Editing Croesus (section)

=== Interview with Solon ===
[[File:Banville - Ésope, 1893.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Aesop]] in front of Croesus]]
According to [[Herodotus]], Croesus encountered the Greek sage [[Solon]] and showed him his enormous wealth.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+1.29.1&redirect=true|title=Herodotus, The Histories, Book 1, chapter 29, section 1|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu|accessdate=Feb 19, 2023}}</ref> Croesus, secure in his own wealth and happiness, asked Solon who the happiest man in the world was, and was disappointed by Solon's response that three had been happier than Croesus: [[Tellus (Ancient Athens)|Tellus]], who died fighting for his country, and the brothers [[Kleobis and Biton]] who died peacefully in their sleep after their mother prayed for their perfect happiness because they had demonstrated [[filial piety]] by drawing her to a festival in an oxcart themselves.

[[File:Francken Croesus showing his treasures.jpg|thumb|Croesus showing his treasures to Solon. [[Frans Francken the Younger]], 17th century]]
Solon goes on to explain that Croesus cannot be the happiest man because the fickleness of fortune means that the happiness of a man's life cannot be judged until after his death. Sure enough, Croesus' [[hubris]]tic happiness was reversed by the tragic deaths of his accidentally killed son and, according to [[Ctesias]], his wife's suicide at the fall of Sardis, not to mention his defeat at the hands of the Persians.

The interview is in the nature of a philosophical disquisition on the subject "Which man is happy?" It is legendary rather than historical. Thus, the "happiness" of Croesus is presented as a moralistic ''[[exemplum]]'' of the fickleness of [[Tyche]], a theme that gathered strength from the fourth century, revealing its late date. The story was later retold and elaborated by [[Ausonius]] in ''The Masque of the Seven Sages'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/deciausonius01ausouoft|title=Ausonius, with an English translation|first1=Decimus Magnus|last1=Ausonius|first2=Hugh G. (Hugh Gerard)|last2=Evelyn-White|date=Feb 21, 1919|publisher=London W. Heinemann|accessdate=Feb 19, 2023|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> in the ''[[Suda]]'' (entry "Μᾶλλον ὁ Φρύξ," which adds [[Aesop]] and the [[Seven Sages of Greece]]),<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.academia.edu/26727807|title=Μᾶλλον ὁ Φρύξ. Creso e la sapienza greca|first1=Francesca|last1=Gazzano|first2=Luisa Moscati|last2=Castelnuovo|via=www.academia.edu}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Solone e Creso : variazioni letterarie, filosofiche e inconografiche su un tema erodoteo : atti della giornata di studi - Macerata 10 marzo 2015 |date=June 2016 |location=Macerata |isbn=978-88-6056-460-3 |edition=Primaizione |last1=Castelnuovo |first1=Luisa Moscati }}</ref> and by [[Tolstoy]] in his short story "[[Croesus and Fate]]".

[[File:Silver croeseid protomes CdM.jpg|thumb|Silver croeseid issued by King Croesus of Lydia (561–545 BC), obverse: lion and bull protomes]]