Book 1
What will the men of the city think of me, and what my newly wedded wife? With what kind of man will she think that she lives? So either let me go to the hunt, or show me by reasoning that what you are doing is best for me.”
“My son,” answered Croesus, “I do this not because I have seen cowardice or anything unseemly in you, but the vision of a dream stood over me in my sleep, and told me that you would be short-lived, for you would be killed by a spear of iron.
It is because of that vision that I hurried your marriage and do not send you on any enterprise that I have in hand, but keep guard over you, so that perhaps I may rob death of you during my lifetime. You are my only son: for that other, since he is ruined, he doesn't exist for me.”
“Father,” the youth replied, “no one can blame you for keeping guard over me, when you have seen such a vision; but it is my right to show you what you do not perceive, and why you mistake the meaning of the dream.
You say that the dream told you that I should be killed by a spear of iron? But has a boar hands? Has it that iron spear which you dread? Had the dream said I should be killed by a tusk or some other thing proper to a boar, you would be right in acting as you act; but no, it was to be by a spear. Therefore, since it is not against men that we are to fight, let me go.”
Croesus answered, “My son, your judgment concerning the dream has somewhat reassured me; and being reassured by you, I change my thinking and permit you to go to the chase.”
Having said this, Croesus sent for Adrastus the Phrygian and when he came addressed him thus: “Adrastus, when you were struck by ugly misfortune, for which I do not blame you, it was I who cleansed you, and received and still keep you in my house, defraying all your keep.
Now then, as you owe me a return of good service for the good which I have done you, I ask that you watch over my son as he goes out to the chase. See that no thieving criminals meet you on the way, to do you harm.
Besides, it is only right that you too should go where you can win renown by your deeds. That is fitting for your father's son; and you are strong enough besides.”
“O King,” Adrastus answered, “I would not otherwise have gone into such an arena. One so unfortunate as I should not associate with the prosperous among his peers; nor have I the wish so to do, and for many reasons I would have held back.
But now, since you urge it and I must please you (since I owe you a return of good service), I am ready to do this; and as for your son, in so far as I can protect him, look for him to come back unharmed.”
So when Adrastus had answered Croesus thus, they went out provided with chosen young men and dogs. When they came to Olympus (mountain), Nomos Larisis, Thessaly, Greece, Europe Mount Olympus , they hunted for the beast and, finding him, formed a circle and threw their spears at him:
then the guest called Adrastus, the man who had been cleansed of the deed of blood, missed the boar with his spear and hit the son of Croesus.
So Atys was struck by the spear and fulfilled the prophecy of the dream. One ran to tell Croesus what had happened, and coming to Sardis [28.0167,38.475] (Perseus) Sardis told the king of the fight and the fate of his son.
Distraught by the death of his son, Croesus cried out the more vehemently because the killer was one whom he himself had cleansed of blood,
and in his great and terrible grief at this mischance he called on Zeus by three names—Zeus the Purifier, Zeus of the Hearth, Zeus of Comrades: the first, because he wanted the god to know what evil his guest had done him; the second, because he had received the guest into his house and thus unwittingly entertained the murderer of his son; and the third, because he had found his worst enemy in the man whom he had sent as a protector.
Soon the Lydians came, bearing the corpse, with the murderer following after. He then came and stood before the body and gave himself up to Croesus, holding out his hands and telling him to kill him over the corpse, mentioning his former misfortune, and that on top of that he had destroyed the one who purified him, and that he was not fit to live.
On hearing this, Croesus took pity on Adrastus, though his own sorrow was so great, and said to him, “Friend, I have from you the entire penalty, since you sentence yourself to death. But it is not you that I hold the cause of this evil, except in so far as you were the unwilling doer of it, but one of the gods, the same one who told me long ago what was to be.”
So Croesus buried his own son in such manner as was fitting. But Adrastus, son of Gordias who was son of Midas, this Adrastus, the destroyer of his own brother and of the man who purified him, when the tomb was undisturbed by the presence of men, killed himself there by the sepulcher, seeing clearly now that he was the most heavily afflicted of all whom he knew.
After the loss of his son, Croesus remained in deep sorrow for two years. After this time, the destruction by Cyrus son of Cambyses of the sovereignty of Astyages son of Cyaxares, and the growth of the power of the Persians, distracted Croesus from his mourning; and he determined, if he could, to forestall the increase of the Persian power before they became great.
Having thus determined, he at once made inquiries of the Greek and Libyan oracles, sending messengers separately to Delphi [22.5167,38.4917] (Perseus) Delphi , to Abai [22.9583,38.5917] (Perseus) Abae in Phocia, and to Dodona [20.8,39.55] (Perseus) Dodona , while others were despatched to Amphiaraus and Trophonius,That is, to the oracular shrines of these legendary heroes. and others to Didyma [27.233,37.35] (historic site), Aydin Ili, Ege kiyilari, Turkey, Asia Branchidae in the Milesian country.
These are the Greek oracles to which Croesus sent for divination: and he told others to go inquire of Ammon in Libya [17,25] (nation), Africa Libya . His intent in sending was to test the knowledge of the oracles, so that, if they were found to know the truth, he might send again and ask if he should undertake an expedition against the Persians.
And when he sent to test these shrines he gave the Lydians these instructions: they were to keep track of the time from the day they left Sardis [28.0167,38.475] (Perseus) Sardis , and on the hundredth day inquire of the oracles what Croesus, king of Lydia [27.516,38.683] (region (general)), Turkey, Asia Lydia , son of Alyattes, was doing then; then they were to write down whatever the oracles answered and bring the reports back to him.
