LYDIA UNDER THE MERMNADÆ.
The Delphian priesthood did no service to their countrymen on the
western shore of Asia Minor when in the year 689 B.C. they helped Gyges
to the throne in spite of the resistance of the Lydians. The cities of
the Greeks on these coasts, whose founders had in days past been
expelled by war and distress from their cantons, had come to power and
prosperity in the course of the three centuries which had since elapsed.
Forced to a vigorous exercise of their powers, amid an environment of
many new impulses, they surpassed the motherland in poetry and art, in
navigation and trade. From their harbours they exported the products of
Phrygia and the manufactures of Lydia to the Cyclades, to Chalcis and
Eretria, to Corinth and the mainland of Hellas. Thus they gradually grew
up into a naval power which drove even the trading ships of the
Phenicians from the Ægean Sea, opened the Black Sea, and already began
to rival the Phenicians in the south and west of the Mediterranean.
Springing up on the soil of Lydia these cities barred the mouths of the
Lydian rivers, the highways to the sea, and excluded the Lydian people
from intercourse with the sea. Miletus, Myus, and Priene commanded the
mouth of the Mæander; Ephesus and Colophon the mouth of the Cayster;
Phocæa and Cyme the mouth of the Hermus. An active prince on the throne
of Lydia could not endure that the Greeks should remain in possession of
the coast, which they had taken from the Lydians, and keep the Lydians
for ever cut off from the sea. The new dynasty must attempt to recover
the losses which their predecessors had been unable to prevent.
When confronted by the power of the Lydians collected in the hands of a
single warrior, the Greek cities could not, for long, avoid falling into
a position similar to that in which the Phenicians at that time found
themselves as opposed to the Assyrians. Lydia was not indeed so strong
as Assyria, but it lay nearer at hand; and the resources of Phocæa,
Smyrna, Colophon, Ephesus, and Miletus, could not bear comparison with
those of Tyre, Sidon, and Aradus. In spite of their common origin and
kindred blood, the Greek cities, like those of the Phenicians, were
without any political combination. It is true that the Ionian cities
offered each year a common sacrifice to Poseidon, on the sea-shore under
the spur of Mount Mycale, but for the rest, not only was each community
isolated from the others, but the communities were often at feud among
themselves. Even in the bosom of the separate cities the opposition of
parties was not wanting: it was not long since the nobles had overthrown
the monarchy, and taken the government into their own hands. If the
citizens ventured to give battle in the open field, and the Lydians by
means of their superior forces drove them back into their walls, and
laid waste their crops, the cities which did not lie immediately on the
sea were exposed to continued devastation, and with the greater
certainty because these devastations could be made more severe by
sieges. Even the cities on the sea could hardly support for any length
of time the desolation and loss of their land. Ephesus had extended her
possessions on land from the mouth of the Cayster as far northward as
Tmolus; Colophon too had a considerable acreage of land.
Mysia and the Troad were the districts, which, as it seems, Gyges first
subjugated to his dominion.[778] The founding of Dascyleum beyond the
Rhyndacus, not far from the shore of the Propontis, which bears the name
of his father, may be ascribed to him. Next he turned against the Greek
cities, and there he found a vigorous resistance. Established at first
in conflict with the nations of the coast, these cities had grown up
amid feuds and by navigation, and contained in their walls a brave race
of men. From the time that Gyges opened the attack upon them, one
hundred and twenty years passed before they lost their independence in
spite of their isolation, though the course of the struggle inflicted
various losses upon them. Even during the continuance of this struggle
they made very considerable progress on the sea, in art and science, and
when they fell it was hardly less through the struggles which shattered
them from within, than through the arms of the Lydians. Gyges first
attacked Magnesia on Sipylus, the Greek city which lay nearest to
Sardis. After repeated devastation of the land he finally succeeded in
making himself master of the city.[779] The next attack fell on Smyrna.
It was a severe struggle. The Smyrnæans thought themselves sufficiently
strong to meet the Lydians in the open field. They withstood their
attacks in the plain, and their venturous courage was not without
success. On one occasion it happened that they were defeated by Gyges
and the Lydians, and driven into the city. The Lydians forced their way
into the gates along with the fugitives. But the courage and bravery of
the Smyrnæans were successful in hurling back the enemies.[780] Nor did
any better success attend the attack of Gyges on Miletus; but against
Colophon he obtained some advantage.[781]
Such are the accounts given by the Greeks of the deeds of Gyges. From
these it appears that Gyges justified his usurpation of the throne by
attacks, more or less successful, against the ancient opponents who
checked the rise of Lydia. It is also clear from other sources of
information, that he had himself to beat off the attacks of a mighty
enemy, and that he was by no means fortunate in withstanding them. Among
the Greeks we have only a brief and accidental statement, from which we
could conclude that Gyges had to deal with other enemies beside the
Greek cities. This statement merely tells us that the Cimmerians had
settled in Antandrus on the coast of the Troad for a century. The
Cimmerians are said to have been first driven out by Alyattes king of
Lydia, who reigned down to 563 B.C.; those Cimmerians therefore who
inhabited Antandrus, must have come there at the time of Gyges, who
reigned from 689 to 653 B.C. That Gyges had really to undergo severe
struggles with the Cimmerians we learn from the distant east, from
Nineveh. The inscriptions of Esarhaddon of Asshur (681-668 B.C.) told us
that Tiuspa, the chief of the distant land of the Cimmerians, had
submitted to him (p. 151). As the Assyrians held the Moschi, the
Tibarenes, and the Cilicians in dependence, the Cimmerians when settled
on the lower Halys, which event took place before the year 700 B.C.,
became neighbours of the Assyrian kingdom. Assurbanipal of Assyria tells
us that Gyges of Lydia submitted to him, that afterwards he was
successful against the Cimmerians, and sent in chains to Nineveh chiefs
of the Cimmerians whom he had taken in the battle. Assurbanipal, as we
saw, ascended the throne in 668 B.C.; the reign of Gyges came to an end
in 653 B.C. Hence his messages to Assurbanipal could only fall between
the years 668 and 653 B.C. It is quite conceivable that Gyges when
pressed by a new advance of the Cimmerians towards the West sought the
aid of the king of Assyria, the powerful neighbour of the Cimmerians in
the East, in order that pressure might be put from that side on these
enemies of Lydia. Assurbanipal does not tell us that he sent any
assistance to Gyges; he merely tells us that Gyges after paying homage
to him was enabled by the glory of his (Assurbanipal's) name to bring
the Cimmerians to his feet, and fought successfully against them.
Afterwards Gyges hardened his heart, put confidence in his own power,
and sent his soldiers to aid Pisamilki of Egypt, who had thrown off the
yoke of Assyria. As a punishment for this the Cimmerians conquered and
devastated his whole land; his body was thrown to his enemies, and his
servants were carried away captive.
