Henry Shapiro
So the king is killed. A New Age begins. There are poems written about Gyges in iambic trimeters. He was the first of the barbarians to dedicate objects at Delphi. He reigned as King of Lydia for twenty-eight years, but we still remember him as only a cog in an unusual love story. (Ondaatje 1993: 234)
Thomas Carlyle said that “the history of the world is but the biography of great men”(Carlyle 1840: 247). But men are not born great; opportunity is required for the development and expression of “greatness.” Thus Emerson’s quip that “no great man ever complained of want of opportunity” (Emerson 1965: v) is only true because men become great by taking advantage of opportunity. Many ancient writers deemed Gyges a great man, and they recorded stories about his life. Nonetheless facts about Gyges are difficult to ascertain since the primary accounts of his ascension to power are contradictory myths. I aim to glean facts about Gyges’ coup from the ancient sources and modern scholarship. I will then assess the resulting skeleton of knowledge with regard to the military, economic, and emigrational changes that occurred in Asia Minor during the seventh century to help moderns understand Gyges’ deeds in connection with the opportunities provided by historical context.
Herodotus states that Gyges, son of Dascylus, was the favored bodyguard (literally spear-bearer, aicmoforoV) (Herodotus 1929: 1.8) of Candaules, King of Lydia and descendent of Heracles. According to Herodotus’ story, Candaules fell in love with his own wife, and he frequently bragged to Gyges that she was the most beautiful of all women. The king was fated to die badly, and he was suspicious that Gyges did not trust his boasts. So Candaules urged him to hide behind the door of the royal bedroom and watch her strip before going to bed. Gyges protested, arguing that such actions violate ancestral custom, but Candaules insisted. That night Gyges did as the king bid, but the queen saw him exiting her bedroom. She understood immediately that her husband was to blame but pretended to be unaware of the crime. Instead she plotted to punish the king for humiliating her. The next day the queen consulted with loyal servants and beckoned Gyges. She told him that he must kill Candaules, marry her, and become King of Lydia; otherwise Gyges himself would be quickly executed. Gyges chose to survive, and he killed Candaules that same night (Hdt. 1.8-12). (Herodotus 1929: 52-54).
The rest of Herodotus’ account has fewer characteristics of folk tale:
Since the Lydians were angered by Candaules’ death, they took up arms. But the partisans of Gyges and the rest of the Lydians came to an agreement: if the oracle confirms Gyges as king of the Lydians, he shall rule; if not, they would give the kingdom back to the Heraclidae. The oracle confirmed Gyges and in this way he became king (Hdt. 1.13, my translation). (Herodotus 1929: 54)
Thus Herodotus documents factional discord between partisans of Gyges and Lydians loyal to the Heraclid dynasty. The oracle at Delphi officially ended the dispute by confirming Gyges’ right to rule. Herodotus later describes Gyges’ expensive dedicatory offerings to Delphi, and he states that the Delphians themselves attested for these gifts and called them “GugadaV” (Hdt. 1.14) (Herodotus 1929: 55). Gyges’ ties to Delphi are historically grounded, and the latter portion of Herodotus’ account is probable. Nonetheless Delphi probably only confirmed Gyges’ kingship following the dedication of his famous gold and silver and long after the conclusion of stasis.
Nicolaus of Damascus documents Gyges’ revolution his forty-ninth fragment (49.44-61) (Damascenus 1849: 383-385). He states that “Gyges was surpassing in beauty and stature, noble with respect to the art of war, best by far at everything compared to his age-mates, and he was particularly skillful in his use of arms and horses” (49.44, my translation) (Damascenus 1849: 383). Because of Gyges’ prowess King Sadyattes sought him as a bodyguard, and when the king decided to marry Tudo of Mysia, he ordered Gyges to escort her to Lydia. Gyges became enamored with Tudo, and he made advances towards her; she later told the king, who decided to execute his guard. But Gyges and his comrades killed the potentate before he could mete out Gyges’ punishment. Gyges then purged his enemies, and after Delphi confirmed his right to rule, the Lydian people accepted Gyges as their king. “Thereupon Gyges son of Daskylus became king of the Lydians and married the Mysian woman” (49.61, my translation) (Damascenus 1849: 385).
