Gyges

The story of Gyges deals with the death of one of the descendants of Herakles (Heracles) and the end of an era.

Gyges was a bodyguard for the king of Lydia, Kandaules (Candaules); Kandaules was a vain man and especially proud of his beautiful wife; he arranged for Gyges to sneak into his bedroom and observe his wife naked; Kandaules’ wife, who was unnamed, knew that she had been observed by Gyges and secretly proposed that he either die for his transgression or kill Kandaules and assume the throne of Lydia.

Kandaules was the descendant of Herakles (Heracles) and killing him would not just be the death of a man but the end of an era because the Heraklidae had ruled Lydia for 505 years; Gyges killed Kandaules and proposed that his right to rule should be decided by the oracle at Delphi; the oracle proclaimed that Gyges was the rightful ruler of Lydia but that in five generations his line would fail; the oracle was, of course, correct and, five generations later, Kroesus (Croesus) was the last ruler of Lydia in the line of Gyges.

• Histories, book 1, chapter 8+