Note 755 — Chapter V · Lydia

Plut. Qu. Gr. 45 (Moral. 302a): ἦλθεν Ἄρσηλις ἐκ Μυλέων ἐπίκουρος τῷ Γύγῃ μετὰ δυνάμεως, καὶ τὸν Κανδαύλην ... διαφθείρει. This notice is “historisch wertlos,” Meyer, G. d. A. I. p. 547, following Duncker, G. d. A.5 I. p. 488, but cp. Gelzer, Rhein. Mus. XXXV. p. 528; Schubert, Könige v. Lydien, p. 33; Radet, Lydie, pp. 124 f., 133 f., 136, n. 2. It is more than a coincidence that Carian mercenaries become famous just at this time: cp. Archilochus. In Lydia, as in Egypt (pp. 89, 123), mercenaries, in great part Greek, play an important part throughout the period of the tyrant dynasty. Croesus raised a force of mercenaries before he became king, Nic. Dam. fr. 65, F.H.G. III. p. 397; mercenaries fought for Croesus against Cyrus, Hdt. I. 77; cp. Radet, Lydie, p. 261.