Ardys ( ; also  ; reigned c.644–c.637 BCE) was the son of Gyges of Lydia, whom he succeeded as the second king of the Mermnad dynasty.
Reign
During the 7th century BCE, the Cimmerians, a nomadic people from the Pontic steppe who had invaded the Levant, attacked Lydia several times but had been repelled by Ardys's father, Gyges.
In 644 BCE, the Cimmerians attacked Lydia for the third time, led by their king Lygdamis.
The Lydians were defeated, Sardis was sacked, and Gyges was killed, following which Ardys succeeded his father.
On assuming kingship, Ardys resumed the diplomatic activity with the Neo-Assyrian Empire which Gyges had ended.
Ardys attacked the Ionian Greek city of Miletus and succeeded in capturing the city of Priene.'
Miletos, the ornament of Ionia: history of the city to 400 BCE' by Vanessa B. Gorman (University of Michigan Press) 2001
Ardys's reign was short-lived, likely due to the period of severe crisis Lydia was facing because of the Cimmerian invasions.
In 637 BCE, that is in Ardys's seventh regnal year, the Thracian Treres tribe who had migrated across the Thracian Bosporus and invaded Anatolia, under their king Kobos, and in alliance with the Cimmerians and the Lycians, attacked Lydia.
They defeated the Lydians again and for a second time sacked the Lydian capital of Sardis, except for its citadel.
It is probable that Ardys was killed during this Cimmerian attack.
Aftermath
Ardys's son and successor Sadyattes might have also been killed during another Cimmerian attack in 653 BCE.
Soon after 635 BCE, with Assyrian approval and in alliance with the Lydians, the Scythians under their king Madyes entered Anatolia, expelled the Treres from Asia Minor, and defeated the Cimmerians so that they no longer constituted a threat again, following which the Scythians extended their domination to Central Anatolia until they were themselves expelled by the Medes from Western Asia in the 590s BCE.
This final defeat of the Cimmerians was carried out by the joint forces of Madyes, who Strabo credits with expelling the Cimmerians from Asia Minor, and of Ardys's grandson, the king Alyattes of Lydia, whom Herodotus and Polyaenus claim finally defeated the Cimmerians.
See also
List of kings of Lydia
Notes
Sources
External links
Livius.org: Ardys of Lydia
