Anatolian Civilizations and Historical Sites - TEDA

ANATOLIAN CIVILIZATIONS:10x19 antik kentler 8/1/11 10:51 AM Sayfa
agreement, the king commissioned two Athena temples to be erected
in Miletos. Having thus secured the western borders, Alyattes turned
his face towards the East. He expanded his borders towards the region
of Bithynia. He also halted the invasive Cimmerians and expelled them
to the other side of the River K›z›l›rmak, thus the Lydians became the
owner of Anatolia as far as K›z›l›rmak. This development made them the
neighbors of the Meds in Iran and before long, caused the two super
powers of that age to confront each other.
The Meds continued to be a large power in Iran around this time. In 612
BC, They annihilated the Assyrians who had what was considered the
strongest state until that period. Afterwards, in 590 BC, they joined with
Scythians and wiped the State of Urartu-which had a great civilizationoff
the stage of history. Then they set their eyes on the west.
The Lydians on the other hand, started to be interested in the other side
of the River K›z›l›rmak. As a result, a war between the Lydians and the
Meds became inevitable. The wars continued for five years and turned
out to be inconclusive; won by the Meds at times and the Lydians at
other times. In the sixth year of the war, on the 28 th of May in 585, while
the two armies engaged in a battle, suddenly a solar eclipse took place
and it became dark. Thales of Miletos had been informed of the solar
eclipse beforehand. However, both sides interpreted this as ‘Gods do
not want war,’ and made peace. To solidify the peace, the daughter of
the Lydian King Aryenis was married to the son of the Med King
Kyaxares Astyages. Thus both sides began to live in peace.
The Lydian King Alyattes started to stamp the first coins during this
peace period. The first coins were made from electrum; namely, 55 %
gold, 45 % silver and a small amount of bronze. Since the Stream of
Gediz and the Stream of Paktolos running through Sardes were rich in
gold content, the Lydians collected this gold and became a rich nation.
These coins began to be used for trading and became widespread,
bringing in trading via coins instead of via animals. The coins had
various animal pictures on their front sides. There is a lion figure on the
coins stamped in Sardes. Besides the coins stamped by the state, rich
merchants also stamped coins.
When Alyattes died in 563 BC, his son Kroisos succeeded him. Kroisos
started by securing the western shores. He launched expeditions firstly
to Ephesos, and then to the cities of to Ionia and Aiolis, subjugating them
all and thus the west of Anatolia came under the Lydian dominion
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