Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm Holly Fry and I'm Tracy V. Wilson. So, crisis
Speaker 1: is a name that is now most commonly referenced when
Speaker 1: someone wants to shorthand that a person is ridiculously wealthy.
Speaker 1: That is a thing that it happens sometimes in English language,
Speaker 1: but other languages use it all the time, and I
Speaker 1: think possibly a little bit more than English speakers. Um
Speaker 1: And he is one of those historical figures who was
Speaker 1: both real and has taken on a mythical status. Also mythical.
Speaker 1: Aesop was a member of his court, and there's all
Speaker 1: kinds of mythical swirlings around him. But the story of
Speaker 1: the ridiculously Wealthy Creases, which was likely fictionalized in a
Speaker 1: number of ways, and we'll talk about that, also becomes
Speaker 1: this sort of cautionary tale about pride and hubris and
Speaker 1: what really has value you in life. So Crisus was
Speaker 1: born into the royal family of Lydia. Lydia was a
Speaker 1: kingdom that occupied the western section of Anatolia, roughly speaking
Speaker 1: in modern shorthand, we're talking about the left half of
Speaker 1: the Asia Minor peninsula, so it's part of modern day Turkey.
Speaker 1: To the west set the Greeks, and to the east
Speaker 1: or the lands of Persia. The Lydia that Cresus was
Speaker 1: born into was very prosperous. When Phrygia, which had been
Speaker 1: the dominant power on the peninsula since around twelve hundred
Speaker 1: b C, was attacked by Sumerians and fell from power
Speaker 1: circus seven d b C. Lydia became the most powerful
Speaker 1: kingdom in the region. It's kind of filled that power vacuum,
Speaker 1: and at that point it was ruled by king Jigs
Speaker 1: from the newly established Lydian capital of Sartis. This also
Speaker 1: established the Mermnad dynasty after Gigs came artists in the
Speaker 1: mid seventh century b c. E, followed by Sodieties and
Speaker 1: then Alliedies. A lie these was Crisus father, and it's
Speaker 1: under Alliedies that Lydia is said to have really hit
Speaker 1: its apex in terms of power and prosperity. The exact
Speaker 1: dates for the reigns of those kings are pretty fuzzy.
Speaker 1: The main source that's used for them is from Herodotus,
Speaker 1: but if you do the math based on the counts
Speaker 1: of the years that he uses, that math does not
Speaker 1: quite add up. Also, just in general, Herodotus sometimes would
Speaker 1: like to say this is how I heard it. Yes,
Speaker 1: it's one of those things where he is listed as
Speaker 1: a great historian. But as we'll discuss later, there's definitely
Speaker 1: some um some flexibility with the records, like what serves
Speaker 1: his purpose. But what is less fuzzy is the fact
Speaker 1: that during the years from seven d b c E
Speaker 1: two Creases becoming king circuit five sixty b C. Linea
Speaker 1: had established itself as a very prosperous commercial culture. It
Speaker 1: is one of the earliest cultures known to have instituted
Speaker 1: the concept of retail shops like permanent stores, and the
Speaker 1: Lydians were minting coinage way ahead of the rest of
Speaker 1: the Western world. There is evidence of Chinese coinage that
Speaker 1: predates the Lydians, although the coins that were minted specifically
Speaker 1: under crisis more closely resemble what we would think of
Speaker 1: today as coinage. When Aliantis died in five sixty b C.
Speaker 1: Creasus became king, and he was thirty five at the time,
Speaker 1: and Cresus was, like a lot of people in his day,
Speaker 1: very into using things like dreams and oracles to predict
Speaker 1: the future. He had two sons. One of them is
Speaker 1: described again by Herodotus is having a very minor disability,
Speaker 1: and this is treated just horribly within the text. Cresus says, quote,
Speaker 1: since he is ruined, he doesn't exist for me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's a whole side story about his son that I
Speaker 1: may be going to save for our casual Friday chat. Um.
