Kingdom of Lydia

  General Description   One of a number of small kingdoms in Anatolia, the Kingdom of Lydia under the Mermnad dynasty (670-546 BCE), which began with the rule of king Gyges and ended with Croesus in the 540s BCE, came to dominate Anatolia after the conquest of Phrygia. Blessed with a rich supply of minable electrum, the natural alloy of silver and gold, Lydia is most famous for being the likely birthplace of coinage. ^[1]
Like Phrygia archaeologists lack detailed understanding of Lydian government but they believe the rulers ruled from a Palace citadel above the capital Sardis. Some areas under Lydian control were directly ruled through appointments made by the kings: for example, Alyattes appointed his son Croesus as governor of Adramyttetion, northwest of Lydia, when Cimmerians were causing trouble there. However, the Greek city states attacked by Mermnad kings, whom were required to pay tribute, were generally never under Lydian control for long. ^[1]
The 650 BCE and 500 BCE period was characterized by the expansion of an integrated Mediterranean trading zone ^[2] and it seems that pragmatic deal-making to preserve this economic system often characterized Lydian relations with other states.
The most immediate threat appears to have been the nomadic Cimmerians who initially were expelled ^[3] which at times lead to an alliance with Assyria ^[4] which also became an enemy that required an alliance with Egypt. ^[3]
Lydia kings often utilised marriages to secure alliances with many foreign powers, including the Persian Medians as well as Greek Ionians and Carians and the tyrant of Ephesus. ^[1]

[1]: (Roosevelt 2012, 897-913) C H Roosevelt. 2012. Iron Age Western Anatolia. In Potts, D.T. (ed.) A Companion to the Archaeology of the Near East. London: Blackwell.

[2]: (Broodbank 2015, 508-509) Cyrprian Broodbank. 2015. The Making of the Middle Sea. Thames & Hudson. London.

[3]: (Leverani 2014, 544) Mario Liverani. Soraia Tabatabai trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London.

[4]: (Leverani 2014, 495) Mario Liverani. Soraia Tabatabai trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London.