Croesus

Croesus (pronounced CREE-sus, IPA , the Latin transliteration of the Greek Kροισος, in Persian قارون Q?run), who was legendary for his enormous wealth, was king of Lydia from 560 BC until his defeat by the Persians in about 547 BC. He was the son of Alyattes and continued his father's policy of conquering the Ionian cities of Asia Minor, but was friendlier to the Greeks than his father had been, giving refuge at one point to the Athenian statesman Solon. It was said that Adrastus exiled himself to Lydia after accidentally killing his brother. King Croesus welcomed him but then Adrastus accidentally killed Croesus' son, Atys. He then committed suicide.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Croesus allied himself with Amasis II of Egypt and Nabonidus of Babylonia, while preparing a campaign against Cyrus the Great of Persia in 547 BC. Before starting his campaign he turned to the Oracle of Delphi to ask about the fate of his campaign, the Pythia answered, with typical Delphic ambiguity: "If Croesus crossed the Halys, a great empire shall be brought down". Croesus, now feeling secure, launched his campaign into the Persian Empire. He was intercepted near the river Halys in central Anatolia and an undecided battle was fought. As was usual in those days, the armies would disband for winter and Croesus did accordingly. Unfortunately for him Cyrus didn't and he attacked Croesus in Sardis and captured him. It became painfully clear that the powerful empire Croesus was about to destroy was his own.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

According to Herodotus, Croesus was placed upon a great pile by Cyrus' orders, for Cyrus wanted to see if any of the heavenly powers would appear to save him from being burned alive. The pile was set ablaze, then Cyrus hearing from the interpreters that Croesus relented and bethinking himself that he too was a man, and one who once been as blessed by fortune, bade them to quench the blazing fire as quickly as they could. They tried to do this, but the flames were not to be mastered. According to the story, Croesus called out to Apollo and prayed to him. The sky had been clear and the day without a breath of wind, but soon dark clouds gathered and a storm with rain of such violence that the flames were speedily extinguished. Cyrus, convinced by this that Croesus was a good man, made Croesus an advisor who served Cyrus well and later Cyrus's son Cambyses, his son by Cassandane.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It is not known when exactly Croesus died.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In Greek language and Persian literature, the word "Croesus" has become a synonym for a very rich man, and in English, expressions such as "rich as Croesus" or "richer than Croesus" are used to indicate great wealth.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

See also: Qarun Treasure

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

IPA: REDIRECT International Phonetic Alphabet...

Latin: Latin is an Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. It gained great importance as the formal language of the Roman Empire. All Romance languages are descended from Latin, and many words based on Latin are found in other modern languages such as English. The ...

Transliteration: Transliteration in a narrow sense is a mapping from one system of writing into another. Transliteration attempts to be lossless, so that an informed reader should be able to reconstruct the original spelling of unknown transliterated words. To achieve this objective transliteration may define comple...

Croesus related Images and Photos (experimental)

Attic Red-Figure Belly Amphora Depicting Croesus on His Pyre from Vulci circa 500-490 BC