Speaker 1: It's a weird thing. But the other son that he had, Attis,
Speaker 1: was much beloved and was the king's pride. And when
Speaker 1: creasse Us had a dream that showed at Us being
Speaker 1: killed by an iron spear, Creasus then did everything in
Speaker 1: his power to shelter his son. He arranged for a
Speaker 1: speedy marriage, to give him a home life, and he
Speaker 1: stopped tasking him with going out into battle, and he
Speaker 1: basically tried to keep him safe and at home all
Speaker 1: the time. But ultimately Creasus did allow Attis to go
Speaker 1: on a hunt, and this was at his son's request
Speaker 1: and after much debate, because Addis was sort of feeling like, Hey,
Speaker 1: I don't have anything to be proud of in our
Speaker 1: culture at this point because you won't let me go
Speaker 1: to war and I can't even go outside the stinks,
Speaker 1: so he allowed him to go on this hunt, and
Speaker 1: of course another hunter spear missed the wild board that
Speaker 1: they were hunting and killed Attis, and Creases reportedly mourned
Speaker 1: this son for two full years. Lydia is usually cited
Speaker 1: as the first kingdom to mint metal coinage. Under crease Us,
Speaker 1: the first silver and gold coins for Lydia were made.
Speaker 1: Uh And this is kind of reminding us a little
Speaker 1: bit of the many episodes where we have talked about
Speaker 1: the gold standard being challenged by the silver standard of
Speaker 1: the United States and how much strife came out of
Speaker 1: all that those precious metals were part of tender going
Speaker 1: all the way back to the sixth century BC. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and the coin type known as a crasid, featuring a
Speaker 1: face off between a lion and a bowl was developed
Speaker 1: during this time, and the representation of the lion actually
Speaker 1: served as a means to indicate the purity and the
Speaker 1: value of the coin, So a smaller piece of the
Speaker 1: lion's body would be stamped on a coin to indicate
Speaker 1: that that coin was a smaller denomination than one with
Speaker 1: a larger, more complete image of a lion, and the
Speaker 1: Lydians really made great strides under Creases in the purification
Speaker 1: of gold, enabling them to ensure accuracy in these different coins.
Speaker 1: This is basically the beginning of the gold standard, and
Speaker 1: the wealth was incredible. Another name that you've on was
Speaker 1: certainly heard in connection with ridiculous levels of riches as
Speaker 1: King Midas, and Creasus's very great wealth is said to
Speaker 1: have come from Midas. In a way, the Mernad dynasty
Speaker 1: allegedly got its extraordinary riches in part by collecting it
Speaker 1: from the river Pactolus, where Midas is said to have
Speaker 1: washed his hands. There were also some taxes plundering other kingdoms,
Speaker 1: including enslaving people from those kingdoms. Yeah, they actually gained
Speaker 1: their riches in a number of ways. But that Midas
Speaker 1: story is one that persists, and what defines much of
Speaker 1: what we know of the rule of crisis is war,
Speaker 1: and it said that conflict was ultimately what brought Cresus
Speaker 1: out of his mourning state over his son. Once he
Speaker 1: was refocused on military leadership, Crisus was eager to expand
Speaker 1: his power, and he could be ruthless in this quest.
Speaker 1: Herodotus wrote this of him quote this Creasus was the
Speaker 1: first foreigner whom we know who subjugated some Greeks and
Speaker 1: took tribute from them, and one the friendship of others,
Speaker 1: the former being the Ionians, the a Aliens and the
Speaker 1: Dorians of Asia, and the latter the Lacedaemonians. Before the
Speaker 1: reign of Creasus, all Greeks were free for the Sumerian
Speaker 1: host which invaded Ionia before his time, did not subjugate
Speaker 1: the cities that raided and robbed them. Yeah, so keep
Speaker 1: in mind as we talked about crisis, and he's an
Speaker 1: interesting figure, but he was very big on enslavement as
Speaker 1: something knew that was not a tradition, that was something
Speaker 1: he uh instituted in his warmaking. So we mentioned a
Speaker 1: moment ago that Cresus believed in oracles, but he really
Speaker 1: wanted to run a test to ensure that the oracle
Speaker 1: that he would patronize was going to be the best one.
Speaker 1: So Herodotus wrote that Cresus sent men out to various shrines,
Speaker 1: but after they left the palace at Sartists, they had
Speaker 1: to bide their time for a hundred days, so they
Speaker 1: didn't know what Cresus was doing before going to these shrines,
Speaker 1: And on the hundredth day, each oracle was supposed to
Speaker 1: be asked to divine what Cresus was doing at that
Speaker 1: very moment, and then all of these messengers would bring
Speaker 1: back the divinations, and it would be obvious which oracle
Speaker 1: or oracles were the real deal. The men who had
Speaker 1: visited the Oracle of Delphi at the Temple of Apollo
Speaker 1: came back with the following verse quote, I know the
Speaker 1: number of the grains of sand and the extent of
Speaker 1: the sea, and understand the mute and hear the voiceless.
