BABYLON AND PERSIA

LYDLA AND ASIA MINOR. 221ter, was the bulk of the Lydian army.So there wasa general panic, and both armies refused to con¬tinue an engagement begun under such disalstrousauspices.Here was a chance for peace-makers . tobe heard. Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon and SyeN-NESIS, King of Cilicia, a country that had recoveredits independence by the fall of Assyria, and main¬tained it, like Lycia, against all comers, undertookthe task of reconciliation. They seem to havespoken to willing ears, and arranged a marriagewhich was to cement the friendship between the twokings who had learned, at all events, to respect eachother, and to prefer an alliance to further hostilities.AryeNIS, the daughter of Alyattej, was .given inmarriage to ASTYAGES, eldest son of Kyaxares andheir presumptive to the Median Empire. As Kyax¬ares' daughter, Amytis or Amuhia; was alreadyqueen of Babylon,* these three great powers Media,Babylon, and Lydia, now formed a triple alliance,which could not but carry all before it, and againstwhom any small principality had little chance indeed.Western Asia was now pretty evenly divided be¬tween them, for what might be wanting .to Lydiain mere extent of territory, was amply made up for bythe extreme fertility of her dominions, her flourishingtrade and boundless natural resources, as well asby her dense population and the exhaustless wealthof her cities, among which she now numbered mostof the Greek colonies. Thus a real balance of powerswas established in the East the first known in¬stance of that jealous policy which has now for so* See "Story of -Assyria," p. 428.