Conquest of Lydia

    As soon as Cyrus had become established on his throne as King of the Medes and Persians, his influence and power began to extend westward toward the confines of the empire of Croesus, king of Lydia. Croesus was aroused by this threatening danger. The Halys River, a great river of Asia Minor, which flows northward into the Black Sea, was the eastern boundary of the Lydian empire. Croesus began to entertain the design of raising an army and crossing the Halys, to invade the empire of Cyrus, thinking that that would perhaps be safer policy than to wait for Cyrus to cross the Halys, and bring the war upon him. Still, the enterprise of invading Persia was a vast undertaking, and the responsibility great of being aggressor in the contest. After carefully considering the subject in all its aspects, Croesus found himself still perplexed and undecided.

    The Greeks had a method into futurity, and of ascertaining, as they imagined, by supernatural means, the course of future events, which was peculiar to that people; at least no other nation seems ever to have practiced it. It was by means of the oracles. There were four or five localities in the Grecian countries which possessed, as the people thought, the property of inspiring persons who visited them, or of giving to some natural object certain supernatural powers by which future events could be foretold. The three most important of these oracles were situated at Delphi, at Dodona, and at the Oasis of Jupiter Ammon. Temples were built at these sites. People who came to visit them brought large amounts of presents both for the priestesses and the shrine. These gifts, it was supposed, tended to induce the god who presided over the oracle to give to those who made them favorable and auspicious replies. Questions were asked and the priestesses would formulate results according to certain rules.

    But to return to Croesus. He wished to ascertain, by consulting some of these oracles, what the result of his proposed invasion of the dominions of Cyrus would be, in case he should undertake it; and in order to determine which of the various oracles were most worthy of reliance, he conceived the plan of putting them all to a preliminary test. He effected this object in the following manner: He dispatched a number of messengers from Sardis, his capital, sending one to each of the various orackes. Each dispatched messenger was to arrive to their destined oracle within one hundred days. On that one hundredth day, each messenger would have to ask the priestess, and inquire what Croesus, king of Lydia, was doing at that day. Based on the answers, he would decide which of the oracles was best fit to guide him about the plan of whether invading Persia of not. All messengers came back and it turned out that the Oracle at Delphi was the most reliable one. He now prepared to consult the oracle at Delphi. He would ask to see whether he would win against Cyrus if he were to invade Persia. The answer was as follows:

"If Croesus crosses the Halys, and prosecutes a war with Persia, a mighty empire will be overthrown. It will be best for him to form an alliance with the most powerful states of Greece."

    Croesus was extremely pleased with this response. He immediately resolved on undertaking the expedition against Cyrus. There were, in fact, three inducements which combined their influence on the mind of Croesus, in leading him to cross the Halys, and invade the dominions of the Medes and the Persians: first, he was ambitious to extend his own empire; secondly, he feared that if he did not attack Cyrus, Cyrus would himself cross the Halys and attack him; and, thirdly, he felt under some obligation to consider himself the ally of Astyages, and thus bound to espouse his cause and to aid him in putting down, if possible, the usurpation of Cyrus, and in recovering his Throne. He felt under this obligation because Astyages was his brother-in-law; for the latter had married, many years before, a daughter of Alyattes, who was the father of Croesus. For these reasons and the responses of the oracles, he was determined on attempting the invasion Persia.

    The first measure which Croesus adopted was to form and alliance with the most powerful of the states of Greece, as he had been directed to do by the oracle. These states were already on friendly terms with Croesus. One of his counselors, whose name was Sardaris, ventured, one day, strongly to dissuade him from undertaking the expedition. "You have nothing to gain by it, " sai he, "if you succeed, and every thing to lose if you fail. Consider what sort of people these Persians are whom you are going to combat. They live in the most rude and simple manner. Without luxuries, without pleasures, without wealth. If you conquer their country, you will find nothing in it worth bringing away. On the other hand, if they conquer you, thy will come like a vast band of plunderers into Lydia, where there is every thing to tempt and reward them. I council you to leave them alone, and to remain on this side of the Halys, thankful if Cyrus will be contented to remain on the other." But Croesus was not in a mood of mind to be persuaded by such reasoning.

    When all things were ready, the army commenced its march and moved eastward, through one province of Asia Minor after another, until they reached and crossed the river Halys. The Halys being thus passed, Croesus moved on in the direction of Media. But he soon found that he had not far to go to find his enemy. Cyrus had heard of his plans through deserters and spies, and he had for some time been advancing to meet Croesus. One after the other of the nations through whose dominions Cyrus had passed, he had subjected to his sway, or, at least, brought under his influence by treaties and alliances, and had received from them all re enforcements to swell the numbers of his army. One nation only remained- the Babylonians. They were on the side of Croesus. They were jealous of the growing power of the Medes and Persians, and had made a league with Croesus, promising to aid him in the war. The other nations of the East were in alliance with Cyrus, and he was slowly moving on, at the head of an immense combined force, toward the Halys, at the very time when Croesus was crossing the stream.