Speaker 1: The smell has come to my senses of a strong
Speaker 1: shelled tortoise boiling in a cauldron, together with a lamb's flesh,
Speaker 1: under which is bronze, and over which is bronze. We
Speaker 1: don't know what any of the others divined, because this
Speaker 1: one was apparently spot on. Creasus said that the oracle
Speaker 1: of Mprs had also given a quote true answer, but
Speaker 1: we don't know the wording of what that answer specifically was.
Speaker 1: But in an effort to concoct a strange enough event
Speaker 1: that it would be impossible to guess what he had
Speaker 1: been doing, Creasus had cut up a tortoise and a
Speaker 1: lamb and boiled them together. In a covered bronze cauldron.
Speaker 1: So let's move along from that less than pleasant image
Speaker 1: and take a quick break and have a word from
Speaker 1: some of the sponsors that keep stuff he missed in
Speaker 1: history class going, So, Crismas was devoted to the Oracle
Speaker 1: of Delphi after it had successfully passed this test. He
Speaker 1: sacrificed literally thousands of animals and burned almost every valuable
Speaker 1: thing he could lay hands on. He also commanded the
Speaker 1: citizens of Lydia to do the same, and he sent
Speaker 1: so much gold to the temple. Uh, there is a
Speaker 1: line in the translation that I read that stated quote. Moreover,
Speaker 1: he dedicated his own wife's necklaces and girdles, which I
Speaker 1: just found funny as things to sacrifice to Apollo. So
Speaker 1: the goal of all of these offerings was to ensure
Speaker 1: that Crisis got good advice from the oracle regarding his
Speaker 1: military plans, and the people he tasked with bringing his
Speaker 1: many gifts to the temple were instructed to get this advice.
Speaker 1: Two points came back. One was that if Cresus were
Speaker 1: to attack the Persians, crossing a river to do so,
Speaker 1: he would destroy a great empire, and two that he
Speaker 1: should make friends with the most powerful Greeks. So at
Speaker 1: this point in time, the power of the Persians, led
Speaker 1: by Cyrus the Second, also known as Cyrus the Great,
Speaker 1: was expanding. We actually talked at some length about Cyrus
Speaker 1: the Second in our episode on the Acumenated Empire. In Crisis,
Speaker 1: of course, wanted to curtail the expansion of the Persian Empire,
Speaker 1: and he started a campaign of his own to make
Speaker 1: sure that Cyrus the Seconds forces did not get close
Speaker 1: to Lydia. So Crisis asked the oracle to once again
Speaker 1: tell him the future. They sent messengers to Delphi to
Speaker 1: ask if his reign would be a long one, and
Speaker 1: the reply was quote, when the Metace have a mule
Speaker 1: as king, just then, tenderfooted Lydian by the stone, shrewn
Speaker 1: hermus flee and do not stay, and do not be
Speaker 1: ashamed to be a coward. Cress took this pretty literally,
Speaker 1: and he thought, well, a mule is never going to
Speaker 1: be a king, so this must be telling me that
Speaker 1: my rule is going to be very, very long, and
Speaker 1: I have a lot of a lot of power ahead
Speaker 1: of me. So, bolstered and confident, he continued his military campaigning.
Speaker 1: Over the course of his rule, Cresus had attacked Ephesus,
Speaker 1: than Ionian cities, than the cities of Alia. According to Herodotus,
Speaker 1: all of these attacks are based on some sort of reason,
Speaker 1: and in his words quote, he found graver charges where
Speaker 1: he could, but sometimes alleged very petty grounds of offense. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the justified invasions were pretty lightly justified in some cases.
Speaker 1: So next, Creasus set his sights on the Lens of
Speaker 1: Greece as a target, and he knew that he was
Speaker 1: going to need to assemble a navy fleet to conquer them,
Speaker 1: so he started up a shipbuilding project. But while this
Speaker 1: was all underway, he was approached by a man from
Speaker 1: the Lesbo's capital of Middling, whose name was either preen
Speaker 1: A or Pitacus, depending on the source that you read,
Speaker 1: and this man told Cresus that the Islanders were actually
Speaker 1: amassing their own ground forces to attack Creasus at Sartis.
