Editing Lydia (section)

===Kingdom of Lydia===
{{Main|List of Kings of Lydia}}
Lydia was an independent kingdom from an unknown time until 546 BC.

==== Candaules ====
According to Herodotus, one of Lydus's descendants was [[Iardanus (father of Omphale)|Iardanus]], with whom [[Heracles]] was in service at one time. Heracles had an affair with one of Iardanus' slave-girls and their son [[Alcaeus (mythology)|Alcaeus]] was the first of the Heraclid Dynasty said to have ruled Lydia for 22 generations starting with [[Agron of Lydia|Agron]].{{sfn|Herodotus|1975|p=43}}{{Primary source inline|date=July 2024}} In the 8th century BC, [[Meles of Lydia|Meles]] became the 21st and penultimate Heraclid king and the last was his son [[Candaules]] (died c. 687 BC).{{sfn|Herodotus|1975|pp=43–46}}<ref name="BM82">{{harvnb|Bury|Meiggs | 1975|p=82}}</ref>

====The Mermnad Empire (680-546 BC)====
[[File:Gyges Tablet, British Museum.jpg|thumb|left|Gyges tablet, British Museum]]

=====Gyges=====
{{main|Gyges of Lydia}}

Gyges was the first Lydian king whose existence is demonstrable from contemporary records.<ref name = "LydiaBefore"/> According to semi-mythical accounts of his reign, he was the son of a man named [[Dascylus]] and came to power by overthrowing [[Candaules|King Candaules]] with the assistance of a Carian prince from [[Milas|Mylasa]] named Arselis.{{sfn|Braun|1982|p=36}}{{sfn|Mellink|1991|pp=643-655,663}} Gyges's rise to power happened in the context of a period of turmoil following the invasion of the [[Cimmerians]], a nomadic people from the [[Pontic-Caspian steppe|Pontic steppe]] who had invaded [[Western Asia]], who around 675 BC destroyed the previous major power in Anatolia, the kingdom of Phrygia.{{sfn|Cook|1988|p=196-197}}

Gyges took advantage of the power vacuum created by the Cimmerian invasions to consolidate his kingdom and make it a military power, he contacted the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire|Neo-Assyrian]] court by sending diplomats to [[Nineveh]] to seek help against the Cimmerian invasions,<ref name="Spalinger1978">{{cite journal |last=Spalinger |first=Anthony J. |date=1978 |title=The Date of the Death of Gyges and Its Historical Implications |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/599752 |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=98 |issue=4 |pages=400–409 |doi=10.2307/599752 |jstor=599752 |access-date=25 October 2021 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> and he attacked the [[Ionians|Ionian]] Greek cities of [[Miletus]], [[Smyrna]], and [[Colophon (city)|Colophon]].{{sfn|Cook|1988|p=196-197}} Gyges's extensive alliances with the Carian dynasts allowed him to recruit Carian and Ionian Greek soldiers to send overseas to assist the [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] king [[Psamtik I]] of the city of [[Sais]], with whom he had established contacts around 662 BC. With the help of these armed forces, Psamtik I united Egypt under his rule after eliminating the eleven other kinglets with whom he had been co-ruling [[Lower Egypt]].{{sfn|Braun|1982|p=36}}<ref name="Spalinger1976">{{cite journal |last=Spalinger |first=Anthony |date=1976 |title=Psammetichus, King of Egypt: I |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40001126 |journal=Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt  |volume=13|pages=133–147 |doi=10.2307/40001126|jstor=40001126 |access-date=2 November 2021 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Spalinger1978"/>{{sfn|Mellink|1991|p=663}}

In 644 BC, Lydia faced a third attack by the Cimmerians, led by their king [[Tugdamme|Lygdamis]]. This time, the Lydians were defeated, Sardis was sacked, and Gyges was killed.<ref name="Spalinger1976"/><ref name="Spalinger1978"/>

