been begotten by King Meles of one of his concubines, and which
he caused to be carried solemnly round the city walls to render them
impregnable.

Croesus did not succeed to the throne of his father without trouble. His
enemies had not laid down their arms after the Carian campaign, and they
endeavoured to rid themselves of him by all the means in use at Oriental
courts. The Ionian mother of his rival furnished the slave who kneaded
the bread with poison, telling her to mix it with the dough, but the
woman revealed the intended crime to her master, who at once took the
necessary measures to frustrate the plot; later on in life he dedicated
in the temple of Delphi a statue of gold representing the faithful
bread-maker.** The chief of the rival party seems to have been
Sadyattes, the banker from whom Croesus had endeavoured to borrow money
at the beginning of his career, but several of the Lydian nobles, whose
exercise of feudal rights had been restricted by the growing authority
of the Mermnado, either secretly or openly gave their adhesion to
Pantaleon, among them being Glaucias of Sidene; the Greek cities, always
ready to chafe at authority, were naturally inclined to support a
claimant born of a Greek mother, and Pindarus the tyrant of Ephesus, and
grandson of the Melas who had married the daughter of Gyges, joined the
conspirators.

* Lenormant ascribed an issue of coins without inscriptions
to the kings Ardys, Sadyattes, and Alyattes, but this has
since been believed not to have been their work.

** Herodotus mentions the statue of the bread-maker, giving
no reason why Crosus dedicated it. The author quoted by
Plutarch would have it that in revenge he made his half-
brothers eat the poisoned bread.

[Illustration: 059.jpg VIEW OF THE SITE AND RUINS OF EPHESUS]

Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph.

As soon as Alyattes was dead, Crosus, who was kept informed by his spies
of their plans, took action with a rapidity which disconcerted his
adversaries. It is not known what became of Pantaleon, whether he was
executed or fled the country, but his friends were tortured to death or
had to purchase their pardon dearly. Sadyattes was stretched on a rack
and torn with carding combs.* Glaucias, besieged in his fortress of
Sidene, opened its gates after a desperate resistance; the king
demolished the walls, and pronounced a solemn curse on those who should
thereafter rebuild them.