Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/753

 LYDIA LYELL 747 knowledge the Assyrian supremacy in order to free the country from the barbarians. Ardys suffered another invasion from them in the latter half of the 7th century, but they soon retired, and he extended his dominion over the Greek city of Priene. Sadyattes and Alyattes were the next kings. The latter, reigning 49 years according to Herodotus, succeeded in taking Smyrna and laying waste Miletus, and subsequently in subjugating Phrygia and Cap- padocia, which brought his territory to the confines of the Median empire. Having given asylum to a Scythian tribe which had been in Median slavery, a war ensued between him and Oyaxares, king of Media, which lasted several years with varied success. During the last battle occurred an eclipse which caused both parties to cease fighting and to conclude peace, agreeing on the river Halys as the boundary of the two empires. The dates as- signed to this eclipse range between 625 and 579 B. 0. ; Larcher's computation fixing it at 697 has been adopted by most scholars. A daughter of Alyattes was given in marriage to Astyages, son of Cyaxares. Oresus, the son of Alyattes, rapidly subjugated the Ionian and JEolian cities, and extended his sway over most of Asia Minor. Cyrus, king of Persia, in the mean time advanced toward the Halys, de- stroying the Median empire. Croesus, under- rating the strength of the enemy, and misled, it is said, by the oracles of Delphi and Oropus, began the important war which speedily ended in the capture of Sardes, the Lydian capital, and his own captivity. (See CECESTTS.) Soon after the departure of Cyrus the Lydians rose in insurrection, and compelled Tabalus, the Per- sian governor, to seek refuge in the citadel of Sardes. The Mede Mazares quickly repressed the rebellion, and Pactyas, the leader of the Lydians, escaped with the treasures, which Cy- rus had put in his charge, to the Grecian isles ; but after going from one to another, he was finally given up to the Persians. Lydia was thereafter a Persian satrapy, and shared the fate of the empire. Under the Persians, Lydia together with Mysia formed a satrapy of the empire. After the fall of the latter, it fre- quently changed masters. The Romans took it from Antiochus the Great of Syria, and gave it to Pergamus. After the death of the last Attains, it became a part of the Roman prov- ince of Asia. It is now comprised in the Turkish vilayet of Aidin. In regard to the culture of the Lydians, the Greeks considered them to be the inventors of the arts of stamp- ing coins and dyeing wool. The Lyd4ans were one of the earliest commercial people on the Mediterranean, and their scented ointments, rich carpets, and skilled laborers or slaves were highly celebrated. The Greeks received from them the Lydian flute, and subsequently the cithara of three and of 20 strings, and imitated their harmony. The Homeric poems describe the Lydians or Mseones as men on horseback, clad in armor, and speak of their commerce and wealth. Lydia was rich in pre- cious metals; vast quantities of gold were washed out of the sands of the Pactolus, and Croesus had gold mines in Pergamus. It seems that the worship of the Lydians resembled that of the Syrians, and was polluted with its immoral practices. Not far from Magnesia^ is a stone which projects about 20 ft. from a marble wall, and which is supposed to have been the idol of a native goddess. The an- cient writers often mention the depravity of the Lydians, while admitting their skill and courage in war. When subdued they submit- ted quietly to their conquerors. See Rawlin- son's Herodotus; Spiegel, Erdnische Alter- thumsJcunde (2 vols., Leipsic, 1871-'3); and Duncker, GescJiicJite des Alterthums (4th ed., Leipsic, 1874 et seq.). LIDIAN STONE, Basanite, or Touchstone, a vel- vet-black quartz or flinty jasper, used for test- ing gold alloys. The metal when rubbed upon the stone leaves a portion upon the black sur- face; and this being touched with a drop of nitric acid indicates to the experienced eye the comparative purity of the alloy by the color. Suitable pieces of quartz for this use were originally obtained in Lydia, whence the name. LYE, Edward, an English philologist, born in Totness, Devonshire, in 1704, died at Yard- ley-Hastings, Northamptonshire, in 1767. He was specially devoted to the Saxon and Gothic languages. His first work was an edition of the Etymologicon Anglicanum of Junius, from the unpublished MSS., which appeared in 1743. He next published the " Gothic Evan- gelists " of Ulfilas. But his chief work was a large dictionary of the Anglo-Saxon and Goth- ic languages, which was finished just before his death (2 vols. fol., 1772), LYELL, Sir Charles, a British geologist, born at Kinnordy, Forfarshire, Nov. 14, 1797. He graduated at Exeter college, Oxford, and in 1821 entered upon the practice of the law, but soon abandoned it in order to devote himself to geological pursuits, his natural taste for sci- entific studies having been stimulated by the lectures of Dr. Buckland, professor of geology at Oxford. At this period mere geological speculations, for which the previous half cen- tury had been distinguished, had given place to systematic investigation of nature. Lyell entered earnestly into this work, and his early papers, published in the " Transactions of the Geological Society " and in Brewster's " Jour- nal of Science" in 1826 and 1827, chiefly upon the recent deposits of Forf arshire, Dorsetshire, and Hampshire, display remarkable powers of observation ; while his use of the phenomena to illustrate and explain the mode of formation of similar deposits in more ancient periods exhibits- a readiness to detect points of resem- blance for which his subsequent writings are especially distinguished. In 1830 appeared his " Principles of Geology," which rapidly went through several editions, and was received with the greatest interest for the variety of