With  Crowns  ended  the  line  of  tha  Mermnadw,  and
Lydia  became,  on  bia  detlntHiement,  anneied'by  Cy<
nistoihe  Persian  empire.  (Vul.  Ormsus.)  'Hie  I^d*
isns  hsd  previously  been  a  warlika  pai^,'but  fren
tbb  time  tlwy  degenerated  toully,  and  becanw  tha
most  voluptDOQS  and  efleminate  of  men.  (Herod.,  l\
79.~Ii.,  I,  196,  ae^: — AtJuiMiu,  S,  p.  filft,  ttf.)
They  were  celebrated  M  tbeir  skill  in  music  and  other
aits,  and  are  said  to  have  invented  games,  and  to  have
been  the  first  to  coin  monn.  {Atktnaut,  14,  p.  617,
634.— /d.,  10,  p.  4n.— Hered.,  1,  94.)  Tbe  con*
quest  of  Lydia,  so  fiir  from  nMj  incmring  tbe  powci
of  die  PersisDs,  tended  lather  to  weaken  it,  bj  u^m
iag  their  mamiers,  and  lendtrmg  them  as  ^bminata
as  tbe  subjects  of  Cnesus ;  a  contagion  from  which
the  lonians  bad  already  sufiiered.  "nie  great  wealth
and  fertility  of  the  country  have  alwaya  canoed  K  to  be
conaideted  the  Moat  valuable  portion  of  Asia  Minor,
and  iu  government  was  prabsUy  the  faigbeat  mart  of
distinctioa  and  tmst  which  the  Kina  oT  Persia  eould
bestow  upon  a  sutrieet.  In  tbe  diviMoa  tt  the  eaifihra
Bwde  by  Dsrius.  the  Lydisns  and  some  small  tribes,
ai^rently  of  Mronian  origin,  together  with  the  Mysi-
ans, fonbed  the  aecond  sstrapy,  and  paid  into  the  royal
treasury  the  yesriy  supi  <A  6O0  tslenis.  (Herod.,  8,
M.)  saidta  was  the  reaidence  of  tbe  sstrsp,  who  ap-
peue  rather  to  have  heen  die  king's  lieutenant  in
lower  .4ein,  and  aopmor  to  ibe  other  governors.  Lyd-
is,  somewhat  hut,  became  dM  ^ircqwl  seat  of  tba
power  BsuTped  by  the  yonnger  Cyrus,  and,  after  bia
overthrow,  was  committed  to  tba  government  of  hia
enemy  Tissaubemes.  {Xen.,  Ansh.,  I,  l.—Jd.,  Hitt.
