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92-643: Sert may refer to: Alternative spelling of Sart, modern Sardis , in Turkey Sert, Libya , a city Sêrt , Turkey People with the surname [ edit ] Henri Paul Sert (1938–1964)Swedish artist Ivana Sert (born 1979), Serbian-Turkish actress Josep Lluís Sert , Catalan architect Josep Maria Sert , Catalan painter Misia Sert (1872–1950), Polish pianist Özgür Sert (born 2000), Turkish professional footballer See also [ edit ] SERT (disambiguation) Topics referred to by

184-410: A parry fracture indicating a failed attempt to counter the head injuries that killed him. A partly healed rib fracture suggests he was still recovering from an earlier injury during the battle. In a destroyed house, archaeologists found the partial skeleton of an arthritic man in his forties. The skeleton was so badly burned that archaeologists cannot determine whether it was deliberately mutilated or if

276-608: A prytaneion , gymnasion , theater , hippodrome , as well as the massive Temple of Artemis still visible to modern visitors. Jews were settled at Sardis by the Hellenistic king Antiochos III , where they built the Sardis Synagogue and formed a community which continued for much of late antiquity . In 129 BC, Sardis passed to the Romans , under whom it continued its prosperity and political importance as part of

368-609: A satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire , known as Sparda in Old Persian . In 133 BC, it became part of the Roman province of Asia . Lydian coins, made of electrum , are among the oldest in existence, dated to around the 7th century BC. Lydia is generally located east of ancient Ionia in the modern western Turkish provinces of Uşak , Manisa and inland Izmir . The boundaries of historical Lydia varied across

460-754: A beautiful city. Around 550 BC, near the beginning of his reign, Croesus paid for the construction of the temple of Artemis at Ephesus , which became one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world . Croesus was defeated in battle by Cyrus II of Persia in 546 BC, with the Lydian kingdom losing its autonomy and becoming a Persian satrapy . For the Greeks, Tantalus was a primordial ruler of mythic Lydia, and Niobe his proud daughter; her husband Amphion associated Lydia with Thebes in Greece, and through Pelops

552-457: A lion's head adorned with what is likely a sunburst, which was the king's symbol. The most prolific mint for early electrum coins was Sardis which produced large quantities of the lion head thirds, sixths and twelfths along with lion paw fractions. To complement the largest denomination, fractions were made, including a hekte (sixth), hemihekte (twelfth), and so forth down to a 96th, with the 1/96 stater weighing only about 0.15 grams. There

644-561: A lower town extended to the area of the Pactolus stream. Today, the site is located by the present day village of Sart , near Salihli in the Manisa province of Turkey, close to the Ankara - İzmir highway (approximately 72 kilometres (45 mi) from İzmir ). The site is open to visitors year-round, where notable remains include the bath-gymnasium complex, synagogue and Byzantine shops

736-403: A modest altar which may have been dedicated to Cybele , given a pottery fragment found there with her name on it. A possible sanctuary to Artemis was found elsewhere in the site, whose remains include marble statues of lions. Vernacular worship is evidenced in extramural areas by dinner services buried as offerings. Textual evidence regarding Lydian-era Sardis include Pliny 's account of

828-564: A mudbrick building that had allegedly been the palace of Croesus and was still there in his own time. The material culture of Sardis is largely a distinctive twist on Anatolian and Aegean styles. The city's artisans seemed to specialize in glyptic art including seals and jewelry. Their pottery blended Aegean and Anatolian pottery styles, in addition to distinctive twists which included the lydion shape and decorative techniques known as streaky-glaze and marbled-glaze. Narrative scenes on Sardian pottery are rare. Imported Greek pottery attests to

920-713: A powerful empire. Soon after Alyattes's ascension and early during his reign, with Assyrian approval and in alliance with the Lydians, the Scythians under their king Madyes entered Anatolia, expelled the Treres from Asia Minor, and defeated the Cimmerians so that they no longer constituted a threat again, following which the Scythians extended their domination to Central Anatolia until they were themselves expelled by

1012-407: A son called Lamos, while pseudo-Apollodorus ( Bibliotheke 2.7.8) gives the name Agelaus and Pausanias (2.21.3) names Tyrsenus as the son of Heracles by "the Lydian woman". All three heroic ancestors indicate a Lydian dynasty claiming Heracles as their ancestor. Herodotus (1.7) refers to a Heraclid dynasty of kings who ruled Lydia, yet were perhaps not descended from Omphale. He also mentions (1.94)

