Gyges (reigned c. 680–644 BC) was the founder of the Mermnad dynasty of Lydian kings and the first known king of the Lydian kingdom to have attempted to transform it into a powerful empire. Gyges reigned 38 years according to Herodotus.
Attestations and etymology The name is derived from the Ancient Greek form () recorded by Graeco-Roman authors. In addition, the annals of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal refer several times to , king of , to be identified with Gyges, king of the Lydians.
and are respectively the Akkadian and Greek forms of the Lydian name (), which means "grandfather". is derived from a common Proto-Indo-European root from which evolved Hittite (), Luwian () and (), and Lycian () in the Anatolian languages family, as well as Latin , all meaning "grandfather".
Another derivation for suggests that it might be a loanword from Carian (), which was represented in Greek as (), and was a cognate of the various Anatolian words for "grandfather": Hittite (), Luwian () and (), Milyan (), and Lycian (). If this etymology is accurate, it correlates with the probability of a Carian origin of the Mermnad dynasty.
Attestations of Gyges's name from the period of the Lydian kingdom are found on the legends of coins by his great-grandson Alyattes, reading (), meaning "I am of Kukas".
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.
Rise to power Available historical evidence suggests that Gyges became the king of Lydia by overthrowing his predecessor, King Candaules of the Heraclid dynasty. Gyges was helped in his coup by a Carian prince from Mylasa named Arselis, suggesting that Gyges's Mermnad dynasty might have had good relations with Carian aristocrats, as they provided armed support in his rebellion. 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 destroyed the previous major power in Anatolia, the kingdom of Phrygia.
Immediately after Gyges seized the Lydian throne, the 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 ( ) 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 talents.
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 Ionian Greek cities of Miletus, Smyrna, and Colophon. Gyges was, however, unable to conquer Miletus, and he made peace with the city, following which Gyges accorded to the Milesians the privilege of colonizing the coastal areas of Asia Minor under Lydian control. 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.
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 Mylasa with the Carians and the Mysians because they believed these three peoples descended from three brothers.
Gyges entertained better relations with the leading Aeolian Greek city of Cyme, which had already established friendly relations with Lydia during the preceding Heraclid dynasty, and with the Ionian 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 through the marriage of his daughter 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.
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 Aššur appeared to him and told him to seek help from Ashurbanipal and send him tribute. Gyges contacted the 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.
Conquests After having repelled the Cimmerians, and with the leading Aeolian Greek city of 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 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, Abydos, and Neandreia. Furthermore, the Lydian rulers built connections with Illium so they could make profits out of the gold mines of Astyra. The southern part of the Troad, where were located Gargara, Antandrus, Assos, and Lamponeia to the south of Mount Ida and on the shore of the Edremit Gulf, was administered from Adrymettium. 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 Abydus.
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 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 invasions.
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. Moreover, not only had the Assyrians raised Sais to preeminence in Egypt after expelling the Saites' 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 implies there was no hostility, whether overt or covert, between Assyria and Sais during Psamtik I's unification of Egypt under his rule.
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; the Assyrian disapproval of Gyges's support for Psamtik I was primarily motivated by Gyges's refusal to ally 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.
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.
Death In 644 BC, Lydia faced a third attack by the Cimmerians, led by their king 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, who resumed diplomatic relations with Assyria and also had to face the Cimmerians.
Legacy
Gyges's name was later used on the legends of coins by his great-grandson Alyattes, which read (), meaning "I am of Kukas." Some of these coins have a legend (), which is the abbreviation of the Lydian name of Alyattes, (), on one side and on the other side have the legend , which in this context meant "I am the son/descendant of " by which Alyattes was declaring his belonging to the dynasty of Gyges.
Mythical Gyges Like many kings of early antiquity, including Midas of Phrygia and even the better historically documented Alexander the Great, Gyges was subject to mythologizing. The motives for such stories are many; one possibility is that the myths embodied religious beliefs or practices.Richard Seaford, Money and the Early Greek Mind (Cambridge University Press, 2004), p. 114 ff., limited preview.
Allegorical accounts of Gyges' rise to power
Authors throughout ancient history have told differing stories of Gyges's rise to power, which considerably vary in detail, but virtually all involve him seizing the throne after killing the king, Candaules, and marrying Candaules' widow.Her name is traditionally known as 'Nyssia', but this is not found in Herodotus. Apparently this name was supplied by the ancient historian Ptolemy Hephaestion.
The main source for Gyges is Herodotus, whose account may be traced to the poet Archilochus of Paros. In this, Gyges was a bodyguard of Candaules, who believed his wife to be the most beautiful woman on Earth. He insisted upon Gyges seeing his wife disrobed, and the betrayal so enraged her that she afterwards gave Gyges the choice of murdering her husband and making himself king or being put to death himself.