=====Ardys and Sadyattes=====
{{main|Ardys of Lydia|Sadyattes}}
Gyges was succeeded by his son [[Ardys of Lydia|Ardys]], who resumed diplomatic activity with Assyria and would also have to face the Cimmerians.<ref name="Spalinger1976"/><ref name="Spalinger1978"/> Ardys attacked the [[Ionians|Ionian]] Greek city of [[Miletus]] and succeeded in capturing the city of [[Priene]], after which Priene would remain under direct rule of the Lydian kingdom until its end.<ref>'Miletos, the ornament of Ionia: history of the city to 400 BC' by Vanessa B. Gorman (University of Michigan Press) 2001</ref><ref name="Leloux-1">{{cite thesis |last=Leloux |first=Kevin |date=2018 |title=La Lydie d'Alyatte et Crésus: Un royaume à la croisée des cités grecques et des monarchies orientales. Recherches sur son organisation interne et sa politique extérieure |type=PhD |volume=1 |publisher=[[University of Liège]] |docket= |oclc= |url=https://orbi.uliege.be/bitstream/2268/220928/1/The%CC%80se%20entie%CC%80re%20vol%20I.pdf |access-date=5 December 2021 |archive-date=9 October 2022 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://orbi.uliege.be/bitstream/2268/220928/1/The%CC%80se%20entie%CC%80re%20vol%20I.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Ardys's reign was short-lived,<ref name="Dale">{{cite journal |last=Dale |first=Alexander |date=2015 |title=WALWET and KUKALIM: Lydian coin legends, dynastic succession, and the chronology of Mermnad kings |url=https://www.academia.edu/29719834 |journal=Kadmos |volume=54 |issue= |pages=151–166 |doi=10.1515/kadmos-2015-0008 |s2cid=165043567 |access-date=10 November 2021}}</ref> and in 637 BC, that is in Ardys's seventh regnal year, the [[Thracians|Thracian]] [[Treri|Treres]] tribe who had migrated across the [[Bosporus|Thracian Bosporus]] and invaded [[Anatolia]],{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=94-55}} under their king Kobos, and in alliance with the [[Cimmerians]] and the [[Lycians]], attacked Lydia.<ref name="Spalinger1978"/> They defeated the Lydians again and for a second time sacked the Lydian capital of [[Sardis]], except for its citadel. It is probable that Ardys was killed during this Cimmerian attack.<ref name="Dale"/><ref>{{cite book | last=Kristensen | first=Anne Katrine Gade | title=Who were the Cimmerians, and where did they come from?: Sargon II, and the Cimmerians, and Rusa I | year=1988 | publisher=The Royal Danish Academy of Science and Letters | location=Copenhagen Denmark}}</ref>

Ardys was succeeded by his son, Sadyattes, who had an even more short-lived reign.<ref name="Dale"/> Sadyattes died in 635 BC, and it is possible that, like his grandfather Gyges and maybe his father Ardys as well, he died fighting the [[Cimmerians]].<ref name="Dale"/>

=====Alyattes=====
{{main|Alyattes of Lydia}}
Amidst extreme turmoil, Sadyattes was succeeded in 635 BC by his son [[Alyattes of Lydia|Alyattes]], who would transform Lydia into a powerful empire.{{sfn|Herodotus|1975|p=46}}<ref name="Dale"/>

Soon after Alyattes's ascension and early during his reign, with Assyrian approval<ref>{{harvnb|Grousset|1970|p=[https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppesh00prof/page/8 9] |quote=A Scythian army, acting in conformity with Assyrian policy, entered Pontis to crush the last of the Cimmerians.}}</ref> and in alliance with the Lydians,{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=126}} the [[Scythians]] under their king [[Madyes]] entered Anatolia, expelled the Treres from Asia Minor, and defeated the Cimmerians so that they no longer constituted a threat again, following which the Scythians extended their domination to Central Anatolia<ref>{{cite journal |last=Phillips |first=E. D. |date=1972 |title=The Scythian Domination in Western Asia: Its Record in History, Scripture and Archaeology |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/123971 |journal=World Archaeology |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=129–138 |doi= 10.1080/00438243.1972.9979527|jstor=123971 |access-date=5 November 2021 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> until they were themselves expelled by the [[Medes]] from Western Asia in the 590s BC.<ref name="Spalinger1978"/> This final defeat of the Cimmerians was carried out by the joint forces of Madyes, whom [[Strabo]] credits with expelling the Treres and Cimmerians from Asia Minor, and of Alyattes, whom [[Herodotus]] and [[Polyaenus]] claim finally defeated the Cimmerians.{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993|p=95-125}}{{sfn|Ivantchik|2006|p=151}}
[[File:Alyattes.png|thumb|Tomb of Alyattes.]]