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1104-459: A substantial assembly hall in the northwestern part of the city, now known as the Sardis Synagogue . This site, adorned with inscriptions, menorahs , and various artifacts, establishes its function as a synagogue from the 4th to the 6th century. Excavations in adjacent residential and commercial areas have also uncovered additional evidence of Jewish life. From 1976 until 2007, excavation continued under Crawford H. Greenewalt, Jr. , professor in

1196-491: A third attack by the Cimmerians, led by their king Lygdamis . This time, the Lydians were defeated, Sardis was sacked, and Gyges was killed. Gyges was succeeded by his son Ardys , who resumed diplomatic activity with Assyria and would also have to face the Cimmerians. Ardys attacked the Ionian Greek city of Miletus and succeeded in capturing the city of Priene , after which Priene would remain under direct rule of

1288-466: A very rich Roman province , worthy of a governor with the high rank of proconsul . The whole west of Asia Minor had Jewish colonies very early, and Christianity was also soon present there. Acts of the Apostles 16:14–15 mentions the baptism of a merchant woman called "Lydia" from Thyatira , known as Lydia of Thyatira , in what had once been the satrapy of Lydia. Christianity spread rapidly during

1380-580: Is demonstrable from contemporary records. According to semi-mythical accounts of his reign, he was the son of a man named Dascylus and came to power by overthrowing King Candaules with the assistance of a Carian prince from Mylasa named Arselis. Gyges's rise to power happened in the context of a period of turmoil following the invasion of the Cimmerians , a nomadic people from the Pontic steppe who had invaded Western Asia , who around 675 BC destroyed

1472-593: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Sardis Sardis was occupied for at least 3500 years. In that time, it fluctuated between a wealthy city of international importance and a collection of modest hamlets. Sardis was settled before 1500 BC. However, the size and nature of early settlement is not known since only small extramural portions of these layers have been excavated. Evidence of occupation consists largely of Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age pottery which shows affinities with Mycenaean Greece and

1564-521: Is disagreement, however, over whether the fractions below the twelfth are actually Lydian. Alyattes' son was Croesus (Reigned c.560–c.546 BC), who became associated with great wealth. Croesus is credited with issuing the Croeseid , the first true gold coins with a standardised purity for general circulation, and the world's first bimetallic monetary system circa 550 BC. It took some time before ancient coins were used for commerce and trade. Even

1656-732: Is not impossible that the Lydians might have subjected Lycia, given that the Lycian coast would have been important for the Lydians because it was close to a trade route connecting the Aegean region, the Levant , and Cyprus . Alyattes's eastern conquests brought the Lydian Empire in conflict in the 590s BC with the Medes , and a war broke out between the Median and Lydian Empires in 590 BC which

1748-611: Is now kept at the British Museum . The first large-scale archaeological expedition in Sardis was directed by a Princeton University team led by Howard Crosby Butler between years 1910–1914, unearthing a temple to Artemis , and more than a thousand Lydian tombs. The excavation campaign was halted by World War I , followed by the Turkish War of Independence , though it briefly resumed in 1922. Some surviving artifacts from

1840-699: Is open to visitors year-round. By the 19th century, Sardis was in ruins, with mainly visible remains mostly from the Roman period. Early excavators included the British explorer George Dennis , who uncovered an enormous marble head of Faustina the Elder . Found in the precinct of the Temple of Artemis , it probably formed part of a pair of colossal statues devoted to the Imperial couple. The 1.76 metre high head

1932-415: Is probable that Ardys was killed during this Cimmerian attack. Ardys was succeeded by his son, Sadyattes, who had an even more short-lived reign. Sadyattes died in 635 BC, and it is possible that, like his grandfather Gyges and maybe his father Ardys as well, he died fighting the Cimmerians . Amidst extreme turmoil, Sadyattes was succeeded in 635 BC by his son Alyattes , who would transform Lydia into

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2024-517: The Aramaic script alongside the Lydian alphabet and the "Achaemenid bowl" pottery shape. Jewelry of the period shows Persian-Anatolian cultural hybridization. In particular, jewelers turned to semi-precious stones and colored frit due to a Persian prohibition on gold jewelry among the priestly class. Similarly, knobbed pins and fibulae disappear from the archaeological record, reflecting changes in

2116-551: The Etruscans of northern and central Italy and the Lydians has long been a subject of conjecture. The Greek historian Herodotus believed they came from Lydia, but Dionysius of Halicarnassus , a 1st-century BC historian, argued that the Etruscans were indigenous to Italy and unrelated to the Lydians. Dionysius pointed out that the 5th-century historian Xanthus of Lydia , who was regarded as an important source and authority for

