ounted by a lion of fine
gold of such a size that the pedestal and statue together were worth
L1,200,000 of our present money. These, however, formed only a tithe of
his gifts; many of the objects dedicated by him were dispersed half a
century (548 B.C.) later when the temple was burnt, and found their
way into the treasuries of the Greek states which enjoyed the favour
of Apollo--among them being an enormous gold cup sent to Clazomeme, and
four barrels of silver and two bowls, one of silver and one of gold,
sent to the Corinthians. The people at Delphi, as well as their god,
participated in the royal largesse, and Croesus distributed to them
the sum of two staters per head. No doubt their gratitude led them by
degrees to exaggerate the total of the benefits showered upon them,
especially as time went on and their recollection of the king became
fainter; but even when we reduce the number of the many gifts which
they attributed to him, we are still obliged to acknowledge that they
surpassed anything hitherto recorded, and that they produced throughout
the whole of Greece the effect that Croesus had desired. The oracle
granted to him and to the Lydians the rights of citizenship in
perpetuity, the privilege of priority in consulting it before all
comers, precedence for his legates over other foreign embassies, and a
place of honour at the games and at all religious ceremonies. It was,
in fact, the admission of Lydia into the Hellenic concert, and the
offerings which Croesus showered upon the sanctuaries of lesser
fame--that of Zeus at Dodona, of Amphiaraos at Oropos, of Trophonios at
Lebadsea, on the oracle of Abee in Phocis, and on the Ismenian Apollo
at Thebes--secured a general approval of the act. Political alliances
contracted with the great families of Athens, the Alcmonidae and
Eupatridae,* with the Cypselidae of, Corinth,** and with the Heraclidae of
Sparta,*** completed the policy of bribery which Croesus had inaugurated
in the sacerdotal republics, with the result that, towards 548, being in
the position of uncontested patron of the Greeks of Asia, he could count
upon the sympathetic neutrality of the majority of their compatriots in
Europe, and on the effective support of a smaller number of them in
the event of his being forced into hostilities with one or other of his
Asiatic rivals.

* Traditions as to Crcesus' relations with Alcrnseon are
preserved by Herodotus. The king compelled the inhabitants