* Gelzer was the first, to my knowledge, to state that Lydia
was a feudal state, and he defined its constitution. Radet
refuses to recognise it as feudal in the true sense of the
term, and he prefers to see in it a confederation of states
under the authority of a single prince.
** Gelzer sees in the legend about the axe related by
Plutarch, a reminiscence of a primitive gynocracy. The axe
is the emblem of the god of war, and, as such, belongs to
the king: the coins of Mylasa exhibit it held by Zeus
Labraundos.
Drawn by Faucher-Gudin,
from a coin in the
Cabinet des Médailles.
The king was the supreme head of the priesthood, as also of the vassal chiefs and of the army, but he had as a subordinate a “companion” who could replace him when occasion demanded, and he was assisted in the exercise of his functions by the counsel of “Friends,” and further still in extraordinary circumstances by the citizens of the capital assembled in the public square. This intervention of the voice of the populace was a thing unknown in the East, and had probably been introduced in imitation of customs observed among the Greeks of Æolia or Ionia; it was an important political factor, and might possibly lead to an outbreak or a revolution. Outside the pale of Sardes and the province of Mæonia, the bulk of Lydian territory was distributed among a very numerous body of landowners, who were particularly proud of their noble descent. Many of these country magnates held extensive fiefs, and had in their pay small armies, which rendered them almost independent, and the only way for the sovereign to succeed in ruling them was to conciliate them at all hazards, and to keep them in perpetual enmity with their fellows. Two of these rival families vied with each other in their efforts to secure the royal favour; that of the Tylonidæ and that of the Mermnadæ, the principal domain of which latter lay at Teira, in the valley of the Cayster, though they had also other possessions at Dascylion, in Hellespontine Phrygia. The head sometimes of one and sometimes of the other family would fill that post of “companion” which placed all the resources of the kingdom at the disposal of the occupant.
Drawn by Faucher-Gudin,
from one of the reliefs
on the crown of the
Great Blinitza.
The first of the Mermnadæ of whom we get a glimpse is Daskylos, son of Gyges, who about the year 740 was “companion” during the declining years of Ardys, over whom he exercised such influence that Adyattes, the heir to the throne, took umbrage at it, and caused him to be secretly assassinated, whereupon his widow, fearing for her own safety, hastily fled into Phrygia, of which district she was a native. On hearing of the crime, Ardys, trembling with anger, convoked the Assembly, and as his advanced age rendered walking difficult, he caused himself to be carried to the public square in a litter. Having reached the place, he laid the assassins under a curse, and gave permission to any who could find them to kill them; he then returned to his palace, where he died a few years later, about 730 B.C. Adyattes took the name of Meles on ascending the throne, and at first reigned happily, but his father’s curse weighed upon him, and before long began to take effect. Lydia having been laid waste by a famine, the oracle declared that, before appeasing the gods, the king must expiate the murder of the Mermnad noble, by making every atonement in his power, if need be by an exile of three years’ duration. Meles submitted to the divine decree. He sought out the widow of his victim, and learning that during her flight she had given birth to a son, called, like his father, Daskylos, he sent to entreat the young man to repair immediately to Sardes, that he might make amends for the murder; the youth, however, alleged that he was as yet unborn at the hour of his father’s death, and therefore not entitled to be a party to an arrangement which did not personally affect him, and refused to return to his own country. Having failed in this attempt, Meles entrusted the regency of his kingdom to Sadyattes, son of Kadys, one of the Tylonidas, who probably had already filled the post of companion to the king for some time past, and set out for Babylon. When the three years had elapsed, Sadyattes faithfully handed over to him the reins of government and resumed the second place. Myrsos succeeded Meles about 716,* and his accession immediately became the cause of uneasiness to the younger Daskylos, who felt that he was no longer safe from the intrigues of the Heraclidaî; he therefore quitted Phrygia and settled beyond the Italys among the White Syrians, one of whom he took in marriage, and had by her a son, whom he called Gyges, after his ancestor. The Lydian chronicles which have come down to us make no mention of him, after the birth of this child, for nearly a quarter of a century. We know, however, from other sources, that the country in which he took refuge had for some time past been ravaged by enemies coming from the Caucasus, known to us as the Cimmerians.**
* The lists of Eusebius give 36 years to Ardys, 14 years to
Meles or Adyattes, 12 years to Myrsos, and 17 years to
Candaules; that is to say, if we place the accession of
Gyges in 687, the dates of the reign of Candaules are 704-
687, of that of Mysros 716-704, of that of Meles 730-716, of
that of Ardys I. 766-730. Oelzer thinks that the double
names each represent a different Icing; Radet adheres to the
four generations of Eusebius.
** I would gladly have treated at length the subject of the
Cimmerians with its accompanying developments, but lack of
space prevents me from doing more than summing up here the
position I have taken. Most modern critics have rejected
that part of the tradition preserved by Herodotus which
refers to the itinerary of the Cimmerians, and have confused
the Cimmerian invasion with that of the Thracian tribes. I
think that there is reason to give weight to Herodotus’
statement, and to distinguish carefully between two series
of events: (1) a movement of peoples coming from Europe into
Asia, by the routes that Herodotus indicates, about the
latter half of the eighth century B.C., who would be more
especially the Cimmerians; (2) a movement of peoples coming
from Europe into Asia by the Thracian Bosphorus, and among
whom there was perhaps, side by side with the Treres, a
remnant of Cimmerian tribes who had been ousted by the
Scythians. The two streams would have had their confluence
in the heart of Asia Minor, in the first half of the seventh
century.