At some point before 800 BC, theLydian 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 westernAnatolia. In 546 BC, it became asatrapy of theAchaemenid Empire, known asSparda inOld Persian. In 133 BC, it became part of theRomanprovince of Asia.
Lydian coins, made ofelectrum, are among the oldest in existence, dated to around the 7th century BC.[1][2]
Lydia is generally located east of ancientIonia in the modern western Turkish provinces ofUşak,Manisa and inlandİzmir.[3]
The boundaries of historical Lydia varied across the centuries. It was bounded first byMysia,Caria,Phrygia and coastalIonia. Later, the military power ofAlyattes andCroesus expanded Lydia, which, with its capital atSardis, controlled all Asia Minor west of the River Halys, exceptLycia. After the Persian conquest the RiverMaeander was regarded as its southern boundary, and during imperial Roman times Lydia comprised the country between Mysia and Caria on the one side and Phrygia and theAegean Sea on the other.
TheLydian language was anIndo-European language[4] in theAnatolian language family, related toLuwian[5] andHittite. 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 ofprefixes andgrammatical particles to chain clauses together.[6] Lydian had also undergone extensivesyncope, leading to numerous consonant clusters atypical of most Indo-European languages. Lydian becameextinct during the 1st century BC.
The Lydian language is usually not categorized as part of theLuwic subgroup, unlike the other nearby Anatolian languagesLuwian,Carian, andLycian.[7]
Lydia's early history remains shrouded in obscurity. During theLate Bronze Age (1600 BC-1200 BC), the territory that later became Lydia overlapped with two kingdoms calledMira andŠeḫa, themselves part of a broader political entity calledArzawa.[8] Like the other Arzawa Lands, these kingdoms had tumultuous relations with theHittite Empire, acting both as allies, enemies, and vassals at various points in time.[9]
By roughly 800 BC, theLydian 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 the archaeological excavations at Sardis. Although certain literary accounts purport the existence of two early Lydian dynasties, namely the house ofAtys - after whose sonLydus 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.[10]
According to Herodotus, one of Lydus's descendants wasIardanus, with whomHeracles was in service at one time. Heracles had an affair with one of Iardanus' slave-girls and their sonAlcaeus was the first of the Heraclid Dynasty said to have ruled Lydia for 22 generations starting withAgron.[11][non-primary source needed] In the 8th century BC,Meles became the 21st and penultimate Heraclid king and the last was his sonCandaules (died c. 687 BC).[12][13]
Gyges was the first Lydian king whose existence is demonstrable from contemporary records.[8] According to semi-mythical accounts of his reign, he was the son of a man namedDascylus and came to power by overthrowingKing Candaules with the assistance of a Carian prince fromMylasa named Arselis.[14][15] Gyges's rise to power happened in the context of a period of turmoil following the invasion of theCimmerians, a nomadic people from thePontic steppe who had invadedWestern Asia, who around 675 BC destroyed the previous major power in Anatolia, the kingdom of Phrygia.[16]
Gyges took advantage of the power vacuum created by the Cimmerian invasions to consolidate his kingdom and make it a military power, he contacted theNeo-Assyrian court by sending diplomats toNineveh to seek help against the Cimmerian invasions,[17] and he attacked theIonian Greek cities ofMiletus,Smyrna, andColophon.[16] Gyges's extensive alliances with the Carian dynasts allowed him to recruit Carian and Ionian Greek soldiers to send overseas to assist theEgyptian kingPsamtik I of the city ofSais, 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-rulingLower Egypt.[14][18][17][19]
In 644 BC, Lydia faced a third attack by the Cimmerians, led by their kingLygdamis. This time, the Lydians were defeated, Sardis was sacked, and Gyges was killed.[18][17]
Gyges was succeeded by his sonArdys, who resumed diplomatic activity with Assyria and would also have to face the Cimmerians.[18][17] Ardys attacked theIonian Greek city ofMiletus and succeeded in capturing the city ofPriene, after which Priene would remain under direct rule of the Lydian kingdom until its end.[20][21]
Ardys's reign was short-lived,[22] and in 637 BC, that is in Ardys's seventh regnal year, theThracianTreres tribe who had migrated across theThracian Bosporus and invadedAnatolia,[23] under their king Kobos, and in alliance with theCimmerians and theLycians, attacked Lydia.[17] They defeated the Lydians again and for a second time sacked the Lydian capital ofSardis, except for its citadel. It is probable that Ardys was killed during this Cimmerian attack.[22][24]
Ardys was succeeded by his son, Sadyattes, who had an even more short-lived reign.[22] Sadyattes died in 635 BC, and it is possible that, like his grandfather Gyges and maybe his father Ardys as well, he died fighting theCimmerians.[22]
Amidst extreme turmoil, Sadyattes was succeeded in 635 BC by his sonAlyattes, who would transform Lydia into a powerful empire.[25][22]
Soon after Alyattes's ascension and early during his reign, with Assyrian approval[26] and in alliance with the Lydians,[27] theScythians under their kingMadyes 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[28] until they were themselves expelled by theMedes from Western Asia in the 590s BC.[17] This final defeat of the Cimmerians was carried out by the joint forces of Madyes, whomStrabo credits with expelling the Treres and Cimmerians from Asia Minor, and of Alyattes, whomHerodotus andPolyaenus claim finally defeated the Cimmerians.[29][30]
Tomb of Alyattes.