From these statements we must conclude that the wars which Gyges carried
on against the Greek cities belonged to the first twenty years of his
reign; that new incursions of the Cimmerians into Phrygia, and a fresh
advance on their part against Lydia, put an end to the attacks of Gyges
on the Greeks; and when Gyges had summoned the assistance of Assyria,
the Cimmerians were driven back. When delivered from the Cimmerians
Gyges intended no doubt to put an end to his dependence on Assyria, and
to aid in bringing to destruction this mighty power, which both from
Cilicia and from the Halys might bring ruin upon him. With this object
he may have entered into connections with Psammetichus, agreeing to send
him Ionians and Carians to overpower his fellow-princes, in order to
maintain the contest against Assyria at the head of the newly-united
Egypt. Lydia had little to fear from Assyria, if Egypt revolted at the
same time, since it was probable that all the efforts of that country
would be directed against the valley of the Nile. Gyges could not send
auxiliary troops into Egypt later than the year 653 B.C. (for his reign
came to an end in that year). Hence his relations to Assyria would fall
within the years 665-655 B.C. Whether Assurbanipal, in order to punish
the defection of Gyges, urged the Cimmerians to resume the war, we
cannot certainly say. We cannot contest the statement of the
inscriptions of Assurbanipal that Gyges fell in this war, though it is
remarkable that the Greeks know nothing or tell us nothing of such an
important occurrence. Herodotus tells us expressly that beside the wars
against Miletus, Smyrna, and Colophon, Gyges performed no action of
importance.[782]
Of the son and successor of Gyges, Assurbanipal tells us that he sent to
him, disapproved of his father's breach with Assyria, and pledged his
own submission (p. 178). The inscriptions which deal with the relations
of Assyria and Lydia are without dates. But from the connection of the
narrative, and with reference to the statement that Gyges fell in battle
against the Cimmerians, we must assume that the accession of Ardys, the
son of Gyges, took place in the midst of the war with the Cimmerians,
and that he made his pledge of submission to Assyria in the first year
of his reign, in that time of distress. Herodotus tells us that the
Cimmerians invaded Lydia in the reign of Ardys--which continued from 653
to 617 B.C.[783]--and took Sardis, except the Acropolis; that the cities
of the Ionians were attacked by the Cimmerians, and plundered though not
conquered.[784] It would be easy to connect this second capture of
Sardis with the narrative of the Assyrians and the fall of Gyges, and
thus place it in the commencement of the reign of Ardys. But this
connection would destroy the coincidence in time between the Scythian
invasion of Asia and the Cimmerian invasion of Ionia, which Herodotus
mentions, and at the same time removes the ground which can alone
explain the combination of the two (p. 277). Herodotus places the
incursion of the Scythians into Media quite definitely in the first year
of Cyaxares of Media, _i.e._ according to his chronology, in the year
633 to 630 B.C. The second capture of Sardis, therefore, and the attack
on the Ionian cities, must have taken place about 630 B.C.
It remains to assume that the Cimmerians, after inundating Lydia in the
time of Candaules and taking Sardis, after repeated wars with varied
success against Gyges in the last decade of his reign, which finally
ended in the death of Gyges, were a source of serious danger to Ardys in
the first and larger half of his reign. Concerning the campaign of the
Cimmerians, which brought Sardis for a second time into their hands, we
learn from Greek accounts that the Cimmerians were commanded by
Lygdamis,[785] and that they brought Ephesus into great straits.[786]
"Lygdamis," so Callimachus says, "led the army of the horse-milking
Cimmerians, which lay encamped on the strait of the daughter of
Inachus," against Ephesus; in the plain of the Cayster their chariots
rested, and he threatened to destroy the temple of Artemis, but the
goddess protected her shrine. Another statement tells us, on the
contrary, that Lygdamis burnt the temple of Artemis.[787] "It was a
passing raid," says Herodotus, "not a subjugation of the cities."
It is clear that Ardys became master of his land, at any rate, in the
last third of his reign. In this period, and under his successor
Sadyattes (617-612 B.C.), there were no further incursions of the
Cimmerians, and Alyattes, the successor of Sadyattes (612-563 B.C.),
succeeded in completely breaking their power. Herodotus tells us that
Alyattes drove the Cimmerians out of Asia.[788] This was not the case:
elsewhere we find it stated that it was they who again attacked
Alyattes.[789] They were no doubt confined by the arms of Alyattes to
their abode on the banks of the lower Halys; they became subject to the
Lydians, and were lost, as we saw, in the Cappadocians, whose name among
the Armenians is Gamir, _i.e._ Gimirai, Cimmerians.[790]
The repeated incursions of the Cimmerians into the west of Asia Minor in
the course of the seventh century had important consequences for the
lands affected by them on this side of the Halys. The nearest
neighbouring states, especially Phrygia, were severely shaken by them,
more severely, beyond a doubt, than Lydia.[791] From about the year 630
B.C., under the strong guidance of Ardys, Sadyattes, and Alyattes, Lydia
arose with firmness and energy, and became a protecting power against
the Cimmerians for the west of Asia Minor. This position, and the
superiority which Lydia also possessed in the harder and severer nature
of her population, brought about the result that when Gyges had
subjugated Mysia, Phrygia as far as the Halys became dependent on the
Lydian kingdom in the last years of Ardys, or in the time of his
successor Sadyattes. For the Lydian dominion over Asia Minor the
Cimmerians had prepared the way even more thoroughly than the Scythians
had prepared the way for the Medes in the East. As Lydia and Media were
the first to recover, they soon obtained the supremacy in the one case
as in the other. If it could be said of Alyattes that he expelled the
Cimmerians from Asia Minor, the dominion of Lydia must at least have
extended to the Halys. It was on this river that the two new powers,
rising on the East and the West, came into collision.
The Greeks of course can only give us precise information about the
struggles of Ardys, Sadyattes, and Alyattes against the cities of the
coast. Herodotus tells us that Ardys like Gyges attacked Miletus,
without achieving any success: he succeeded however in taking Priene,
opposite Miletus, at the entrance of the Milesian Gulf. Other accounts
and later events show that this conquest was not maintained.[792] We
must put the attacks of Ardys on the Greek cities in the last decade of
his reign (627-617 B.C.). Sadyattes directed his efforts against Smyrna
and Miletus, which at that time was governed by the tyrant
Thrasybulus.[793] The Milesians went out to meet the Lydian army in the
open field. But they were defeated in two great battles, first at
Limeneum, and then on the Mæander, and were thus compelled to shut
themselves up in the walls. Behind these Sadyattes could do them no
harm.
