Home > Gyges of Lydia

The chronology of the Lydian kings given by Herodotus has been shown by the Assyrian inscriptions to be about twenty years in excess. Gyges was the son of Dascylus, who, when recalled from banishment in Cappadocia by the Lydian king Sadyates--called Candaules "the Dog-strangler" (a title of the Lydian Hermes) by the Greeks--sent his son back to Lydia instead of himself.

Gyges soon became a favourite of Sadyattes and was despatched by him to fetch Tudo , the daughter of Arnossus of Mysia, whom the Lydian king wished to make his queen. On the way Gyges fell in love with Tudo, who complained to Sadyattes of his conduct. Forewarned that the king intended to punish him with death, Gyges assassinated Sadyattes in the night and seized the throne with the help of Arselis of Mylasa, the captain of the Carian bodyguard, whom he had won over to his cause.

Civil war ensued, which was finally ended by an appeal to the oracle of Delphi and the confirmation of the right of Gyges to the crown by the Deiphian god. Further to secure his title he married Tudo. Many legends were told among the Greeks about his rise to power. That found in Herodotus, which may be traced to the poet Archilochus of Paros, described how "Candaules" insisted upon showing Gyges his wife when unrobed, which so enraged her that she gave Gyges the choice of murdering her husband and making himself king, or of being put to death himself. Plato made Gyges a shepherd, who discovered a magic ringThe Ring of Gyges is a mythical magical artifact mentioned by the philosopher Plato in The Republic''. According to the legend, Gyges of Lydia was a shepherd in the service of King Candaules of Lydia. After an earthquake, a cave was revealed in a mountain by means of which he murdered his master and won the affection of his wife.

Once established on the throne Gyges devoted himself to consolidating his kingdom and making it a military power. The Troad was conquered, ColophonThis article is about an ancient city. See Colophon (book) for the other meaning. Colophon (Gr. was a titular see of Asia Minor. It was one of the twelve Ionian cities, between Lebedos (ruins near Hypsili-Hissar) and Ephesus (Aya-Solouk). The bibliographi captured from the Greeks, SmyrnaIzmir ( Turkish spelling Izmir contraction of its former name Smyrna in Greek), the second-largest port (after Istanbul) and the third most populous city of Turkey is located on the Aegean Sea near the Gulf of Izmir. It is the capital of the Izmir Provinc besieged and alliances entered into with EphesusEphesus was one one of the great cities of the Ionian Greeks in Asia Minor, located in Lydia where the Cayster river flows into the Aegean Sea (in modern day Turkey). It was founded by colonists principally from Athens. The ruins of Ephesus are a major to and MiletusIn Greek mythology, Miletus was the founder of the city described below. He had two children: Caunus and Byblis. Miletus was an ancient Ionian Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia, in the Aydin Province of Turkey, near the mouth of the Maeander Riv. The CimmeriiThe Cimmerians were an ancient people who lived in the south of modern-day Ukraine and Russia in the 8th and 7th century BC. Cimmeria was an ancient continental plate comprising present-day Turkey, Iran, and Afghanistan. Cimmeria is the fictional country, who had ravaged AsiaThe continent of Asia is defined by subtracting Europe and Africa from the great land mass of Africa-Eurasia. The boundaries are vague, especially between Asia and Europe: Asia and Africa meet somewhere near the Suez Canal. The boundary between Asia and E Minor, were beaten back, and an embassy was sent to Assur-bani-pal at Nineveh (about 650 BC) in the hope of obtaining his help against the barbarians. The Assyrians, however, were otherwise engaged, and Gyges turned to Egypt, sending his faithful Carian troops along with Ionian mercenaries to assist Psammetichus in shaking off the Assyrian yoke (660 BC).

A few years later he fell in battle against the Cimmerii under Dugdamme (called Lygdamis by Strabo i. 3. 21), who took the lower town of Sardis. Gyges was succeeded by his son Ardysus .

Many Bible scholars believe that Gyges of Lydia was the Biblical figure of Gog, ruler of Magog, who is mentioned in the Book of Ezekiel and the Book of Revelation.

This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.