'''Alyattes II''', king of [[Lydia]] ([[619 BC|619]]-[[560 BC]]), the real founder of the [[Lydian empire]], was the son of [[Sadyattes]], of the house of the [[Mermnadae]].

For several years he continued the war against [[Miletus]] begun by his father, but was obliged to turn his attention to the [[Medes]] and [[Babylonians]]. On [[May 28]], [[585 BC]], during a battle on the [[Halys]] against [[Cyaxares]], king of Media, a [[solar eclipse]] took place (see also [[Thales]]); hostilities were suspended, peace concluded, and the Halys fixed as the boundary between the two kingdoms.

Alyattes drove the [[Cimmeria|Cimmerii]] (see [[Scythia]]) from [[Asia]], subdued the [[Carians]], and took several [[Ionia]]n cities ([[İzmir|Smyrna]], [[Colophon]]). ([[İzmir|Smyrna]] was sacked and destroyed c.[[600 BC]], the inhabitants forced to move to the country.)

He standardised the weight of coins (1 Stater = 168 grains of wheat). The coins were produced using an anvil die technique and stamped with the Lion's head, the symbol of the Mermnadae.

He was succeeded by his son [[Croesus]]. His daughter [[Aryenis of Lydia]] was [[Queen consort]] of [[Astyages]], King of Media.

His tomb still exists on the plateau between Lake Gygaea and the river Hermus to the north of [[Sardis]] -- a large mound of earth with a substructure of huge stones. It was excavated by [[Spiegelthal]] in [[1854]], who found that it covered a large vault of finely-cut marble blocks approached by a flat-roofed passage of the same stone from the south. The [[sarcophagus]] and its contents had been removed by early plunderers of the tomb, all that was left being some broken alabaster vases, pottery and charcoal. On the summit of the mound were large [[phallus|phalli]] of stone.

==Naming disagreement==

Note that the name "Alyattes II" is likely incorrect. Its usage here is based on the online Encyclopaedia of the Orient. Though this online work provides no references, its usage of "Alyattes II" is likely based [[John Lemprière]]'s 1788 ''Classical Dictionary'' ([[Lemprière's Bibliotheca Classica|''Biblioteca Classica'']]), its full name being ''Classical Dictionary of Proper Names Mentioned in Ancient Authors Writ Large, With Chronological Table''. This work, however, also doesn't cite its source, but this source was likely ancient epigraphs or earlier dictionaries whose usage was based on ancient epigraphs, which are lists of kings on clay tablets and other media. Epigraphic lists are known by historians today to be generally unreliable as historical documents. For one thing, they sometimes combine kings from different regions. Livio C. Stecchini contended, for instance, that Gyges was the first Lydian king and those before him, including the earlier Alyattes, were kings of nearby Maionia, a Phrygia dependency. What's more, epigraphic lists are often legendary rather than annalistic, including as they do, for instance, the mythic hero Herakles as a city's founder, so another possibility is that "Alyattes I" was a legendary rather than a historical figure.

The ancient historians Herodotos and Strabo both refer to Kroisos' father as Alyattes and make no mention of an earlier King Alyattes of Lydia in their writings on Lydia. The same is true of modern historians, archeologists, and numismatists who have focused on Lydia, including George M.A. Hanfmann, Robert W. Wallace, Koray Konuk, and Andrew Ramage. Likewise, other newer references such as Oxford Classical Dictionary and Encyclopaedia Britannica don't use "Alyattes II" and make no mention of an earlier Lydian king named Alyattes.

==References==
*{{1911}}
* ''[[:fr:Référence:Nos ancêtres de l'Antiquité (Christian Settipani)|Nos ancêtres de l'Antiquité]]'', 1991, [[Christian Settipani]], p. 152

==External links==
*[http://www.livius.org Livius], [http://www.livius.org/men-mh/mermnads/alyattes.html Alyattes of Lydia] by Jona Lendering

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[[Category:560 BC deaths]]
[[Category:Kings of Lydia]]

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