(Μερμνάδαι), a Lydian family, which, on the murder of Candaules by Gyges, succeeded the Heracleidae on the throne of Lydia, and held it for five generations, during a period of 170 years (about 716-546). The successive sovereigns of this family were Gyges, Ardys, Sadyattes, Alyattes, Croesus. (See these articles, and comp. DEIOCES; also Thirlwall's Greece, vol. ii. pp. 157, 158; Clint. F. H. vol. i. sub anno 716, vol. ii. App. xvii.)
[E.E]A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology
Smith, William
A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. William Smith, LLD, ed. 1890