2208-536: The Halys River in the east. The city itself covered 108 hectares including extramural areas and was protected by walls twenty meters thick. The acropolis was terraced with white ashlar masonry to tame the naturally irregular mountainside. Visitors could spot the site from a distance by the three enormous burial tumuli at Bin Tepe . The city's layout and organization is only partly known at present. To

2300-533: The Hittites . No early monumental architecture had been found as of 2011. The site may have been occupied as early as the Neolithic , as evidenced by scattered finds of early ceramic fragments. However, these were found out of context, so no clear conclusions can be drawn. Early Bronze Age cemeteries were found 7 miles away along Lake Marmara , near elite graves of the later Lydian and Persian periods. In

2392-446: The Medes from Western Asia in the 590s BC. This final defeat of the Cimmerians was carried out by the joint forces of Madyes, whom Strabo credits with expelling the Treres and Cimmerians from Asia Minor, and of Alyattes, whom Herodotus and Polyaenus claim finally defeated the Cimmerians. Alyattes turned towards Phrygia in the east, where extended Lydian rule eastwards to Phrygia. Alyattes continued his expansionist policy in

2484-629: The Mycenaean Greeks . The relationship between the people of Seha and the later Lydians is unclear, since there is evidence of both cultural continuity and disruption in the region. Neither the term "Sardis" nor its alleged earlier name of "Hyde" (in Ancient Greek, which may have reflected a Hittite name "Uda") appears in any extant Hittite text. In the seventh century BC, Sardis became the capital city of Lydia . From there, kings such as Croesus ruled an empire that reached as far as

2576-609: The Saite Egyptian kingdom, then ruled by the pharaoh Amasis II . Croesus also established trade and diplomatic relations with the Neo-Babylonian Empire of Nabonidus , and he further increased his contacts with the Greeks on the European continent by establishing relations with the city-state of Sparta . In 550 BC, Croesus's brother-in-law, the Median king Astyages, was overthrown by his own grandson,

2668-756: The Seleucids , and when it was unable to maintain its territory in Asia Minor, Lydia was acquired by the Attalid dynasty of Pergamum . Its last king avoided the spoils and ravage of a Roman war of conquest by leaving the realm by testament to the Roman Empire . When the Romans entered the capital Sardis in 133 BC, Lydia, as the other western parts of the Attalid legacy, became part of the province of Asia ,

2760-602: The Turco-Mongol warlord Timur in 1402. By the 1700s, only two small hamlets existed at the site. In the 20th century, a new town was built. Herodotus recounts a legend that the city was founded by the sons of Heracles , the Heracleidae . According to Herodotus, the Heraclides ruled for five hundred and five years beginning with Agron , 1220 BC, and ending with Candaules , 716 BC. They were followed by

2852-665: The province of Asia . The city received three neocorate honors and was granted ten million sesterces as well as a temporary tax exemption to help it recover after a devastating earthquake in 17 AD. Sardis had an early Christian community and is referred to in the New Testament as one of the seven churches of Asia . In the Book of Revelation , Jesus refers to the Sardians as not finishing what they started, being about image rather than substance. Later, trade and

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2944-516: The serpent of the river Sangarios (which appears in the heavens as the constellation Ophiucus ) and captured the simian tricksters, the Cercopes . Accounts tell of at least one son of Heracles who was born to either Omphale or a slave-girl: Herodotus ( Histories i. 7) says this was Alcaeus who began the line of Lydian Heracleidae which ended with the death of Candaules c. 687 BC. Diodorus Siculus (4.31.8) and Ovid ( Heroides 9.54) mentions

3036-593: The 10th century. However, over the next four centuries it was in the shadow of the provinces of Magnesia-upon-Sipylum and Philadelphia , which retained their importance in the region. Sardis began to decline in the 600s AD. It remained part of the Byzantine Empire until 1078 AD, by the Seljuk Turks . It was reconquered in 1097 by the Byzantine general John Doukas and came under the rule of

3128-560: The 1st century BC. The Lydian language is usually not categorized as part of the Luwic subgroup, unlike the other nearby Anatolian languages Luwian , Carian , and Lycian . Lydia's early history remains shrouded in obscurity. During the Late Bronze Age (1600 BC-1200 BC), the territory that later became Lydia overlapped with two kingdoms called Mira and Šeḫa , themselves part of a broader political entity called Arzawa . Like

