C H A P . LXXV.
O f Sardes and its Acropolis— fallen by Cyrus— The town burnt by
the Ionians — Surrenders to Alexander the Great — Suffers from
an earthquake — Its later hifiory — fhe theatre — The affault
under Antiochus— Other remains— fb e hill, and the river Pac-
tolus— fh e village — Ruin of a temple.
L Y D I A was celebrated for its city Sardes, which was of
great antiquity, though pofterior to the war of Troy. It was
enriched by the fertility of the foil, and had been the capital of
the Lydian kings. It was feated on the fide of mount Tmolus,
and the Acropolis 1 was remarkable for its ftrength. This was
on a lofty hill j the back part, or that toward Tmolus, a per»
pendicular precipice. One of the kings, an anceftor of Croefus,
it is related, believed, that by leading a lion about the wall he
fhould render the fortrefs impregnable, and neglefted that por*-
tion of it as totally inacceflible.
Croesus,, who was tyrant or king of all the nations within
the river Halys, engaging Cyrus, who had followed him into
Lydia, was defeated in the plain before the city, the Lydian
horfes not enduring the fight or fmell of the camels. Cyrus then
befieged him, and offered a reward far the perfon, who fhould
firft mount the wall. One of his foldiers had feen a Lydian
defcend for his helmet, which had rolled down the back of the
Acropolis. He tried to afcend there, where not even a, centinel
was placed, and fucceeded. Afterwards the Perfian fatrapas., or
commandant, refided at Sardes, as the emperor did at Sufa.
I n the time of Darius, the Milefians failed to Ephefus, and
leaving their veffels at mount Coriffus, marched up by the river i
i See a view and a plan of the ruins in Peyfonell’s Travels.
Cayfter,
r
t
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Cayfter, and crofting mount Tmolus, furprized the city, except
the Acropolis, in which was a numerous garrifon. A foldier
fet fire to one of the houfes, which were thatched, and pre-
fently the town was in flames. The Ionians retreated to Tmolus,
and in the night to their flaps.
T he city and Acropolis furrendered on the approach of Alexander,
after the battle of the Granicus. He encamped by the
river Hermus, which was twenty ftadia or two miles and a half
diftant. He went up to the Acropolis, which was then fortified
with a triple wall, and refolved to eredt in it a temple and altar
to Jupiter Olympius, on the fite of the royal palace of the
Lydians. ,
Sardes under the Romans was a large city, and not inferior
to any of its neighbours, until the terrible earthquake, which
happened in the time of Tiberius Caefar. Magnefia by Sipylus,
Philadelphia, Laodicea, Ephefus, and feveral more cities partook
largely in that calamity, but this place fuffered prodigioully,
and was much pitied. The munificence of the emperor was
nobly exerted to repair the various damages, and Sardes owed
its recovery to Tiberius.
T he emperor Julian made Chryfanthius, a Sardian, of a fe-
natorial family, pontiff o f Lydia. He attempted to reftore the
heathen worfhip, eredting temporary altars at Sardes, where none
had been left, and repairing the temples, if any veftiges remained.
In the year 400, the Goths under Tribigild and Caianas,
officers in the Roman pay, who had revolted from the emperor
Arcadius, plundered this city. In the fubfequent troubles in
Alia, the natives in general were compelled to retire for fafety
to the hills and ftrong holds. At Sardes they permitted the
Turks, on an incurfion of the Tartars in 1304, to occupy a portion
of the Acropolis feparated by a ftrong wall with a Gate, and
afterwards murdered them in their lleep.