Editing Gyges of Lydia (section)

==Life, reign and death==
Nothing is known about Gyges's origins except for the Greek historian [[Herodotus]]'s claim that he was the son of a man named [[Dascylus]].{{sfn|Mellink|1991|p=643-655}}

===Rise to power===
Available historical evidence suggests that Gyges became the king of Lydia by overthrowing his predecessor, King [[Candaules]] of the Heraclid dynasty.{{sfn|Mellink|1991|p=643-655}} Gyges was helped in his coup by a Carian prince from [[Milas|Mylasa]] named Arselis,{{sfn|Braun|1982|p=36}}{{sfn|Mellink|1991|p=663}} suggesting that Gyges's Mermnad dynasty might have had good relations with Carian aristocrats, as they provided armed support in his rebellion.<ref name="Leloux-1">{{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=1 |publisher=[[University of Liège]] |docket= |oclc= |url=https://orbi.uliege.be/bitstream/2268/220928/1/The%CC%80se%20entie%CC%80re%20vol%20I.pdf |access-date=5 December 2021 |archive-date=9 October 2022 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://orbi.uliege.be/bitstream/2268/220928/1/The%CC%80se%20entie%CC%80re%20vol%20I.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Gyges's rise to power happened during a period of turmoil following the invasion of the [[Cimmerians]], a nomadic people from the [[Eurasian Steppe]] who had invaded [[Western Asia]], who around 675 BC [[Cimmerian invasion of Phrygia|destroyed the previous major power]] in Anatolia, the kingdom of Phrygia.{{sfn|Cook|1988|p=196-197}}

Immediately after Gyges seized the Lydian throne, the [[Pythia|oracle]] of the god [[Apollo]] at [[Delphi]] confirmed the legitimacy of his kingship. To thank the oracle, Gyges made lavish offerings of gold and silver. These offerings remained at Delphi in the time of [[Herodotus]], who referred to Gyges's dedications as the Gygadas ({{langx|grc|[[wikt:Γυγάδας|Γυγαδας]]}} {{Transliteration|grc|Gugadas}}, and remarked that most of the silver at Delphi was part of it. The most notable of these offerings were six crates made of gold which collectively weighed thirty [[Talent (measurement)|talents]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Dale |first=Alexander |title=Gyges and Delphi: Herodotus 1.14 |date=December 2020 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/classical-quarterly/article/abs/gyges-and-delphi-herodotus-114/DB24FF6A7D649874D9A851A2CE4F109F |journal=The Classical Quarterly |volume=70 |issue=2 |pages=518–523 |doi=10.1017/S000983882000083X |s2cid=232248593 |access-date=3 May 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Mikalson |first=John D. |author-link= |date=2003 |title=Herodotus and Religion in the Persian Wars |url= |location=[[Chapel Hill, North Carolina]] |publisher=[[University of North Carolina Press]] |pages=115–116 |isbn=978-0-807-82798-7 }}</ref><ref name="Leloux-1"/>

===Wars against the Ionians===
Gyges took advantage of the power vacuum created by the Cimmerian invasions to consolidate his kingdom and make it a military power, and, to this end, immediately after coming to power he attacked the [[Ionians|Ionian]] Greek cities of [[Miletus]], [[Smyrna]], and [[Colophon (city)|Colophon]].{{sfn|Cook|1988|p=196-197}} Gyges was, however, unable to conquer Miletus, and he made peace with the city,<ref name="Livius"/> following which Gyges accorded to the Milesians the privilege of colonising the coastal areas of Asia Minor under Lydian control.{{sfn|Graham|1988|p=121}} Gyges's attempt to capture Smyrna likewise failed; the inhabitants of the city were able to repel his attacks. After this, peaceful and friendly relations were established between them. Thereafter, the Lydians used the port of Smyrna to export their products and import grain, and Lydian craftsmen worked in Smyrnian workshops. These close ties ended when Gyges's great-grandson Alyattes conquered Smyrna around 600 BC. Gyges's attack on Colophon enabled him to seize control of its lower city only, and Colophon soon regained its independence and would not be subject to Lydian rule again until Alyattes conquered it.<ref name="Leloux-1"/>