3220-409: The 3rd century AD, based on the nearby Exarchate of Ephesus. Under the tetrarchy reform of Emperor Diocletian in 296 AD, Lydia was revived as the name of a separate Roman province, much smaller than the former satrapy, with its capital at Sardis. Together with the provinces of Caria , Hellespontus , Lycia , Pamphylia , Phrygia prima and Phrygia secunda , Pisidia (all in modern Turkey) and

3312-710: The Aegean Sea. Since the Etruscan language was a Pre-Indo-European language and neither Indo-European or Semitic, Etruscan was not related to Lydian , which was a part of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European languages. Instead, Etruscan language is considered part of the pre-Indo-European Tyrrhenian language family , along with the Lemnian and Rhaetian language . A 2013 genetic study suggested that

3404-788: The Butler excavation were added to the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York . A new expedition known as the Archaeological Exploration of Sardis was founded in 1958 by G.M.A. Hanfmann , professor in the Department of Fine Arts at Harvard University , and by Henry Detweiler, dean of the Architecture School at Cornell University . Hanfmann excavated widely in the city and

3496-599: The Byzantine Empire of Nicaea when Constantinople was taken by the Venetians and crusaders in 1204. However, once the Byzantines retook Constantinople in 1261, Sardis and surrounding areas fell under the control of Ghazw emirs. The Cayster valleys and a fort on the citadel of Sardis were handed over to them by treaty in 1306. The city continued its decline until its capture and probable destruction by

3588-512: 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 contacts 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 . In 644 BC, Lydia faced

3680-678: The Department of Classics at the University of California, Berkeley . Since 2008, the excavation has been under the directorship of Nicholas Cahill , professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison . Some of the important finds from the site of Sardis are housed in the Archaeological Museum of Manisa , including Late Roman mosaics and sculpture, a helmet from the mid-6th century BC, and pottery from various periods. Lydia Lydia ( Ancient Greek : Λυδία , romanized :  Ludía ; Latin : Lȳdia )

3772-638: The Etruscans themselves, were at war with the Greeks. The French scholar Dominique Briquel contends that "the story of an exodus from Lydia to Italy was a deliberate political fabrication created in the Hellenized milieu of the court at Sardis in the early 6th century BC." Ultimately, these Greek-authored accounts of the Etruscan origins are only the expression of the image that Etruscans' allies or adversaries wanted to divulge and should not be considered historical. Archaeological evidence does not support

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3864-546: The Insulae ( Ionian islands , mostly in modern Greece), it formed the diocese (under a vicarius ) of Asiana , which was part of the praetorian prefecture of Oriens, together with the dioceses Pontiana (most of the rest of Asia Minor), Oriens proper (mainly Syria), Aegyptus (Egypt) and Thraciae (on the Balkans, roughly Bulgaria). Under the Byzantine emperor Heraclius (610–641), Lydia became part of Anatolikon , one of

3956-537: The Iron Age had similar genetic profiles and were part of the European cluster. The Etruscan DNA was completely absent a signal of recent admixture with Anatolia and the Eastern Mediterranean. Etruscans exhibited a blend of WHG, EEF, and Steppe ancestry, with 75% of males belonging to haplogroup R1b and the most common mitochondrial DNA haplogroup being H . The Lydians in early Antiquity adhered to

4048-642: The Late Bronze Age, the site would have been in the territory of the Seha River Land , whose capital is thought to have been located at nearby Kaymakçı . Hittite texts record that Seha was originally part of Arzawa , a macrokingdom which the Hittite king Mursili II defeated and partitioned. After that time, Seha became a vassal state of the Hittites and served as an important intermediary with

4140-682: The Lydian kingdom until its end. Ardys's reign was short-lived, and in 637 BC, that is in Ardys's seventh regnal year, the Thracian Treres tribe who had migrated across the Thracian Bosporus and invaded Anatolia , under their king Kobos, and in alliance with the Cimmerians and the Lycians , attacked Lydia. They defeated the Lydians again and for a second time sacked the Lydian capital of Sardis , except for its citadel. It

4232-411: The Lydians were the first to use coins of pure gold and pure silver or the first precious metal coins in general. Despite this ambiguity, this statement of Herodotus is one of the pieces of evidence most often cited on behalf of the argument that Lydians invented coinage, at least in the West, although the first coins (under Alyattes I , reigned c.591–c.560 BC) were neither gold nor silver but an alloy of