Now none relate what answer was given by the rest of the oracles. But at Delphi [22.5167,38.4917] (Perseus) Delphi , no sooner had the Lydians entered the hall to inquire of the god and asked the question with which they were entrusted, than the Pythian priestess uttered the following hexameter verses:
“I know the number of the grains of sand and the extent of the sea, And understand the mute and hear the voiceless. The smell has come to my senses of a strong-shelled tortoise Boiling in a cauldron together with a lamb's flesh, Under which is bronze and over which is bronze.”
Having written down this inspired utterance of the Pythian priestess, the Lydians went back to Sardis [28.0167,38.475] (Perseus) Sardis . When the others as well who had been sent to various places came bringing their oracles, Croesus then unfolded and examined all the writings. Some of them in no way satisfied him. But when he read the Delphian message, he acknowledged it with worship and welcome, considering Delphi [22.5167,38.4917] (Perseus) Delphi as the only true place of divination, because it had discovered what he himself had done.
For after sending his envoys to the oracles, he had thought up something which no conjecture could discover, and carried it out on the appointed day: namely, he had cut up a tortoise and a lamb, and then boiled them in a cauldron of bronze covered with a lid of the same.
Such, then, was the answer from Delphi [22.5167,38.4917] (Perseus) Delphi delivered to Croesus. As to the reply which the Lydians received from the oracle of Amphiaraus when they had followed the due custom of the temple, I cannot say what it was, for nothing is recorded of it, except that Croesus believed that from this oracle too he had obtained a true answer.
After this, he tried to win the favor of the Delphian god with great sacrifices. He offered up three thousand beasts from all the kinds fit for sacrifice, and on a great pyre burnt couches covered with gold and silver, golden goblets, and purple cloaks and tunics; by these means he hoped the better to win the aid of the god, to whom he also commanded that every Lydian sacrifice what he could.
When the sacrifice was over, he melted down a vast store of gold and made ingots of it, the longer sides of which were of six and the shorter of three palms' length, and the height was one palm. There were a hundred and seventeen of these. Four of them were of refined gold, each weighing two talents and a half; the rest were of gold with silver alloy, each of two talents' weight.
He also had a figure of a lion made of refined gold, weighing ten talents. When the temple of Delphi [22.5167,38.4917] (Perseus) Delphi was burnt, this lion fell from the ingots which were the base on which it stood; and now it is in the treasury of the Corinthians, but weighs only six talents and a half, for the fire melted away three and a half talents.
When these offerings were ready, Croesus sent them to Delphi [22.5167,38.4917] (Perseus) Delphi , with other gifts besides: namely, two very large bowls, one of gold and one of silver. The golden bowl stood to the right, the silver to the left of the temple entrance.
These too were removed about the time of the temple's burning, and now the golden bowl, which weighs eight and a half talents and twelve minae, μνᾶ = about 15 oz. Troy weight. is in the treasury of the Clazomenians, and the silver bowl at the corner of the forecourt of the temple. This bowl holds six hundred nine-gallon measures: for the Delphians use it for a mixing-bowl at the feast of the Divine Appearance.The Theophania was a festival at Delphi [22.5167,38.4917] (Perseus) Delphi , at which the statues of gods were shown.
It is said by the Delphians to be the work of Theodorus of Nisos Samos [26.8,37.75] (island), Samos, Aegean Islands, Greece, Europe Samos , and I agree with them, for it seems to me to be of no common workmanship. Moreover, Croesus sent four silver casks, which stand in the treasury of the Corinthians, and dedicated two sprinkling-vessels, one of gold, one of silver. The golden vessel bears the inscription “Given by the Lacedaemonians,” who claim it as their offering. But they are wrong,
for this, too, is Croesus' gift. The inscription was made by a certain Delphian, whose name I know but do not mention, out of his desire to please the Lacedaemonians. The figure of a boy, through whose hand the water runs, is indeed a Lacedaemonian gift; but they did not give either of the sprinkling-vessels.
Along with these Croesus sent, besides many other offerings of no great distinction, certain round basins of silver, and a female figure five feet high, which the Delphians assert to be the statue of the woman who was Croesus' baker. Moreover, he dedicated his own wife's necklaces and girdles.
Such were the gifts which he sent to Delphi [22.5167,38.4917] (Perseus) Delphi . To Amphiaraus, of whose courage and fate he had heard, he dedicated a shield made entirely of gold and a spear all of solid gold, point and shaft alike. Both of these were until my time at Thebes [23.3333,38.325] (Perseus) Thebes , in the Theban temple of Ismenian Apollo.
The Lydians who were to bring these gifts to the temples were instructed by Croesus to inquire of the oracles whether he was to send an army against the Persians and whether he was to add an army of allies.
When the Lydians came to the places where they were sent, they presented the offerings, and inquired of the oracles, in these words: “Croesus, king of Lydia [27.516,38.683] (region (general)), Turkey, Asia Lydia and other nations, believing that here are the only true places of divination among men, endows you with such gifts as your wisdom deserves. And now he asks you whether he is to send an army against the Persians, and whether he is to add an army of allies.”
Such was their inquiry; and the judgment given to Croesus by each of the two oracles was the same: namely, that if he should send an army against the Persians he would destroy a great empire. And they advised him to discover the mightiest of the Greeks and make them his friends.