* Strabo states definitely that it was Lygdamis who took the city.  The account given by the same author of a double destruction of Sardes in 652 and 682 B.C. is due to an unfortunate borrowing from the work of Caliisthenes.

[Illustration:  240.jpg BATTLE OF THE CIMMERIANS AGAINST THE GREEKS ACCOMPANIED BY THEIR DOGS]

     Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the sarcophagus of Clazomenae.

Ardys, who had succeeded his father on the throne, was able, however, to save the citadel:  he rallied around him the remnants of his army and once more took the field.  The cities of Ionia made common cause with him; their hoplites issued victorious from more than one engagement, and their dogs, trained to harry fearlessly the horses of the enemy, often took an active part in the battle.  City after city was attacked by the barbarians, and the suburbs plundered.  Ephesus, on account of the wealth it contained, formed their chief attraction, but their forces dashed themselves fruitlessly against its walls; they avenged themselves for their failure by setting on fire the temple of Artemis which stood in the outskirts.  This act of sacrilege profoundly stirred the whole Hellenic world, and when the first fury of pillage was exhausted, the barbarians themselves seemed to have been struck with superstitious horror at their crime:  deadly fevers contracted in the marshes near the city thinned their ranks, and in the scourge which struck down their forces they recognised the chastisement of the goddess.*

* The invasion of Ionia by the Cimmerians is indicated in general terms by Herodotus; the details of the attack on Ephesus and the destruction of the temple of Artemis are preserved in a passage of Callimachus, and in the fragments quoted by Hesychius.

The survivors abandoned the siege and withdrew in disorder towards the mountains of the interior.  On their way they surprised Magnesia on the Maeander and entirely destroyed it, but this constituted their sole military success:  elsewhere, they contented themselves with devastating the fields without venturing to attack the fortified towns.  Scarcely had Ardys freed himself from their unwelcome presence, than, like his father before him, he tried to win the support of Assyria.  He sent an envoy to Nineveh with a letter couched in very humble terms:  “The king whom the gods acknowledge, art thou; for as soon as thou hadst pronounced imprecations against my father, misfortune overtook him.  I am thy trembling servant; receive my homage graciously, and I will bear thy yoke!” Assur-bani-pal did not harden his heart to this suppliant who confessed his fault so piteously, and circumstances shortly constrained him to give a more efficacious proof of his favour to Ardys than he had done in the days of Gyges.  On quitting Lydia, Tugdami, with his hordes, had turned eastwards, bent upon renewing in the provinces of the Taurus and the Euphrates the same destructive raids which