Speaker 1: Creasus replied, essentially that he wished they would do that,
Speaker 1: because his troops would destroy the Islanders, who had no
Speaker 1: experience in ground battle warfare. In response to this, the
Speaker 1: emissary from Middle Len pointed out that in starting a
Speaker 1: navy from scratch, cress would be similarly disadvantaged if he
Speaker 1: tried to take on the islander forces. So this put
Speaker 1: an end to creasus navy project, and he opted instead
Speaker 1: deform an alliance with the Ionian islanders. This story cracks.
Speaker 1: We have that oh yeah, come at me on land,
Speaker 1: and they're like, that's what we say about you coming
Speaker 1: at us on sea. Dude, you are not going to
Speaker 1: manage this. During his time as king of Lydia, Crisis
Speaker 1: eventually became the ruler of most of the nations and
Speaker 1: people's on the peninsula west of the Hollis River that
Speaker 1: was the name of what is now known as the
Speaker 1: Kaziller Mock River. Persians conquered the Median Empire in five
Speaker 1: and this was a sobering event for Crisis. It became
Speaker 1: immediately apparent that his own power could also be challenged
Speaker 1: by the Persian forces. This led him to try to
Speaker 1: fortify his own strength through an alliance, and this goes
Speaker 1: back to that advice that he got from the Oracle
Speaker 1: of Delphi to befriend the most powerful Greek state. So
Speaker 1: Crisis had already made an alliance with Amasis, the king
Speaker 1: of Egypt, and he also got the Lacedaemonians and then
Speaker 1: the Spartans, which he believed to be the most powerful
Speaker 1: Greek state to agree to stand with him. But Crisis
Speaker 1: was not really content with waiting to see what would
Speaker 1: happen with the Persia and getting all of these alliances arranged,
Speaker 1: and he was very impatient, so he just decided that
Speaker 1: he would go right on ahead and invade Anatolia. He
Speaker 1: decided to invade Anatolia, specifically Cappadocia in the eastern part
Speaker 1: of the territory, and that meant he had to cross
Speaker 1: the Hollis River and the battle that ensued at Teria
Speaker 1: was not what anybody had hoped. It sort of ended
Speaker 1: in a draw. After Teria, Creasus wanted to regroup, so
Speaker 1: he had summoned all of those groups that he had
Speaker 1: allied with to join him in the springtime, five months
Speaker 1: after he sent these messages out to them, so that
Speaker 1: they would have time to assemble their armies and travel
Speaker 1: after the winter. And so then he took his own
Speaker 1: troops and headed back to Sartis. But apparently he didn't
Speaker 1: realize that Cyrus the second and his Persian troops had
Speaker 1: followed him home. When Sartis was attacked by Persia, it
Speaker 1: came just as a complete surprise decreases. The Lydians scrambled
Speaker 1: to meet the Persians in battle, and according to Herodotus,
Speaker 1: Cyrus was afraid of the Adians, but on the advice
Speaker 1: of a Median who was with him, Cyrus put his
Speaker 1: cavalry on the pack camels. The camels drove back the
Speaker 1: Lydian horses because apparently the horses were afraid of the
Speaker 1: camels and their smell, and they retreated even as their
Speaker 1: riders tried to move them forward into battle. The Lydian
Speaker 1: army was forced to fight on foot, and ultimately they
Speaker 1: were defeated by the Persians. Cresus sent word to his
Speaker 1: allies to come and help, but efforts that assistants were
Speaker 1: not enough or came too late. Cresus was taken captive
Speaker 1: and Stardus was taken by the Persians after two weeks
Speaker 1: of this conflict. So when the oracle of Delphi had
Speaker 1: told Cressus about crossing a river and destroying a kingdom,
Speaker 1: oops that was his own kingdom that would be destroyed,
Speaker 1: and that story of the mule leading the may Day's empire.