Alyattes turned towards [[Phrygia]] in the east, where extended Lydian rule eastwards to Phrygia.<ref name="Leloux-2">{{cite thesis |last=Leloux |first=Kevin |date=2018 |title=La Lydie d'Alyatte et Crésus: Un royaume à la croisée des cités grecques et des monarchies orientales. Recherches sur son organisation interne et sa politique extérieure |type=PhD |volume=2 |publisher=[[University of Liège]] |docket= |oclc= |url=https://orbi.uliege.be/bitstream/2268/220928/2/The%cc%80se%20entie%cc%80re%20vol%20II.pdf |access-date=1 May 2022 |archive-date=9 October 2022 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://orbi.uliege.be/bitstream/2268/220928/2/The%cc%80se%20entie%cc%80re%20vol%20II.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Alyattes continued his expansionist policy in the east, and of all the peoples to the west of the Halys River whom Herodotus claimed Alyattes's successor Croesus ruled over - the [[Lydians]], [[Phrygians]], [[Mysians]], [[Mariandyni]], [[Chalybes]], [[Paphlagonia]]ns, [[Thyni]] and [[Bithyni]] [[Thracians]], [[Carians]], [[Ionians]], [[Doric Hexapolis|Dorians]], [[Aeolis|Aeolians]], and [[Pamphylia]]ns - it is very likely that a number of these populations had already been conquered under Alyattes, and it is not impossible that the Lydians might have subjected Lycia, given that the Lycian coast would have been important for the Lydians because it was close to a trade route connecting the [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]] region, the [[Levant]], and [[Cyprus]].<ref name="Leloux-2"/><ref name="Lendering 2003">{{cite web |url=https://www.livius.org/articles/person/alyattes/ |title=Alyattes of Lydia |last=Lendering |first=Jona |author-link=Jona Lendering |date=2003 |website=Livius |publisher= |access-date=7 May 2022 }}</ref>[[File:Bin Tepe, funeral mound.jpg|thumb|left|[[Bin Tepe]] royal funeral [[tumulus]] (tomb of Alyattes, father of Croesus), Lydia, 6th century BC.]][[File:Map of Lydia ancient times.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Lydia's borders under the reign of Croesus]]

Alyattes's eastern conquests brought the Lydian Empire in conflict in the 590s BC with the [[Medes]],<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Boardman |editor1-first=John |editor1-link=John Boardman (art historian) |editor2-last=Edwards |editor2-first=I. E. S. |editor2-link=I. E. S. Edwards |editor3-last=Hammond |editor3-first=N. G. L. |editor3-link=N. G. L. Hammond |editor4-last=Sollberger |editor4-first=E. |editor4-link=Edmond Sollberger |editor5-last=Walker |editor5-first=C. B. F. |last1=Sulimirski |first1=Tadeusz |author-link=Tadeusz Sulimirski |last2=Taylor |first2=T. F. |author-link2=Timothy Taylor (archaeologist) |date=1991 |title=The Cambridge Ancient History |volume=3 |chapter=The Scythians |issue=2 |url= |location=[[Cambridge]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |pages=547–590 |isbn=978-1-139-05429-4}}</ref> and a war broke out between the Median and Lydian Empires in 590 BC which was waged in eastern Anatolia lasted five years, until a [[Eclipse of Thales|solar eclipse]] occurred in 585 BC during [[Battle of the Eclipse|a battle]] (hence called the Battle of the Eclipse) opposing the Lydian and Median armies, which both sides interpreted as an omen to end the war. The Babylonian king [[Nebuchadnezzar II]] and the king [[Syennesis]] of [[Kingdom of Cilicia (ancient)|Cilicia]] acted as mediators in the ensuing peace treaty, which was sealed by the marriage of the Median king Cyaxares's son [[Astyages]] with Alyattes's daughter [[Aryenis]], and the possible wedding of a daughter of Cyaxares with either Alyattes or with his son Croesus.{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|page=125-126}}<ref name="The Battle of the Eclipse">{{cite journal|url=https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/207259|title=The Battle of the Eclipse|last1=Leloux|first1=Kevin|journal=Polemos: Journal of Interdisciplinary Research on War and Peace|date=December 2016|volume=19|issue=2|publisher=Polemos|hdl=2268/207259|access-date=2019-04-30}}</ref><ref name="Leloux-2"/><ref name="Rollinger 2003 1–12">{{cite book |last=Rollinger |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Rollinger |editor-last1=Lanfranchi |editor-first1=Giovanni B. |editor-last2=Roaf |editor-first2=Michael |editor-link2=Michael Roaf |editor-last3=Rollinger |editor-first3=Robert |editor-link3=Robert Rollinger |date=2003 |title=Continuity of Empire (?) Assyria, Media, Persia |chapter=The Western Expansion of the Median ‘Empire’: A Re-Examination |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/13842356 |location=[[Padua]] |publisher=S.a.r.g.o.n. Editrice e Libreria |pages=1–12 |isbn=978-9-990-93968-2 }}</ref>