4324-415: The Lydians' "Hellenophile attitude" commented on by contemporary Greek writers. While those Greek authors were in turn impressed by Lydians' music and textiles, these aspects of Lydian culture are not visible in the archaeological record. Sardis was conquered by Cyrus the Great around 547 BC. Having defeated the Lydian king Croesus at the Battle of Pteria and Battle of Thymbra , the Persians followed

4416-424: The Median king Cyaxares's son Astyages with Alyattes's daughter Aryenis , and the possible wedding of a daughter of Cyaxares with either Alyattes or with his son Croesus. Alyattes died shortly after the Battle of the Eclipse, in 585 BC itself, following which Lydia faced a power struggle between his son Pantaleon, born from a Greek woman, and his other son Croesus , born from a Carian noblewoman, out of which

4508-412: The Mermnades, which began with Gyges , 716 BC, and ended with Croesus , 546 BC. The name "Sardis" appears first in the work of the Archaic era poet Sappho . Strabo claims that the city's original name was "Hyde". Sardis was situated in the middle of Hermus River Valley , about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) south of the river. Its citadel was built on Mount Tmolus , a steep and lofty spur, while

4600-402: The Persian and Lydian kings met at the Battle of Thymbra . Cyrus won and captured the capital city of Sardis by 546 BC. Lydia became a province ( satrapy ) of the Persian Empire. Lydia remained a satrapy after Persia's conquest by the Macedonian king Alexander III (the Great) of Macedon . When Alexander's empire ended after his death, Lydia was possessed by the major Asian diadoch dynasty,

4692-432: The Persian king Cyrus the Great , and Croesus responded by attacking Pteria , the capital of a Phrygian state vassal to the Lydians which might have attempted to declare its allegiance to the new Persian Empire of Cyrus. Cyrus retaliated by intervening in Cappadocia and defeated the Lydians at Pteria in a battle , and again at Thymbra before besieging and capturing the Lydian capital of Sardis , thus bringing an end to

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4784-531: The Persian kings Darius I and Xerxes . Relatively little of Persian Sardis is visible in the archaeological record. The city may even have been rebuilt outside the limits of the Lydian-era walls, as evidenced by authors such as Herodotus who place the Persian era central district along the Pactolus stream. The material culture of the city was largely continuous with the Lydian era, to the point that it can be hard to precisely date artifacts based on style. Notable developments of this period include adoption of

4876-438: The acropolis, regarded as the strongest fortified place in the world. The city sometimes served as a royal residence, but was itself governed by an assembly. In this era, the city took on a strong Greek character. The Greek language replaces the Lydian language in most inscriptions, and major buildings were constructed in Greek architectural styles to meet the needs of Greek cultural institutions. These new buildings included

4968-496: The archaeological excavations at Sardis. Although certain literary accounts purport the existence of two early Lydian dynasties, namely the house of Atys - after whose son Lydus the Lydians were supposedly named - and the Heraclids, who allegedly ruled for twenty-two generations before 685 BC, these sources are steeped in mythology and lack historical credibility. Lydia was an independent kingdom from an unknown time until 546 BC. According to Herodotus, one of Lydus's descendants

5060-435: The centuries. It was bounded first by Mysia , Caria , Phrygia and coastal Ionia . Later, the military power of Alyattes and Croesus expanded Lydia, which, with its capital at Sardis , controlled all Asia Minor west of the River Halys, except Lycia . After the Persian conquest the River Maeander was regarded as its southern boundary, and during imperial Roman times Lydia comprised the country between Mysia and Caria on

5152-502: The city. The city's fortifications burned in a massive fire that spread to parts of the adjoining residential areas. Wooden structures and objects inside buildings were reduced to charcoal. Mudbrick from the fortifications were toppled over on adjacent structures, preventing looting and salvage and thus preserving their remains. Skeletons were found buried haphazardly among the debris, including those of Lydian soldiers who died violently. One soldier's forearm bones had been snapped, likely

5244-413: The east, and of all the peoples to the west of the Halys River whom Herodotus claimed Alyattes's successor Croesus ruled over - the Lydians , Phrygians , Mysians , Mariandyni , Chalybes , Paphlagonians , Thyni and Bithyni Thracians , Carians , Ionians , Dorians , Aeolians , and Pamphylians - it is very likely that a number of these populations had already been conquered under Alyattes, and it