Alyattes turned towardsPhrygia in the east, where extended Lydian rule eastwards to Phrygia.[31] Alyattes continued his expansionist policy in the east, and of all the peoples to the west of the Halys River whom Herodotus claimed Alyattes's successor Croesus ruled over - theLydians,Phrygians,Mysians,Mariandyni,Chalybes,Paphlagonians,Thyni andBithyniThracians,Carians,Ionians,Dorians,Aeolians, andPamphylians - it is very likely that a number of these populations had already been conquered under Alyattes, and it 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 theAegean region, theLevant, andCyprus.[31][32]
Bin Tepe royal funeraltumulus (tomb of Alyattes, father of Croesus), Lydia, 6th century BC.Lydia's borders under the reign of Croesus
Alyattes's eastern conquests brought the Lydian Empire in conflict in the 590s BC with theMedes,[33] and a war broke out between the Median and Lydian Empires in 590 BC which was waged in eastern Anatolia lasted five years, until asolar eclipse occurred in 585 BC duringa 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 kingNebuchadnezzar II and the kingSyennesis ofCilicia acted as mediators in the ensuing peace treaty, which was sealed by the marriage of the Median king Cyaxares's sonAstyages with Alyattes's daughterAryenis, and the possible wedding of a daughter of Cyaxares with either Alyattes or with his son Croesus.[34][35][31][36]
Portrait ofCroesus, last king of Lydia, Attic red-figure amphora, painted ca. 500–490 BC.
Alyattes died shortly after the Battle of the Eclipse, in 585 BC itself,[22] following which Lydia faced a power struggle between his son Pantaleon, born from a Greek woman, and his other sonCroesus, born from a Carian noblewoman, out of which the latter emerged successful.[37]
Croesus broughtCaria under the direct control of the Lydian Empire,[21] and he subjugated all of mainlandIonia,Aeolis, andDoris, but he abandoned his plans of annexing the Greek city-states on the islands of theAegean 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 atNaucratis.[21] According to Herodotus, Croesus ruled over all 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.[34][35][31][36][32]
Croesus continued the friendly relations with theMedes concluded between his father Alyattes and the Median kingCyaxares, and he continued these good relations with the Medes after he succeeded Alyattes and Astyages succeeded Cyaxares.[31] And, under Croesus's rule, Lydia continued its good relations started by Gyges with theSaite Egyptian kingdom, then ruled by thepharaohAmasis II.[31] Croesus also established trade and diplomatic relations with theNeo-Babylonian Empire ofNabonidus,[31] and he further increased his contacts with the Greeks on the European continent by establishing relations with the city-state ofSparta.[21]
In 550 BC, Croesus's brother-in-law, the Median king Astyages, was overthrown by his own grandson, the Persian kingCyrus the Great,[31] and Croesus responded by attackingPteria, 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 abattle, and againat Thymbra beforebesieging and capturing the Lydian capital ofSardis, thus bringing an end to 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.[31]
Although the dates for the battles of Pteria and Thymbra and of end of the Lydian empire have been traditionally fixed to 547 BC,[38] 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 the end of the Lydian kingdom; theoretically, it may even have taken place after the fall ofBabylon in 539 BC.[38][39]
Lydia, including Ionia, during the Achaemenid Empire.Xerxes I tomb, Lydian soldier of theAchaemenid army, circa 480 BC
In 547 BC, the Lydian kingCroesus besieged and captured the Persian city ofPteria inCappadocia and enslaved its inhabitants. The Persian kingCyrus The Great marched with his army against the Lydians. TheBattle of Pteria resulted in a stalemate, forcing the Lydians to retreat to their capital city of Sardis. Some months later the Persian and Lydian kings met at theBattle of Thymbra. Cyrus won and captured the capital city of Sardis by 546 BC.[40] Lydia became a province (satrapy) of the Persian Empire.
