nd of natural fortress which
overlooked the whole bend of the Halys; it constituted, in the land of
the Lydians, an outpost which effectually protected their possessions in
Phrygia and Papnlagonia against an attack from the East; in the hands
of the Medes it would be a dominant position which would counteract the
defensive features of the Halys, and from it they might penetrate into
the heart of Asia Minor without encountering any serious obstacles. The
struggle between the two sovereigns was not so unequal as might at first
appear. No doubt the army of Alyattes was inferior in numbers, but
the bravery of its component forces and the ability of its leaders
compensated for its numerical inferiority, and Cyaxares had no troop to
be compared with the Carian lancers, with the hoplites of Ionia, or with
the heavy Maeonian cavalry. During six years the two armies met again and
again--fate sometimes favouring one and sometimes the other--and
were about to try their fortune once more, after several indecisive
engagements, when an eclipse of the sun suspended operations (585).
The Iranian peoples would fight only in full daylight, and their
adversaries, although warned, so it is said, by the Milesian philosopher
Thaies of the phenomenon about to take place in the heavens, were
perhaps not completely reassured as to its significance, and the two
hosts accordingly separated without coming to blows.*

* This eclipse was identified at one time with that of Sept.
30, 610, at another with that of May 28, 585. The latter of
these two dates appears to me to be the correct one, and is
the only one which agrees with what we know of the general
history of the sixth century.

Nebuchadrezzar had followed, not without some misgivings, the
vicissitudes of the campaign, and his anxiety was shared by the
independent princes of Asia Minor, who were allies of the Lydians; he
and they alike awaited with dread a decisive action, which, by crushing
one of the belligerents beyond hope of recovery, would leave the
onlookers at the mercy of the victor in the full flush of his success.
Tradition relates that Syennesis of Cilicia and the Babylonian Nabonidus
had taken advantage of the alarm produced by the eclipse to negotiate
an armistice, and that they were soon successful in bringing the rival
powers to an agreement.* The Halys remained the recognised frontier of
the two kingdoms, but the Lydians probably obtained advantages f