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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 mountainside where Gyges was feeding his flock. Entering the cave, Gyges discovered that it was in fact the tomb of an enthroned corpse who wore a goldFor alternative meanings, see gold (disambiguation Gold is a chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol Au ( L. aurum and atomic number 79. A soft, shiny, yellow, heavy, malleable, ductile (trivalent and univalent) transition metal, gold den ringA ring is usually anything resembling a circle, or a noise that cycles rapidly. See: Different types of rings ring in ring theory of mathematics the ring of a telephone or bell a ring diacritic mark as in Amal a web ring a jewelry ring (e. engagement ring, which Gyges pocketed.

Gyges then returned to his fellow shepherds, and began fumbling with the ring that he now wore. Gyges discovered that when he turned the collet of the ring to the inside of his hand, he became invisible to the other shepherds, and they began to marvel as if he had vanished. He turned the ring the other way, and he reappeared; after several trials, he determined that the ring was indeed magical, and gave him the power to turn invisible at will.

Gyges then arranged to be chosen one of the messengers who reported to the king as to the status of the flocks. Arriving at the palace, Gyges used his new power of invisibility to seduceSeduction is the process of one person deliberately enticing another person into an act (see motivation). The word has a negative connotation, either seriously or mildly (and also used jokingly), and may refer to an act that the other may later regret and the queen, and with her help he murderMurder is the crime of causing the death of another human being, without lawful excuse, and with intent to kill them, or with intent to cause them grievous bodily harm. When an illegal death is not caused intentionally, but is caused by recklessness or need the king, and became king of Lydia himself. King CroesusCroesus (the traditional transliteration of the Greek Kροισος), who was legendary for his enormous wealth, was king of Lydia from 560 BC until his defeat by the Persians in about 547 BC. He was the son of Alyattes and, famous for his wealth, was Gyges' descendant.

(A very different tale of Gyges' ascension to the throne is told in HerodotusHerodotus of Halicarnassus (modern Bodrum in Turkey) was an ancient Greek historian who lived in the 5th century BC ( 484 BC? c. 430 BC/ 420 BC?). Overview Herodotus wrote a history of the Persian invasion of Greece in the early fifth century B. known sim. According to Herodotus, Candaules, proud of his wife's beauty, was fond of showing her naked to various people, including Gyges, an official at his court. The queen was incensed at this treatment, and offered Gyges the choice between murdering Candaules and marrying her, or being put to death.)

In The Republic, Plato puts the tale of the ring of Gyges in the mouth of Glaucon , who uses it to make the point that no man is so virtuousVirtue ( Greek alpha;ρετ&eta Latin virtus is the habitual, well-established, readiness or diposition of man's powers directing them to some goodness of act. 1) Virtue is moral excellence of a man or a woman. The word αρε& that he could resist the temptation of being able to steal at will by the ring's power of invisibility. Glaucon argues that moralityMorality is a complex of principles based on cultural, religious, and philosophical concepts and beliefs, by which an individual determines whether his or her actions are right or wrong. These concepts and beliefs are often generalized and codified by a c is a social construction, whose source is the desire to maintain one's reputation for virtue and honesty; when that sanction is removed, moral character would evaporate. The Ring of Gyges is one literary source of the One Ring that appears in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings; like the ring of Gyges, the One Ring grants the power of invisibility, and corrupts the character of those who possess it. The motif of discovering a magical artifact upon the person of an enthroned corpse in a tomb is also a frequently recurring story type.