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King of the Lydians, who was suited by birth to matters of war, but in all else without restraint; for he once dishonored his own sister.[1] He was the father of Alyattes, who while a youth was hubristic and without restraint, but very self-controlled and righteous after entering into manhood. He made war on the Smyrnians and took their city. This man was the father of Croesus. When campaigning in Caria he sent around orders to his sons to lead the army to Sardis; among their number was Croesus, who was the eldest of his sons, who had been appointed ruler of both Adramytteion[2] and the plain of Thebes.
While Alyattes was besieging Priene, he says...[3]

Aluattês, Ludôn basileus, hos ên men ta polemia gennaios, allôs de akolastos: kai gar pote tên heautou adelphên êischunen. egennêse de Aluattên, hostis heôs men neos ên, hubristês ên kai akolastos, ekbas de es andra sôphronestatos kai dikaiotatos. epolemêse de Smurnaiois kai heile to astu. houtos de gennai ton Kroison: strateusas epi Karian periêngeile tois heautou straton agein es Sardeis, en hois kai Kroisôi, hostis ên autou presbutatos tôn paidôn, archôn apodedeigmenos Adramutteiou te kai Thêbês pediou. Aluattou poliorkountos Priênên phêsin.

c.610-560. See generally OCD(4) s.v. (pp.66-7).
[1] This statement (already at alpha 441) seems to be a conflation of information given by the historian Nicolaus of Damascus (nu 393). The main part of the entry combines information pertaining to Sadyattes (father of Alyattes) and Alyattes himself: see Nicolaus FGrH 90 F63-65. Paradiso 2015 [see bibliography below] now argues that in both of these Suda entries 'sister' is a mistake for niece.
[2] See generally alpha 521.
[3] Herodotus 1.15 gives the taking of Priene to Ardys, father of Sadyattes, father of Alyattes. Be that as it may, is the source of this material still Nicolaus? Jacoby thought so; but Adler's paragraphing -- reproduced here -- signals a new source, and Paradiso [below] convincingly identifies it as Diogenes Laertius 1.83 (an anecdote in which Bias [beta 270] fools the king, by means of fattened mules, into abandoning the siege and making peace). Cf. pi 1569.

Annalisa Paradiso, 'Aliatte a Priene', Rivista di filologia e di istruzione classica 137 (2009) 257-264
Annalisa Paradiso, 'Sadyattes and his niece: a note on Suda alpha 1423 and alpha 441', Histos 9 (2015) 111-119 (on-line: web address 1)

Peter Anderson on 4 October 2000@16:32:12.
David Whitehead (modified headword and translation; added bibliography and keyword) on 5 October 2000@03:20:06.
Peter Anderson (Translation reworked; adding historical notes) on 5 October 2000@10:37:57.
David Whitehead (augmented notes and keywords; cosmetics) on 3 July 2002@04:49:14.
David Whitehead (augmented n.3 and bibliography) on 15 November 2010@05:11:13.
Catharine Roth (another keyword) on 15 November 2010@18:45:42.
David Whitehead (expanded primary note; another keyword; tweaks) on 11 February 2012@04:57:38.
David Whitehead (updated a ref) on 30 July 2014@05:05:40.
David Whitehead (expanded n.1; added more bibliography) on 27 March 2015@11:44:51.
Catharine Roth (added link) on 27 March 2015@18:50:58.
Catharine Roth (cross-reference) on 6 September 2021@19:35:04.

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