Speaker 1: Cyrus the second was half may Days and half Persian,
Speaker 1: the child of two different groups of people. So the
Speaker 1: mule reference was kind of a casual like slurry representation
Speaker 1: Creasus had in his literalism in interpreting all of these
Speaker 1: words of the oracle, failed to catch any of the
Speaker 1: actual meaning in the oracle's words. We will talk about
Speaker 1: the varied accounts of the end of Cresus's life after
Speaker 1: we pause and have a quick sponsor break. In five
Speaker 1: six b C. With his defeat by Cyrus the Second
Speaker 1: and the Persian army, the reign of Cresus ended. But
Speaker 1: what happened after this invasion is something that again is
Speaker 1: a little unclear, and that's because there are a number
Speaker 1: of different versions of the story. The Kylides, a poet
Speaker 1: from Greece, tells the story and the Odes of the
Speaker 1: Eponicians that Creasus built his own funeral pyre and then
Speaker 1: tried to burn himself to death on it, and this was,
Speaker 1: according to his writing, unsuccessful because the gods intervened before
Speaker 1: Crisus actually met his final end. Yes, in that history,
Speaker 1: it's written quote when he had come to that unexpected day,
Speaker 1: Creasus had no intention of waiting any longer for the
Speaker 1: tears of slavery. He had a pire built before his
Speaker 1: bronze walled courtyard, and he mounted the pire with his
Speaker 1: dear wife and his daughters with beautiful hair. They were
Speaker 1: weeping inconsolably. He raised his arms to the steep sky
Speaker 1: and shouted, overweening deity, where is the gratitude of the gods,
Speaker 1: Where is Lord Apollo. So just as Cresus had gotten
Speaker 1: a trusted servant to really get the flames going, and
Speaker 1: as his wife and daughters were looking on in tears,
Speaker 1: the day sex Macana arrives quote. But when the flashing
Speaker 1: force of terrible fire began to shoot through the wood,
Speaker 1: Zeus set a dark rain cloud over it and began
Speaker 1: to quench the golden flame. Nothing is unbelievable, which is
Speaker 1: brought about by the god's ambition, and Apolo shows up,
Speaker 1: scoops up Cresus and his family, and carries them north
Speaker 1: to Hyperborea, the land of the Giants, where they could
Speaker 1: live safely. So we know that this particular version of
Speaker 1: the story became an important part of Greek lore. This
Speaker 1: moment is represented on a piece of art in the Louver,
Speaker 1: decorated by Mason, a painter who decorated vases in Athens
Speaker 1: using what is known as red figure technique and Mason's
Speaker 1: work on the vase that depicts this particular subject is
Speaker 1: dated in the five hundred to four nine BC range,
Speaker 1: so we're talking fifty to sixty years after Cresus's defeat
Speaker 1: would have happened. This vase shows Creasus sitting on a
Speaker 1: throne pouring out a libation onto the servant Utmos, while
Speaker 1: Utamos is lighting the pyre that the throne has been
Speaker 1: placed upon. There's an inscription on the vase that specifically
Speaker 1: names the king and the image as Creasus, so it's
Speaker 1: not a case of like, well, this could be Creasus.
Speaker 1: The opposite side of the vase has a totally different
Speaker 1: and unrelated scene showing Theseus abducting the Amazon and typee.
Speaker 1: If you're ever in Paris and you want to see it.
Speaker 1: It is part of the Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities
Speaker 1: collection and is on the first floor in the celly
Speaker 1: wing Him sixty two. So after this happened and Cresus
Speaker 1: was saved by the gods, the story goes that Creasis
Speaker 1: became an ally of the leader who followed Cyrus, that
Speaker 1: was cam Byss the second, and along with camp Byces
Speaker 1: the second, Cresus in this version then traveled to Egypt.
