Media, Babylon and Persia : including a study of the Zend-Avesta or religion of Zoroaster, from the fall of Nineveh to the Persian war . throne to the arbitration of theDelphic Apollo as the least doubtful of the state-ments made concerning the revolution which trans-ferred the royal power to the dynasty of the Merm-nadcU. Herodotus specifies the gifts sent by Gygesto the Delphic shrine, in gratitude for the verdictwhich confirmed his title ; they consisted in a largequantity of silverand a vast number of vessels ofgold. Gyges, according to the same historian, wasthe first of the barbarians wh
Media, Babylon and Persia : including a study of the Zend-Avesta or religion of Zoroaster, from the fall of Nineveh to the Persian war . throne to the arbitration of theDelphic Apollo as the least doubtful of the state-ments made concerning the revolution which trans-ferred the royal power to the dynasty of the Merm-nadcU. Herodotus specifies the gifts sent by Gygesto the Delphic shrine, in gratitude for the verdictwhich confirmed his title ; they consisted in a largequantity of silverand a vast number of vessels ofgold. Gyges, according to the same historian, wasthe first of the barbarians whom we know to havesent offerings to Delphi, with the exception of acertain king of Phrygia who, even before his time,sent thither and dedicated to the god the royalthrone whereon he was accustomed to sit and to ad-minister justice— an object, Herodotus adds, wellworth looking at. 12. In point of material civilization, the Lydianswere probably far ahead of the new-comers, at theearly period of Greek emigration. They were pos-sessed of great skill in various industrial arts, espe-cially those of dyeing wool and weaving; and Lydian. 31. RUINS OF THK TKMl-LE Ol THE DIUYM/EAN AFOLLO, NEAK MILETUS. 211 212 MEDIA, BABYLON, AND PERSIA. carpcth aiul rugs enjoyed a reputation wliich vvc seesuixiviny; even to our own day, after so many agesand vicissitudes, in the great demand for Smyrnarugs. The influence, then, must luive been mutual,more spiritual on the (jreek side and more materialon that of the Lydians. The country, more(jver,aboundetl in i)recious metals, and that led to an in-vention which opened a new era to social and inter-national intercourse and made a revolution in thecommercial ways of the world : the invention of coin-ing money. It is most probably to (})ges, the firstof the Mermnadaj, that the credit of this inventionis due, so simple in its principles, yet so portentousin its results. 13. Even so late as this, the seventh century 1;.C.,a vast proportion of the active t
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