Editing Gyges of Lydia (section)

===Other legends about Gyges===
In the second book of [[Plato]]'s philosophical work ''[[Republic (Plato)|The Republic]]'', [[Glaucon]] recounts the story of the [[Ring of Gyges]] to [[Socrates]], using it to illustrate a point about [[human nature]]. Some scholars have suggested that Plato's story was based on a now-lost older version of the myth, while others argue that Plato invented it himself, using elements from Herodotus's story of Gyges.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Danzig |first=Gabriel |doi=10.1017/S001738350800051X |title=Rhetoric and the Ring: Herodotus and Plato on the Story of Gyges as a Politically Expedient Tale |journal=Greece & Rome |volume=55 |issue=2 |year=2008 |pages=169–192|s2cid=162212810 |quote=It is usually thought that these two stories are based on older sources, either two different versions of the story of Gyges or, as K. F. Smith argued, a single longer version of the story, which served as the source for both authors. A third possibility has also been raised: Andrew Laird has recently argued that Plato largely invented his version of the story, inspired primarily by his reading of Herodotus's version.}}</ref> It tells of a man named Gyges who lived in [[Lydia]], an area in modern Turkey. He is a [[shepherd]] for the king of that land. One day, there is an [[earthquake]] while Gyges is out in the fields, and he notices that a new cave has opened up in a rock face. When he goes in to see what is there, he notices a gold ring on the finger of a former giant king buried in the cave, in an iron horse with a window in its side. He takes the ring and soon discovers that it enables the wearer to become [[Invisibility|invisible]]. The next time he goes to the palace to give the king a report about his sheep, he puts the ring on, seduces the queen, kills the king, and takes control of the palace.

In ''The Republic'', Glaucon argues that men are inherently unjust, and are only restrained from unjust behavior by the fetters of law and society. In Glaucon's view, unlimited power blurs the difference between just and unjust men. He tells Socrates:
<blockquote>
Suppose there were two such magic rings, and the just [man] put on one of them and the unjust the other; no man can be imagined to be of such an iron nature that he would stand fast in justice. No man would keep his hands off what was not his own when he could safely take what he liked out of the market or go into houses and lie with anyone at his pleasure, or kill or release from prison whom he would, and in all respects be like a god among men. Then the actions of the just would be as the actions of the unjust; they would both come at last to the same point.
</blockquote>
Socrates concludes, however, that a truly just man is not a slave to his appetites, so that the opportunities afforded by the ring would not tempt him to abandon his principles.

Many [[Bible]] scholars<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bøe |first=Sverre |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vettpBoVOX4C |title=Gog and Magog: Ezekiel 38-39 as Pre-text for Revelation 19, 17-21 and 20,7-10 |date=2001 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |isbn=978-3-16-147520-7 |language=en}}</ref> believe that Gyges of Lydia is the Biblical [[Gog and Magog|Gog]], ruler of [[Magog (Bible)|Magog]], who is mentioned in the [[Book of Ezekiel]] and the [[Book of Revelation]].