Speaker 1: That is not the only version of this story where
Speaker 1: Cresus ends up friends with his former enemy state. The
Speaker 1: Persian doctor Satsias, who was born in Greece, wrote an
Speaker 1: account that suggests that Creasus actually became part of Cyrus's
Speaker 1: court and eventually rose to a point of good enough
Speaker 1: standing that he was appointed governor of Barni. Part of
Speaker 1: what makes the Creases story so tricky to unravel is
Speaker 1: the fact that he was such a big figure culturally
Speaker 1: that people essentially started writing fan fiction about him, and
Speaker 1: now when we referenced hundreds of years later, it's a
Speaker 1: little hard to know which is fan fiction versus which
Speaker 1: is actual historical record. And we mentioned one version of
Speaker 1: his faith that was written by Herodotus just a moment ago,
Speaker 1: but that was not the only writing that Herodotus did
Speaker 1: featuring Creases as a protagonist. And another story by Herodotus
Speaker 1: Crisis met with Solon, the lawmaker of Athens, whose life
Speaker 1: ended just as Crisus' reign was starting. And this is
Speaker 1: really a parable about values and happiness. There's really no
Speaker 1: evidence that any of it actually took place, and the
Speaker 1: story Solon, like a lot of important men of the
Speaker 1: day decided to visit Creasus when the Lydian king was
Speaker 1: at the height of his power. So there's actually sort
Speaker 1: of a fun side story here about why Solon the
Speaker 1: lawmaker would have been out and about traveling. This kind
Speaker 1: of you know, justifies how this may have worked in
Speaker 1: the writing of Herodotus. So this travel was part of
Speaker 1: a ten year trip. The idea was that once Solon
Speaker 1: had made all of the laws that he believed Athens
Speaker 1: needed to be a fair and just society, he promised
Speaker 1: to stay away from Athens for ten years so that
Speaker 1: he would not be tempted to change or repeal any
Speaker 1: of those laws. Athens wanted to live by the set
Speaker 1: of laws that Solan had carefully penned, and so they
Speaker 1: promised to do so, and they were not themselves allowed
Speaker 1: to make any changes. An interesting governmental experiment, to be sure,
Speaker 1: And yes, Solan is certainly on my list for his
Speaker 1: own episode one day, no telling when that might happen
Speaker 1: in any case. After receiving sullen crisis, basically spent the
Speaker 1: whole visit entertaining his visitor and then making the household
Speaker 1: staff point out all the expensive things that Cris has
Speaker 1: had just lying around the palace so that Solan would
Speaker 1: understand just how rich and successful the king was. And
Speaker 1: after this little exercise in wealth show and tell, Crisis
Speaker 1: asked Soland, quote, my Athenian guests, we have heard a
Speaker 1: lot about you because of your wisdom and of your wanderings.
Speaker 1: How As one who loves learning, you have traveled much
Speaker 1: of the world for the sake of seeing it. So
Speaker 1: now I desire to ask you who is the most
Speaker 1: fortunate man you have seen? And of course the king
Speaker 1: expected that the lawmaker was going to say, Oh, it's you,
Speaker 1: for sure, dude. You have everything like there's no reason
Speaker 1: anybody could ever be any happier than you, but he
Speaker 1: did not say that. Soland instead named an Athenian called
Speaker 1: tell Us as the most fortunate man he knew. King
Speaker 1: Crisis asked for an explanation of Solon's answer, and the
Speaker 1: lawmaker told him that tell Us had been part of
Speaker 1: a prosperous city, a good community, and that he had
Speaker 1: children who grew up to be good people and all
Speaker 1: gave him grandchildren, and that all of his progeny survived.
Speaker 1: And then when tell Us died in battle against the
Speaker 1: people of Eleusis, it was a good and honorable death,
Speaker 1: and that he was honored in his burial. So, after
Speaker 1: hearing this crisis, apparently hoping that he would get a
Speaker 1: second place spot, then asked Solan who he thought was
Speaker 1: the next most fortunate man, and Soland gave two men's
Speaker 1: names in answer, Clebus and Byton, of our give. These
Speaker 1: two brothers had a stable home life, they were physically
Speaker 1: very strong, and they both died after pulling their mother
Speaker 1: in a wagon five miles to the festival of Hera
Speaker 1: and argos as the oxen that were intended to convey her,
Speaker 1: we're not back from the fields in time to do so.
Speaker 1: Before Clebus and Byton died, everyone present commented that their
Speaker 1: mother had raised great children, and then she prayed to
Speaker 1: Hera to grant her son's the best thing for a man,
Speaker 1: and they both died in their sleep that night after
Speaker 1: the evening's feast. Here's how Herodotus renders the speech about
Speaker 1: this quote. Creasus, you ask me about human affairs, and
Speaker 1: I know that the divine is entirely grudging and troublesome
Speaker 1: to us. Creas Us, man is entirely chanced to me.
