Tales of Raunchy Ancient Sex Peeping
Many of you are probably quite aware of my fascination with history in the past few years, and subsequently hate me for it. Regardless of this fact i shall not relent in my passion for revealing the stories i come accross in my personal study of various subjects of the historical realm.
Most recently i have been reading from the books of Herodotus, the father of history. More specifically Herodotus' first six books which account the history and foundation of the Persian Empire in the ancient world. These books also account for the history of various satrapies within the Persian Empire at the time of their foundation until the time of Herodotus himself. One of these regions is that of Lydia. Located in the western part of modern day Turkey, and at the time of the tale i am about to tell it encompassed the greater part of that region as well as the western (ionian) coastline.
How the Lydian empire came to be ruled by King Gyges is quite an amusing and perverted tale. That is why i tell it. In the hopes that some of you are still reading, i promise that it shant disappoint.
See, in the year 735BC, Lydia came to be ruled by Candaules. A descendant of 22 generations of kings from the Heraclid dynasty (that is men who claimed to be decended from Hercules) Candaules was a boaster. He was, in modern terms somewhat of a 'pimp'... as he believed his wife to be one of the fairest ladies in all the world. Candaules even went so far as to prove this to Gyges, his favorite bodyguard at the time by setting up a little peep show for him. Now Gyges, being an honorable gent, thought this to be a bad idea, but back in 700BC, questioning royalty was not really an option and Candaules constructed a plan in which Gyges would hide behind the bedroom door whilst his wife was changing and swiftly escape once her back was turned.
The plan went forth, but Gyges was not swift enough and the Queen spotted him exiting. Furious at her husband for allowing another man to spy on her naked, she summoned Gyges to her the next day and proclaimed that either her husband, the author of the plot or Gyges had to die. Gyges didn't want to make this decision, but in the end, did what any other guy would do, and decided to murder his best pal, Candaules the King. Devising a similar plot to the one in which he spied the queen naked, he hid behind the bedroom door and upon the kings entrance to his bedroom, he was stabbed to death by Gyges. Gyges then married the queen and ended the reign of the Heraclid dynasty which had ruled over Lydia for five hundred years.
Civil war thusly ravaged Lydia and Gyges was only appointed king after petitioning the Oracle at Delphi with an amount of gold that would fetch over 13 million dollars today. The oracle then proclaimed him the rightful ruler of Lydia but also claimed that his dynasty would fall in the fifth generation, during the rule of his 4th descendant Croesus.
So a peeping tom and a somewhat perverted and boastful king ended one of the most powerful dynasties in the ancient world. To me, it is a fascinating tale of the fragility of society, and hopefully you have enjoyed Herodotus' account of this empires history. This however was only the start of Lydia's misfortunes. The fall of Croesus is also discussed by Herodotus, and in my view it is an equally intriguing story filled with arrogance, irony, and humility... i shall not tell it yet. However I will preface that tale with a very important element of it and that element is the philosophical question posed in a conversation between Solon and the king Croesus.
That question, simply stated is "What man is happy?"
I believe myself to be, but as you will find out sometime in the future, i am not yet "Happy".
Content perhaps.
Ian
Most recently i have been reading from the books of Herodotus, the father of history. More specifically Herodotus' first six books which account the history and foundation of the Persian Empire in the ancient world. These books also account for the history of various satrapies within the Persian Empire at the time of their foundation until the time of Herodotus himself. One of these regions is that of Lydia. Located in the western part of modern day Turkey, and at the time of the tale i am about to tell it encompassed the greater part of that region as well as the western (ionian) coastline.
How the Lydian empire came to be ruled by King Gyges is quite an amusing and perverted tale. That is why i tell it. In the hopes that some of you are still reading, i promise that it shant disappoint.
See, in the year 735BC, Lydia came to be ruled by Candaules. A descendant of 22 generations of kings from the Heraclid dynasty (that is men who claimed to be decended from Hercules) Candaules was a boaster. He was, in modern terms somewhat of a 'pimp'... as he believed his wife to be one of the fairest ladies in all the world. Candaules even went so far as to prove this to Gyges, his favorite bodyguard at the time by setting up a little peep show for him. Now Gyges, being an honorable gent, thought this to be a bad idea, but back in 700BC, questioning royalty was not really an option and Candaules constructed a plan in which Gyges would hide behind the bedroom door whilst his wife was changing and swiftly escape once her back was turned.
The plan went forth, but Gyges was not swift enough and the Queen spotted him exiting. Furious at her husband for allowing another man to spy on her naked, she summoned Gyges to her the next day and proclaimed that either her husband, the author of the plot or Gyges had to die. Gyges didn't want to make this decision, but in the end, did what any other guy would do, and decided to murder his best pal, Candaules the King. Devising a similar plot to the one in which he spied the queen naked, he hid behind the bedroom door and upon the kings entrance to his bedroom, he was stabbed to death by Gyges. Gyges then married the queen and ended the reign of the Heraclid dynasty which had ruled over Lydia for five hundred years.
Civil war thusly ravaged Lydia and Gyges was only appointed king after petitioning the Oracle at Delphi with an amount of gold that would fetch over 13 million dollars today. The oracle then proclaimed him the rightful ruler of Lydia but also claimed that his dynasty would fall in the fifth generation, during the rule of his 4th descendant Croesus.
So a peeping tom and a somewhat perverted and boastful king ended one of the most powerful dynasties in the ancient world. To me, it is a fascinating tale of the fragility of society, and hopefully you have enjoyed Herodotus' account of this empires history. This however was only the start of Lydia's misfortunes. The fall of Croesus is also discussed by Herodotus, and in my view it is an equally intriguing story filled with arrogance, irony, and humility... i shall not tell it yet. However I will preface that tale with a very important element of it and that element is the philosophical question posed in a conversation between Solon and the king Croesus.
That question, simply stated is "What man is happy?"
I believe myself to be, but as you will find out sometime in the future, i am not yet "Happy".
Content perhaps.
Ian