Anatolian Civilizations and Historical Sites - TEDA

ANATOLIAN CIVILIZATIONS:10x19 antik kentler 8/1/11 10:51 AM Sayfa
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night put them apart. Kyros did not attack the next day, whereas Kroisos
returned to his capital to attack again the next spring with a stronger
army, and dispensed his mercenaries to be gathered again in the spring.
In fact Kyros had not returned. He launched an expedition to Lydia in
April 547 BC. In May, he crossed the Tigris at the south of Erbil, and
suddenly appeared near Sardes. He had planned that Kroisos would
dispense his soldiers and quietly came close to Sardes. Near Sardes the
two armies engaged in a battle.
Kyros knew that the horses would be scared of the camels and would
flee; therefore, he put the camels-which carried his army’s load-forward.
It unfolded as he had planned; the horses were scared of the camels and
started to run backwards. Thus the Persians attained the advantage in
the war, and the Lydian army was forced to withdraw regularly to the
Castle of Sardes.
The Castle of Sardes was very steep, and was unable to be subjugated
easily due to its position. The Persians continued to besiege the castle
for fourteen days, and on the fourteenth day, the Persian soldiers
acquired the Castle by climbing it on the weaker side. When they were
about to catch and kill Kroisos, Kroisos's son-who was dumb and
speechless until that day-found his tongue and screamed ‘Do not kill
Kroisos!’ The Persian soldiers understood that the person they were
about the kill was Kroisos and took him as captive. On the other hand,
the newly found Babylonian documents report that Kroisos was killed
after being held captive, and a picture on a vase depicts Kroisos as being
burnt on top of wood. Regardless of whether Kyros killed the Lydian
king right away or befriended him-as Herodotos tells below-we chose to
quote these philosophically beautiful words for you:
When asked by Kyros, “Kroisos, who advised you to attack my
territories and meet me as an enemy not a friend?”
Kroisos said “King, this is because of your good and my bad luck.
The god of the Greeks is to blame, who gave me the arrogance to
attack you. Because no one is crazy enough to choose war rather
than peace. During peace, sons lay the fathers into the grave;
whereas during war, the fathers lay the sons in the grave…”
These answers appealed to Kyros and he sat beside him and loosened his
ties. Contemplating in pain, Kroisos caught sight of the Persian soldiers
pillaging Sardes and he said “King, should I tell you what crosses my