Lydia remained a satrapy after Persia's conquest by the Macedonian kingAlexander III (the Great) ofMacedon.
When Alexander's empire ended after his death, Lydia was possessed by the major Asian diadoch dynasty, theSeleucids, and when it was unable to maintain its territory in Asia Minor, Lydia was acquired by theAttalid dynasty ofPergamum. Its last king avoided the spoils and ravage of a Roman war of conquest by leaving the realm by testament to theRoman Empire.
Roman province of AsiaPhoto of a 15th-century map showing Lydia
When the Romans entered the capital Sardis in 133 BC, Lydia, as the other western parts of the Attalid legacy, became part of theprovince of Asia, a very richRoman province, worthy of a governor with the high rank ofproconsul. The whole west of Asia Minor hadJewish 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" fromThyatira, known asLydia of Thyatira, in what had once been the satrapy of Lydia.Christianity spread rapidly during the 3rd century AD, based on the nearby Exarchate of Ephesus.
Under thetetrarchy reform of EmperorDiocletian 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.
Under the Eastern Roman emperor Heraclius (610–641), Lydia became part ofAnatolikon, one of the originalthemata, and later ofThrakesion. Although theSeljuk Turks conquered most of the rest of Anatolia, forming theSultanate of Ikonion (Konya), Lydia remained part of the Byzantine Empire. While the Venetians occupied Constantinople and Greece as a result of theFourth Crusade, Lydia continued as a part of the Eastern Romanrump state called theNicene Empire based atNicaea until 1261.
Lydia was captured finally by Turkishbeyliks, which were all absorbed by theOttoman state in 1390. The area became part of the OttomanAidin Vilayet (province), and is now in the modern republic ofTurkey.
According toHerodotus, the Lydians were the first people to use gold and silvercoins and the first to establish retail shops in permanent locations.[41] It is not known, however, whether Herodotus meant that the Lydians were the first to use coins of pure gold and pure silver or the first precious metal coins in general.[42] 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 (underAlyattes I, reigned c.591–c.560 BC) were neither gold nor silver but an alloy of the two calledelectrum.[43]
The dating of these first stamped coins is one of the most frequently debated topics of ancient numismatics,[44] 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).[45][46] The first coins were made ofelectrum, analloy of gold and silver that occurs naturally but that was further debased by the Lydians with added silver and copper.[47]
Croeseids
Gold Croeseid, minted by kingCroesus circa 561–546 BC. (10.7 grams,Sardis mint).
Silver Croeseid, minted by king Croesus, circa 560–546 BC (10.7 grams, Sardis mint)
The largest of these coins are commonly referred to as a 1/3stater (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."[49] These coins were stamped with a lion's head adorned with what is likely a sunburst, which was the king's symbol.[50] 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.[51] To complement the largest denomination, fractions were made, including ahekte (sixth),hemihekte (twelfth), and so forth down to a 96th, with the 1/96 stater weighing only about 0.15 grams. There is disagreement, however, over whether the fractions below the twelfth are actually Lydian.[52]
Alyattes' son wasCroesus (Reigned c.560–c.546 BC), who became associated with great wealth. Croesus is credited with issuing theCroeseid, the first truegold coins with a standardised purity for general circulation,[48] and the world's firstbimetallic monetary system circa 550 BC.[48]
It took some time before ancient coins were used for commerce and trade. Even the smallest-denomination electrum coins, perhaps worth about a day's subsistence, would have been too valuable for buying a loaf of bread.[53] The first coins to be used for retailing on a large-scale basis were likely small silver fractions, Hemiobol,Ancient Greek coinage minted inCyme (Aeolis) underHermodike II then by theIonian Greeks in the late sixth century BC.[54]
Sardis was renowned as a beautiful city. Around 550 BC, near the beginning of his reign, Croesus paid for the construction of thetemple of Artemis atEphesus, which became one of theSeven Wonders of the ancient world. Croesus was defeated in battle byCyrus IIof Persia in 546 BC, with the Lydian kingdom losing its autonomy and becoming a Persiansatrapy.
