Croesus (pronounced ‘KREE-sus’) was the King of Lydia, a country in western Asia (corresponding to modern-day Turkey) who reigned for 14 years: from 560 BC until his defeat by the Persian King Cyrus the Great in 546 BC.
He was so wealthy that the old expression “as rich as Croesus” originates in reference to him. His wealth, it is said, came from the sands of the River Pactolus in which the legendary King Midas washed his hands to rid himself of the ‘Midas Touch’ (which turned everything he laid hands on into gold) and in so doing, the legend says, made the sands of the river rich with gold.
The Lydians, either during the reign of Croesus or just before, were cited as the first people to mint coins of gold and silver in Asia Minor and it was Croesus who funded construction of the great Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world.
Although some have claimed that Croesus was largely a legendary figure, his signature at the base of one of the columns of the Temple of Artemis (now on display at the British Museum) is evidence that he was an actual historical king who ruled from the city of Sardis.
Although Greek writers Xenophon and Ctesias, among others, mention Croesus two of the most famous stories regarding him come from the Histories of Herodotus.
The first has to do with the great Athenian lawgiver Solon the Wise. Solon travelled throughout Anatolia and down to Egypt and came, at last, to the palace of Croesus at Sardis. Croesus was overjoyed to have so illustrious a visitor and was anxious to show off his treasuries and, after Solon had inspected them, asked him whom, of all the men he had met in his travels, he would call the most happy. Solon answered, “Tellus of Athens.” Croesus, upset that he himself had not been named, asked why Tellus. Solon answered that Tellus had lived well and happily, had a beautiful family, and had died gloriously for Athens in battle.
Croesus, conceding this was a good life, and hoping he would at least be named second, then asked Solon whom else he would consider the happiest of men he had met; Solon answered: “The brothers Cleobis and Bito of the Argive race” and explained why, noting again a life well lived and a good death. Croesus, angered now, shouted: “Man of Athens, am I not the happiest man in the world? Dost thou count my happiness as nothing?” Solon replied calmly: “In truth, I count no man happy until his death, for no man can know what the gods may have in store for him. He who unites the greatest number of advantages, and retaining them to the day of his death, then dies peaceably, that man alone, sire, is in my judgment entitled to bear the name of ‘happy.’ But in every matter it behoves us to mark well the end: for often times God gives men a gleam of happiness, and then plunges them into ruin.”
Croesus sent Solon away; thinking his reputation for wisdom overrated, but would soon learn the truth of what Solon had said through the events narrated by Herodotus’ second story.
The first misfortune to come upon Croesus was the death of his son Atys, killed while hunting a boar in Olympus. Croesus grieved for his son for two years until he was alerted that the Persians under Cyrus were gaining power and decided he should check them sooner rather than later.
He sent to the great Oracle at Delphi to know whether he should go to war against the Persian Empire and the oracle replied: “If Croesus goes to war he will destroy a great empire.” Pleased by this answer, Croesus made his necessary alliances and preparations and went out to meet the Persian army at the Halys River. The battle at the Halys was a draw and Croesus marched his force back to Sardis where the army was disbanded for the winter. Croesus expected Cyrus to do the same, as this was customary, but Cyrus instead pressed the attack, massacred Croesus’ cavalry in the field by mounting his own cavalry on Arabian camels whose scent frightened the Lydian horses and captured Croesus. After the fall of Sardis, Croesus’ wife committed suicide and Croesus was dragged before Cyrus in chains.

For daring to raise an army against the Persian Empire, Cyrus ordered Croesus to be burned alive along with fourteen noble Lydian youths. When Croesus saw the flames of the pyre lapping toward him, he called out for aid from Apollo to rescue him and a sudden rain shower broke overhead and put out the fire. Croesus was saved from burning to death but was still the captive of the Persian King and, remembering the words of Solon the Wise, cried out, “O Solon! Solon! Solon!”
Cyrus asked a translator what this word meant and Croesus told the story of Solon’s visit, how no man can be counted happy until after his death, and further, of how he was misled by the Oracle at Delphi who had told him that if he went to war against Cyrus he would ‘destroy a great empire’ and here the ‘great empire’ destroyed had been his own, not that of Cyrus.
Cyrus was so moved by this story that he ordered Croesus to be released and had him send to Delphi for an answer from the god as to why he was betrayed. The answer came back that the Oracle had spoken only truth – a great empire had, in fact, been destroyed by Croesus – and it was not the fault of the god if man misinterpreted his words. Cyrus felt sorry for Croesus and, according to some sources, kept him on as a wise counsellor.
Many scholars both ancient and modern have disputed this positive account of Croesus’ end. Most modern-day scholars and historians believe that Croesus died on the pyre but that the ancients of the 4th century BC did not care for that ending to the life of so wealthy and powerful a king. The story of Croesus served as a cautionary tale among the Greeks on hubris and a warning on not tempting the gods’ wrath by thinking of oneself as the happiest person in the world.

The meaning of Hubris
Hubris describes a personality quality of extreme or foolish pride or dangerous overconfidence, often in combination with (or synonymous with) arrogance.

