List of kings of Lydia

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This article lists the known kings of Lydia , both legendary and historical. Lydia was an ancient kingdom in western Anatolia during the first millennium BC. It may have originated as a country in the second millennium BC and was possibly called Maeonia at one time, given that Herodotus says the people were called Maeonians before they became known as Lydians. Herodotus and other sources refer to three dynasties: the Maeoniae, Heracleidae (Heraclids) and Mermnadae. The first two are legendary, though later members of the Heraclid dynasty are at least semi-legendary. The Mermnadae are historical.

Contents

Maeoniae

The earliest Maeonian or Lydian king mentioned by Herodotus is Manes who was the father of Atys. There was a severe famine during the reign of Atys and half of the citizens, led by Atys' son Tyrrhenus, emigrated to Italy as the Tyrrhenians. [1] Other sources, such as Strabo, name Tmolus and his son Tantalus as kings of the region about the same time, supposedly ruling from the land about Mount Sipylus, [2] but it is asserted that these two were the same people as Manes and Atys, especially as Omphale is a member of both families. [3] Dionysius of Halicarnassus instead puts Cotys as the son of Manes, and as the father of Atys. [4] [5]

The known legendary kings are:

Herodotus says that Lydus gave his name to the country and its people. [7] The line of Lydus continued through an unstated number of generations until they, as Herodotus says, "turned over the management of affairs to the Heraclids". [7] He adds that the Heraclids in Lydia were the descendants of Heracles and a slave-girl belonging to Iardanus; the line was from Heracles through Alcaeus, Belus and Ninus to Agron who was the first Heraclid king of Lydia. [7]

Heraclidae

Herodotus says the Heraclids ruled Lydia for 505 years through 22 generations with son succeeding father all down the line from Agron to Candaules. [8] While Candaules was the last of the Heraclids to reign at Sardis, Herodotus says Agron was the first and thereby implies that Sardis was already the capital of Lydia in Maeonian times. [7] Candaules died c.687 BC and so the 505-year span stated by Herodotus suggests c.1192 BC for Agron's accession. [9] That is about the time the Hurri-Hittite empire collapsed and thus the land of seha river could become independent from its Hittite overlords and gives more credibility to the tradition heard by Herodotus.

The known Heraclid kings are:

Mermnadae

Although this dynasty is historical, the dates for it have never been determined with certainty. The traditional dates are derived from Herodotus, who gives some reign-lengths, but these have been questioned by modern scholars on the basis of synchronisms with Assyrian history. [11] [12] [13] The name of the dynasty (Ancient Greek : Μερμνάδαι) may be attested in Lydian transmission as -𐤪𐤷𐤦𐤪𐤫𐤠 mλimna-. [14] Etymologically, it possibly contains the Carian word mno- 'son' or 'descendant', which would then represent an argument for the Carian origin of the Mermnad clan. [14]

There were five kings, all historical figures, in the Mermnad line:

Gyges died in battle c.644 BCE, fighting against the Cimmerians, and was succeeded by Ardys. [9] The most successful king was Alyattes, under whom Lydia reached its peak of power and prosperity. [20] Croesus was defeated by Cyrus the Great at the battles of Pteria and Thymbra. Cyrus annexed Lydia after the Siege of Sardis which ended in early 546 BC, but the fate of Croesus himself is uncertain. [21]

Genealogy

Dascylus
Gyges
Ardys
Sadyattes Lyde Miletus Median dynasty
Greek woman Alyattes Carian noblewoman Cyaxares
Pantaleon Croesus Aryenis Astyages Achaemenid dynasty
Atys Mandane Cambyses I
Amytis Cyrus II
  Consanguineous relatives of Gyges

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alyattes</span> King of Lydia (c. 635 – c. 585 BC)

Alyattes, sometimes described as Alyattes I, was the fourth king of the Mermnad dynasty in Lydia, the son of Sadyattes, grandson of Ardys, and great-grandson of Gyges. He died after a reign of 57 years and was succeeded by his son Croesus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heracleidae</span> Descendants of Heracles (ancient Greece)