For the Greeks,Tantalus was a primordial ruler of mythic Lydia, andNiobe his proud daughter; her husbandAmphion associated Lydia withThebes in Greece, and throughPelops the line of Tantalus was part of thefounding myths ofMycenae's second dynasty. (In reference to the myth ofBellerophon, Karl Kerenyi remarked, inThe Heroes of The Greeks 1959, p. 83. "AsLykia was thus connected withCrete, and as the person ofPelops, the hero of Olympia, connected Lydia with the Peloponnesos, so Bellerophontes connected another Asian country, or rather two, Lykia andKaria, with the kingdom ofArgos".)
ThePactolus river, from which Lydia obtainedelectrum, a combination of silver and gold.
In Greek myth, Lydia had also adopted the double-axe symbol, that also appears in the Mycenaean civilization, thelabrys.[55]Omphale, daughter ofIardanos, was a princess of Lydia, whomHeracles 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 theserpent of the river Sangarios (which appears in the heavens as the constellationOphiucus)[56] and captured the simian tricksters, theCercopes. 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 wasAlcaeus who began the line of LydianHeracleidae which ended with the death ofCandaules c. 687 BC.Diodorus Siculus (4.31.8) andOvid (Heroides 9.54) mentions a son called Lamos, while pseudo-Apollodorus (Bibliotheke 2.7.8) gives the name Agelaus andPausanias (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) the legend that theEtruscan civilization was founded by colonists from Lydia led byTyrrhenus, brother of Lydus.Dionysius of Halicarnassus was skeptical of this story, indicating that theEtruscan 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 toXanthus of Lydia, an authority on the history of the Lydians.[57]
Later chronologists ignored Herodotus' statement thatAgron 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 the pre-Heraclid kings and princes of Lydia. The gold deposits in the riverPactolus that were the source of the proverbial wealth ofCroesus (Lydia's last king) were said to have been left there when the legendary kingMidas ofPhrygia washed away the "Midas touch" in its waters.InEuripides' tragedyThe Bacchae,Dionysus, while maintaining his human disguise, declares his country to be Lydia.[58]
The relationship between theEtruscans of northern and central Italy and the Lydians has long been a subject of conjecture. The Greek historianHerodotus believed they came from Lydia, butDionysius of Halicarnassus, a 1st-century BC historian, argued that the Etruscans were indigenous to Italy and unrelated to the Lydians.[59] Dionysius pointed out that the 5th-century historianXanthus of Lydia, who was regarded as an important source and authority for the history of Lydia, never linked the Etruscans to Lydia or mentioned Tyrrhenus as a Lydian ruler.[59]
In contemporary scholarship, Etruscologists overwhelmingly support an indigenous origin for the Etruscans,[60][61] dismissing Herodotus' account as based on erroneous etymologies.[62]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 the Etruscans themselves, were at war with the Greeks.[63] The French scholarDominique 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."[64][65] 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.[66]
A 2013 genetic study suggested that the maternal lineages of western Anatolians and modern Tuscans had been largely separate for 5,000 to 10,000 years, with EtruscanmtDNA closely resembling modern Tuscans and NeolithicCentral European populations. This suggests Etruscans descended from theVillanovan culture,[76][77] indicating their indigenous roots, and a link between Etruria, modern Tuscany, and Lydia dating back to theNeolithic period during the migration ofEarly European Farmers from Anatolia to Europe.[76][77] A 2019 genetic study revealed that Etruscans (900–600 BC) andLatins (900–500 BC) fromLatium vetus shared genetic similarities, with both groups having a mixture of two-thirdsCopper Age ancestry and one-thirdSteppe-related ancestry. This study also suggested indigenous origins for the Etruscans, despite their pre-Indo-European language.[78]
