Editing Lydia (section)

=====Alyattes=====
{{main|Alyattes of Lydia}}
Amidst extreme turmoil, Sadyattes was succeeded in 635 BC by his son [[Alyattes of Lydia|Alyattes]], who would transform Lydia into a powerful empire.{{sfn|Herodotus|1975|p=46}}<ref name="Dale"/>

Soon after Alyattes's ascension and early during his reign, with Assyrian approval<ref>{{harvnb|Grousset|1970|p=[https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppesh00prof/page/8 9] |quote=A Scythian army, acting in conformity with Assyrian policy, entered Pontis to crush the last of the Cimmerians.}}</ref> and in alliance with the Lydians,{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=126}} the [[Scythians]] under their king [[Madyes]] entered Anatolia, expelled the Treres from Asia Minor, and defeated the Cimmerians so that they no longer constituted a threat again, following which the Scythians extended their domination to Central Anatolia<ref>{{cite journal |last=Phillips |first=E. D. |date=1972 |title=The Scythian Domination in Western Asia: Its Record in History, Scripture and Archaeology |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/123971 |journal=World Archaeology |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=129–138 |doi= 10.1080/00438243.1972.9979527|jstor=123971 |access-date=5 November 2021 }}</ref> until they were themselves expelled by the [[Medes]] from Western Asia in the 590s BC.<ref name="Spalinger1978"/> This final defeat of the Cimmerians was carried out by the joint forces of Madyes, whom [[Strabo]] credits with expelling the Treres and Cimmerians from Asia Minor, and of Alyattes, whom [[Herodotus]] and [[Polyaenus]] claim finally defeated the Cimmerians.{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993|p=95-125}}{{sfn|Ivantchik|2006|p=151}}
[[File:Alyattes.png|thumb|Tomb of Alyattes.]]

Alyattes turned towards [[Phrygia]] in the east, where extended Lydian rule eastwards to Phrygia.<ref name="Leloux-2">{{cite thesis |last=Leloux |first=Kevin |date=2018 |title=La Lydie d'Alyatte et Crésus: Un royaume à la croisée des cités grecques et des monarchies orientales. Recherches sur son organisation interne et sa politique extérieure |type=PhD |volume=2 |publisher=[[University of Liège]] |docket= |oclc= |url=https://orbi.uliege.be/bitstream/2268/220928/2/The%cc%80se%20entie%cc%80re%20vol%20II.pdf |access-date=1 May 2022 |archive-date=9 October 2022 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://orbi.uliege.be/bitstream/2268/220928/2/The%cc%80se%20entie%cc%80re%20vol%20II.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Alyattes continued his expansionist policy in the east, and of all the peoples to the west of the Halys River whom Herodotus claimed Alyattes's successor Croesus ruled over - the [[Lydians]], [[Phrygians]], [[Mysians]], [[Mariandyni]], [[Chalybes]], [[Paphlagonia]]ns, [[Thyni]] and [[Bithyni]] [[Thracians]], [[Carians]], [[Ionians]], [[Doric Hexapolis|Dorians]], [[Aeolis|Aeolians]], and [[Pamphylia]]ns - it is very likely that a number of these populations had already been conquered under Alyattes, and it is not impossible that the Lydians might have subjected Lycia, given that the Lycian coast would have been important for the Lydians because it was close to a trade route connecting the [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]] region, the [[Levant]], and [[Cyprus]].<ref name="Leloux-2"/><ref name="Lendering 2003">{{cite web |url=https://www.livius.org/articles/person/alyattes/ |title=Alyattes of Lydia |last=Lendering |first=Jona |author-link=Jona Lendering |date=2003 |website=Livius |publisher= |access-date=7 May 2022 }}</ref>[[File:Bin Tepe, funeral mound.jpg|thumb|left|[[Bin Tepe]] royal funeral [[tumulus]] (tomb of Alyattes, father of Croesus), Lydia, 6th century BC.]][[File:Map of Lydia ancient times.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Lydia's borders under the reign of Croesus]]

Alyattes's eastern conquests brought the Lydian Empire in conflict in the 590s BC with the [[Medes]],<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Boardman |editor1-first=John |editor1-link=John Boardman (art historian) |editor2-last=Edwards |editor2-first=I. E. S. |editor2-link=I. E. S. Edwards |editor3-last=Hammond |editor3-first=N. G. L. |editor3-link=N. G. L. Hammond |editor4-last=Sollberger |editor4-first=E. |editor4-link=Edmond Sollberger |editor5-last=Walker |editor5-first=C. B. F. |last1=Sulimirski |first1=Tadeusz |author-link=Tadeusz Sulimirski |last2=Taylor |first2=T. F. |author-link2=Timothy Taylor (archaeologist) |date=1991 |title=The Cambridge Ancient History |volume=3 |chapter=The Scythians |issue=2 |url= |location=[[Cambridge]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |pages=547–590 |isbn=978-1-139-05429-4}}</ref> and a war broke out between the Median and Lydian Empires in 590 BC which was waged in eastern Anatolia lasted five years, until a [[Eclipse of Thales|solar eclipse]] occurred in 585 BC during [[Battle of the Eclipse|a battle]] (hence called the Battle of the Eclipse) opposing the Lydian and Median armies, which both sides interpreted as an omen to end the war. The Babylonian king [[Nebuchadnezzar II]] and the king [[Syennesis]] of [[Kingdom of Cilicia (ancient)|Cilicia]] acted as mediators in the ensuing peace treaty, which was sealed by the marriage of the Median king Cyaxares's son [[Astyages]] with Alyattes's daughter [[Aryenis]], and the possible wedding of a daughter of Cyaxares with either Alyattes or with his son Croesus.{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|page=125-126}}<ref name="The Battle of the Eclipse">{{cite journal|url=https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/207259|title=The Battle of the Eclipse|last1=Leloux|first1=Kevin|journal=Polemos: Journal of Interdisciplinary Research on War and Peace|date=December 2016|volume=19|issue=2|publisher=Polemos|hdl=2268/207259|access-date=2019-04-30}}</ref><ref name="Leloux-2"/><ref name="Rollinger 2003 1–12">{{cite book |last=Rollinger |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Rollinger |editor-last1=Lanfranchi |editor-first1=Giovanni B. |editor-last2=Roaf |editor-first2=Michael |editor-link2=Michael Roaf |editor-last3=Rollinger |editor-first3=Robert |editor-link3=Robert Rollinger |date=2003 |title=Continuity of Empire (?) Assyria, Media, Persia |chapter=The Western Expansion of the Median ‘Empire’: A Re-Examination |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/13842356 |location=[[Padua]] |publisher=S.a.r.g.o.n. Editrice e Libreria |pages=1–12 |isbn=978-9-990-93968-2 }}</ref>