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Gifts of Croesus for Delphis

by Eugenia Salza Prina Ricotti

With the passing of time Croesus decided to enlarge his empire’s borders and conquer the Medians, but first he wanted to know how this war would end, then he consulted many oracles. Two of them gave him the same answer, that is to say that if Croesus made war to the Medians he would destroy a great empire (Erodoto,I. 51-53). Croesus deemed that this meant that he would win and conquer all Media but he did not reflect that also Lydia was a great empire and that it could have been just Lydia the empire that he would destroy. Then he sent a third request to Delphis asking if his reign would be a long one and to this he received the following answer
“O Lydian man, beware of the day in which a mule will be the Medians’s Lord!
Then with your delicate feet flee in the stony bed of the Hermo river
Don’t stop and don’t blush for the name of raven (Erodoto,I. 55).
Of course interpreting this answer was difficult and it was not easy to understand what it meant. However, as Croesus was sure that a mule, an animal, would never become king of the Persians, he interpreted the oracle as if it meant that not only he would reign Lydia until his death but that also his dynasty would get the throne. Only later on Croesus realized who was the mule who would become Lord of the Medians and of whom he must beware: The oracle indicated Cyrus who had a Median mother and a Persian father. However as Croesus didn’t grasp what the oracle was saying and, instead of following its advice and flee away, he engaged battle, he lost everything. This time, as we see, “Loxias” didn’t lie, but as always succeeded in not being understood.