One of the greatest cultural strains that influenced Western civilization flowed through Lydia in Asia Minor, for many centuries an industrial and financial center. Many historians believe that the Etruscans of Italy, from whom the early Romans got much of their culture, were Lydian colonists. The last King of Lydia, Croesus, was legendary for his vast wealth, and his capital, Sardis, was a splendid city that served after his death as the western capital of the Persian Empire.
New Effort. Archaeologists were sure that the ruins of Sardis would prove extremely interesting, but they could not excavate them because they did not...
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