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Croesus, son of Alyattes, by birth a Lydian, was lord of all the
nations to the west of the river Halys. This stream, which separates
Syria from Paphlagonia, runs with a course from south to north, and
finally falls into the Euxine. So far as our knowledge goes, he was
the first of the barbarians who had dealings with the Greeks, forcing
some of them to become his tributaries, and entering into alliance with
others. He conquered the Aeolians, Ionians, and Dorians of
Asia, and made a treaty with the Lacedaemonians. Up to that time
all Greeks had been free. For the Cimmerian attack upon Ionia,
which was earlier than Croesus, was not a conquest of the cities, but
only an inroad for plundering.
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