Herodotus tells us that Sadyattes contented himself with destroying the
harvest of the Milesians every year as soon as the corn was ripe in the
land of the city, and with cutting down the fruit-trees. This went on
for six years till his death, when his son and successor continued the
war in the same manner. When at length he believed that the Milesians
were brought into distress and scarcity by these continual devastations,
in the twelfth year of the war, he was deceived by a stratagem of
Thrasybulus. Thrasybulus learnt from Corinth that a herald of the king
would come into the city to offer a truce. The citizens were commanded,
therefore, to bring out into the market-place all the corn which was to
be found in the houses, as though it were for sale there, and to keep
holiday with banquets and merry-making. Convinced by the account of his
herald that all his efforts hitherto had been in vain, Alyattes
concluded a treaty of peace with the Milesians.[794] No weight can be
laid on the details of this narrative. In the twelfth year of the war,
according to Herodotus, when the fields were being laid waste and the
corn burned, the temple of Athene at Assessus was set on fire. Alyattes
then fell sick, and as he remained sick a long time he sent to Delphi to
inquire about his recovery. Delphi replied: The god would give no
answer till the temple was rebuilt. This became known to Periander of
Corinth, and he imparted the information to Thrasybulus--such at least,
Herodotus remarks, is the story of the Milesians. Thrasybulus assumed
that Alyattes would ask for an armistice in order that he might be able
to rebuild the temple; and made the arrangements already described. In
any case Alyattes was in a position to obtain more accurate information
about the condition of Miletus than could be got by a herald. How could
it be supposed that there would be a want of provisions in a great
trading city like Miletus, which Alyattes had not debarred and could not
debar from intercourse with the sea? When the peace and the treaty had
been concluded, and Alyattes had built two temples in the place of the
one that had been burnt, he recovered his health.
It is certain that Miletus maintained herself against the attacks of the
Lydian kings. Undisturbed by them she founded Parium and Lampsacus on
the Hellespont. In union with Phocæa, Teos, and Clazomenæ, she entered
into trade with Egypt, whose harbours Psammetichus had opened to the
Ionians; about the year 640 B.C. she sent her fleet to aid the Eretrians
in Euboea, who were engaged in a severe struggle with the Chalcidians;
about the year 630 B.C. she sent out a new colony to Sinope, which had
succumbed to the Cimmerians (I. 545), and built Tomi at the mouths of
the Danube. That the kings of Lydia directed their efforts mainly
against Miletus is intelligible. If the most powerful city of the Greeks
were subject to them, the others would submit without any further
struggle. It is possible that the rebellion of the people against the
nobles, the fierce party struggles which followed from these and allowed
Thrasybulus to establish a tyranny in Miletus, may have excited in the
Lydians the hope of overcoming the city with less difficulty. It speaks
much for the strength of Miletus that her citizens were able to meet the
Lydians in the open field. There can hardly be a doubt that the land of
the Milesians was devastated for several successive years. The Lydians
must have attempted to wear out the city by this means, to rouse
dissatisfaction among the landed proprietors by their losses, and among
the lower classes by causing a scarcity. The owners of the land lost
each year their crops and their sheep; with these the raw material for
the important wool industry of the Milesians was destroyed, and trade
with the interior was impossible. When, however, the Lydians found that
the city held out stubbornly they at length desisted, and preferred to
win the first city of the Greeks by treaty rather than by war.
According to the dates which we obtained above for the reign of Gyges
and his successors, the twelve years' war against Miletus mentioned by
Herodotus must have begun under Ardys, and ended under Sadyattes. It was
in the last years of Sadyattes (617-612 B.C.), in the year 615 B.C., as
we saw above, that the great war began between the Medes and the
Lydians, which Herodotus puts in the time of Alyattes (612-563 B.C.).
The advances of the Median power to the West and their approach to the
Halys must have compelled the Lydians to put an end to the war with
Miletus, in order to protect the eastern border of their kingdom. We
know the supposed cause and the course of the war between Lydia and
Media, which went on to the year 610 B.C., with varying fortune, but not
to the disadvantage of the Lydians.[795] The Lydians, though far weaker
in numbers, showed themselves vigorous opponents of the Medes. The
severe struggle could find no more honourable close for Media than the
treaty which made the Halys the limit between Lydia and Media, and
united the two countries by marriage as well as by treaty. Aryanis, the
daughter of Alyattes, became the wife of Astyages, the son of Cyaxares
of Media (p. 289).
Secured in the east by the alliance with Media Alyattes could direct his
whole force to the establishment of the Lydian power within the Halys.
The Carians were subjugated.[796] Alyattes did not obtain equal
successes over the Greek cities, though Miletus, true to the treaty,
held aloof. His attack on Smyrna was perhaps the occasion on which
Mimnermus repeated in his poems to his countrymen the brave deeds of the
Smyrnæans in old days against Gyges (p. 429), and attempted to rouse the
courage of the present generation by the memory of the achievements of
the past. He reminded the Smyrnæans how they had once driven the Lydians
out of the gates of their city. In some verses which have come down to
us he praises the deeds of a hero of olden time, not without a
reproachful side-glance at the living generation: "Not of such a kind
was the courage and the brave heart of the warrior, of whom the
forefathers told me, how that they had seen him, spear in hand, on the
plain of the Hermus, driving before him the troops of the mounted
Lydians. In the courage of his stout heart Pallas Athene herself could
find nothing to reproach, when in the bloody fight he pressed onward
with the foremost, beset with the thick volley of the enemy. Never man
knew better how to withstand the tumult of battle, so long as the sun
shone on him."[797] Perhaps the Smyrnæans were no longer fired with the
martial courage of old days; in any case the superiority of the Lydians
was very great. Alyattes took Smyrna, and in order to keep the city in
more complete subjection, he caused the walls to be thrown down, and
forced the Smyrnæans to dwell in an unfortified place.[798] Colophon was
also captured. This was a rich city even before the time of Gyges; the
greater part of the citizens are said to have been prosperous.
