Atys (King of the Maeonians)

Atys (Greek: Ἄτυς) one of the sons of Manes along with Cotys, was the second king of Maeonia (later known as Lydia) and father of Lydus. He was the second king of the Atyad dynasty according to Herodotus.[1]

Herodotus later (1.94) relates that Maeonia (Lydia) was beset with famine during Atys' reign, on which account the games of dice, knuckle-bones and ball were developed, and the Maeonians spent every other day fasting and playing these games for 18 years. Not finding relief from hunger, Atys then sent half the population of Maeonia with his son Tursenos away on ships, and these settled in Umbria, calling themselves Tyrrhenians.

The native Lydian historian Xanthus, who wrote slightly after Herodotus, though his work survives only in fragments, also affirmed that King Atys was father to two sons, Lydus and Torubus, who he says parted company, splitting the Maeonian nation into two, Lydians and "Torubians".

References

  1. ↑ Herodotus. Histories, 1.7.

See also


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