A 2021 study confirmed these findings, showing that Etruscans and Latins in 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 tohaplogroup R1b and the most common mitochondrial DNA haplogroup beingH.[79]
The Lydians in early Antiquity adhered to a religion which remains marginally attested due to the known sources covering it being largely of Greek origin, while Lydian inscriptions regarding religion are small in number[80] and no Lydian corpus of ritual texts like the Hittite ritual tablets have been recovered.[81]
The early Lydian religion exhibited strong connections toAnatolian as well asGreek traditions,[80] and its pantheon was composed of native Lydian deities who were reflexes of earlier Aegean-Balkan ones, as well asAnatolian deities, the latter of whom held lesser roles.[83]
The Lydian religion waspolytheistic in nature and was composed of a number of deities:[80]
unlike traditionally Anatolian pantheons but similarly to thePhrygian one, the Lydian pantheon was headed by the goddess Artimus (𐤠𐤭𐤯𐤦𐤪𐤰𐤮), who was a deity of wild nature as well as the Lydian variant of an earlier Aegean-Balkan goddess whose other reflexes included the GreekArtemis (Αρτεμις)[85] and the Phrygian Artimis:[86] Artimus is the most well-attested Lydian deities both in the Lydian corpus and archaeologically;[87][88]
the identity of the figure of Qaλdãns or Qaλiyãns (𐤲𐤷𐤣𐤵𐤫𐤮) is still uncertain, and has been variously interpreted as the Lydian king of the gods,[85] or a Moon-god who was the main masculine deity of the Lydian pantheon and the consort of Artimus,[89] or the Lydian equivalent of the Greek godApollo (Απολλων),[90] or a high status or royal title.[90] WhileQldans was once thought to be atheonymic, and referring to Apollo, it has recently become known that a Lydian coin also mentions the nameQλdãns in its legend. Thus, the earlier interpretations as a deity should be revised.[91]
The Lydian equivalent of the Greek godZeus (Ζευς) and the Phrygian god Tiws was Lews (𐤩𐤤𐤥𐤮) or Lefs (𐤩𐤤𐤱𐤮):[85][89] Unlike the Anatolian storm-godTarḫuntas, Lews held a less prominent role in the Lydian religion,[89] although his role as the bringer of rain followed the tradition surrounding the Anatolian Tarḫuntas;[92]
the goddess Lamẽtrus (𐤩𐤠𐤪𐤶𐤯𐤭𐤰𐤮) was the Lydian reflex of an earlier Aegean-Balkan goddess whose Greek iteration wasDēmētēr (Δημητηρ);[85][89]
the frenzy god Pakiš (𐤡𐤠𐤨𐤦𐤳) to whom was performed anorgiastic cult was also a Lydian variant of an older Aegean-Balkan god whose Greek reflex wasBakkhos (Βακχος);[85][89]
the goddess Kufaws (𐤨𐤰𐤱𐤠𐤥𐤮) or Kuwaws (𐤨𐤰𐤥𐤠𐤥𐤮), referred by the Greeks asKubēbē (Κυβηβη),[93][94] was a young[95] goddess ofdivine frenzy,[96] as well as a prominent Lydian deity possessing an important temple in Sardis;[97][98]
the existence of the goddess Korē (Κορη) is attested only during the Hellenistic and Roman periods, when the festival of Khrysanthina (Χρυσανθινα) was celebrated at Sardis in her honour,[81] and she appears to have had some vegetative aspects;[81]
the god Sãntas (𐤮𐤵𐤫𐤯𐤠𐤮), whose name corresponds to that of the LuwianŠandas (𔖶𔖖𔗎𔗏𔑶𔑯𔗔𔖶),[99] might have been the consort of Kufaws;[86]
accompanying Sãntas were several lesser demon-like figures called the Mariwdas (𐤪𐤠𐤭𐤦𐤥𐤣𐤠𐤮),[85][89] who were the Lydian equivalent of the deities attested in Hieroglyphic Luwian inscriptions as theMarwainzi (𔖖𔗎𔗏𔘅𔖱𔗬𔓯𔖩𔓯𔖶);[100]
