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Lydia
Ancient Anatolian kingdom / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Lydia (Ancient Greek: Λυδία, romanized: Lūdiā; Latin: Lȳdia) was an Iron Age historical region in western Anatolia, in modern-day Turkey. Before 546 BC, it was an independent kingdom which at one point ruled much of Anatolia. Later, it served as an important province of the Achaemenid Empire and then the Roman Empire. Its capital was Sardis.
Kingdom of Lydia | |||||||||||||||||
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?–546 BC | |||||||||||||||||
![]() Map of the Lydian Kingdom in its final period of sovereignty under Croesus, c. 547 BC. | |||||||||||||||||
Capital | Sardis | ||||||||||||||||
Common languages | Lydian | ||||||||||||||||
Religion | Lydian religion | ||||||||||||||||
Government | Monarchy | ||||||||||||||||
Kings[lower-alpha 1] | |||||||||||||||||
• 680–644 BC | Gyges | ||||||||||||||||
• 644–637 BC | Ardys | ||||||||||||||||
• 637–635 BC | Sadyattes | ||||||||||||||||
• 635–585 BC | Alyattes | ||||||||||||||||
• 585–546 BC | Croesus | ||||||||||||||||
Historical era | Iron Age | ||||||||||||||||
Before 800 BC | |||||||||||||||||
670–630s BC | |||||||||||||||||
612–600 BC | |||||||||||||||||
590–585 BC | |||||||||||||||||
546 BC | |||||||||||||||||
Currency | Croeseid | ||||||||||||||||
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During the Late Bronze Age, the territory that later became Lydia was part of Arzawa. At some point before 800 BC, the Lydian people achieved some sort of political cohesion, and existed as an independent kingdom by the 600s BC. At its greatest extent, during the 7th century BC, it covered all of western Anatolia. In 546 BC, it became a satrapy of the , known as Sparda in Old Persian. In 133 BC, it became part of the Roman province of Asia.
The main language of Lydia was an Anatolian language called Lydian. Though many of its neighbors were from the Luwic subgroup, Lydian's classification within the Anatolian remains a mystery.
Lydian coins, made of silver, are among the oldest in existence, dated to around the 7th century BC.[1][2]
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