820 
L Y D I A. 
chiefly from Guido Colonna ; and the Troy Boke, or 
■Dsftruflion of Troy, from the fame writer: the two lat¬ 
ter have been printed. Of his other pieces Mr. Rirfon 
has given a lift amounting to 251, exifting in MS. in dif¬ 
ferent libraries. Warton's Hijl. of Engl. Poetry. 
LYD'IA, in ancient geography, a celebrated kingdom 
of Alia Minor. All the ancient writers tell us, that 
Lydia was firft called Maonia or Meonia, from Meon king 
of Phrygia and Lydia ; and that it was known under no 
other denomination till the reign of Atys, when it began 
to be called Lydia from his fon Lydus. Bochart, finding 
in his learned coilectio'n of Phoenician words the verb luz , 
fignifying “ to wind ;” and cbferving that the country 
we are fpeaking of is watered by the Masander, fo famous 
for its windings ; concludes that it was thence named Lydia, 
or India. As to the ancient name of Mteonin, he takes 
it to be a Greek tranflation of the Phoenician word lud ; 
wherein he agrees in forne meafure with Stephanus, who 
derives the name of Maonia from Maeon, the ancient 
name of the Mseander. Some take the word maonia to be 
a tranflation of a Hebrew word fignifying “ metal,” becaufe 
that country, fay they, was in former times enriched above 
any other with mines. Though Lydia and Mteonia are by 
tnoft authors indifferently ufed for one and the fame coun¬ 
try, yet they are fometiines diffinguiflied ; that part where 
Mount Tmolus flood, watered by the Pactoius, Being 
properly called Maonia ; and the other, lying on the coaft, 
Lydia. This diftindtion is ufed by Homer, Callimachus, 
Dionyfius, and other ancient writers. In after-ages, when 
the lonians, who had planted a colony on the coaft of 
the Egean Sea, began to make fome figure, that part was 
•called Iowa, and the name; of Lydia given to the ancient 
Masonia.—Lydia, according to Pliny, Ptolemy, and other 
ancient geographers, was bounded by Myfia Major on the 
north, by Caria on the fouth, by Phrygia Major on the 
eaft, and Ionia on the welt, lying between the 37th and 
39th degrees of north latitude. What the ancients ftyle 
1 the kingdom of Lydia , was not confined within thefe nar¬ 
row boundaries, but extended from Halys to the Egean 
Sea. Pliny’s defcription includes Asolia, lying between 
■the Hermus and the Cai'cus. 
As to the origin of the Lydians, Jofephus, and after 
him all the ecclefialtical writers, derive them from Lud, 
Shem’s fourth fon ; (Gen. x. 22.) but this opinion lias 
110 other foundation than the fimilitude of names. Some 
of the ancients will have the Lydians to be a mixed colony 
of Phrygians, Myfians, and Carians. Others, finding fome 
Conformity in religion ana religious ceremonies between 
the Egyptians and the Tufcans, who were a Lydian co¬ 
lony, conclude them, without any farther evidence, to be 
originally Egyptians, defcending from Ludim, the foil of 
Mizraim, (Gen. x. 13.) and famed for their fkill in the 
ufe of the bow, (Ifa. lxvi. 19. Jer. xlvi. 9. See alfo Ezek. 
xxx. 5. and 1 Macc. viii. 8.) All we know for certain is, 
that the Lydians were a very ancient nation, as is mani- 
fieft from their very fables; for Atys, Tantalus, Pelops, 
Niobe, and Arachne, are all faid to have been the children 
of Lydus. And Zanthus, in his Lydiaca , quoted by Ste¬ 
phanus, informs us, that the ancient city of Afcalon, one 
of the five fatrapies of the Philiftines, mentioned in the 
books of Jofhua and the Judges, was built by one Afcalus, 
a Lydian, whom Achiamus king of Lydia had appointed 
to command a body of troops which he fent, we know 
not on what occafion, into Syria. The Heraclidae, or 
kings of Lydia delcended from Hercules, began to reign 
before the Trojan war; and had been preceded by a long 
feries of fovereigns fprung from Atys, and hence ftyled 
Atyada 5 a ftrong proof of the antiquity of that king¬ 
dom. 
The Lydians began very early to be ruled by kings, 
whofe government leemsto have been truly defpoiic, arid 
the crown hereditary. We read of three diftintt races of 
kings reigning over Lydia, viz. the Atyadte, the Hera- 
•clidae, and the Mermnad®. 