Xenophanes reproaches his fellow-citizens of Colophon that they had
learnt luxurious habits from the Lydians, that the senators of the
city--they were a thousand in number, chosen from all the men of
property--came to the market-place in "garments wholly coloured with
purple," "pluming themselves on their beautifully-arranged hair, and
drenched with the perfumes of costly ointments." According to the
account of Athenæus the meals of the Colophonians began in the morning
and continued till the lamps were lit, to the sound of harps and flutes
played by women after the manner of the Lydians; after this the night
was spent in drinking, so that some beheld neither the rising nor the
setting sun. In this way the Colophonians had lost their old military
valour, and had infected the Milesians.[799] We are not in a position to
decide whether the fine clothes of the Colophonians and their delight in
feasting and drinking took the vigour out of their defence of the city
or not; this only is clear, that isolated cities like Smyrna and
Colophon, even with the most heroic resistance, must eventually succumb
to a kingdom like that of the Lydians. In any case we have rather to
recognise the resistance which unimportant cities such as Priene made,
than lament the cowardice of the citizens. Theognis of Megara remarks
that Smyrna and Colophon, like Magnesia before them, came to destruction
owing to their excess of valour.[800] With the subjugation of Colophon
the successes of Alyattes ended. Priene resisted a long siege with
success: from Clazomenæ he was compelled to retire with great
losses.[801]
Gradually strengthening themselves in severe struggles, the Mermnadæ had
approved their position as leaders of the Lydians. How deeply rooted was
the attachment of the nation to the expelled royal family, and what
respect the Mermnadæ paid to this stubborn preference, is clear from the
fact that Gyges himself called his son Ardys after the name of a king of
the ancient house; and in the same way his grandson and great-grandson
repeat the ancient names Sadyattes and Alyattes. The reign of Alyattes,
extended almost to half a century, appears to have borne good fruits for
the domestic relations of Lydia. The subject nations, the Mysians,
Bithynians, Phrygians, Paphlagonians, and Carians, must without doubt
have paid heavy tribute. From this, from the product of the gold washing
in the Pactolus, the mines in Tmolus and Sipylus, Alyattes collected a
large treasure in the citadel at Sardis. The Lydians preserved a
grateful memory of Alyattes,[802] "the most just and wise of their
kings," as Xanthus calls him. His guidance had set them entirely free
from the risks so often brought upon their country by the Cimmerians,
had raised them to be the dominant nation in Asia Minor, and in time of
peace the kingdom was no doubt brought into excellent order by him.
Hipponax of Ephesus points out the way to Smyrna to a friend by the
following marks: "Go through the region of the Lydians, past the grave
of Alyattes, past the monument of Gyges and the pillars, past the
monument of Attys, the great king, with your face to the setting
sun."[803] Herodotus tells us: "Lydia possesses a work which is the
greatest of all, except the works of the Egyptians and the Babylonians,
and it is the monument of Alyattes. The lower part consists of great
stones, six stades and two plethra in circumference (3800 feet); the
remainder is a heap of earth, which the merchants and the traders, the
artizans and workmen, and the courtesans built. On the monument above
stood, even in my time, five stone pillars, and the inscriptions on
these told us what each section had paid, and the measure of that which
the courtesans built was the largest."[804] Xenophon also speaks of a
large tomb in the neighbourhood of Sardis, on the summit of which were
five pillars.[805]
The princes of the Lydians had their sepulchres beyond the Hermus, on a
rocky plateau, about five miles to the north of Sardis, between the
Hermus and the southern shore of the great Gygæan lake. On this field of
the dead, which the Osmans call Bin Tepe, _i.e._ the thousand hills,
there rise to this day from sixty to eighty tombs, among which three
huge round tumuli stand pre-eminent. The smallest of these is 2000 feet
in the circuit and 110 feet in height; the largest is more than 3500
feet, and rises about 230 feet above the plain. Under this mound, right
opposite the acropolis of Sardis, rested king Alyattes. The Lydians
preferred to bury their dead in chambers of rock; where these were not
to be had, they buried them in chambers of strong masonry, over which
were placed layers of stone in a circle, to be finally crowned with the
sepulchral tumulus. In the same manner, only on a larger scale, the
tombs of the kings were prepared; and the statements of Herodotus about
the origin of the mound of Alyattes may have a foundation in so far as
the zeal of the people helped to raise it higher than the tombs of his
predecessors. In the tomb of Alyattes the flat elevation of rock was
changed into a large circular surface, but northwards the natural rock
was allowed to remain. On this wall of rock, to the south of the centre
of the circle, the sepulchral chamber of Alyattes was made to extend. It
was built of large greyish-white blocks of marble, beautifully polished.
These were cut with the greatest regularity, and carefully fitted to
each other, and united still more firmly by dovetails of molten lead.
The length of this quadrangular chamber is ten feet, the breadth six
feet, the height is more than six feet. The entrance lies on the south
side towards Sardis. This entrance was kept accessible by a portico,
which was also paved with squares of marble, furnished on either side
with blocks of marble as high as the door, and vaulted over with hewn
stones of irregular and angular shapes. The sepulchral chamber and
portico were then surrounded by masonry, which filled up the entire area
of the circle and was carried up to the same height as the sepulchral
chamber and the rock behind it. On this surface the funeral ceremonies
were held, and sacrifices offered, as is proved by a layer of cinders
two feet thick, which lies on the marble squares of the roof of the
sepulchral chamber. When the burial was over, the door of the chamber
was closed by marble blocks fitted into it, and other heavy blocks were
laid in front of these for the portico. After this the masonry, in order
to bear the mound better, was raised above the height of the chamber;
and last of all the mound was piled up in regular layers, a layer of
lime mixed with sand and large stones, a thinner layer of clay, a layer
of earth of equal thickness, on which was again placed a layer of lime
and sand broken with large stones. Finally the point of the mound was
surmounted with strong masonry of huge stones, the five pillars of
Herodotus, one pillar in each corner, and the fifth in the centre. Even
now the centre stone lies overthrown on the summit of the mound, half
buried in the earth. It is a huge block in the form of a cone, of more
than nine feet in diameter, resting on a low base. In the chamber, which
had been plundered, there was no longer any sarcophagus; some bones only
were found, and beside these jars of alabaster, clay vessels with
handles, with remains of other kinds of pottery.[806]
Croesus, the son of Alyattes, did not ascend the throne in the year
563 B.C. without opposition. His opponents intended to raise Pantaleon,
another son of Alyattes by an Ionian wife, to the throne. Among these
was Sadyattes the merchant, the richest man of Lydia. Croesus caused
him to be cruelly executed, his possessions to be confiscated, and his
landed property sold.[807] The new ruler found himself in the bloom of
life (he was 35 years of age) at the head of a well-arranged and
powerful kingdom. While for half a century, under the old Heracleids,
Lydia had not only been unable to move beyond her ancient borders, but
had even lost the land on the coast, she had gradually grown in power
since the accession of the Mermnadæ. It is true that the incursions of
the Cimmerians had brought upon Gyges and Ardys the most dangerous
struggles, and had inflicted the heaviest losses on the land; but in the
end these had been withstood successfully, and their immediate
consequence had been the extension of the Lydian power as far as the
Halys. Even from the dangerous trial of the Median war Lydia had
emerged, not only without loss, but even with honour. All Asia Minor on
this side of the Halys, with the exception of the Greek cities and the
secluded mountain territory of the Lycians, obeyed the kings of the
Lydians. Their country was on friendly terms with Babylon, and in close
relationship with Media. Even against the Greek cities, the reduction of
Smyrna and Colophon had at least opened the way to the sea. In such a
position, in the possession of such power, it was impossible but that
Croesus should be filled with the impulse to complete the work of his
forefathers, to carry to an end the subjugation of the Greek cities, and
thus gain for his kingdom in its full extent the harbours and marts
allotted to it by nature, together with a magnificent fleet.
