Alyattes

King of Lydia circa 617-560 BCE and the father of Kroesus (Croesus).

When Alyattes became king, he inherited a war of attrition against the people of Miletus that had gone on for twelve years; the war had the same basic theme each year: the Lydians would attack the Milesians and burn their crops but they would not kill the people or destroy their homes.

The Milesians were no match for the powerful army of Alyattes and suffered year after year of deprivation; in the twelfth year of the war, the army of Alyattes accidentally set fire to the temple of Athene (Athena) at Assesos and it was utterly destroyed.

Alyattes and his subjects, gave little thought to the destruction of the temple until Alyattes was afflicted with a lingering illness; he sent an emissary to the oracle at Delphi seeking a cure for his illness and was told that until he rebuilt the temple of Athene at Assesos he would suffer ill health.

The prince of Miletus, Thrasybulus, heard what the oracle had told Alyattes and contrived a way to end the yearly invasion of his country; when Alyattes sent a herald to Miletus seeking a truce so that the temple could be rebuilt, Thrasybulus had the people of Miletus gather all their meager stores of food and wine and stage a mock celebration; the herald of Alyattes saw the display of affluence and dutifully reported the scene to his master; Alyattes was convinced that the years of war against Miletus were in vain and negotiated a permanent truce that included the construction of two temples for Athene.

• Histories, book 1, chapters 17-25