the goddess Maλiš (𐤪𐤠𐤷𐤦𐤳), who corresponded to the Anatolian goddessMaliya, attested inHittite asᴰMāliya (𒀭𒈠𒀀𒇷𒅀) and Lycian asMaliya (𐊎𐊀𐊍𐊆𐊊𐊀),[101][102] possessed a vegetative aspect,[81] being a goddess of vegetation, especially of wine and corn.[102]
Because of a lack of evidence, little is known on the organisation of Lydian cults.[103]
Due to the meagre evidence for Lydian religious spaces, little is known about their shapes, sizes, administration, and location:[103] Lydian cultic spaces ranged from small places of worship to prestigious temples of the state cult which also had a political role,[103] although the evidence for them dates from after the end of Lydian independence,[80] while those from the Lydian empire are primarily known from Greek literature rather than from archaeological evidence.[84]
The early Lydian religion possessed at least three cultic officiants, consisting of:[104]
kawes (𐤨𐤠𐤥𐤤𐤮), who were priests and priestesses;
šiwraλmi- (𐤳𐤦𐤥𐤭𐤠𐤷𐤪𐤦-), who were involved in the cult of Artimus;
armτas (𐤠𐤭𐤪𐤴𐤠𐤮), who might have been prophets.
In addition to these clerical offices, the religious role of the kings among other Anatolian peoples suggests that Lydiankings were alsoreligious high functionaries who participated in the cult as a representative of divine power on earth and claimed their legitimacy to rule from the gods. Anatolian and Hellenistic Greek parallels also suggest that Lydian kings might have been deified after their deaths.[90]
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^Mouton, Alice; Rutherford, Ian; Yakubovich, Ilya, eds. (2013).Luwian Identities: Culture, Language and Religion Between Anatolia and the. Brill. p. 4.Although the Lydian language is only distantly related to Luwian...
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^A. Ramage, "Golden Sardis," King Croesus' Gold: Excavations at Sardis and the History of Gold Refining, edited by A. Ramage and P. Craddock, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 2000, p. 18.
^M. Cowell and K. Hyne, "Scientific Examination of the Lydian Precious Metal Coinages," King Croesus' Gold: Excavations at Sardis and the History of Gold Refining, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 2000, pp. 169–174.
^L. Breglia, "Il materiale proveniente dalla base centrale dell'Artemession di Efeso e le monete di Lidia",Istituto Italiano di Numismatica Annali, volumes 18–19 (1971/72), pp. 9–25.
^Robert Drews,Herodotus 1.94, the Drought Ca. 1200 B.C., and the Origin of the Etruscans, inHistoria: Zeitschrift Für Alte Geschichte, vol. 41, no. 1, 1992, pp. 14–39.
^Euripides.The Complete Greek Tragedies Vol IV., Ed by Grene and Lattimore, line 463
^Grant, Michael (1980).The Etruscans. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.ISBN978-0-9650356-8-2.
^Hornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Antony; Eidinow, Esther, eds. (2014).The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization. Oxford Companions (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 291–292.ISBN9780191016752.Briquel's convincing demonstration that the famous story of an exodus, led by Tyrrhenus from Lydia to Italy, was a deliberate political fabrication created in the Hellenized milieu of the court at Sardis in the early 6th cent. bce..
^Briquel, Dominique (2013). "Etruscan Origins and the Ancient Authors". In Turfa, Jean (ed.).The Etruscan World. London and New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. pp. 36–56.ISBN978-0-415-67308-2.
^Dominique Briquel,Le origini degli Etruschi: una questione dibattuta sin dall’antichità, in M. Torelli (ed.),Gli Etruschi [Catalogo della mostra, Venezia, 2000], Bompiani, Milan, 2000, p. 43–51 (Italian).