Rich as Croesus
Croesus is credited with issuing the first true gold coins with a standardized purity for general circulation, the Croeseid. Indeed, the invention of coinage had passed into Greek society through Hermodike II – she was likely one of Alyattes’ wives so may have been Croesus’ mother.
The first coins were quite crude and made of electrum, a naturally occurring pale yellow alloy of gold and silver. The composition of these first coins was similar to alluvial deposits found in the silt of the Pactolus river, which ran through the Lydian capital, Sardis. Later coins, (including some in the British Museum), were made from gold purified by heating with common salt to remove the silver.

Lydia
Lydia was a region of western Asia Minor, which prospered due to its natural resources and position on trading routes between the Mediterranean and Asia. The Kingdom of Lydia flourished in the 7th and 6th centuries BC and expanded to its greatest extent during the reign of Croesus. Lydia then became a Persian satrapy with its capital at Sardis. Conquered by Alexander the Great (334 BC), Lydia was then absorbed into the Seleucid Empire (280 BC) in the Hellenistic Period. Part of the Roman province of Asia, Lydia was made a separate province in the 3rd century AD.

Geography and Resources
Lydia, a name derived from its first King Lydus according to the Greek historian Herodotus but also known as Maeonia, occupied the western region of Asia Minor (Anatolia). Its neighbours were Caria (south), Phrygia (east), and Mysia (north). The cities located on the coast such as Smyrna and Ephesus were intermittently under the control of Lydia. As a meeting point between East and West Lydia became an important trading area, which further enriched the kingdom already blessed with fertile land and natural resources, especially silver and gold from the Pactolus River. Lydia was also noted for its production of fine textiles and leather goods.
Lydia had its own language, of Indo-European origin and with an alphabet similar to Greek, which was in use until the 1st century BC. The limited number of surviving inscriptions has resulted in only a partial decipherment of Lydian. Lydia’s art, culture, and religion also reflected its geographic location and displayed both eastern and Greek influences.

The Mermnad Dynasty
Lydia, with its capital at Sardis, rose to its greatest prominence under the reign of the Mermnad dynasty (c. 700 – 546 BC). The first king of the dynasty was Gyges (c. 680 – 645 BC) who can claim the fame of being the first named tyrant in Greek records. The fourth king was Alyattes (610 – 560 BC) who, like Gyges, fought the neighbouring Cimmerians but with more success and acquired parts of Ionia. Both Gyges and Alyattes’ impressive tombs were laid at Bin Tepe and gained fame for their size in antiquity.

King Croesus
Lydia thrived even more under the last Mermnad king, Croesus (r. 560 – 546 BC), who conquered the Greek cities on the coast and expanded the empire to control the entire Anatolian plateau up to the river Halys (modern Kizilirmak) and thus border the Persian Empire. Croesus maintained friendly diplomatic relations with the Greeks and he even gave financial aid to the rebuilding of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus and made dedications at Delphi.
The Greeks told of the legendary wealth of Croesus, probably based on the fact that Lydia was one of the first states to mint coinage, perhaps in the reign of Croesus’ father Alyattes. These roughly made coins were stamped with a design of a lion and an ox. Croesus’ expansion of Lydia came to an abrupt end when the Persian king Cyrus II defeated him in 546 BC in a battle at Halys. During the 5th-century BC Persian Wars, Sardis was sacked by the Ionians in 498 BC and used as a base by Xerxes prior to his invasion of mainland Greece in 480 BC.

Hellenistic & Roman Period
Lydia was conquered by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC. In the Successor Wars (after Alexander’s death), it first came under the control of Antigonus I and then became a part of the Seleucid Empire in c. 280 BC. Sardis continued its role as an important regional capital and benefitted from a re-building programme, which included a temple to Artemis, a theatre, and gymnasium. In 189 BC at the Battle of Magnesia between Antiochus III of Syria and Rome, the latter, with the help of Eumenes II of Pergamon, won a decisive victory. A part of the Roman province of Asia from 133 BC, Lydia was made a separate province by Roman emperor Diocletian in the 3rd century AD and Sardis was given the honorary title of metropolis.
Life in Roman Lydia was blighted by unrest, the imposition of an administrative Roman ruling class, heavy taxation, and, in 17 AD, a devastating earthquake that destroyed 12 cities. The prosperity of the region improved again in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD as indicated by an increase in the minting of coinage and imperial visits from Roman Emperors Hadrian (124 AD) and Caracalla (215 AD).

The Temple of Artemis
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus located on the western coast of Asia Minor was built in the 6th century BC, and such was its tremendous size, double the dimensions of other Greek temples including the Parthenon, that it was soon regarded as one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world.
Destroyed by a deliberate fire in the 4th century BC and then rebuilt, the great Ionic temple survived until Late Antiquity and the Gothic invasion of c. 267 AD. Once again rebuilt, in 401 AD it was torn down for the last time by a Christian mob. Today only the foundations and a solitary column stand as a reminder of the site where once stood the greatest temple in the ancient Mediterranean.

Source: www.ancient.eu & en.wikipedia.com
Images: Croesus on the pyre, Attic red-figure amphora, 500–490 BC, Louvre.
Gold coin of Croesus, King of Lydia (made around 550 BC).