===Alliance with the Carians===
To the south, Gyges continued maintaining alliances with the dynasts of the various city-states of the [[Carians]] which required the Lydian and Carian rulers to support each other, and his successors would continue to maintain these alliances and solidify them through marriage. These connections ensured that the Lydians were able to control [[Caria]] through alliances with Carian dynasts ruling over fortified settlements, such as Mylasa and [[Pedasa]], and through Lydian aristocrats settled in Carian cities, such as [[Aphrodisias]]. In addition to diplomatic ties, the Lydians also shared strong cultural connections with the Carians, such as sharing the sanctuary of the god Zeus of [[Milas|Mylasa]] with the Carians and the Mysians because they believed these three peoples descended from three brothers.<ref name="Leloux-1"/>[[File:Gyges Tablet, British Museum.jpg|thumb|Gyges tablet, British Museum]]

Gyges entertained better relations with the leading [[Aeolis|Aeolian]] Greek city of [[Cyme (Aeolis)|Cyme]], which had already established friendly relations with Lydia during the preceding Heraclid dynasty, and with the [[Ionia]]n Greek city of [[Ephesus]], whose tyrant, Melas the Elder, married one of the daughters of Gyges. These ties with Ephesus would be renewed by Gyges's son [[Ardys of Lydia|Ardys]] through the marriage of his daughter [[Lyde of Lydia|Lyde]] with Melas's grandson Miletus, and by Gyges's great-grandson Alyattes, who married one of his daughters to the Ephesian tyrant Melas the Younger, himself a descendant of both Melas the Elder and of Miletus. These cordial relations between Lydia and Ephesus would continue until they were broken by Gyges's great-great-grandson Croesus.<ref name="Leloux-1"/>

===Wars with the Cimmerians===
In 665 BC, Gyges was faced with a war with the Cimmerians. Around the same time, according to Neo-Assyrian records, Gyges had a dream in which the Assyrian god [[Ashur (god)|Aššur]] appeared to him and told him to seek help from [[Ashurbanipal]] and send him tribute. Gyges contacted the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire|Neo-Assyrian]] court by sending diplomats to [[Nineveh]], but offered him presents only, not tribute, and therefore refused to become a vassal of Assyria. Gyges soon defeated the Cimmerian invaders without Assyrian help, and he sent to Nineveh Cimmerian soldiers captured while ravaging Lydian lands.<ref name="Spalinger1978"/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/cimmerians-nomads |title=CIMMERIANS |last=Tokhtas’ev |first=Sergei R. |date=15 December 1991 |website=[[Encyclopædia Iranica]] |publisher= |access-date=13 November 2021 }}</ref>

===Conquests===
After having repelled the Cimmerians, and with the leading [[Aeolis|Aeolian]] Greek city of [[Cyme (Aeolis)|Cyme]] already having good relations with Lydia, Gyges took advantage of the power vacuum caused by the destruction of the Phrygian kingdom by the Cimmerians to conquer the [[Troad]] region in northern Anatolia without facing much resistance, following which he installed Lydian settlers in the region and created a hunting reserve in [[Cyzicus]]. Under Lydian rule, the city of [[Troy|Ilium]] acquired an important position and became a local administrative centre from which the Lydians exerted their power over the whole Aegean coast of the Troad as well as the coast of the Hellespont where was located the cities of [[Achilleion (Troad)|Achilleion]], [[Abydos (Hellespont)|Abydos]], and [[Neandreia]]. Furthermore, the Lydian rulers built connections with Illium so they could make profits out of the gold mines of [[Astyra (Troad)|Astyra]]. The southern part of the Troad, where were located [[Gargara]], [[Antandrus]], [[Assos]], and [[Lamponeia]] to the south of [[Mount Ida (Turkey)|Mount Ida]] and on the shore of the [[Edremit Gulf]], was administered from Adrymettium.<ref name="Leloux-1"/> In accordance with the monopoly of establishing colonies on lands ruled by the Lydians which Gyges had granted to Miletus, Greek settlers from that city founded the colony of [[Abydos (Hellespont)|Abydus]].{{sfn|Graham|1988|p=121}}

===Sending mercenaries to Egypt===
Gyges's extensive alliances with the Carian dynasts allowed him to recruit Carian and Ionian Greek soldiers to send overseas to assist the [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] king [[Psamtik I]] of the city of [[Sais]], with whom he had established contact around 662 BC. With the help of these armed forces, Psamtik I united Egypt under his rule after eliminating the eleven other kinglets with whom he had been co-ruling [[Lower Egypt]] following [[Esarhaddon]]'s and Ashurbanipal's [[Assyrian conquest of Egypt|invasions]].{{sfn|Braun|1982|p=36}}<ref name="Spalinger1976"/><ref name="Spalinger1978"/>{{sfn|Mellink|1991|p=663}}