Though for 120 years engaged in contests with the Lydians and not spared
by the Cimmerians, though torn asunder in their domestic relations by
the strife of parties, these cities continued to advance. The position
and the fortunes of Miletus down to the times of Alyattes have been
mentioned above. Ever since the attempt to smoothe the opposition of the
nation and the nobles by the rule of the "opulent" was wrecked, the
party struggles burst out in wilder fury than before, and passed into
revolutions and counter-revolutions. Nevertheless, one colony was
founded after another: Apollonia and Ordessus on the Thracian coast;
Panticapæum on the Cimmerian Bosphorus; Olbia and Tyras on the mouths of
the Dniester and the Dnieper. The Phocæans had at an earlier time
discovered the northern waters of the Adriatic; they now traded in the
land of silver beyond the pillars of Hercules, built Massalia at the
mouth of the Rhone, and fought with the Carthaginians on the Tyrrhenian
Sea. At the division of the seventh and sixth centuries the Samians
built a splendid temple to Hera, the Ephesians began to turn the ancient
shrine of Artemis into a magnificent structure, and the Phocæans to
erect a beautiful dwelling for Athene. Plastic art rose with
architecture: in skill the Greeks surpassed their Lydian teachers, while
Thales, Anaximander, and Cadmus of Miletus laid the foundations of Greek
science; the splendour of the epic, the bloom of elegiac poetry in
Ephesus and Smyrna, was followed in Lesbos by the bold flight of lyric
song; practical and political wisdom found representatives like Pittacus
and Bias. If the Greeks were more brilliant, more wealthy than in the
days of Gyges and Ardys, the dominion over them was the more to be
coveted. However splendid the resources which they had at command, there
was dissension in their midst: their vigorous colonisation, however much
it might advance trade, must at the same time weaken their population
available for war, and no city supported the other. Could such isolated
communities withstand the sovereigns who had conquered the Cimmerians,
and checked the Medes?
Gyges and his successors never intended to make a war of annihilation on
the Greek cities. We saw that it was only by the support of the Delphic
oracle that Gyges gained the throne; this source of help against his own
people he would not and could not give up. It would be utterly lost in a
war for life and death with the Greek cities. Such intentions were not,
so far as we can see, in the minds of Gyges and his successors, least of
all in the mind of Croesus. These princes wished to make the harbours
subject to their supremacy; they did not intend to put the Greeks in a
worse position than the Lydians. They worshipped the gods of the
Greeks, and gave them richer presents than any Greek city or canton
could give. Even Gyges entered into relations with Greek families of
distinction, which thus became allied to the royal house; from their
cities Alyattes took a wife. In Sardis interest was shown in Greek art;
prominent citizens of the Greek cities found a welcome at the Lydian
court. When Alyattes recovered from his sickness (p. 436), he dedicated
a silver mixing-bowl at Delphi, the base of which was made by Glaucus of
Chios. Herodotus mentions this as worthy of admiration among all the
dedicatory offerings at Delphi, and Pausanias has preserved a
description of it. Of the works of Theodorus of Samos, who first
practised the founding of brass among the Greeks, Alyattes obtained a
golden and a silver mixing-bowl--the latter contained 600 amphoræ--a
golden plane-tree, and a golden vine with bunches of inlaid precious
stones. The sculptors, Dipoenus and Skyllis of Crete, were also
employed at the Lydian court.[808]
If the Lydian kings came forward to meet the Greeks in this manner, the
latter, on their part, were full of admiration for the Lydian power, the
splendour of the Lydian court, and the wealth of the Lydian kings. The
court of the Lydian kings was a seat of the monarchical life and manners
of the East, which the Greeks saw there in immediate proximity. The
"golden Sardis," where the treasures of Asia Minor were gathered, was to
the Greeks of that time the summit of all imaginable splendour. The
palace of the kings on the steep rocks of the citadel on the Pactolus,
from which the eye ranged far and wide into the country beyond the
blooming valley of the Hermus, the ancient temple of Cybele, were no
doubt magnificent buildings, and owing to the great wealth of the land
as well as the kings in precious metals, were provided without doubt
with ornaments of massive gold, though the houses in the city were built
of clay bricks, and roofed with reeds.[809] As might be expected from
the amount of treasure heaped together at Sardis, the court of the
Lydian kings was one of extraordinary splendour. With astonishment the
Greeks beheld the Lydian sovereigns surrounded by their wives, their
numerous servants, and a multitude of eunuchs. The Lydian Alcman who at
the end of the seventh century came as a slave to Sparta, proudly said,
"that he was not of boorish manners, rude and clownish; he was neither a
Thessalian, nor an Acarnanian, nor a shepherd; he came from lofty
Sardis."[810]
If the Greeks were already half overcome by the advances of the Lydian
kings and their own admiration of Lydian power and glory, and Lydian
gold, the conduct of Croesus made resistance more difficult still. He
saw that he could never bring matters to an end with great harbour
cities, especially with Miletus, which could never be invested without a
fleet. Following the example of his forefathers, he entered into a
friendly league with the Milesians. The loss of Smyrna and Colophon had
failed to teach the Greeks that each city must help the other, that the
forces of the cities must be combined into unity, if freedom was to be
preserved. Even in the teeth of the warlike preparations of Croesus
they did not listen to the counsel given by one of themselves, which
would in all probability have saved them. Thales of Miletus proposed
that each city should name representatives; these were to form a
council, to the resolutions of which the separate cities were to be
subservient, just as the demes of a city were subservient to the
resolutions of the council of the city. The seat of this council was to
be Teos, because that city was situated in the midst of the Ionian
cities (which lay to the north and south along the coast). The Ionians
disregarded the advice of Thales; they would not arrange themselves on
the basis thus proposed. On the contrary, in spite of the warning of
Thales, Miletus again entered into a league with Lydia.[811] It may be
that the peace, which after severe internal struggles the decision of
the Parians restored to the city, tended to incline them to accept the
overtures of the king. They wished to heal the self-inflicted wounds,
and shrank from taking upon them a new and serious struggle. Croesus
strengthened his relations to Miletus by sending the most costly
offerings to the temple of Apollo at Miletus, the god of which was not
in his eyes different from the Lydian sun-god, while the antiquity of
the shrine went back beyond the settlement of the Ionians. In these
offerings the gold alone weighed more than 270 talents.[812]
By this treaty Croesus had not only placed Miletus on his side, and
separated the cities; he had also shown them that good terms could be
got. An armed attack must now be employed to induce the rest to adapt
themselves to these terms. When the Ephesians hesitated to recognise the
supremacy of Croesus as he demanded, the city was invested, and the
walls attacked. When a tower on the walls fell, the Ephesians connected
the temple of Artemis--the new structure was scarcely half finished, and
lay 2000 paces from the gates in the depression--with the walls by a
long rope, in order to put the city under the immediate protection of
the deity. Nevertheless, the city was compelled to submit.[813]
Croesus now aided the building of the temple. He caused the unfinished
half of the large monolithic pillars, which were to support the roof of
the temple in a double row, to be erected at his own cost, and presented
the goddess with golden cattle. After the subjugation of Ephesus,
Croesus proceeded to attack the remaining cities, one after the other;
and thus he became master of the whole of the cities, not of the Ionian
only, but also of the Æolian and Dorian. He granted them the most
favourable conditions: he did not even require the opening of the
cities, or their attendance in war; he contented himself with the
recognition of his supremacy and with the yearly payment of
tribute.[814] Yet in any case freedom for the trade of the Lydians, and
protection at law for the Lydians in the walls of the Greek cities, as
well as for the settlement of Lydian subjects, must have been secured.
