GYANTSE, one of the large towns of Tibet. It lies S.E. of Shigatse, 130 m. from the Indian frontier and 145 m. from Lhasa. Its central position at the junction of the roads from India and Bhutan with those from Ladakh and Central Asia leading to Lhasa makes it a considerable distributing trade centre. Its market is the third largest in Tibet, coming after Lhasa and Shigatse, and is especially celebrated for its woollen cloth and carpet manufactures. Here caravans come from Ladakh, Nepal and upper Tibet, bringing gold, borax, salt, wool, musk and furs, to exchange for tea, tobacco, sugar, cotton goods, broadcloth and hardware. The town is compactly built of stone houses, with wooden balconies facing the main street, whence narrow lanes strike off into uninviting slums, and contains a fort and monastery. In the British expedition of 1904 Gyantse formed the first objective of the advance, and the force was besieged here in the mission post of Changlo for some time. The Tibetans made a night attack on the post, and were beaten off with some difficulty, but subsequently the British attacked and stormed the fort or jong. Under the treaty of 1904 a British trade agent is stationed at Gyantse.
GYGES, founder of the third or Mermnad dynasty of Lydian kings, he reigned 687-652 B.C. according to H. Geizer, 690-657 B.C. according to H. Winckler. The chronology of the Lydian kings given by Herodotus has been shown by the Assyrian inscriptions to be about twenty years in excess. Gyges was the son of Dascylus, who, when recalled from banishment in Cappadocia by the Lydian king Sadyattes—called Candaules “the Dog-strangler” (a title of the Lydian Hermes) by the Greeks—sent his son back to Lydia instead of himself. Gyges soon became a favourite of Sadyattes and was despatched by him to fetch Tudo, the daughter of Arnossus of Mysia, whom the Lydian king wished to make his queen. On the way Gyges fell in love with Tudo, who complained to Sadyattes of his conduct. Forewarned that the king intended to punish him with death, Gyges assassinated Sadyattes in the night and seized the throne with the help of Arselis of Mylasa, the captain of the Carian bodyguard, whom he had won over to his cause. Civil war ensued, which was finally ended by an appeal to the oracle of Delphi and the confirmation of the right of Gyges to the crown by the Delphian god. Further to secure his title he married Tudo. Many legends were told among the Greeks about his rise to power. That found in Herodotus, which may be traced to the poet Archilochus of Paros, described how “Candaules” insisted upon showing Gyges his wife when unrobed, which so enraged her that she gave Gyges the choice of murdering her husband and making himself king, or of being put to death himself. Plato made Gyges a shepherd, who discovered a magic ring by means of which he murdered his master and won the affection of his wife (Hdt. i. 8-14; Plato, Rep. 359; Justin i. 7; Cicero, De off. iii. 9). Once established on the throne Gyges devoted himself to consolidating his kingdom and making it a military power. The Troad was conquered, Colophon captured from the Greeks, Smyrna besieged and alliances entered into with Ephesus and Miletus. The Cimmerii, who had ravaged Asia Minor, were beaten back, and an embassy was sent to Assur-bani-pal at Nineveh (about 650 B.C.) in the hope of obtaining his help against the barbarians. The Assyrians, however, were otherwise engaged, and Gyges turned to Egypt, sending his faithful Carian troops along with Ionian mercenaries to assist Psammetichus in shaking off the Assyrian yoke (660 B.C.). A few years later he fell in battle against the Cimmerii under Dugdammē (called Lygdamis by Strabo i. 3. 21), who took the lower town of Sardis. Gyges was succeeded by his son Ardys.
See Nicolaus Damascenus, quoting from the Lydian historian Xanthus, in C. Müller, Fragmenta historicorum Graecorum, iii.; R. Schubert, Geschichte der Könige von Lydien (1884); M. G. Radet, La Lydie et le monde grec au temps de Mermnades (1892-1893): H. Gelzer, “Das Zeitalter des Gyges” (Rhein. Mus., 1875); H. Winckler, Altorientalische Forschungen, i. (1893); Macan’s edition of Herodotus.
(A. H. S.)
GYLIPPUS, a Spartan general of the 5th century B.C.; he was the son of Cleandridas, who had been expelled from Sparta for accepting Athenian bribes (446 B.C.) and had settled at Thurii. His mother was probably a helot, for Gylippus is said to have been, like Lysander and Callicratidas, a mothax (see [Helot]). When Alcibiades urged the Spartans to send a general to lead the Syracusan resistance against the Athenian expedition, Gylippus was appointed, and his arrival was undoubtedly the turning point of the struggle (414-413). Though at first his long hair, his threadbare cloak and his staff furnished the subject of many a jest, and his harsh and overbearing manner caused grave discontent, yet the rapidity and decisiveness of his movements, won the sympathy and respect of the Syracusans. Diodorus (xiii. 28-32), probably following Timaeus, represents him as inducing the Syracusans to pass sentence of death on the captive Athenian generals, but we need have no hesitation in accepting the statement of Philistus (Plutarch, Nicias, 28), a Syracusan who himself took part in the defence, and Thucydides (vii. 86), that he tried, though without success, to save their lives, wishing to take them to Sparta as a signal proof of his success. Gylippus fell, as his father had done, through avarice; entrusted by Lysander with an immense sum which he was to deliver to the ephors at Sparta, he could not resist the temptation to enrich himself and, on the discovery of his guilt, went into exile.
Thucydides vi. 93. 104, vii.; Plutarch, Nicias, 19, 21, 27, 28, Lysander, 16, 17; Diodorus xiii. 7, 8, 28-32; Polyaenus i. 39. 42. See [Syracuse] (for the siege operations), commentaries on Thucydides and the Greek histories.