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Croesus
Croesus Receiving Tribute from a Lydian Peasant
Croesus - Midas here, and Sardanapalus and I, can never get in a good cry over the old days of gold and luxury and treasure, but he must be laughing at us, and calling us rude names; 'slaves' and 'garbage,' he says we are. And then he sings; and that throws us out.- In short, he is a nuisance.
- Dialogues of the Dead II
Croesus, the ancient king of the Lydians, has had a fascinating afterlife. He is the first main character to appear in Herodotus and many of his anecdotes of Croesus are memorable. The conversation with Solon comes to mind. Croesus also had afterlife in the works of Lucian. See the quote above.
Croesus even lives on into today as a fabulously wealthy individual. Cite Wikipedia:
In Greek and Persian cultures the name of Croesus became a synonym for a wealthy man. Croesus' wealth remained proverbial beyond classical antiquity: in English, expressions such as “rich as Croesus” or “richer than Croesus” are used to indicate great wealth to this day.
As such, I think it will be interesting to trace Croesus' appearances in the works of Lucian in this post.