Lydia
Kingdom of Lydia | |||||||||||||||||
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| 1200–546 BCE | |||||||||||||||||
Map of the Lydian Kingdom in its final period of sovereignty under Croesus, c. 547 BCE. | |||||||||||||||||
| Capital | Sardis | ||||||||||||||||
| Common languages | Lydian | ||||||||||||||||
| Religion | Lydian religion | ||||||||||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||||||||||
| Kings | |||||||||||||||||
• 680–644 BCE | Gyges | ||||||||||||||||
• 644–637 BCE | Ardys | ||||||||||||||||
• 637–635 BCE | Sadyattes | ||||||||||||||||
• 635–585 BCE | Alyattes | ||||||||||||||||
• 585–546 BCE | Croesus | ||||||||||||||||
| Historical era | Iron Age | ||||||||||||||||
| 1200 BCE | |||||||||||||||||
| 670–630s BCE | |||||||||||||||||
| 612–600 BCE | |||||||||||||||||
| 590–585 BCE | |||||||||||||||||
| 546 BCE | |||||||||||||||||
| Currency | Croeseid | ||||||||||||||||
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Lydia (Ancient Greek: Λυδία, romanized: Ludía; Latin: Lȳdia) was an Iron Age kingdom situated in western Anatolia, in modern-day Turkey. Later, it became an important province of the Achaemenid Empire and then the Roman Empire. Its capital was Sardis.
At some point before 800 BCE, the Lydian people achieved some sort of political cohesion, and existed as an independent kingdom by the 600s BCE. At its greatest extent, during the 7th century BCE, it covered all of western Anatolia. In 546 BCE, it became a satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire, known as Sparda in Old Persian. In 133 BCE, it became part of the Roman province of Asia.
Lydian coins, made of electrum, are among the oldest in existence, dated to around the 7th century BCE.