Interpretations of these actions as an alliance between Lydia and Sais against Assyria, however, are inaccurate; Psamtik I's military activities were directed solely against the other local kinglets of Lower Egypt and not against Assyria, although Ashurbanipal disapproved of Psamtik I's actions since he knew he needed these kinglets' support to maintain Assyrian power in Egypt.<ref name="Spalinger1976">{{cite journal |last=Spakinger |first=Anthony |date=1976 |title=Psammetichus, King of Egypt: I |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40001126 |journal=Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt  |volume=13 |issue= |pages=133–147 |doi=10.2307/40001126  |jstor=40001126 |access-date=2 November 2021 }}</ref> Moreover, not only had the Assyrians raised Sais to preeminence in Egypt after expelling the Saites' [[Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt|Kushite]] enemies from the country, but the two kings had signed a treaty with each other, and no hostilities between them are recorded. Thus Psamtik I and Ashurbanipal had remained allies since the former had been put in power with Assyrian military support.  Furthermore, the silence of Assyrian sources concerning Psamtik I's expansion imply there was no hostility, whether overt or covert, between Assyria and Sais during Psamtik I's unification of Egypt under his rule.<ref name="Spalinger1976"/><ref name="Spalinger1978"/>

Likewise, Gyges's military support of Psamtik I was not directed against Assyria and is not mentioned as hostile to Assyria or allied with other countries against Assyria in Assyrian records;<ref name="Spalinger1976"/> the Assyrian disapproval of Gyges's support for Psamtik I was primarily motivated by Gyges's refusal to form an alliance with Assyria and his undertaking of these actions independently of Assyria, which the Assyrians interpreted as an act of arrogance, rather than by the support itself.<ref name="Spalinger1978"/>

Gyges's military support to Psamtik I lasted until 658 BC, at which point he faced an impending Cimmerian invasion. The Cimmerians invaded Lydia again in 657 BC, though not much is known about this attack except that Gyges survived it. This event is recorded in the Assyrian oracular reports, where it is called a "bad omen" for the "Westland", that is for Lydia.<ref name="Spalinger1978"/>

===Death===
In 644 BC, Lydia faced a third attack by the Cimmerians, led by their king [[Tugdamme|Lygdamis]]. This time, the Lydians were defeated, Sardis was sacked, and Gyges was killed. Assyrian records blamed Gyges's defeat and death on his decision to act independently from Assyria by sending troops to Psamtik I, and his ending of diplomacy with Assyria, which the Assyrians interpreted as an act of arrogance. He was succeeded by his son [[Ardys of Lydia|Ardys]], who resumed diplomatic relations with Assyria and also had to face the Cimmerians.<ref name="Spalinger1976"/><ref name="Spalinger1978"/>

===Legacy===

Gyges's name was later used on the legends of coins by his great-grandson [[Alyattes]], which read {{Transliteration|xld|Kukalim}} ({{lang|xld|𐤨𐤰𐤨𐤠𐤩𐤦𐤪|}}), meaning "I am of Kukas".<ref name="Browne1"/><ref name="Browne2"/> Some of these coins have a legend {{Transliteration|xld|Walwet}} ({{lang|xld|𐤥𐤠𐤩𐤥𐤤𐤯}}), which is the abbreviation of the Lydian name of Alyattes, {{Transliteration|xld|Walwetes}} ({{lang|xld|[[wikt:𐤥𐤠𐤩𐤥𐤤𐤯𐤤𐤮|𐤥𐤠𐤩𐤥𐤤𐤯𐤤𐤮]]}}), on one side and on the other side have the legend {{Transliteration|xld|Kukalim}}, which in this context meant "I am the son/descendant of {{Transliteration|xld|Kukas}}" by which Alyattes was declaring his belonging to the dynasty of Gyges.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Dale |first=Alexander |date=2015 |title=WALWET and KUKALIM: Lydian coin legends, dynastic succession, and the chronology of Mermnad kings |url=https://www.academia.edu/29719834 |journal=Kadmos |volume=54 |issue= |pages=151–166 |doi=10.1515/kadmos-2015-0008 |s2cid=165043567 |access-date=10 November 2021}}</ref><ref name="Bianconi"/>