5336-459: The end of the Lydian kingdom; theoretically, it may even have taken place after the fall of Babylon in 539 BC. In 547 BC, the Lydian king Croesus besieged and captured the Persian city of Pteria in Cappadocia and enslaved its inhabitants. The Persian king Cyrus The Great marched with his army against the Lydians. The Battle of Pteria resulted in a stalemate, forcing the Lydians to retreat to their capital city of Sardis. Some months later

5428-436: The garments with which they would have been used. Buildings from this era include a possible predecessor of the later temple to Artemis as well as a possible sanctuary of Zeus . Textual evidence suggests that the city was known for its paradisoi as well as orchards and hunting parks built by Tissaphernes and Cyrus the Younger Burials of this period include enormous tumuli with extensive grave goods. In 499 BC, Sardis

5520-432: The history of Lydia, never linked the Etruscans to Lydia or mentioned Tyrrhenus as a Lydian ruler. In contemporary scholarship, Etruscologists overwhelmingly support an indigenous origin for the Etruscans, dismissing Herodotus' account as based on erroneous etymologies. Michael Grant argue that the Etruscans may have propagated this narrative to facilitate their trading in Asia Minor, when many cities in Asia Minor, and

5612-417: The history of the Lydians. Later chronologists ignored Herodotus' statement that Agron was the first Heraclid to be a king, and included his immediate forefathers Alcaeus, Belus, and Ninus in their list of kings of Lydia. Strabo (5.2.2) has Atys, father of Lydus and Tyrrhenus, as a descendant of Heracles and Omphale but that contradicts virtually all other accounts which name Atys, Lydus, and Tyrrhenus among

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5704-406: The idea of Lydian migration to Etruria. The Etruscan civilization's earliest phase, the Villanovan culture , emerged around 900 BC, which itself developed from the previous Proto-Villanovan culture of Italy in the late Bronze Age . This culture has no ties to Asia Minor or the Near East. Linguists have identified an Etruscan-like language in a set of inscriptions on Lemnos island, in

5796-439: The invasion of Asia Minor by the Persian Shahin . Though the Byzantines eventually won the war, the damage to Sardis was never fully repaired. Sardis retained its titular supremacy and continued to be the seat of the metropolitan bishop of the province of Lydia, formed in 295 AD. It was enumerated as third, after Ephesus and Smyrna , in the list of cities of the Thracesion thema given by Constantine Porphyrogenitus in

5888-472: The kingdom of Argos ".) In Greek myth, Lydia had also adopted the double-axe symbol, that also appears in the Mycenaean civilization, the labrys . Omphale , daughter of the river Iardanos, was a ruler of Lydia, whom Heracles was required to serve for a time. His adventures in Lydia are the adventures of a Greek hero in a peripheral and foreign land: during his stay, Heracles enslaved the Itones; killed Syleus, who forced passers-by to hoe his vineyard; slew

5980-494: The latter emerged successful. Croesus brought Caria under the direct control of the Lydian Empire, and he subjugated all of mainland Ionia , Aeolis , and Doris , but he abandoned his plans of annexing the Greek city-states on the islands of the Aegean Sea and he instead concluded treaties of friendship with them, which might have helped him participate in the lucrative trade the Aegean Greeks carried out with Egypt at Naucratis . According to Herodotus, Croesus ruled over all

6072-405: The legend that the Etruscan civilization was founded by colonists from Lydia led by Tyrrhenus , brother of Lydus. Dionysius of Halicarnassus was skeptical of this story, indicating that the Etruscan language and customs were known to be totally dissimilar to those of the Lydians. In addition, the story of the "Lydian" origins of the Etruscans was not known to Xanthus of Lydia , an authority on

6164-425: The line of Tantalus was part of the founding myths of Mycenae 's second dynasty. (In reference to the myth of Bellerophon , Karl Kerenyi remarked, in The Heroes of The Greeks 1959, p. 83. "As Lykia was thus connected with Crete , and as the person of Pelops , the hero of Olympia, connected Lydia with the Peloponnesos, so Bellerophontes connected another Asian country, or rather two, Lykia and Karia , with

6256-418: The maternal lineages of western Anatolians and modern Tuscans had been largely separate for 5,000 to 10,000 years, with Etruscan mtDNA closely resembling modern Tuscans and Neolithic Central European populations. This suggests Etruscans descended from the Villanovan culture , indicating their indigenous roots, and a link between Etruria, modern Tuscany, and Lydia dating back to the Neolithic period during

