glorious reign of
forty-nine years.*

* Herodotus gave fifty-seven years' length of reign to
Alyattes, whilst the chronographers, who go back as far as
Xanthus of Lydia, through Julius Africanus, attribute to him
only forty-nine; historians now prefer the latter figures,
at least as representing the maximum length of reign.

[Illustration: 052.jpg MOULD FOR JEWELLERY OF LYDIAN ORIGIN]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph.

It was wholly due to him that Lydia was for the moment raised to the
level of the most powerful states which then existed on the eastern
shores of the Mediterranean. He was by nature of a violent and
uncontrolled temper, and during his earlier years he gave way to fits of
anger, in which he would rend the clothes of those who came in his way
or would spit in their faces, but with advancing years his character
became more softened, and he finally earned the reputation of being a
just and moderate sovereign. The little that we know of his life reveals
an energy and steadfastness of purpose quite unusual; he proceeded
slowly but surely in his undertakings, and if he did not succeed in
extending his domains as far as he had hoped at the beginning of his
campaigns against the Medes, he at all events never lost any of the
provinces he had acquired. Under his auspices agriculture flourished,
and manufactures attained a degree of perfection hitherto unknown.

[Illustration: 053.jpg A LYDIAN FUNERY COUCH]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Choisy.

None of the vases in gold, silver, or wrought-iron, which he dedicated
and placed among the treasures of the Greek temples, has come down to
us, but at rare intervals ornaments of admirable workmanship are found
in the Lydian tombs. Those now in the Louvre exhibit, in addition to
human figures somewhat awkwardly treated, heads of rams, bulls, and
griffins of a singular delicacy and faithfulness to nature. These
examples reveal a blending of Grecian types and methods of production
with those of Egypt or Chaldaea, the Hellenic being predominant,* and
the same combination of heterogeneous elements must have existed in the
other domains of industrial art---in the dyed and embroidered stuffs,**
the vases,*** and the furniture.****

* The ornaments, of which we have now no specimens, but only
the original moulds cut in serpentine, betray imitation of
Assyria and Chaldaea.

** The custom of clothing thems