Plato records the third classical account of Gyges’ coup in Book II of his Republic (359b-360d) (Plato 1965: 100-02). He claims that Gyges was a shepherd who discovered a golden ring. The ring was magical, and Gyges became invisible whenever he rotated its collet inward. After comprehending this power, Gyges immediately made use of it: “When Gyges came to Sardis he committed adultery with the king’s wife, and after this they applied themselves toward killing the king and seizing his kingdom (360b, my translation)” (Plato 1965: 1002).
Plato composed his Republic during the fourth century BCE (Harvey 1937: 331). Herodotus finished his inquiry late in the fifth century, (Harvey 1937: 206) and Nicolaus wrote during the reign of Augustus (Smith 1902: 263). Despite Nicolaus’ later date he is an important authority on Lydian history because he claims to have used Xanthus of Lydia’s prose as primary sources (Harvey 1937: 265). Additionally he states that Xanthus was “a man with an exceptionally sound knowledge of early history, who must be considered second to none in establishing the history of his own country” (Pearson 1939: 120). This is an overstatement, but Xanthus probably wrote before Herodotus during the early fifth century BCE, so his account is as credible. Herodotus was familiar with Xanthus’ Lydiaca, but he chose to record a different version of the Gyges folk tale in his Histories (Pearson 1939: 135).
What truth can be gleaned from these accounts? Plato’s Republic should be discounted as an historical text since most of his story is fantastic, and realistic segments correspond with information offered by Herodotus. Both Nicolaus and Herodotus assert that Gyges was an esteemed soldier. Additionally they document internal strife in Lydia that was officially quelled after the oracle at Delphi confirmed Gyges’ right to rule. Thus Gyges was a warrior who became a tyrant after the conclusion of stasis and eventually developed diplomatic ties to Delphi.
This portrait of Gyges the warrior is supported by seventh century Assyrian tablets that document Gyges’ diplomatic correspondences with King Ashurbanipal. Cogan and Tadmor’s reconstructions of these inscriptions reveal that the Cimmerians frequently raided Gyges’ Lydia. For example,
[Gugu], king of Lydia, a distant [place]
[who ] of Assyria [ ]
[was not ], far-away is his city.
[The kings, who] preceded me, my ancestors,
[had never heard] his name.
[ The(ir) country] is wide,
[but…. ] undeveloped
[ lacking in] strength.
[The Cim]merians, a dangerous enemy,
[ ] in battle [ ]
[ ] they defeated [ ] (Cogan and Tadmor 1977: 73)
Prism A (643/2 BCE) states that Gyges eventually broke ties with Assyria, that he sent aid to rebellious Egypt, and that he died at the hands of the Cimmerians:
The riders which [Gugu] constantly sent to inquire of my well-being broke off. I was informed that he had become unfaithful to the word of Ashur, the god, my begetter, and that he trusted in his own strength; he had become proud. He had sent troops to aid Psammetichus, king of Egypt, who had thrown off my yoke. I prayed to Ashur and Ishtar: “Let his corpse be cast before his enemy; his bones carried off (i.e. scattered about).” That which I implored of Ashur, came about. Before his enemies his corpse was cast; his bones were carried off. The Cimmerians, whom he had defeated by invoking my name, rose up and swept over his entire land. After his demise, his son inherited his throne. (Cogan and Tadmor 1977: 79)
Callinus reports that the Cimmerians captured Sardis after Gyges’ defeat, and Spalinger dates Gyges’ death and Sardis’ first fall to 644 BCE (Spalinger 1978: 405).
The ancient literary tradition documenting Gyges’ life can serve as a platform from which more detailed descriptions of his ascension and reign can be constructed. But historians must be careful not to limit the scope of their sources, or to make conjectures that are not adequately supported by ancient evidence. Some early twentieth century scholars conjured fairy tales about Gyges. For example, Joseph Wells argued that “Gyges was not a Lydian at all, but a Cimmerian invader; that he, or perhaps his father, was taken into the service of the old Lydian monarchy, that the new-comers soon found that they preferred to possess, and not to defend, the land of their masters” (Wells 1923: 22). He identifies Gyges with the biblical character Gog, and cites Ezekiel as evidence that Gyges “had been leader as well as victim of Northern hordes” (Wells 1923: 26). Instead of expanding such literary traditions, a search for Gyges’ actual origins and basis of power is better served by examining seventh century Lydia in a broader historical context.