=====Croesus=====
{{main|Croesus}}
[[File:Croesus portrait.jpg|thumb|Portrait of [[Croesus]], last king of Lydia, Attic red-figure amphora, painted ca. 500–490 BC.]]
Alyattes died shortly after the Battle of the Eclipse, in 585 BC itself,<ref name="Dale"/> following which Lydia faced a power struggle between his son Pantaleon, born from a Greek woman, and his other son [[Croesus]], born from a Carian noblewoman, out of which the latter emerged successful.{{sfn|Mellink|1991|p=643-655}}

Croesus brought [[Caria]] under the direct control of the Lydian Empire,<ref name="Leloux-1"/> and he subjugated all of mainland [[Ionia]], [[Aeolis]], and [[Doric Hexapolis|Doris]], but he abandoned his plans of annexing the Greek city-states on the islands of the [[Aegean Sea]] and he instead concluded treaties of friendship with them, which might have helped him participate in the lucrative trade the Aegean Greeks carried out with Egypt at [[Naucratis]].<ref name="Leloux-1"/> According to Herodotus, Croesus ruled over all the peoples to the west of the Halys River, although the actual border of his kingdom was further to the east of the Halys, at an undetermined point in eastern Anatolia.{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|page=125-126}}<ref name="The Battle of the Eclipse"/><ref name="Leloux-2"/><ref name="Rollinger 2003 1–12"/><ref name="Lendering 2003"/>

Croesus continued the friendly relations with the [[Medes]] concluded between his father Alyattes and the Median king [[Cyaxares]], and he continued these good relations with the Medes after he succeeded Alyattes and Astyages succeeded Cyaxares.<ref name="Leloux-2"/> And, under Croesus's rule, Lydia continued its good relations started by Gyges with the [[Sais, Egypt|Saite]] Egyptian kingdom, then ruled by the [[pharaoh]] [[Amasis II]].<ref name="Leloux-2"/> Croesus also established trade and diplomatic relations with the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] of [[Nabonidus]],<ref name="Leloux-2"/> and he further increased his contacts with the Greeks on the European continent by establishing relations with the city-state of [[Sparta]].<ref name="Leloux-1"/>

In 550 BC, Croesus's brother-in-law, the Median king Astyages, was overthrown by his own grandson, the Persian king [[Cyrus the Great]],<ref name="Leloux-2"/> and Croesus responded by attacking [[Pteria (Cappadocia)|Pteria]], the capital of a Phrygian state vassal to the Lydians which might have attempted to declare its allegiance to the new Persian Empire of Cyrus. Cyrus retaliated by intervening in Cappadocia and defeated the Lydians at Pteria in a [[Battle of Pteria|battle]], and again [[Battle of Thymbra|at Thymbra]] before [[Siege of Sardis (547 BC)|besieging]] and capturing the Lydian capital of [[Sardis]], thus bringing an end to the rule of the Mermnad dynasty and to the Lydian Empire. Lydia would never regain its independence and would remain a part of various successive empires.<ref name="Leloux-2"/>

Although the dates for the battles of Pteria and Thymbra and of end of the Lydian empire have been traditionally fixed to 547 BC,<ref name="Evans">{{cite journal |last=Evans |first=J. A. S. |author-link=James Allan Stewart Evans |date=1978 |title=What Happened to Croesus? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3296933 |journal=The Classical Journal |volume=74 |issue=1 |pages=34–40 |doi= |jstor=3296933 |access-date=11 May 2022}}</ref> more recent estimates suggest that Herodotus's account being unreliable chronologically concerning the fall of Lydia means that there are currently no ways of dating the end of the Lydian kingdom; theoretically, it may even have taken place after the fall of [[Babylon]] in 539 BC.<ref name="Evans"/><ref>{{cite journal |last=Rollinger |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Rollinger |date=2008 |title=The Median 'Empire', the End of Urartu and Cyrus the Great's Campaign in 547 BC |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/250139462 |journal=Ancient West & East |volume=7 |issue= |pages=51–66 |doi=10.2143/AWE.7.0.2033252 |access-date=12 May 2022 }}</ref>