The Heracleidae or Heraclids were the numerous descendants of Heracles, especially applied in a narrower sense to the descendants of Hyllus, the eldest of his four sons by Deianira. Other Heracleidae included Macaria, Lamos, Manto, Bianor, Tlepolemus, and Telephus. These Heraclids were a group of Dorian kings who conquered the Peloponnesian kingdoms of Mycenae, Sparta and Argos; according to the literary tradition in Greek mythology, they claimed a right to rule through their ancestor. Since Karl Otfried Müller's Die Dorier, I. ch. 3, their rise to dominance has been associated with a "Dorian invasion". Though details of genealogy differ from one ancient author to another, the cultural significance of the mythic theme, that the descendants of Heracles, exiled after his death, returned some generations later to reclaim land that their ancestors had held in Mycenaean Greece, was to assert the primal legitimacy of a traditional ruling clan that traced its origin, thus its legitimacy, to Heracles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lydia</span> Ancient Anatolian kingdom

Lydia was an Iron Age kingdom situated in the west of Asia Minor, in modern-day Turkey. Later, it became an important province of the Achaemenid Empire and then the Roman Empire. Its capital was Sardis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Croesus</span> King of Lydia

Croesus was the king of Lydia, who reigned from 585 BC until his defeat by the Persian king Cyrus the Great in 547 or 546 BC. According to Herodotus, he reigned 14 years. Croesus was renowned for his wealth; Herodotus and Pausanias noted that his gifts were preserved at Delphi. The fall of Croesus had a profound effect on the Greeks, providing a fixed point in their calendar. "By the fifth century at least", J. A. S. Evans has remarked, "Croesus had become a figure of myth, who stood outside the conventional restraints of chronology."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gyges of Lydia</span> King of Lydia (fl. 7th century BC)

Gyges was the founder of the Mermnad dynasty of Lydian kings and the first known king of the Lydian kingdom to have attempted to transform it into a powerful empire. Gyges reigned 38 years according to Herodotus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Omphale</span> Daughter of Iardanus, in Greek mythology

In Greek mythology, Omphale was princess of the kingdom of Lydia in Asia Minor. Diodorus Siculus provides the first appearance of the Omphale theme in literature, though Aeschylus was aware of the episode. The Greeks did not recognize her as a goddess: the undisputed etymological connection with omphalos, the world-navel, has never been made clear. In her best-known myth, she is the mistress of the hero Heracles during a year of required servitude, a scenario that, according to some, offered writers and artists opportunities to explore sexual roles and erotic themes.

Sadyattes was the third king of the Mermnad dynasty in Lydia, the son of Ardys and the grandson of Gyges of Lydia. Sadyattes reigned 12 years according to Herodotus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Candaules</span> King of Lydia (died c. 687 BC)

Candaules, also known as Myrsilos (Μυρσίλος), was a king of the ancient Kingdom of Lydia in the early years of the 7th century BC. According to Herodotus, he succeeded his father Meles as the 22nd and last king of Lydia's Heraclid dynasty. He was assassinated and succeeded by Gyges.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lydians</span> Historical ethnic group

The Lydians were an Anatolian people living in Lydia, a region in western Anatolia, who spoke the distinctive Lydian language, an Indo-European language of the Anatolian group.

Madyes was a Scythian king who ruled during the period of the Scythian presence in West Asia in the 7th century BCE.

Lydus, a son of Atys and Callithea, grandson of Manes, and brother of Tyrrhenus or Torybus, is a legendary figure of the 2nd millennium BC who is attested by Herodotus to have been an early king of Lydia, then probably known as Maeonia. According to Herodotus, the country of Lydia and its people were afterwards named for Lydus, their mythical ancestor.

Manes is a legendary figure of the 2nd millennium BC who is attested by Herodotus in Book One of Histories to have been an early king of Lydia, then probably known as Maeonia. He was believed to have been the son of Zeus and Gaia, and was the father of Atys, who succeeded him as king. Atys, through Callithea, fathered Lydus, after whom the Lydian people were later named, and Tyrrhenus, after whom the Tyrrhenians were named. Later, in Book Four, Herodotus states that Manes had another son called Cotys, who, through Halie, had a son called Asies, after whom the Lydians claimed that the continent of Asia is named. Dionysius of Halicarnassus names Callirhoe, daughter of Oceanus, as the mother of Cotys by Manes, and Atys as the son of Cotys.

Agron was a legendary king of Lydia who is named by Herodotus as the first of the Lydian Heraclid dynasty. His father is named by Herodotus as Ninus ,the mythical founder of Nineveh and a descendant of Šanta,an Assyrian sun god

Meles was a semi-historical king of Lydia. According to Herodotus, he was the 21st and penultimate king of the Heraclid dynasty and was succeeded by his son, Candaules.