Speaker 1: You seem to be very rich and to be king
Speaker 1: of many people, but I cannot answer your question before
Speaker 1: I learned that you ended your life well. He explains
Speaker 1: in the story that wealth is not what leads to happiness,
Speaker 1: and that one should focus instead on good fortune in
Speaker 1: a more expansive sense. So the advice that Slan allegedly
Speaker 1: gave to Creasus was quote count no man happy until
Speaker 1: his death. That story actually feeds into a version of
Speaker 1: the Tale of Cyrus Have Increases burned alive, in which
Speaker 1: Creases has a moment of revelation related to Soulan's teaching
Speaker 1: as he is being executed. In this version, as Cresus
Speaker 1: begins to call out Solan's name while on the pire,
Speaker 1: Cyrus asks why that was the name he invoked, and
Speaker 1: he was moved by creasus realization that wealth was meaningless
Speaker 1: in that moment. Creases, then released from his execution by Cyrus,
Speaker 1: then asks Cyrus what his soldiers are doing. When Cyrus
Speaker 1: responds that they are sacking the city, Creasus tells him, well,
Speaker 1: it's your city now, they're destroying your kingdom, not mine,
Speaker 1: and then this leads to the whole now where best
Speaker 1: friends come hang out in my court business. In this version,
Speaker 1: Cyrus the second also says he will grant Creasus a request,
Speaker 1: any request, and that the former king asked that his
Speaker 1: chains be taken to Delphi, and that the Pithea be
Speaker 1: asked why Apollo should have him sent to its hack Persius,
Speaker 1: since it doomed him. The oracle replied that quote, no
Speaker 1: one may escape his lot, not even a god. Crisis
Speaker 1: has paid for the sin of his ancestor of the
Speaker 1: fifth generation before, who was led by the guile of
Speaker 1: a woman to kill his master. Yeah, things, he had
Speaker 1: no pardon. He was still paying for for the family dues,
Speaker 1: and that was the whole thing. Ultimately. In that story,
Speaker 1: I should point out, Creasus does kind of take personal
Speaker 1: responsibility and recognize like, oh, I was the one that
Speaker 1: got the information and acted on it. But here's the thing.
Speaker 1: All of these stories of Creases being saved at the
Speaker 1: last minute are considered these days to be simply useful
Speaker 1: didactic tales, and some versions of the story actually just
Speaker 1: say that Cresus was killed when Lydia was defeated. Uh.
Speaker 1: Those are like translations that have been done by other cultures,
Speaker 1: not not the ones that would be descendants of the Lydians.
Speaker 1: For example, the boring reality is that Creasus kind of
Speaker 1: vanishes from the historical record after the fall of Lydia,
Speaker 1: although his grandson Pittheus does show up later in the
Speaker 1: work of Herodotus. He is also very wealthy, although he
Speaker 1: gets in some very serious and ugly trouble with Xerxes.
Speaker 1: But that is a whole other thing. As for Lydia,
Speaker 1: it became a sat repete under Tabitists, but it's treasury
Speaker 1: money kept being managed by a Lydian, which was Pactius.
Speaker 1: And if you play Assassin's Creed, that name may be
Speaker 1: familiar to you as a newcomer to Assassin's Creed. It's not,
Speaker 1: in fact familiar to me. Yet with the leverage of
Speaker 1: that satrape's wealth, Pactius was able to hire Greek mercenaries
Speaker 1: in a move to revolt against Persian rule, and that
Speaker 1: ultimately led up to the Persian Wars. Oh crisis. Fascinating,
Speaker 1: But I always got to remember, even in the stories,
Speaker 1: you know, where it's like, and then he realized that
Speaker 1: life is better, and I'm like, hey, we got to
Speaker 1: address this slavery problem, whoever never gets addressed. Also, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff and a lot of historical accounts
Speaker 1: from this time period that really seemed to follow literary
Speaker 1: convention to a point that you're like, you know, that's
Speaker 1: probably a little embellished. I think this made a good yarn,
Speaker 1: but probably not. I mean, I don't wanna, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: invalidate anybody's belief system. But I do not believe that
Speaker 1: Zeus made a rain cloud go just over creases his fire. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Maybe I know only that I know nothing. Um. I
Speaker 1: have a little bit of listener mail that is um
Speaker 1: related to our our White House episode, but is some
Speaker 1: fun comedy. Okay. This is from our listener Bob, who writes,
Speaker 1: I just finished part one of your White House episode.
Speaker 1: Towards the end, you discussed Jackie Kennedy's remodel, and it
Speaker 1: immediately brought me back to my childhood listening to the
Speaker 1: Von Meter album The First Family, and Bob links to
Speaker 1: it on YouTube. You can find it, and he says,
Speaker 1: if you haven't heard it, I recommend you do. You
Speaker 1: may be a bit young, but it is hilarious for
Speaker 1: anyone who grew up in the sixties and remembers the
Speaker 1: cultural and political realities and references of the times. As
Speaker 1: are most things, the sensibilities are reflective of the times
Speaker 1: relevant to your episode. I believe you will find the
Speaker 1: track ten minutes five seconds in where Jackie gives a
Speaker 1: white house tour especially interesting. I would make an episode suggestion,
Speaker 1: but you guys seem to be doing just fine. Maybe
Speaker 1: next time. That is a very very interesting thing. Von
Speaker 1: Meter is someone who is historically very interesting to me.
