Lydia

Lydia, ancient country of Asia Minor (modern Turkey), in the valleys of the Hermus and Cayster rivers (modern Gediz and Küçük Menderes rivers). The country was known to Homer under the name Maeonia. It was celebrated for its fertile soil, rich deposits of gold and silver, and magnificent capital of Sardis. The Lydians are thought to have been the first people to mint coin in the 8th century bc. Lydia reached the height of its power under the dynasty of the Mermnadae, beginning about 685 bc. In the 6th century bc Lydian conquests transformed the kingdom into an empire. Under the rule of King Croesus, Lydia attained its greatest prosperity. The empire came to an end, however, when the Persian ruler Cyrus the Great captured Sardis about 546 bc and incorporated Lydia into the Persian Empire. After the defeat of Persia by Alexander the Great of Macedon, Lydia came under the control of the Seleucids and Pergamum before being incorporated into the Roman province of Asia in 135 bc. Under Emperor Diocletian it became a separate province.