Some cities on the Hellespont, like Lampsacus, appear to have remained
entirely free.[815]
When the cities of the Greeks had recognised his supremacy, Croesus is
said to have been occupied with the thought how to draw into the circle
of his kingdom the rich islands on the coasts--Samos, Chios, and Lesbos.
Herodotus tells us that Croesus asked Bias of Priene, who was in
Sardis soon after the subjugation of the Greek cities, what was the news
among the Hellenes? Bias answered that the Greeks of the islands were
getting together a great army of cavalry in order to march against
Sardis. When Croesus said that he should rejoice to hear that the gods
had put such thoughts in the minds of the islanders, Bias replied that
the inhabitants of the islands were no less anxious to measure
themselves against him in a battle by sea. At this Croesus is said to
have abandoned the preparations he was making against the islands. As a
fact, Croesus could not hide from himself that an attack upon the
islands was only possible by means of the naval power of the cities on
the coast. Even if these supplied ships against their countrymen in the
islands, was it to be expected that they would fight vigorously against
them?--was there not rather a fear that they would unite their arms with
those of the islands against Lydia?
By a happy combination of war and negotiation, by vigorous attack and
far-sighted concession, Croesus had put an end to the long struggle,
had subjugated the cities to his supremacy, and raised Lydia to the
summit of her fame and power. If the Lydians were the sovereign nation,
the Greeks were not to be a servile nation. They possessed complete
municipal freedom, they had not to render service in war, they had only
to pay tribute and give the Lydians and the Lydian trade as good a
position in their gates and harbours as was enjoyed by their own people
and their own trade. Croesus was at pains in everything to show a
favourable inclination to the Greeks. It was not merely that he
worshipped their gods, and made presents to their shrines. As he had
made the most costly presents to Apollo of Miletus, and Artemis of
Ephesus, so he presented a golden tripod to Ismenian Apollo at Thebes.
To Apollo of Delphi he gave presents as costly as those given to Apollo
of Miletus; to Athene of Delphi he gave a large shield of gold; to the
shrine of Amphiaraus at Thebes he gave a golden shield and a golden
lance. At other times also he showed himself favourable in every way to
the Greeks. When the Spartans wished to erect a golden statue to Apollo
on the summit of Mount Thornax, they sent to Sardis in order to purchase
the necessary gold. Croesus gave them as much as they required.[816] A
Greek merchant of Ephesus, who lent him money before his accession,
Croesus is said to have brought into the citadel, and given him
permission to carry away a cart-load of gold. Alcmæon, an Athenian
noble, who led the Athenians in the "sacred war" against Crissa, and
conquered at Olympia with his four-horse chariot, in the year 572 B.C.,
supported an embassy which Croesus sent to Delphi. In gratitude
Croesus invited him to Sardis, led him into the treasure-chamber, and
allowed him to take as much gold as he pleased. Though Alcmæon was now
advanced in years, and his son Megacles was in possession of the rich
inheritance of Cleisthenes, tyrant of Sicyon, he is said to have placed
a very free interpretation on this permission of the king. He put on a
loose coat and loose half-boots; these he crammed with gold, put
gold-dust in his hair, and filled his mouth with it, so that Croesus
when he saw the old man thus burdened and gilded, burst into laughter
and gave him as much again as he carried.[817] In addition to this
unbounded liberality Croesus engaged Greek artists, and bestowed his
favour on eminent men in the Greek cities. Miltiades of Athens, who had
emigrated to the Chersonese from the tyranny of the Pisistratids, and
had been taken in war against Lampsacus by the Lampsacenes, was set at
liberty by the powerful interposition of Croesus. The Greeks were not
insensible to the court paid to them by Croesus and his gold; they
were grateful for his liberality to their temples. Pindar in one of his
odes exclaims: "The friendly virtue of Croesus will not be
forgotten."[818]
The greatest of the Greeks, whom Croesus saw at Sardis, was Solon of
Athens.[819] Herodotus tells us, that Croesus entertained Solon for
several days in his palace, and by his servants showed him the splendour
of it, the riches and the treasure-chambers, all that he possessed in
precious stones, splendid robes, and treasures of art. Then in the pride
of the greatness of his dominion, the splendour of his throne, the
successes which he had obtained, Croesus asked Solon, whom he, who had
travelled so much in the world, considered the most fortunate of men?
Solon answered, Tellus the Athenian. Tellus lived a happy life,
according to human calculation; he had worthy sons and grandsons, not
one of whom died in his lifetime. In his day the commonwealth was
prosperous, and after a happy life he found a fortunate death; he fell
in battle for his father-land, when turning the enemy to flight, and the
Athenians buried him at the cost of the city, and paid him great honour.
Tellus had fallen, under Solon's eye, at Eleusis against the Megarians
(about 580 B.C.). Croesus further inquired, whom Solon considered the
happiest man after Tellus? Cleobis and Bito, two brothers of Argos,
Solon replied. These had possessions equal to their needs, and were
strong of body, so that both won the victory in the games, at one and
the same time. And once at the festival of Hera, when the mother of the
two young men had to go to the temple, and the oxen had not arrived, the
sons placed the yoke upon their necks, and drew their mother a distance
of 45 stades to the temple. The Argives assembled at the festival
commended the strength of the young men; the Argive women commended the
mother who had such sons. But the mother stepped before the statue of
the goddess and prayed that she would give to the sons who had done
their mother such honour the best reward that could be given to men.
