fly to Sardis, where Alyattes, son of Sadyattes, was

king. They executed their purpose. Cyaxares and his guests partook of

the human flesh, and the Scythians immediately sought the protection of

Alyattes.