Croesus

Croesus succeeded Alyattes as King of Lydia about 578 B.C. His wealth and prosperity, followed by irretrievable disaster, served Herodotus as one of his finest illustrations of the power of Nemesis. He made himself master of the Greek cities in Asia, and his court was visited by many learned men, including AEsop and Solon. From the latter the king heard the celebrated apophthegm, "Call no man happy before his death." Misfortune set in with the death of his favourite son by the involuntary hand of Adrastus. Then came his utter defeat by Cyrus, and his narrow escape from death at the stake, the saying of Solon, and the interference of Apollo, being the agencies that saved him. He was an honoured guest at the court of Cyrus and of his son Cambyses for some years, though he seems to have offended the latter. Nothing is recorded as to his death.