LUD
12. Lud settled on the borders of Mesopotamia, north of Syria, whence his descendants spread into Asia Minor, took possession of the country, and founded the kingdom of Lydia, which, 606 B. C., was one of the four great powers of the world—Lydia, Egypt, Media, and Babylon. It became a part of the empire of Babylonia under Nebuchadnezzar, but after his death it regained its independence. Its kings ruled over all Asia Minor from the Hellespont to the River Halys, and in the war with Cyrus, King Croesus was able to take into the field 420,000 foot and 60,000 horse. He was defeated, however, and was followed by Cyrus to his capital, Sardis, which was taken, and with it the king. Lydia was then made a province of the Medo-Persian Empire, and never recovered its independence. This King Croesus, of Lydia, was the richest monarch in the world in his day, and “as rich as Croesus” is yet the synonym of untold wealth. Sardis, Thyatira, and Philadelphia, whose churches are named in the New Testament, were cities of Lydia. “The Lydians ... have a twofold interest in the dawn of Hellenic history. First, they represent the earliest kingdom of Asia Minor of which anything is certainly known. Secondly, they are on land what the Phoenicians are on sea,—carriers or mediators between the Greeks and the East.” EB 37.1