* Gelzer was the first, to my knowledge, to state that Lydia was a feudal state, and he defined its constitution.  Radet refuses to recognise it as feudal in the true sense of the term, and he prefers to see in it a confederation of states under the authority of a single prince.

** Gelzer sees in the legend about the axe related by Plutarch, a reminiscence of a primitive gynocracy.  The axe is the emblem of the god of war, and, as such, belongs to the king:  the coins of Mylasa exhibit it held by Zeus Labraundos.

[Illustration:  106.jpg THE AXE BORNE BY ZEUS LABRAUNDOS]

     Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a coin in the Cabinet des
     Medailles.

The king was the supreme head of the priesthood, as also of the vassal chiefs and of the army, but he had as a subordinate a “companion” who could replace him when occasion demanded, and he was assisted in the exercise of his functions by the counsel of “Friends,” and further still in extraordinary circumstances by the citizens of the capital assembled in the public square.  This intervention of the voice of the populace was a thing unknown in the East, and had probably been introduced in imitation of customs observed among the Greeks of AEolia or Ionia; it was an important political factor, and might possibly lead to an outbreak or a revolution.  Outside the pale of Sardes and the province of Maeonia, the bulk of Lydian territory was distributed among a very numerous body of landowners, who were particularly proud of their noble descent.  Many of these country magnates held extensive fiefs, and had in their pay small armies, which rendered them almost independent, and the only way for the sovereign to succeed in ruling them was to conciliate them at all hazards, and to keep them in perpetual enmity with their fellows.  Two of these rival families vied with each other in their efforts to secure the royal favour; that of the Tylonidae and that of the Mermnadae, the principal domain of which latter lay at Teira, in the valley of the Cayster, though they had also other possessions at Dascylion, in Hellespontine Phrygia.  The head sometimes of one and sometimes of the other family would fill that post of “companion” which placed all the resources of the kingdom at the disposal of the occupant.

The first of the Mermnadae of whom we get a glimpse is Daskylos, son of Gyges, who about the year 740 was “companion” during the declining years of Ardys, over whom he exercised such influence that Adyattes, the heir to the throne, took umbrage at it, and caused him to be secretly assassinated, whereupon his widow, fearing for her own safety, hastily fled into Phrygia, of which district she was a native.  On hearing of the crime, Ardys, trembling with anger, convoked the Assembly, and as his advanced age rendered walking difficult, he caused himself to be carried to the public square in a litter.  Having reached the place, he laid the assassins under a curse, and