    The scouts, therefore, that proceeded the army of Croesus on its march, soon began to fall back into camp, with intelligence that there was a large armed force coming on the to meet them, the advancing columns filling all the roads, and threatening to overwhelm them. The scouts from the army of Cyrus carried back similar intelligence to him. The two armies accordingly harlted and began to prepare for battle. The place of their meeting was called Pteria. It was in the province of Cappadocia, and toward the eastern part of Asia Minor. A great battle was fought at Pteria. It was continued all day, and remained undecided when the sun went down. The combatants separated when it became dark, and each withdrew from the field. Each king found, it seems, that his antagonist was more formidable than he had imagined, and on the morning after the battle they both seemed inclined to remain in their respective encampments, without evincing any disposition to renew the contest. Croesus, in fact, seems to have considered that he was fortunate in having so far repulsed the formidable invasion which Cyrus had been intending for him. He considered Cyrus's army as repulsed, since they had withdrawn form the field, and showed no disposition to return to it. He had no doubt that Cyrus would now go back to Media again, having found how well prepared Croesus had been to receive him. For himself, he concluded that he ought to be satisfied with the advantage which he had already gained, as the result of one campaign, and return again to Sardes to recruit his army, the force of which had been considerably impaired by the battle, and so postpone the grand invasion till the next season. He accordingly set out on his return. He dispatched messengers, at the same time to Babylon, to Sparta, to Egypt, and to other countries with which he was in alliance, informing these various nations of the great battle of Pteria and its results, and asking them to send him, early in the following spring, all the re-enforcements that they could command, to join him in the grand campaign which he was going to make the next season against Cyrus.

    Croesus continued his march towards home without any interruption, sending off, from time to time, as he was moving through his own dominions, such portions of his troops as desired to return to their homes, enjoining upon them to come back to him in the spring. By this temporary disbanding of a potion of his army, he saved the expense of maintaining them through the winter.

    Very soon after Croesus arrived at Sardis, the whole country in the neighborhood of the capital was thrown into a state of universal alarm by the news that Cyrus was close at hand. It seems that Cyrus had remained in the vicinity of Pteria long enough to allow Croesus to return, and to give him time to dismiss his troops and establish himself securely in the city. Cyrus then suddenly resumed his march, and came on toward Sardes with the utmost possible dispatch. Croesus, in fact, had no announcement of Cyrus's approach until he heard of his arrival. All was now confusion and alarm, both within and without the city. Croesus hastily collected all the forces that he could command. He sent immediately to the neighboring cities, summoning all the troops in them to hasten to the capital. In a very short time Croesus collected a formidable force and there waited, with much anxiety and solicitude, for Cyrus to come on.

    Cyrus's army met Croesus' outside of the city of Sardes. The consequence was, that the army of Croesus was wholly defeated ; they fled in confusion, and crowded in vast throngs thought the gates into the city, and fortified themselves there.

    Cyrus advanced to the city, invested it closely on all sides, and commenced the siege. But the appearances were not very encouraging. The walls were lofty, thick, and strong, and the numbers within the city were amply sufficient to guard them. Nor was the prospect much more promising of being soon able to reduce the city by famine. The wealth of Croesus had enabled him to lay up almost inexhaustible stores of food and clothing, as well as treasures of silver and gold. Croesus hoped, therefore, to be able to hold out against the besiegers until help should come from some of his allies. He had sent messengers to them, asking them to come to his rescue without any delay, before he was shut up in the city.

    The city of Sardis was built in a position naturally strong, and one part of the wall passed over rocky precipices which were considered entirely impassable. There was a sort of glen or rocky gorge in this quarter, outside of the walls, down which dead bodies were thrown on occasion, at a time when the city was besieged, and beasts and birds of prey fed upon them there undisturbed, so lonely was the place and so desolate. Cyrus continued the siege fourteen days, and then he determined that he must , in some way or other, find the means of carrying it by assault, and to do this he must find some place to scale the walls. He accordingly sent a party of horsemen around to explore every part, offering them a large reward if they would find any place where an entrance could be effected. The horsemen found no result. At length a certain solder, named Hyraeades, after studying for some time the precipices on the side which had been deemed inaccessible, say a sentinel, who was stationed on the walls above, leave his post and come climbing down the rocks for some distance o get his helmet, which had accidentally dropped down. Hyraeades watched him oath as he descended and as he returned. He communicated his discovery to others, and in the end, the attempt was made and was successful. Hyraeades went up first, followed by a few daring spirits who were ambitious of the glory of the exploit. The way being thus shown, great numbers followed on, and so lare a force succeeded in thus gaining an entrance that the city was taken.

    Cyrus had given orders to his soldiers, both before the great battle on the plain and during the siege, that, though they might have to slain opposition soldiers, they must not harm Croesus. He was finally made prisoner, and taken away to Cyrus. Cyrus had not ordered his soldiers to spare the life of Croesus in battle from any sentiment of humanity toward him, but because he wished to have his case reserved for his own decision. When Croesus was brought to him a captive, he ordered him to be put in chains, and carefully guarded. As soon as some degree of order was restored in the city, a large funeral pile was erected, by his directions, in a public square, and Croesus and fourteen of his high officers were brought to the spot. They were to be burned. Croesus was very silent. His heart sank within him as he thought of the dreadful fate that was before him. The spectators stood by in solemn silence, awaiting the end. Croesus broke this awful pause by crying out, in a tone of anguish and despair, "Oh Solon! Solon! Solon!"

    The officers who had charge of the execution asked him what he meant. Cyrus, too, who was himself personally superintending the scene, asked for an explanation. Croesus was, for a time, too much agitated and disturbed to reply. There were difficulties in respect to language, too, which embarrassed the conversation, as the two kings could speak to each other only through an interpreter. At length Croesus gave an account of his interview with Solon, and the sentiment which this philosopher had expressed, that no one could decide whether a man was truly prosperous and happy till it was determined how his life was to end. Croesus also told about the predictions of the Oracles. Cyrus was greatly interested in this narrative. He ordered the execution to be stopped.

    The oracle was right by saying that a great empire would collapse. That great empire was Croesus's Lydia, not Cyrus's Persia. Croesus had made the wrong interpretation of what the oracle had said. His crossing of the Halys River would cause the destruction of a mighty empire, meaning that of Lydia. Croesus remained after this for a long time with Cyrus, and accompanied him in his subsequent campaigns.

 

 

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