previous next

This chapter, and still more cc. 50-1, are important as illustrating the sources of H. (cf. Intr. § 24). It may be noted, however, that, while he repeats the stories of the Delphic sacristans, he tries, here as elsewhere, to exercise his critical faculty (14. 2; 51. 3, 4); he did not reproduce his information mechanically (as Nitzsch maintains, R. M. 1872, Intr. § 28), but blended one story with another.


Important states had their own treasuries, where the dedicated objects were under the national charge. The importance of Corinth is seen in the fact that foreign kings put their offerings under its care (so Midas inf.; Croesus, 50. 3; Euelthon of (Cypriot) Salamis, iv. 162. 3). For this treasury cf. Frazer, P. v. 295; its remains were discovered by the French in 1893. For the treasuries at Olympia and elsewhere cf. Dyer, J. H. S. xxv. 294 seq.; no foreign treasury is known but the οἶκος Λυδῶν at Delos (ib. 309). For Cypselus cf. v. 92 n. This passage illustrates the constant endeavour of tyrants to conciliate important shrines; so the mediaeval tyrants in Italy sought confirmation of their usurpations from the Holy See or the Holy Roman Empire. After the overthrow of the Cypselids Delphi permitted this change in the dedications, but the Eleans refused to allow it at Olympia (Plut. De Pyth. Orac. 13).


The kings were alternately ‘Midas’ and ‘Gordias’ (cf. the placenames Mideum and Gordium. For Phrygia and Midas cf. App. I. 7).

προκατίζων. προ is emphatic, ‘sat for judgement and gave justice.’ Cf. 97. 1.

ἐπωνυμίην: cogn. accus. with καλέεται. For Γυγάδας cf. 94. 1 n.; the Doric form is retained.


καί: as well as his successors. The attack on Miletus was unsuccessful, and Gyges seems to have entered into friendly relations with the city; he ‘allowed’ it to plant Abydos on the Hellespont (Strabo, 590). No doubt the common danger from the Cimmerians led to this attempt to guard the north-west entrance into Asia. Gyges was also repulsed at Smyrna (Paus. iv. 21. 5, and Mimnermus, frs. 13, 14). Stein takes τὸ ἄστυ as emphatic, the ‘lower town’ as opposed to the citadel. For the history generally cf. Theognis, 1103-4 ὕβρις καὶ Μάγνητας ἀπώλεσε καὶ Κολοφῶνα καὶ Σμύρνην.

Gyges attacked the Greeks at the mouths of the great rivervalleys, i. e. Maeander (Miletus), Cayster (Colophon), Hermus (Smyrna); the Lydian kings naturally wished to obtain the tradeoutlets to the Aegean. H.'s account of Gyges' campaigns is very insufficient; he also conquered the Troad (Strabo, 590), and Caria seems to have been subject to him; perhaps also he took Magnesia (on the Hermus: Nic. Dam. fr. 62). (See Note C, p. 448.)

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide References (1 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (1):
    • Pausanias, Description of Greece, 4.21.5
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: