Changes

When Croesus came to the throne at the age of thirty-five, he set about to make his already powerful and wealthy kingdom even more so through a combination of conquest and diplomacy. The king used his wealth to field an army that was able to overcome most of his neighbors, including the Phrygians and Ionian Greeks. Once established as the ruler of Anatolia, Croesus then decided to invite some of the most learned men of the world to visit Sardis. Herodotus noted that during this time “all the great Greek teachers of that epoch . . . paid visits to the capital.” <ref>Herodotus, p. 29</ref> Croesus may have invited these men to his kingdom at least partially to show off his wealth, but the end result was the that Sardis’ intellectual and cultural wealth was increased. Artists as well as philosophers traveled to Lydia to hone their skills and help make the kingdom a financial and cultural center. As Greek, Egyptian, and Babylonian scholars, artists, and statesmen visited Lydia to admire its wealth and culture, Croesus became a victim of hubris.