Histories

Distraught by the death of his son, Croesus cried out the more vehemently because the killer was one whom he himself had cleansed of blood,

and in his great and terrible grief at this mischance he called on Zeus by three names—Zeus the Purifier, Zeus of the Hearth, Zeus of Comrades: the first, because he wanted the god to know what evil his guest had done him; the second, because he had received the guest into his house and thus unwittingly entertained the murderer of his son; and the third, because he had found his worst enemy in the man whom he had sent as a protector.

Soon the Lydians came, bearing the corpse, with the murderer following after. He then came and stood before the body and gave himself up to Croesus, holding out his hands and telling him to kill him over the corpse, mentioning his former misfortune, and that on top of that he had destroyed the one who purified him, and that he was not fit to live.

On hearing this, Croesus took pity on Adrastus, though his own sorrow was so great, and said to him, “Friend, I have from you the entire penalty, since you sentence yourself to death. But it is not you that I hold the cause of this evil, except in so far as you were the unwilling doer of it, but one of the gods, the same one who told me long ago what was to be.”

So Croesus buried his own son in such manner as was fitting. But Adrastus, son of Gordias who was son of Midas, this Adrastus, the destroyer of his own brother and of the man who purified him, when the tomb was undisturbed by the presence of men, killed himself there by the sepulcher, seeing clearly now that he was the most heavily afflicted of all whom he knew.

After the loss of his son, Croesus remained in deep sorrow for two years. After this time, the destruction by Cyrus son of Cambyses of the sovereignty of Astyages son of Cyaxares, and the growth of the power of the Persians, distracted Croesus from his mourning; and he determined, if he could, to forestall the increase of the Persian power before they became great.

Having thus determined, he at once made inquiries of the Greek and Libyan oracles, sending messengers separately to Delphi [22.5167,38.4917] (Perseus) Delphi, to Abai [22.9583,38.5917] (Perseus)Abae in Phocia, and to Dodona [20.8,39.55] (Perseus)Dodona, while others were despatched to Amphiaraus and Trophonius,[*](That is, to the oracular shrines of these legendary heroes.) and others to Didyma [27.233,37.35] (historic site), Aydin Ili, Ege kiyilari, Turkey, Asia Branchidae in the Milesian country.

These are the Greek oracles to which Croesus sent for divination: and he told others to go inquire of Ammon in Libya [17,25] (nation), AfricaLibya. His intent in sending was to test the knowledge of the oracles, so that, if they were found to know the truth, he might send again and ask if he should undertake an expedition against the Persians.

And when he sent to test these shrines he gave the Lydians these instructions: they were to keep track of the time from the day they left Sardis [28.0167,38.475] (Perseus) Sardis, and on the hundredth day inquire of the oracles what Croesus, king of Lydia [27.516,38.683] (region (general)), Turkey, Asia Lydia, son of Alyattes, was doing then; then they were to write down whatever the oracles answered and bring the reports back to him.