When the sacrifice had been offered and the banquet held, the young men
went to sleep in the temple, and never woke again. The deed of the two
sons of Cydippe was highly praised among the Greeks. Their mother was
priestess of the ancient shrine of Hera near Argos. Each year the
Argives celebrated a great festival in honour of their goddess, to which
they marched in procession from the city to the temple, which lay in the
road to Mycenæ on the height of Euboea, at a distance of more than 40
stades from Argos. They offered a hecatomb to the goddess. The hundred
victims were crowned and led in the front of the procession; the young
men followed in their armour, and last of all the priestess of the
temple in a car drawn by two cows; the sacrifice was followed by a
banquet and games. The place of these animals was taken by Cleobis and
Bito. In remembrance of the noble deed the Argives caused statues to be
set up for the brothers at Delphi, and even at a later date a marble
group at Argos exhibited the two youths before the chariot of their
mother.[820]
Astonished at the answer of Solon, Croesus inquired of the Greek,
whether he considered the prosperity which had fallen to his
(Croesus') lot to be nothing, that he did not even place him on a
level with common men. Then Solon answered: You are asking a man about
the fortune of men, one who knows well that the deity is envious and
destructive. In a long life a man may see much that he would fain not
see, and endure much. I put the limit of man's life at 70 years. These
70 years make 25,200 days, if the intercalary months are not reckoned
in. If every other year receives a month in order that the seasons, as
is necessary, correspond, the seventy years allow 35 intercalary months,
which make up 1050 days. Of all these 26,250 days each brings something
new. Hence man is pure chance. You seem to me to be rich and the king of
many men, but the question you ask I can only answer when you have
brought your life to a happy end. He who has great possessions is no
happier than the man who has sufficient for the day, if he do not keep
his wealth till the end of life. Many wealthy men are unfortunate, and
many men of moderate possessions are fortunate. Only in two respects is
the wealthy but unfortunate man in advance of the man who is prosperous
with less wealth. The first can satisfy his desires more and bear
misfortune better; the second cannot satisfy his desires to the same
degree or resist misfortune so well; but his prosperity defends him from
misfortune. He is healthy, has worthy children, and is fair to look
upon. If in addition to all this he ends his life well, he is worthy to
be called happy. Before the end we may call no man happy; we can only
say, it is well with him. That a man should attain complete prosperity
is impossible; just as a country does not possess everything, but brings
forth one product and is in want of another, and the land which
possesses the most has the advantage, so it is with man. He does not
possess everything: one thing he has, another he has not. He who
possesses most to the end of life, and then brings his life to a noble
end, he may with justice bear the name of happy. In everything a man
must look to the issue, and many to whom the god has shown happiness he
has then cast to the ground.
In the bloom and vigour of his years, conqueror of the Greek cities,
victorious over the land of the coast, after bringing to completion the
political aims of his forefathers, in possession of an inexhaustible
treasure, at the head of a state carried to the limit of its natural
frontiers, and flourishing in trade, commanding an excellent army,
respected by his subjects, and lord of Asia Minor--Croesus, in the
year 560 B.C., had many reasons for counting himself a happy man, a
ruler specially favoured by the gods. Like all Oriental princes he was
not without a haughty confidence in his power and his success; he was in
a high degree self-conscious. Solon, when he saw Sardis, was close upon
his eightieth year. Grown up amid violent commotions in his city, amid
the fierce strife of parties, with a deed of blood before his eyes,
Solon had early had occasion to reflect on the plans and aspirations of
men, on their lust of possessions and power, on the fortune allotted to
them, on the punishments which though often late the gods awarded to
unjust deeds. Beyond other men he had devoted his life to his
fatherland, a canton of moderate extent. He had refused the position of
tyrant in order to serve his country in a much more difficult position
with unwearied devotion and perseverance. If by such fidelity he had
succeeded in turning destruction aside from his community, and
establishing a constitution which ensured order and freedom to it, this
constitution, and with it the work of his life, which he had defended
with the dedication of all his powers, was wrecked. If the form given by
Herodotus to the conversation of Solon and Croesus is a part of his
mode of narration, and the observation on the envy of the deity a part
of his view of life, Solon had nevertheless reason in his own bitter
experience to tell the sovereign of Asia Minor that no one could be
accounted happy before the end of life. Compared with his own fortune
the lot of Cleobis and Bito, who died immediately after their glorious
deed, the death of Tellus, who ended a good life by dying in victory for
his country, must have appeared a fortune to be envied.
FOOTNOTES:
[778] Strabo, p. 590.
[779] Strabo, p. 620. Nicol. Damas. fragm. 62, ed. Müller. Which
Magnesia is meant is not clear; Magnesia on Sipylus is more probable
than the other.
[780] Herod. 1, 14. Paus. 4, 21, 3; 9, 29, 4.
[781] According to Herodotus, _loc. cit._ Gyges takes the city but not
the citadel of Colophon; according to Athenæus (p. 256) he concluded a
friendly treaty with Colophon. In Polyænus also the Colophonians
remained for a long time in league with the Lydians, before Alyattes
deprived them of their country by treachery; 7, 2, 2.
[782] Herod. 1, 14.
[783] In Herod. from 681 to 632 B.C.; cf. _supra_, p. 276.
[784] Herod. 1, 6, 15.
[785] Strabo, p. 61. Plut. "Marc." c. 11.
[786] Strabo, p. 627, 647. Athenæus (p. 525), it is true, does not
entirely agree with this.
[787] Callim. "Hymn in Dian." 252-260. Hesych. [Greek: Lygdamis].
[788] Herod. 1, 16.
[789] Polyæn. "Strateg." 7, 2, 1.
[790] Vol. I. p. 549.
[791] On the long stay of the Cimmerians in Phrygia, Steph. Byzant.
[Greek: Syassos].
[792] Herod. 1, 15. Diog. Laert. 1, 83.
[793] The attack of Sadyattes on Smyrna is vouched for by Nicolaus,
fragm. 64, ed. Müller.
[794] Herod. 1, 17-19.
[795] The reasons for which I believe it necessary to maintain this date
are given above, p. 288, _n._
[796] Nicol. Damasc. fragm. 64, ed. Müller. At the time of this Carian
campaign of Alyattes, Croesus, according to this fragment, was viceroy
of the region of Adramytteum. It must therefore be placed about the year
580, since Croesus was born in 598 B.C. Adramytteum is said to have
been founded by a brother of Croesus of the name of Adramyttus: Steph.
Byz. _s. v._ In Nicolaus Adramys is an illegitimate son of Sadyattes.
The city was certainly much older. Athenæus, p. 515, mentions an old
king of Lydia of the name of Adramyttus.
[797] Mimnerm. fragm. 11, ed. Bergk. If Mimnermus, the contemporary of
Solon, is sometimes called a Smyrnæan, and sometimes a Colophonian, the
explanation is that Mimnermus derived his race from the Colophonians,
who had taken Smyrna from the Achæans. Strabo, p. 634. It is not strange
that Mimnermus as a boy may have heard the story of the struggles
against Gyges from his fathers and grandfathers. The attack of Alyattes
upon Smyrna, belongs to the period after 580, the last decade of
Alyattes, because Croesus continues the war against the Greek cities
without any break.