The years 650 until 510 are often called the “Age of Tyrants” because during that time many city-states transitioned from monarchical to tyrannical governments (Andrews 1956: 8). According to Euphorion, Gyges was the first tyrant (Clement 1983: 11). Gyges was an elite Lydian who was not a member of the ruling dynasty but seized power with the support of partisans. Such facts known about Gyges’ ascension and rule correspond with Sealey’s paradigm defining tyranny (Sealey 1976: 39), even if ancient writers did not necessarily use the word in the modern technical sense when discussing Gyges. One means of understanding Gyges in a broader historical context is to attempt to relate his bases of power with one of the theories explaining the rise of tyranny. Racial explanations do not apply to Gyges of Lydia, but Andrews’ hoplite conjecture and P.N. Ure’s economic theory of tyranny may be used as alternate lenses with which to analyze Gyges.
Andrews believed the formation of hoplite armies catalyzed the transition from monarchy to tyranny. His thesis was that
. . . the earlier, more individual method [of fighting] is the method of the military aristocracy, where the mass of the people is of little account and the brunt of the fighting is borne by a class of privileged experts: the hoplite method needs a broader basis, a greater number of trained fighters accustomed to acting as a team and not to showing off their individual prowess. In classical times the hoplites are a sort of middle class, including the more substantial of the small farmers, for the equipment of the Greek armies was not provided by the state, and the hoplites were just that income-group which could afford hoplite armour. Thus we might expect, as a political effect of the change to hoplite tactics, that the middle class would start to claim its share of power in the state, breaking into the monopoly held by the aristocrats. (Andrews 1956: 34)
Hoplite weaponry and armor is first attested on vases made after 750, but the first such evidence of fully equipped heavy-armed soldiers does not emerge until 675, and the phalanx is not attested on vases before 650 (Sealey 1976: 30). Were Lydian soldiers hoplites during Gyges’ lifetime? Spalinger argued that Gyges died in 644, and according to Herodotus, he reigned for thirty-eight years (Hdt. 1.14) (Herodotus 1942: 10). Based on these data Gyges ruled between 682 and 644. If Gyges led a hoplite revolution, he did so before the full hoplite panoply is attested on pottery. Additionally Andrews argues that since Callinus of Ephesus referred only to the use of throwing-spears in his poems, soldiers in Asia Minor probably did not employ hoplite tactics during the mid-seventh century (Andrews 1956: 33). While these facts themselves do not preclude the possibility that Gyges led a hoplite revolution, the argument of silence is more conclusive. Gyges was a respected soldier, but none of the literary traditions documenting his ascension depict Gyges as the leader of disaffected troops or a populist party.
Even if Andrews’ theory for the rise of tyranny is correct, no hoplite revolution could have occurred without increased trade and wealth since “the cities could not have afforded the military change . . . if individual citizens had not grown richer” (Andrews 1956: 31). During the ninth century the Assyrian Empire began to expand (Murray 1978: 70), and as a result trade increased and some western city-states became richer. Archaeological excavations at Al Mina in northern Syria imply that trade between eastern and western cities began to increase during the ninth century and that it boomed during the eighth (Boardman 1990: 179). Seventh century Lydia epitomized this possibility for increased wealth, and Archilochus associates Gyges’ name with lucre:
The gold booty of Gyges means nothing to me.
I don’t envy that Lydian king, nor am I jealous
of what gods can do, nor of the tyrants’ great
powers. All these are realms beyond my vision.
(Archilochus, 1962: 32)
Herodotus’ account of Gyges’ valuable gifts to Delphi has already been mentioned (Hdt. 1.14).
Thucydides was one theorist who attributed the rise of tyranny to greater affluence. He states that “as the power of Hellas grew, and the acquisition of wealth became more an object, the revenues of the states increasing, tyrannies were by their means established almost everywhere” (Thuc. 1.13) (Thucydides 1982: 8). A more modern supporter of this conjecture is P.N. Ure. According to Ure tyranny was the result of a transfer of power from an old aristocracy to the nouveaux riches. He asked if “it is not possible that the founder of the tyranny was the man who turned to greatest advantage for political purposes the unique commercial conditions of the age in which he lived” (Ure 1906: 131)? According to Herodotus the Lydians “were the first nation to introduce the use of gold and silver coins, and the first who sold goods by retail” (Hdt. 1.94) (herodotus 1942: 53). Ure noted that both tyranny and coinage purportedly originated in Lydia. Was the rise of Gyges’ tyranny contingent upon economic changes?
