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Historical
Lydia
was situated in the Western part of Asia Minor on the river
Galis with its main city Sardis. It was first mentioned by
Homer in the 8th century BC under the name Maeonia. It was
celebrated for fertile soil and rich deposits of gold and
silver. Lydia became most powerful under the dynasty of the
Mermnadae [royal family to rule Lydia to the time of Cyrus].
In the 6th century BC, Lydian conquests transformed the kingdom
into an empire. Under the rule of King Croesus, Lydia attained
its greatest splendor. The empire came to an end, however,
when the Persian ruler Cyrus the Great captured Sardeis about
546 BC and incorporated Lydia into the Persian Empire.
In the
first decade of the fifth century, Lydia was a frontier area,
because the Greeks on the Asian west coast - or Yaunâ,
as the Persians called them - revolted in 499 BC and sacked
the lower city of Sardeis. They held out for five years but
the resurrection was eventually suppressed. Artaphernes surprised
the Greek world by his lenient treatment of the defeated rebels,
although it seems that rich Persian landlords took over many
country estates. From then on, many Iranians were living in
Lydia, and there are indications of worship of eastern gods
(e.g., Anahita) and "persification" of Lydian deities.
In 440
BC, the satrap Pissuthnes unsucessfully tried to reconquer
Samos, which had revolted against Athens. When Athens was
involved in the Peloponnesian war against Sparta (431-404
BC), Pissuthnes tried to expand his influence among the Ionians
by supporting almost every rebel in the Athenian empire (e.g.,
Kolophon, Lesbos). In 420 BC, Pissuthnes revolted against
king Darius II Nothus. The king sent a nobleman named Tissaphernes
to Lydia, who arrested, executed, and succeed the satrap in
ca. 415 BC. Later, Darius sent his younger son Cyrus to govern
Lydia; Tissaphernes, although demoted, remained loyal, and
was able to regain his position later when Cyrus unsuccessfully
revolted.
As Sparta
had defeated Athens, and as leader of the Greek world, it
felt it had to intervene in Asia. Tissaphernes overcame the
invasion of Thibron (399 BC), but was defeated at Sardeis
by the Spartan king Agesilaus. The satrap was executed and
replaced by Tiribazos, who restored order in Lydia and was
responsible for the first of a series of treaties between
the Persian king and the Greek city states, the so-called
King's Peace of 387/386 BC. The next satrap we know of is
Autophradates, who was the great king's loyal supporter during
the series of revolts, started in 370 BC by Datames of Cappadocia
and continued by Ariobarzanes of Hellespontine Phrygia and
Orontes of Mysia (367-360 BC).
The last
satrap of Lydia was Spithridates, who was killed by the Macedonian
conqueror Alexander the Great in the battle at the Granicus
(spring 334 BC). In the early summer, Sardeis surrendered.
From then on, Lydia was to be ruled by Greek-speaking governors,
first as part of the empire of Alexander, then controlled
by Antigonus Monophthalmus, after 301 BC by Lysimachos, from
281 to 190 BC as province of the Seleukid Empire. Often, they
did direct business with the cities, and as an administrative
unit Lydia became obsolete. King Seleukos I, founded Thyateira,
his son Antiochos I founded Stratonikeia, and Antiochos III
resettled 2,000 Jewish families from Babylonia to Lydia. The
Greek language spread across the country, many buildings were
rebuilt according to Greek archaeological designs, and many
towns invented myths to prove they had been founded by Greek
heroes like Heracles or warriors from the Trojan war.
When the
Romans defeated the Seleukid king Antiochos III, they first
gave Lydia to their ally, the kingdom of Pergamon, and then
added it to their own empire in 133 BC. From then on, Lydia
was officially known as the Roman province of Asia. [Based
on article by Jona Lendering - Livius.org]
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