. History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia and Assyria . out the first half of theeighth century the Lydians had become organised intoa confederation of several tribes, governed by hereditarychiefs, who were again in their turn subject to theHeraclidse occupying Sardes.^ This town rose in terraceson the lower slopes of a detached spur of the Tmolusrunning in the direction of the Hermos, and was crownedby the citadel, within which were included the royal palace,the treasury, and the arsenals. It wassurrounded by an immense plain,bounded on the south by a curve ofthe Tmolus, and on the w
. History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia and Assyria . out the first half of theeighth century the Lydians had become organised intoa confederation of several tribes, governed by hereditarychiefs, who were again in their turn subject to theHeraclidse occupying Sardes.^ This town rose in terraceson the lower slopes of a detached spur of the Tmolusrunning in the direction of the Hermos, and was crownedby the citadel, within which were included the royal palace,the treasury, and the arsenals. It wassurrounded by an immense plain,bounded on the south by a curve ofthe Tmolus, and on the west by thedistant mountains of Phrygia Katake-kaumeng. The Maeonians stiU claimedprimacy over the entire race, and thereigning family was chosen from amongtheir nobles. The king, who wassupposed to be descended from the gods, bore, as theinsignia of his rank, a double-headed axe, the emblem ofhis divine ancestors. The Greeks of later times said thatthe axe was that of their Heracles, which was wrested byhim from the Amazon Hippolyta, and given to THE AXE BOKNE BY ZEUSLABRAUNDOS.^ ^ Gelzer was the first, to my knowledge, to state that Lydia was afeudal state, and he defined its constitution. Radet refuses to recognise itas feudal in the true sense of the term, and he prefers to see in it a con-federation of states under the authority of a single prince. ^ Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a coin in the Cabinet des Mddailles. ^ Gelzer sees in the legend about the axe related by Plutarch, areminiscence of a primitive gynocracy. The axe is the emblem of the god IMPORTANCE OF THE COUNTRY MAGNATES 107 The king was the supreme head of the priesthood, as also ofthe vassal chiefs and of the army, but he had as a subordi-nate a companion who could replace him when occasiondemanded, and he was assisted in the exercise of hisfunctions by the counsel of Priends, and further still inextraordinary circumstances by the citizens of the capitalassembled in the pubho square. This interventio
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