.The Alyada were fo called from Atys the fon of Cotys, 
and grandfon of Mane? the firft Lydian king. But the 
hiftory of this family is obfcure and fabulous.' 
i The Atyadre were fucceeded by the Heraclida, or the 
defcendants of Hercules. For Hercules being, by the di- 
ledlion of the oracle, fold as a flave to Omphale, a queen 
of Lydia, to expiate the murder of Iphitus, had, during 
his captivity, by one of her flavts, a fon named. CleolauL, 
whofe grandfon Argon was the firft of the Heraclid® that 
afcended the throne of Lydia. This race is faid to have 
reigned five hundred and five years, the fon fucceedino- 
the father for twenty-two generations. They began to 
reign about the time of the Trojan war. The laft of the 
family was the unhappy Candaules, who loft bqth his life 
and kingdom by liis imprudence: an event of which we 
have given an account under the article Greece, vol. viii. 
p. 81.9. and Gygfs, vol. ix. 
Gyges, having thus poffeffed himfelf of the kingdom of 
Lydia, fent many rich and valuable prefents to the oracle of 
Delphos; among others, fix cups of gold weighing thirty 
talents, and greatly efteemed for the workmanilifp. He 
made war.on Miletus and Smyrna, took the city of Co¬ 
lophon, and fubdued the whole country of Troas. *In his 
reign, and by his permifiicn, the city of Abydus was built 
by the Milefians. Plutarch and other writers relate his 
acceflion to the crown of Lydia in a quite different man¬ 
ner; and tell us, without making any mention of the 
queen, that Gyges rebelled againft Candaules, and flew 
him in an engagement. I11 Gyges began the third race, 
called Mcrmnada ; who were alio, properly fpeaking, He¬ 
rat i id®, being defcended from a fon of Hercules by Om- 
pliale. Gyges reigned thirty-eight years, and was fuc¬ 
ceeded By his fon Ardyes. 
This prince carried on the war againft the Milefians 
which his father had begun ; and poflefled himfelf of 
Priene, in thofe days a ftrong city. In his reign the Cim¬ 
merians invaded and overran all Alia Minor; but what 
battles were fought between the Lydians and thefe inva¬ 
ders, and with what fuccefs, we find no where mentioned. 
Herodotus only informs us, that in the time of Ardyes 
they poflefled themfelves of Sardis, the metropolis of Ly¬ 
dia, but could never reduce the caftle. Ardyes reiened 
forty-nine years, and was fucceeded by his fon Sadyattes, 
who reigned twelve years, and warred nioft part of his 
reign with the Milefians. 
After him came his fon Alyattes, who continued the 
war which his father had begun againft the Milefians, 
ravaging their country, and about harveft-time carrying 
away ali their corn yearly, in order to oblige them, for 
want of provifions, to furrender their city, which he knew 
he could not reduce any other way, the Milefians being 
at that time mafters of the lea. In the twelfth year of 
this war, Alyattes having (for the reafon afligned under 
the article Greece) difpatched ainbafladors to Miletus., 
to conclude a truce ; ThrafybuluSj then king of Miletus, 
commanded all the corn that was at that time in the city 
to bi brought into the market-place, ordering the citi¬ 
zens to banquet in public, and revel as if the city were 
plentifully ftored with all manner of provifions. This 
liratagem Thrafybulus pradlifed, to the end that the am- 
baffadors feeing fuch quantities of corn, and the people 
every where diverting themfelves, might acquaint their 
mafter with their affluence, and divert him from purfuing 
the war. As Thrafybulus had defigned, fo it happened; 
for Alyattes, who believed the Milefians greatly diltrefled 
for provifions, receiving a different account from his am- 
baffadors, changed the truce into a lalting peace, and ever 
afterwards lived in amity and friendlhip with Thrafybulus 
and the Milefians. He was fucceeded, after a reign of 
fifty-feven years, by his fon Crcefus, whofe uninterrupted 
profperity, in the firft years of his reign, far eclipfed the 
glory of all his predeceffors. He was the firft that made 
war on the Ephefians, whole city he befieged and took, 
notwithftanding their confecrating it to Diana, and faften- 
ing the walls by a rope to her temple, which was feven 
ftadia diftant from the city. After the reduction of Ephe* 
fus, 