6348-497: The migration of Early European Farmers from Anatolia to Europe. A 2019 genetic study revealed that Etruscans (900–600 BC) and Latins (900–500 BC) from Latium vetus shared genetic similarities, with both groups having a mixture of two-thirds Copper Age ancestry and one-third Steppe-related ancestry . This study also suggested indigenous origins for the Etruscans, despite their pre-Indo-European language. A 2021 study confirmed these findings, showing that Etruscans and Latins in

6440-407: The missing bones were carried away by animals. Arrowheads and other weaponry turn up in debris all around the city, suggesting a major battle in the streets. The varying styles suggest the mixed background of both armies involved. Household implements such as iron spits and small sickles were found mixed in with ordinary weapons of war, suggesting that civilians attempted to defend themselves during

6532-698: The north/northwest, the city had a large extramural zone with residential, commercial, and industrial areas. Settlement extended to the Pactolus Stream, near which archaeologists have found the remains of work installations where alluvial metals were processed. Multiroom houses around the site match Herodotus's description of fieldstone and mudbrick construction. Most houses had roofs of clay and straw while wealthy residents had roof tiles, similar to public buildings. Houses often have identifiable courtyards and food preparation areas but no complete house has been excavated so few generalizations can be drawn about Sardian houses' internal layout. Religious remains include

6624-667: The one side and Phrygia and the Aegean Sea on the other. The Lydian language was an Indo-European language in the Anatolian language family , related to Luwian and Hittite . Due to its fragmentary attestation, the meanings of many words are unknown but much of the grammar has been determined. Similar to other Anatolian languages, it featured extensive use of prefixes and grammatical particles to chain clauses together. Lydian had also undergone extensive syncope , leading to numerous consonant clusters atypical of most Indo-European languages. Lydian finally became extinct during

6716-454: The organization of commerce continued to be sources of great wealth. After Constantinople became the capital of the East, a new road system grew up connecting the provinces with the capital. Sardis then lay rather apart from the great lines of communication and lost some of its importance. During the cataclysmic 7th-century Byzantine–Sasanian War , Sardis was in 615 one of the cities sacked in

6808-660: The original themata , and later of Thrakesion . Although the Seljuk Turks conquered most of the rest of Anatolia, forming the Sultanate of Ikonion (Konya), Lydia remained part of the Byzantine Empire. While the Venetians occupied Constantinople and Greece as a result of the Fourth Crusade , Lydia continued as a part of the Byzantine rump state called the Nicene Empire based at Nicaea until 1261. Lydia

6900-526: The other Arzawa Lands, these kingdoms had tumultuous relations with the Hittite Empire , acting both as allies, enemies, and vassals at various points in time. By roughly 800 BC, the Lydian people appear to have established their presence and achieved some degree of political cohesion. However, precise dates and events are impossible to determine due to the absence of contemporary written records. The only firm evidence for this early period comes from

6992-667: The peoples to the west of the Halys River, although the actual border of his kingdom was further to the east of the Halys, at an undetermined point in eastern Anatolia. Croesus continued the friendly relations with the Medes concluded between his father Alyattes and the Median king Cyaxares , and he continued these good relations with the Medes after he succeeded Alyattes and Astyages succeeded Cyaxares. And, under Croesus's rule, Lydia continued its good relations started by Gyges with

7084-442: The pre-Heraclid kings and princes of Lydia. The gold deposits in the river Pactolus that were the source of the proverbial wealth of Croesus (Lydia's last king) were said to have been left there when the legendary king Midas of Phrygia washed away the "Midas touch" in its waters. In Euripides ' tragedy The Bacchae , Dionysus , while maintaining his human disguise, declares his country to be Lydia. The relationship between

7176-605: The previous major power in Anatolia, the kingdom of Phrygia. Gyges took advantage of the power vacuum created by the Cimmerian invasions to consolidate his kingdom and make it a military power, he contacted the Neo-Assyrian court by sending diplomats to Nineveh to seek help against the Cimmerian invasions, and he attacked the Ionian Greek cities of Miletus , Smyrna , and Colophon . Gyges's extensive alliances with

7268-467: The region, excavating and restoring the major Roman bath-gymnasium complex, the synagogue, late Roman houses and shops, a Lydian industrial area for processing electrum into pure gold and silver, Lydian occupation areas, and tumulus tombs at Bintepe. During the 1960s, the acknowledgment of the local significance of the Jewish community in Sardis received notable confirmation through the identification of

7360-452: The retreating army back to Sardis and sacked it after a brief siege. Details of this event are largely known from Herodotus's semi-mythicized account, but the destruction is highly visible in the archaeological record. In the words of excavator Nicholas Cahill: It is rare that an important and well-known historical event is so vividly preserved in the archaeological record, but the destruction of Cyrus left clear and dramatic remains throughout

