In the time of Croesus, the kingdom of Lydia embraced the whole of Asia Minor between the Aegean and the river Halys, with the exception of Cilicia and Lycia.
The limits of Lydia during the Roman period are more definitely fixed; for it bordered in the north on Mysia, from which it was separated near the coast by the river Hermus, and in the inland parts by the range of Mount Temnus; to the east it bordered on Phrygia, and to the south on Caria, from which it was separated by Mount Messogis.
To the west it was washed by the Aegean Plin. This extent of country, however, includes also Ionia, or the coast country between the mouth of the Hermus and that of the Maeander, which was, properly speaking, no part of Lydia. Physical Features of Lydia. In the southern and western parts Lydia was a mountainous country, being bounded on the south by the Messogis, and traversed by the range of Tmolus which runs parallel to it, and includes the valley of the Caystrus.
In the western parts we have, as continuations of Tmolus, Mounts Dracon and Olympus in the north of which rises Mount Sipylus. The extensive plains and valleys between these heights are traversed in a western direction by the rivers Caystrus and Hermus and their numerous tributaries.
The whole country was one of the most fertile in the world, even the sides of the mountains admitting of cultivation; its climate was mild and healthy, though the country has at all times been visited by severe earthquakes. Its most important productions were an excellent kind of wine, saffron, and gold. The accounts of the ancients about the quantity of gold found in Lydia, from which Croesus was believed to have derived his wealth, are no doubt exaggerated, for in later times the sand of the river Pactolus contained no gold at all, and the proceeds of the gold mines of Mount Tmolus were so small as scarcely to pay for the labour of working them.
The plains about the Hermus and Caystrus were the most fertile parts of the country, if we except the coast districts of Ionia. The most celebrated of these plains and valleys bore distinct names, as the Cilbianian, the Ccaystrian, the Hyrcanian; and the Catacecaumene in the north east.
Some of these plains also contained lakes of considerable extent, the most important of which are the Gyagaea Lacus, on the north of the Hermus, and some smaller ones in the neighbourhood of Ephesus, which were particularly rich in fish. The capital of the country at all times was Sardes. Names and Inhabitants of the Country. The earliest author who mentions the name Lydians is the lyric poet Mimnermus Fragm. Bergk , whose native city of Colophon was conquered by the Lydians.
Herodotus i. But some of the ancients, as we learn from Strabo xii. A change of name like that of Maeonians into Lydians alone suggests the idea of the former people being either subdued or expelled by the latter. When once the name Lydians had been established, it was applied indiscriminately to the nation that had been conquered by them as well as to the conquerors, and hence it happens that later writers use the name Lydians even when speaking of a time when there were no Lydians in the country, but only Maeonians.
We shall first endeavour to show who the Maeonians were, and then proceed to the more difficult question about the Lydians and the time when they conquered the Maeonians. The Maeonians unquestionably belonged to the Indo-European stock of nations, or that branch of them which is generally called Tyrrhenian or Pelasgian, for these latter inhabited Lesbos before the Greeks took possession of those islands Strab.
Niebuhr, Hist. They no doubt extended beyond the coast into the interior of the country. The existence of a Pelasgian population is probably also implied in the statement, that the most ancient royal dynasty of Lydia were Heracleidae, and that Lydus was a brother of Tyrrhenus.
The Lydians, on the other hand, are expressly stated to have had nothing in common with the Pelasgians Dionys. It is true that Herodotus connects the Heracleid dynasty with that of Assyria, but if any value can be attached to this statement at all, it refers only to the rulers; but it may be as unfounded as his belief that most of the Greek institutions had been derived from Egypt.
The lydians are described as a kindred people of the Carians and Mysians, and all three are said to have had one common ancestor as well as one common language and religion. The Carians are the only one of these three nations that are mentioned by Homer. It is impossible to ascertain what country was originally inhabited by the Lydians, though it is reasonable to assume that they occupied some district near the Maeonians; and it is possible that the Phrygians, who are said to have migrated into Asia from Thrace, may have pressed upon the Lydians, and thus forced them to make conquests in the country of the Maeonians.
The time when these conquests took place, and when the Maeonians were overpowered or expelled, is conjectured by Niebuhr Lect. This would place the conquest of Maeonia by the Lydians about the year B. The Maeonians, however, after this, still maintained themselves in the country of the Upper Hermus, which continued to be called Maeonia; whence Ptolemy v.
Pliny v. Hamilton Researches, vol. To what branch of the human family the Lydians belonged is a question which cannot be answered, any more than that about their original seats; all the Lydian words which have been transmitted to us are quite foreign to the Greek, and their kinsmen, the Carians, are described as a people speaking a barbarous language.
Institutions and Customs. Lydian phonetics is more complicated: nasal vowels [a], [e] appeared; consonant system has several palatals for [s], [t], [d], [l], [n] very widely used. Lydian morphology also differs somehow from Hittite.
Nouns are declined in pronominal declension, Hittite noun declension was almost completely lost. Accusative case is being replaced by dative in the meaning of direct object of the verb.
Some verbal forms have endings derived not from Hittite same forms but from participles for example, 3rd person plural has -l ending or other verbal nouns. Lydian has a wide choice of prefixes and particles with practically every word. Almost every coin shows a lion, probably the heraldic symbol of the Mermnads.
The reign of his son and successor Alyattes is much better known. In the west, he fought an inconclusive war against Miletus but was able to capture Smyrna and concluded a treaty with Ephesus.
He also advanced to the east, where he took Gordium, decisively defeated the Cimmerians, and reached the river Halys. Here, his army, which included the Greek scientist Thales of Miletus , met the armed forces of another empire on the rise, Media. In , the Medes had descended from the Zagros mountains, where they lived, and had sacked the capital of the Assyrians, Nineveh. Their empire had been taken over by the Babylonians , and the Medes continued their raids to the east, south and northwest.
So, in , the Median leader Cyaxares entered Armenia and invaded the country known as Cappadocia. On 28 May, he fought a battle against Alyattes of Lydia, but before a decision was reached, the sun eclipsed and the two kings decided to sign a peace treaty.
The ties were strengthened even more when the Median crown prince Astyages married a Lydian princess. The Halys was to be the border. Herodotus describes the size of Alyattes' empire:. Alyattes bequeathed this empire to his son Croesus , whose reign started after a civil war against his half-brother Pantaleon.
Croesus finished the Greek war of his ancestors, capturing every town in Aeolia and Ionia, except for Miletus, but including Ephesus, where he rebuilt the famous sanctuary of Artemis - or Artimus, as the Lydians said. Croesus' court was famous for its luxury and splendor, and received many visitors: e. However, the rich city of Sardes became a natural target for the armies of Cyrus , the king of Persia. He had overthrown his overlord, the Median king Astyages, and was rapidly expanding his territories.
Croesus decided to strike first; after all, Astyages had been his brother-in-law, and if it were not possible to restore him to the Median throne, Croesus might, for example, conquer Cappadocia and Armenia.
He allied himself to the pharaoh of Egypt, Amasis , and to the Spartans of Greece. Perhaps, king Nabonidus of Babylonia belonged to the same alliance.
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