^Diana Neri (2012). "1.1 Il periodo villanoviano nell'Emilia occidentale".Gli etruschi tra VIII e VII secolo a.C. nel territorio di Castelfranco Emilia (MO) (in Italian). Florence: All'Insegna del Giglio. p. 9.ISBN978-8878145337.Il termine "Villanoviano" è entrato nella letteratura archeologica quando, a metà dell '800, il conte Gozzadini mise in luce le prime tombe ad incinerazione nella sua proprietà di Villanova di Castenaso, in località Caselle (BO). La cultura villanoviana coincide con il periodo più antico della civiltà etrusca, in particolare durante i secoli IX e VIII a.C. e i termini di Villanoviano I, II e III, utilizzati dagli archeologi per scandire le fasi evolutive, costituiscono partizioni convenzionali della prima età del Ferro
^Gilda Bartoloni (2012) [2002].La cultura villanoviana. All'inizio della storia etrusca (in Italian) (III ed.). Rome: Carocci editore.ISBN9788843022618.
^Giovanni Colonna (2000). "I caratteri originali della civiltà Etrusca". In Mario Torelli (ed.).Gi Etruschi (in Italian). Milan: Bompiani. pp. 25–41.
^Dominique Briquel (2000). "Le origini degli Etruschi: una questione dibattuta fin dall'antichità". In Mario Torelli (ed.).Gi Etruschi (in Italian). Milan: Bompiani. pp. 43–51.
^Gilda Bartoloni (2000). "Le origini e la diffusione della cultura villanoviana". In Mario Torelli (ed.).Gi Etruschi (in Italian). Milan: Bompiani. pp. 53–71.
^Bartoloni, Gilda (2014). "Gli artigiani metallurghi e il processo formativo nelle « Origini » degli Etruschi"." Origines " : percorsi di ricerca sulle identità etniche nell'Italia antica. Mélanges de l'École française de Rome: Antiquité (in Italian). Vol. 126–2. Rome: École française de Rome.ISBN978-2-7283-1138-5.
^abBonfante, Giuliano;Bonfante, Larissa (2002).The Etruscan language: an introduction (2nd ed.). Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press. p. 50.
^Rix, Helmut (2004). "Etruscan". In Woodard, Roger D. (ed.).The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Languages. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. 943–966.ISBN9780521562560.
^abFrancesca Tassi; Silvia Ghirotto; David Caramelli; Guido Barbujani; et al. (2013). "Genetic evidence does not support an Etruscan origin in Anatolia".American Journal of Physical Anthropology.152 (1):11–18.doi:10.1002/ajpa.22319.PMID23900768.
^Antonio, Margaret L.; Gao, Ziyue; M. Moots, Hannah (2019)."Ancient Rome: A genetic crossroads of Europe and the Mediterranean".Science.366 (6466). Washington D.C.: American Association for the Advancement of Science (published 8 November 2019):708–714.Bibcode:2019Sci...366..708A.doi:10.1126/science.aay6826.hdl:2318/1715466.PMC7093155.PMID31699931.Interestingly, although Iron Age individuals were sampled from both Etruscan (n=3) and Latin (n=6) contexts, we did not detect any significant differences between the two groups with f4 statistics in the form of f4(RMPR_Etruscan, RMPR_Latin; test population, Onge), suggesting shared origins or extensive genetic exchange between them.
^Euler, Katrin; Sasseville, David (1 April 2019). "Die Identität des lydischen Qλdãns und seine kulturgeschichtlichen Folgen".Kadmos.58 (1–2):125–156.doi:10.1515/kadmos-2019-0007.ISSN1613-0723.
Oreshko, Rostyslav (2021). "In Search of the Holy Cube Roots: Kubaba—Kubeleya—Κύβεβος—Kufaws and the Problem of Ethnocultural Contact in Early Iron Age Anatolia". In Bianconi, Michele (ed.).Linguistic and Cultural Interactions between Greece and Anatolia: In Search of the Golden Fleece.Leiden,Netherlands:Brill Publishers. pp. 131–166.ISBN978-9-004-46159-8.
As found in theNotitia Dignitatum. Provincial administration reformed anddioceses established byDiocletian,c. 293. Permanentpraetorian prefectures established after the death ofConstantine I. Empire permanently partitioned after 395. Exarchates ofRavenna andAfrica established after 584. After massive territorial losses in the 7th century, the remaining provinces were superseded by thetheme system in c. 640–660, although inAsia Minor and parts of Greece they survived under the themes until the early 9th century.
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