7452-509: The rule of the Mermnad dynasty and to the Lydian Empire. Lydia would never regain its independence and would remain a part of various successive empires. Although the dates for the battles of Pteria and Thymbra and of end of the Lydian empire have been traditionally fixed to 547 BC, more recent estimates suggest that Herodotus's account being unreliable chronologically concerning the fall of Lydia means that there are currently no ways of dating

7544-623: The sack. After the destruction, Sardis was rebuilt and continued to be an important and prosperous city. Though it was never again the capital of an independent state, it did serve as the capital for the satrapy of Sparda and formed the end station of the Persian Royal Road which began in Persepolis . It acted as a gateway to the Greek world, and was visited by notable Greek leaders such as Lysander and Alcibiades , as well as

7636-496: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Sert . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sert&oldid=1061232992 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Place name disambiguation pages Disambiguation pages with surname-holder lists Hidden categories: Short description

7728-517: The smallest-denomination electrum coins, perhaps worth about a day's subsistence, would have been too valuable for buying a loaf of bread. The first coins to be used for retailing on a large-scale basis were likely small silver fractions, Hemiobol, Ancient Greek coinage minted in Cyme (Aeolis) under Hermodike II then by the Ionian Greeks in the late sixth century BC. Sardis was renowned as

7820-445: The two called electrum . The dating of these first stamped coins is one of the most frequently debated topics of ancient numismatics, with dates ranging from 700 BC to 550 BC, but the most common opinion is that they were minted at or near the beginning of the reign of King Alyattes (sometimes referred to incorrectly as Alyattes II). The first coins were made of electrum , an alloy of gold and silver that occurs naturally but that

7912-495: Was Iardanus , with whom Heracles was in service at one time. Heracles had an affair with one of Iardanus' slave-girls and their son Alcaeus was the first of the Heraclid Dynasty said to have ruled Lydia for 22 generations starting with Agron . In the 8th century BC, Meles became the 21st and penultimate Heraclid king and the last was his son Candaules (died c. 687 BC). Gyges is the first king whose existence

8004-467: Was an Iron Age kingdom situated in the west of Asia Minor , in modern-day Turkey . Later, it became an important province of the Achaemenid Empire and then the Roman Empire . Its capital was Sardis . At some point before 800 BC, the Lydian people achieved some sort of political cohesion, and existed as an independent kingdom by the 600s BC. At its greatest extent, during the 7th century BC, it covered all of western Anatolia . In 546 BC, it became

8096-567: Was attacked and burned by the Ionians as part of the Ionian Revolt against Persian rule. The subsequent destruction of mainland Greek cities was said to be retribution for this attack. When Themistocles later visited Sardis, he came across a votive statue he had personally dedicated at Athens , and requested its return. In 334 BC, Sardis was conquered by Alexander the Great . The city

8188-555: Was captured finally by Turkish beyliks , which were all absorbed by the Ottoman state in 1390. The area became part of the Ottoman Aidin Vilayet ( province ), and is now in the modern republic of Turkey . According to Herodotus , the Lydians were the first people to use gold and silver coins and the first to establish retail shops in permanent locations. It is not known, however, whether Herodotus meant that

8280-503: Was further debased by the Lydians with added silver and copper. The largest of these coins are commonly referred to as a 1/3 stater ( trite ) denomination, weighing around 4.7 grams, though no full staters of this type have ever been found, and the 1/3 stater probably should be referred to more correctly as a stater, after a type of a transversely held scale, the weights used in such a scale (from ancient Greek ίστημι=to stand), which also means "standard." These coins were stamped with

8372-564: Was surrendered without a fight, the local satrap having been killed during the Persian defeat at Granikos . After taking power, Alexander restored earlier Lydian customs and laws. For the next two centuries, the city passed between Hellenistic rulers including Antigonus Monophthalmos , Lysimachus , the Seleucids , and the Attalids . It was besieged by Seleucus I in 281 BC and by Antiochus III in 215-213 BC, but neither succeeded at breaching

8464-515: Was waged in eastern Anatolia lasted five years, until a solar eclipse occurred in 585 BC during a battle (hence called the Battle of the Eclipse) opposing the Lydian and Median armies, which both sides interpreted as an omen to end the war. The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II and the king Syennesis of Cilicia acted as mediators in the ensuing peace treaty, which was sealed by the marriage of

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