In The Origin of Tyranny, Ure cites outdated numismatic scholarship in an attempt to date the world’s oldest coins. Nonetheless his guess was surprisingly accurate, coinciding approximately with modern conjectures that the first coins were stamped from electrum sometime around 700 (Kagan 1982: 359). Ure then interprets the following story about Ardys as evidence that after the introduction of coinage, money was the basis of power for a Lydian elite composed of businessmen (Ure 1922: 136).
According to the story told by Nicolaus Damascenus, Damonno, the wife of Cadys, whose reign is ascribed to the middle of the eighth century, after her royal husband’s death won over by her wealth a large number of Lydians, expelled her brother-in-law Ardys, and then married her lover Spermos and proclaimed him king. When banished by Spermos and Damonno, Ardys goes into business at Cyme as a wagon-builder (amaxophgwn) and is keeping a hotel (pandokeuwn) there when called back to the throne of Sardis. He is brought back by a tavern-keeper or retail trader (kaphloV) named Thyessos, who as his reward asked and received that this inn or shop (kaphleion) should be exempt from paying dues (ateleV). (Ure 1922: 136)
Later Ure cites Croesus’ advice to Cyrus: “Your subjects, the Persians, are a poor people with a proud spirit. If then you let them pillage and possess themselves of great wealth, I will tell you what you may expect at their hands. The man who gets the most, look to having him rebel against you” (Hdt. 1.89) (Herodotus 1942: 50). After discussing other examples Ure summarizes his argument:
. . . the evidence so far adduced has pointed to the following conclusions: metal coinage reached its final evolution in Lydia, probably in the second half of the eighth century B.C.; the title tyrant reached Greece from Lydia probably early in the seventh century; from the middle of the eighth century down to the end of the age of the tyrants all the rulers or would-be rulers of Lydia of whom we have any relevant information regarded money as the basis of political power. (Ure 1922: 140)
Ure then begins his discussion of Gyges, and his chapter on Lydia degenerates into farce. Ure overanalyzes Plato’s story of Gyges’ ring, proposing that since rings may have been used as money before the introduction of coinage, Gyges’ ring could represent capital. Additionally the ring’s signet may stand for a mold for stamping coins. Ure asks, “May not the owner of this ring have been the first person to use his signet for stamping coins of metal, and may not this fact be the origin of the stories about its marvelous powers” (Ure 1922: 151)? He even quotes Radet, who took the argument a step further: “Gyges et ses successeurs ont possese un merveilleux talisman: la science economique” (Ure 1922: 146). Such conjectures are amusing, but no ancient source implies that Gyges was the first man to mint coins or that he was an economic wizard. Gyges was a rich tyrant, but the literary tradition documenting his coup does not emphasize his acumen as a businessman; Gyges did not buy the throne. If not the rise of hoplite armies or an entrepreneurial elite, what were the historical circumstances that provided opportunity for Gyges’ great deeds?
The Cimmerians originally inhabited land north of the Black Sea, but the Scythians displaced them, and they emigrated south. They eventually settled in Cappadocia and used this new homeland as a base for raids against the Assyrians, Phrygians, and Lydians (Kagan 1982: 350). Aforementioned Assyrian tablets demonstrate that the Cimmerians frequently attacked Lydia during Gyges’ lifetime and that they plundered Sardis, undoubtedly seeking its renowned wealth. Both Herodotus and Nicolaus state that Gyges was an esteemed soldier. During the mid-seventh century the Lydians needed an adept military commander to lead them, not a businessman. The Heraklid dynasty most likely fell as a result of the stress imposed on Lydia by the Cimmerian invasions. If Candaules (Sadyattes) was an ineffectual general, then a coup initiated by an ambitious commander better able to respond to the Cimmerian threat would probably have been successful, especially if the queen was his ally. This conjecture is consistent with the literary accounts of Gyges’ ascension and is not as outlandish as Wells’ theory. Most importantly, it both accounts for Gyges’ great deeds and pays due regard to the opportunities created by historical context.
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