Croesus was a Lydian by birth, son of Alyattes, and sovereign of all the nations west of the river Halys , which flows from the south between Syria and Paphlagonia and empties into the sea called Euxine . This Croesus was the first foreigner whom we know who subjugated some Greeks and took tribute from them, and won the friendship of others: the former being the Ionians, the Aeolians, and the Dorians of Asia , and the latter the Lacedaemonians. Before the reign of Croesus, all Greeks were free: for the Cimmerian host which invaded Ionia before his time did not subjugate the cities, but raided and robbed them.