Croesus (Lydian king)

Croesus ruled Lydia in the sixth century BCE until Cyrus the Great conquered his kingdom. Ancient accounts made his wealth proverbial and cast his defeat as a lesson about fortune.

Mermnad dynasty: The Lydian royal house that ruled from the eighth century BCE until Cyrus the Great conquered Lydia. Croesus was the last major ruler of this dynasty.
Cyrus the Great: The founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, who conquered Lydia and defeated Croesus. His victory ended Croesus’s rule and brought Lydia under Persian control.
Electrum: A naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver used in some of the earliest coins. Lydia’s early coinage was made from this gold-silver alloy.
Croesus and Solon: A story in Herodotus in which Solon warns Croesus that no living person can be called happy before life ends. The encounter makes Croesus’s later reversal a test of Solon’s claim.
Gyges of Lydia: A Lydian king who founded the Mermnad dynasty in the seventh century BCE. This dynasty’s founder began the royal line Croesus inherited.
Solon: An Athenian lawgiver and poet whom Greek tradition places in conversation with Croesus. Herodotus uses Solon’s warning about fortune to frame Croesus’s story.
Lydian coinage: Coins produced in ancient Lydia, including early stamped electrum pieces and later gold and silver issues. Lydian coinage embodies the wealth associated with Croesus’s kingdom.
Croesus on the pyre: A Herodotean episode in which Croesus, condemned to burn after his capture, invokes Solon and is spared. The episode links Croesus’s defeat to a sudden turn in his fate.
Alyattes of Lydia: A Lydian king who expanded his kingdom and was Croesus’s father. Croesus succeeded his father after Lydia’s territorial expansion.
Herodotus: A fifth-century BCE Greek historian whose Histories recount Croesus’s rise, decisions, and defeat. His narrative is the fullest surviving account of Croesus.

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