[798] Herod. 1, 16. Nic. Damasc. frag. 64. Strabo (p. 646) tells us that
the Smyrnæans had been compelled to dwell separately in several open
villages, and that they lived in this manner for 400 years, down to the
time of Antigonus. In this reckoning, in any case, there is a century
too much; moreover, Pindar (fragm. incert. 152, ed. Dissen) speaks of
the charming city of Smyrna. Hence the view given in the text is taken.
[799] Xenophan, fragm. 3. Arist. "Pol." 4, 3, 9. Athenæus, p. 526.
Pausan. 7, 5, 4.
[800] Theogn. fragm. 1103, ed. Gaisford.
[801] Herod. 1, 16; Diog. Laert. 1, 83.
[802] Suidas [Greek: Alyattês].
[803] Hipponact., fragm. 15, ed. Bergk. Schneidewin's conjecture to read
Alyattes for Attales ought certainly to be adopted, though Alyattes had
a son called Attales. The way must have been fixed by the largest
monument. [Greek: Attyos] for [Greek: Ôtys] seems certain; on the other
hand [Greek: Myrsilou] for [Greek: Mytalidi] is not permissible.
[804] Herod. 1, 93.
[805] Xenophon makes use of it in the Cyropædia for his own object (7,
3). Clearchus of Soli calls the tomb of Alyattes "the tomb of the
Hetæra." Athen. p. 573. Gyges loved a paramour so passionately that she
governed him and the kingdom. After her death he collected the Lydians
and heaped up a mound in her honour, which was still called the grave of
the Hetæra; it was so high that all the Lydians had it before their
eyes, and every traveller who journeyed within Tmolus. All this may be
founded on a participation of the numerous Lydian Hetæræ (vol. I. p.
566) in the tomb of Alyattes. Cf. Strabo, p. 627.
[806] Hamilton, "Asia Minor," p. 144, 145. Spiegelthal, "Monatsber. B.
A." 1854, s. 700 ff. Olfers, "Die lydischen Königsgräber, Abhandl. B.
A." 1858, s. 539 ff.
[807] Herod. 1, 92. Nicol. Damasc. fragm. 65, ed. Müller.
[808] Herod. 1, 25. Pausan. 10, 16, 1, 2. Athen. p. 210.
[809] Aesch. "Pers." v. 45. Herod. 1, 29; 5, 101.
[810] Fragm. 11, ed. Welcker.
[811] Herod. 1, 170. Diog. Laert. 1, 25.
[812] Herod. 1, 82, says: "as many as to Delphi, and like the Delphian
presents."
[813] Æl. "Var. Hist." 3, 26. Polyæn. "Strateg." 6, 50. If Ælian tells
us that Pindarus was at that time tyrant of Ephesus, and had received
the throne by inheritance, the statement is corrected by the tenor of
the narrative in which Pindarus gives advice, not orders, to the
Ephesians. The "tyranny" of Pindarus therefore was no more than a
prominent position in the city, such as would fall to a man of the race
of the Basilidæ, who carried the sceptre and wore purple. This does not
set aside the fact that Melas, the father of Pindarus, had to wife a
daughter of Alyattes: only I observe that Nicolaus of Damascus calls the
Milesian, who had to wife a sister of Sadyattes, a descendant of Melas,
the brother-in-law of Gyges.
[814] Herod. 1, 27. That the Ionians did not render service in war is
clear from the account which Herodotus gives of the war of Croesus
against Cyrus. Another point is more doubtful. Herodotus remarks, 1,
141, that the cities at the approach of Cyrus had "surrounded themselves
with walls." If we take this in the strictest sense, we might draw the
conclusion, that the cities had been compelled to throw down their walls
when subjugated by Croesus.
[815] Herod. 6, 37.
[816] Herod. 1, 69.
[817] Herod. 6, 125. If Herodotus on this occasion has in his mind the
embassy which Croesus sent to Delphi in 551 B.C., Alcmæon must at that
time have been at least 70 years old. But Croesus had sent to Delphi
earlier (Herod. 1, 85). Xenophon ("Cyr. inst." 7, 2, 7) represents
Croesus as sending to Delphi before he had any sons born to him, and
again after the death of Attys. According to the Parian Marble, Ep. 41,
42, the first mission of Croesus was 14 years before his overthrow, in
the first year of his reign.
[818] Pind. "Pyth." 1, 184.
[819] The chronological difficulties which are brought against this
meeting, and to which Plutarch refers, "Sol." c. 27, rest on the fact
that Plutarch, like Herodotus, represents Solon as going to Sardis after
the establishment of the Athenian constitution. According to this the
meeting occurred in 593, or rather in 583 B.C. Either date is
impossible: in 593 B.C. Croesus was five years old, in 583 B.C. he was
fifteen, and he did not ascend the throne till 563 B.C. The meeting with
Croesus therefore cannot be placed earlier than 560 B.C. when Solon
left Athens after Pisistratus became tyrant. After 558 B.C. Croesus
could no longer count as the happiest of mortals, with whom everything
went well, for in 558 B.C. Cyrus had already deposed Astyages, the
connection of Croesus. Herodotus says (1, 34, 46), that Croesus had
bewailed the loss of his son Attys for two years before the account of
the fall of Astyages was brought to him; Attys must have died in 560
B.C. With this the exact account of Phanias of Eresus, a scholar of
Aristotle (Suidas, [Greek: Phanias]), entirely agrees. He tells us that
Solon did not live two complete years after Pisistratus had seized the
tyranny, for Pisistratus became tyrant under the archonship of Comias;
Solon died under the archonship of Hegestratus (Plut. "Sol." 32); the
archonship of Comias falls in the year 559 B.C. Cf. Ælian, "Var. Hist."
8, 16. Diogenes Laertius, 1, 50, 62, remarks that Solon, after
Pisistratus had become tyrant, went to Croesus, to Cilicia and Cyprus;
that he died in Cyprus in his eightieth year. If Suidas tells us that
Solon went to Soli in Cilicia after Pisistratus became tyrant, this,
like the founding of the city in Diogenes, is a confusion with Soli in
Cyprus. Solon went to Cyprus, where he had been so well received between
583 and 573 B.C., where Soli, his own foundation, offered him a worthy
refuge. As there can hardly have been direct communication between
Athens and Soli, he went by way of the Ionian harbours. The general
statement of Heracleides of Pontus, that Solon lived for a long time
after the tyranny of Pisistratus (Plut. "Sol." c. 32), proves nothing
against the precise statement of Phanias, and that Solon, as Plutarch
says without giving his authority, died in Athens as the adviser of
Pisistratus, is as much opposed to the character of Solon as to the
statement that he died in Cyprus.
[820] Schol. Pind. "Olymp." 7, 152; Aen. Tact. c. 17. Pausan. 2, 20, 3.
Plut. fragm. 22, 7, ed. Dübner.
END OF VOL. III.
ERRATUM.
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