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]
Crœsus, 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. Crœsus 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 Crœsus 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 Crœsus. 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, Dipœnus 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 Crœsus 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 Crœsus 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. Crœsus 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 Crœsus 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 Crœsus 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] Crœsus 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, Crœsus 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]