Speaker 1: He was a comedian. He became very famous for doing
Speaker 1: a really good Kennedy impersonation, and so this first Family
Speaker 1: album is essentially a satire, like a satirical version of
Speaker 1: the Kennedy's, uh, including as Bob mentions, the Jackie Kennedy tour,
Speaker 1: and it's very much that exaggerated, like sighing, slightly sleepy
Speaker 1: sounding Jackie Kennedy. Uh. And he did a couple of
Speaker 1: albums actually um about the Kennedy's, and then of course
Speaker 1: stopped after the assassination because he thought it was im
Speaker 1: poor taste. But if you are interested in von Meter,
Speaker 1: because I really like uh, you know, old school comedian stories.
Speaker 1: Morocca does a show called Mobituaries with Morocca and he
Speaker 1: has a great von Meter episode, So I highly recommend it.
Speaker 1: Um and it is a really good Kennedy impersonation that
Speaker 1: that episode that Morocca did starts with a story of uh,
Speaker 1: somebody who knew JFK in his car hearing what he
Speaker 1: did not know at the time was this comedy troupe
Speaker 1: doing Kennedy and he thought that what he was hearing
Speaker 1: was something the President was actually saying, and it was
Speaker 1: temporarily very upsetting. Um, that is the scoop. Go check
Speaker 1: out that Morocca episode, and also, um, you know, I
Speaker 1: also encourage people, if they haven't done it, to go
Speaker 1: check out the the actual tour that Jackie Kennedy gave
Speaker 1: for ABC of the White House because it is quite interesting.
Speaker 1: I also will say this, we recorded, as I said
Speaker 1: at the top of that episode, that White House episode,
Speaker 1: we recorded it in response to the announcement that the
Speaker 1: Rose Garden was getting redone, and we didn't we it
Speaker 1: was completely by accident that it came out like the
Speaker 1: day of the revie. Yeah, that was just a blind luck,
Speaker 1: coincidence situation. Uh So, like just to be super clear,
Speaker 1: like we had not seen what the actual reveal looked
Speaker 1: like when we recorded it. Um. And what was kind
Speaker 1: of hilarious to me was we got we we kea
Speaker 1: all the episodes before we released them, and we got
Speaker 1: all the emails about queaing the episodes. I think on
Speaker 1: the day that the unveiling happens. Um, but just because
Speaker 1: of the way my day worked, like I i q
Speaker 1: eate all the episodes, It's like, Okay, that's really cool.
Speaker 1: And then I was like, oh, this is funny. Now
Speaker 1: that I'm looking at the computer again, there's what it
Speaker 1: actually looks like. Now it's just super strange and weird. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I don't know about you. I was not expecting it
Speaker 1: to be finished that quickly after it was announced. It
Speaker 1: was pretty fast. Yeah, I didn't have a good sense
Speaker 1: of timeline. I did not think it would be done before.
Speaker 1: But you know, we've watched enough home improvement shows to
Speaker 1: know that, Um, if you get a team of very
Speaker 1: energetic landscape ers, they can redo anything in forty eight hours.
Speaker 1: So anyway, again, I hope that offered people a little
Speaker 1: bit of solace if they are chagrined at the new design,
Speaker 1: or if they've been chagrined at any previous redesign, just
Speaker 1: remember it is always in motion. The White House and
Speaker 1: its grounds were always intended to constantly change. Uh. Reassuring
Speaker 1: if you don't like the way something is looking at
Speaker 1: the moment. Odds are good it will change in the future.
Speaker 1: You who can write to us if you'd like to.
Speaker 1: You could do that at History Podcast at iHeart radio
Speaker 1: dot com. You can also find us everywhere on social
Speaker 1: media as Missed in History and we would love it
Speaker 1: if you would subscribe to the show. You can do
Speaker 1: that on the I heart radio app, at Apple podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever it is you listen. Stuff you Missed in
Speaker 1: History Class is a production of I heart Radio. For
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