ast of the Assyrian monarchs, whom the
Greeks have called Sardanapalus, burned himself in his palace rather than
fall into the hands of the Median conqueror.

(M179) The fall of Nineveh led to the independence of Babylon, and its
wonderful growth, and also to the conquests of the Medes as far as Lydia
to the west. The war with Lydia lasted six years, and was carried on with
various success, until peace was restored by the mediation of a Babylonian
prince. The reason that peace was made was an eclipse of the sun, which
happened in the midst of a great battle, which struck both armies with
superstitious fears. On the conclusion of peace, the son of the Median
king, Astyages, married the daughter of the Lydian monarch, Alyattes, and
an alliance was formed between Media and Lydia.

(M180) At this time Lydia comprised nearly all of Asia Minor, west of the
Halys. The early history of this country is involved in obscurity. The
dynasty on the throne, when invaded by the Medes, was founded by Gyges,
B.C. 724, who began those aggressions on the Grecian colonies which were
consummated by Croesus. Under the reign of Ardys, his successor, Asia Minor
was devastated by the Cimmerians, a people who came from the regions north
of the Black Sea, between the Danube and the Sea of Azov, being driven
away by an inundation of Scythians, like that which afterward desolated
Media. These Cimmerians, having burned the great temple of Diana, at
Ephesus, and destroyed the capital city of Sardis, were expelled from
Lydia by Alyattes, the monarch against whom Cyaxares had made war.

(M181) Cyaxares reigned forty years, and was succeeded by Astyages, B.C.
593, whose history is a total blank, till near the close of his long reign
of thirty-five years, when the Persians under Cyrus arose to power. He
seems to have resigned himself to the ordinary condition of Oriental
kings--to effeminacy and luxury--brought about by the prosperity which he
inherited. He was contemporary with Croesus, the famous king of Lydia,
whose life has been invested with so much romantic interest by
Herodotus--the first of the Asiatic kings who commenced hostile aggression
on the Greeks. After making himself master of all the Greek States of Asia
Minor, he combated a power which was destined to overturn the older
monarchies of the East--that of the Persians--a race closely connected with
the Medes in race, language, and religion.

(M182) The Persians first appear in history as