lazomenae.

But the great work of Alyattes' reign, and the one which seems to have
had the most important consequences for Lydia, was the war which he
undertook for the purpose of expelling the Cimmerians from Asia Minor.
The hordes had been greatly weakened by time, by their losses in war,
and, probably by their excesses; they had long ceased to be formidable;
but they were still strong enough to be an annoyance. Alyattes is said
to have "driven them out of Asia," by which we can scarcely understand
less than that he expelled them from his own dominions and those of his
neighbors--or, in other words, from the countries which had been the
scenes of their chief ravages--Paphlagonia, Bithynia, Lydia, Phrygia,
and Cilicia. But, to do this, he must have entered into a league with
his neighbors, who must have consented to act under him for the purposes
of war, if they did not even admit the permanent hegemony of his
country. Alyattes' success appears to have been complete, or nearly so;
he cleared Asia Minor of the Cimmerians; and having thus conferred a
benefit on all the nations of the region and exhibited before their
eyes his great military capacity, if he had not actually constructed an
empire, he had at any rate done much to pave the way for one.

Such was the political position in the regions west and south of the
Halys, when Cyaxares completed his absorption of Cappadocia, and looking
across the river that divided the Cappadocians from the Phrygians, saw
stretched before him a region of great fertile plains, which seemed to
invite an invader. A pretext for an attack was all that he wanted,
and this was soon forthcoming. A body of the nomad Scyths--probably
belonging to the great invasion, though Herodotus thought otherwise--had
taken service under Cyaxares, and for some time served him faithfully,
being employed chiefly as hunters. A cause of quarrel, however, arose
after a while; and the Scyths, disliking their position or distrusting
the intentions of their lords towards them, quitted the Median
territory, and, marching through a great part of Asia Minor, sought and
found a refuge with Alyattes, the Lydian king. Cyaxares, upon learning
their flight, sent an embassy to the court of Sardis to demand the
surrender of the fugitives; but the Lydian monarch met the demand with a
refusal, and, fully understanding the probable consequences, immediately
prepared for war.

Though Lydia, compared to Media, was but a small s