King of Lydia, his capital at Sardis being captured by the Persian Cyrus in 456 BC. He was a notable philhellene, with many gifts to Greek sanctuaries (Ephesus, Delphi). The Greeks heroized his story by having him rescued from a funeral pyre at Sardis by Apollo, an episode recorded in art and literature in the 5th century. Herodotus says he accompanied Cyrus from Lydia; eastern sources, that he was killed there.
Above: Detail from Athenian red-figure caly vase, about 490 BC. Paris. Musée du Louvre. © Musée du Louvre.