Ardys was the son of Gyges of Lydia, whom he succeeded as the second king of the Mermnad dynasty.

Sandakshatru or Sandakuru was the last known Cimmerian king.

Atys is a legendary figure of the 2nd millennium BC who is attested by Herodotus to have been an early king of Lydia, then probably known as Maeonia. He was the son of Manes and the father of Lydus, after whom the Lydian people were later named.

In Greek mythology, Tyllus is an Autochthon of Lydia. He was the father of Halie, who married Cotys, an early king of Lydia. Tyllus is attested by only one author: Dionysius of Halicarnassus, in his Roman Antiquities. However, the same family tree of the early Kings of Lydia can be in Herodotus and Xanthus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lydian–Milesian War</span> War in the Archaic Age in Ionia

The Lydian–Milesian War was a military conflict between the Kingdom of Lydia and the ancient Greek city state of Miletus. It took place during the 7th century BC in the Archaic period, traditionally set between 612 and 600 BC. The main source of the war is Herodotus, who wrote about it in the opening chapters of his Histories. The war ended after 12 years when the tyrant of Miletus, Thrasybulus of Miletus, convinced the Lydian king Alyattes to sue for peace with a ruse, after which an alliance between the two states was forged. Amongst other things, the length of the war has caused debate among modern historians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bin Tepe</span> Lydian burial site

Bin Tepe is an archaeological site on the southern shore of Marmara Lake in Manisa Province, Turkey. Consisting of over 100 tumuli, it served as a cemetery for the elites of nearby Sardis.

References

  1. 1 2 Herodotus & de Sélincourt 1954 , p. 80
  2. ↑ Greek Mythology Link: Tantalus Archived 2007-01-06 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ "Theoi Project Guide to Greek Mythology: Plouto". Theoi.com. 2017. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  4. ↑ Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Roman Antiquities. 1.27.1.
  5. ↑ Rawlinson, George (1875). The History of Herodotus: A New English Version, Ed. with Copious Notes and Appendices, Illustrating the History and Geography of Herodotus, from the Most Recent Sources of Information; and Embodying the Chief Results, Historical and Ethnographical, which Have Been Obtained in the Progress of Cuneiform and Hieroglyphical Discovery. Volume 1: On the Life and History of Herodotus. D. Appleton and Company. pp. 279–280. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  6. ↑ Herodotus & de Sélincourt 1954 , pp. 43, 80
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Herodotus & de Sélincourt 1954 , p. 43
  8. ↑ Herodotus & de Sélincourt 1954 , pp. 43–44
  9. 1 2 3 Bury & Meiggs 1975 , p. 82
  10. ↑ Herodotus & de Sélincourt 1954 , pp. 43–46
  11. ↑ Compendium of World History: Homer and the Lydian Kings
  12. ↑ Encyclopaedia of the Orient: Lydia
  13. ↑ Livius Articles on Ancient History: Mermnad dynasty
  14. 1 2 Yakubovich, Ilya (2017). "An Agreement between the Sardians and the Mermnads in the Lydian Language?". Indogermanische Forschungen. 122 (1): 265–294. doi:10.1515/if-2017-0014. S2CID   171633908 . Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  15. ↑ Bury & Meiggs 1975 , pp. 82–83
  16. ↑ Lendering, Jona (2003). "Gyges of Lydia". Livius. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  17. 1 2 Spalinger, Anthony J. (1978). "The Date of the Death of Gyges and Its Historical Implications". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 98 (4): 400–409. doi:10.2307/599752. JSTOR   599752 . Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  18. 1 2 3 4 Dale, Alexander (2015). "WALWET and KUKALIM: Lydian coin legends, dynastic succession, and the chronology of Mermnad kings". Kadmos. 54: 151–166. doi:10.1515/kadmos-2015-0008. S2CID   165043567 . Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  19. ↑ Wallace, Robert W. (2016). "Redating Croesus: Herodotean Chronologies, and the Dates of the Earliest Coinages". The Journal of Hellenic Studies. 136: 168–181. doi:10.1017/S0075426916000124. JSTOR   44157500. S2CID   164546627 . Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  20. ↑ Herodotus & de Sélincourt 1954 , pp. 43–48
  21. ↑ Bury & Meiggs 1975 , p. 144

Sources

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