contingent at Bphesus, and to be the first to present himself at the
rallying-place for the troops.**

* Radet places the operations in Bithynia before the Median
war, towards 594 at the latest. I think that they are more
probably connected with those in Mysia, and that they form
part of the various measures taken after the Median war to
achieve the occupation of the regions west of the Halys.

** A mutilated extract from Xanthus of Lydia in Suidas seems
to carry these events back to the time of the war against
Priênê, towards the beginning of the reign. The united
evidence of the accompanying circumstances proves that they
belong to the time of the old age of Alyattes, and makes it
very likely that they occurred in 566, the date proposed by
Radet for the Carian campaign.

Caria was annexed to the kingdom, but the conditions under which the
annexation took place are not known to us;* and Croesus contributed so
considerably to the success of the campaign, that he was reinstated in
popular favour. Alyattes, however, was advancing in years, and was soon
about to rejoin his adversaries Cyaxares and Nebuchadrezzar in Hades.
Like the Pharaohs, the kings of Lydia were accustomed to construct
during their lifetime the monuments in which they were to repose after
death. Their necropolis was situated not far from Sardes, on the shores
of the little lake Gygaea; it was here, close to the resting-place of
his ancestors and their wives, that Alyattes chose the spot for his
tomb,** and his subjects did not lose the opportunity of proving to what
extent he had gained their affections.