ally spread to the temple
of Athena near Assesos, he rebuilt two temples for the goddess at his
own expense. The Milesians sustained the struggle courageously, until
two reverses at Limeneion and in the plain of the Maeander at length
induced them to make terms. Their tyrant, Thrasybulus, acting on the
advice of the Delphic Apollo and by the mediation of Periander of
Corinth, concluded a treaty with Alyattes in which the two princes,
declaring themselves the guest and the ally one of the other, very
probably conceded extensive commercial privileges to one another both by
land and sea (604).*

* Thrasybulus' stratagem is said to have taken place at
Priene by Diogenes Laertes and by Polysenus. The war begins
under Ardys, lasts for five years under Sadyattes, instead
of the six years which Herodotus attributes to it, and five
years under Alyattes.

Alyattes rewarded the oracle by the gift of a magnificent bowl, the work
of Glaucus of Chios, which continued to be shown to travellers of
the Roman period as one of the most remarkable curiosities of Delphi.
Alyattes continued his expeditions against the other Greek colonies, but
directed them prudently and leisurely, so as not to alarm his European
friends, and provoke the formation against himself of a coalition of the
Hellenic communities shattered over the isles or along the littoral
of the AEgean. We know that towards the end of his reign he recovered
Colophon, which had been previously acquired by Gyges, but had regained
its independence during the Cimmerian crisis;* he razed Smyrna to the
ground, and forced its inhabitants to occupy unfortified towns, where
his suzerainty could not be disputed;** he half devastated Clazomense,
whose citizens saved it by a despairing effort, and he renewed the
ancient alliances with Ephesus, Kyme, and the cities of the region of
the Caicus and the Hellespont,*** though it is impossible to attribute
an accurate date to each of these particular events.

* Polysenus tells the story of the trick by which Alyattes,
after he had treated with the people of Colophon, destroyed
their cavalry and seized on their town. The fact that a
treaty was made seems to be confirmed by a fragment of
Phylarchus, and the surrender of the town to the Lydians by
a fragment of Xenophanes, quoted in Athenseus. Schubert does
not seem to believe that the town was taken by Alyattes; I
have adopted the