Histories

and whenever he came to the Milesian territory, he neither demolished nor burnt nor tore the doors off the country dwellings, but let them stand unharmed; but he destroyed the trees and the crops of the land, and so returned to where he came from;

for as the Milesians had command of the sea, it was of no use for his army to besiege their city. The reason that the Lydian did not destroy the houses was this: that the Milesians might have homes from which to plant and cultivate their land, and that there might be the fruit of their toil for his invading army to lay waste.

He waged war in this way for eleven years, and in these years two great disasters overtook the Milesians, one at the battle of Limeneion in their own territory, and the other in the valley of the Buyukmenderes Nehri [27.183,37.466] (river), Turkey, Asia Maeander.

For six of these eleven years Sadyattes son of Ardys was still ruler of Lydia [27.516,38.683] (region (general)), Turkey, Asia Lydia, and it was he who invaded the lands of Miletus [27.3,37.5] (Perseus) Miletus, for it was he who had begun the war; for the following five the war was waged by Sadyattes' son Alyattes, who, as I have indicated before, inherited the war from his father and carried it on vigorously.

None of the Ionians helped to lighten this war for the Milesians, except the Chians: these lent their aid in return for a similar service done for them; for the Milesians had previously helped the Chians in their war against the Erythraeans.

In the twelfth year, when the Lydian army was burning the crops, the fire set in the crops, blown by a strong wind, caught the temple of Athena called Athena of Assesos,[*](A small town or village near Miletus [27.3,37.5] (Perseus) Miletus.) and the temple burned to the ground.

For the present no notice was taken of this. But after the army had returned to Sardis [28.0167,38.475] (Perseus) Sardis, Alyattes fell ill; and, as his sickness lasted longer than it should, he sent to Delphi [22.5167,38.4917] (Perseus) Delphi to inquire of the oracle, either at someone's urging or by his own wish to question the god about his sickness.

But when the messengers came to Delphi [22.5167,38.4917] (Perseus) Delphi, the Pythian priestess would not answer them before they restored the temple of Athena at Assesos in the Milesian territory, which they had burnt.