Sadyattes

Sadyattes (; ; reigned 637–) was the third king of the Mermnad dynasty in Lydia, the son of Ardys and the grandson of Gyges of Lydia. Sadyattes reigned 12 years according to Herodotus.

Reign Background Sadyattes came to power during period of severe crisis that Lydia was facing because of several waves of invasions by the Cimmerians,

In 637 BC, that is in Ardys's seventh regnal year, the Thracian Treres tribe who had migrated across the Thracian Bosporus and invaded Anatolia, under their king Kobos, and in alliance with the Cimmerians and the Lycians, attacked Lydia.

Reign Sadyattes's reign was even more short-lived than that of his father Ardys: Little is known about the reign of Sadyattes except that he began a war with the Ionian Greek maritime city of Miletus.

End of reign Sadyattes's reign ended in 635 BC. It is possible that, like his grandfather Gyges, he died fighting the Cimmerians. Alternatively, Sadyattes might have been deposed for failing to protect Lydia from the Cimmerian attacks. and in alliance with the Lydians, the Scythians under their king Madyes entered Anatolia, expelled the Treres from Asia Minor, and defeated the Cimmerians so that they no longer constituted a threat again, following which the Scythians extended their domination to Central Anatolia until they were themselves expelled by the Medes from Western Asia in the 600s BC. This final defeat of the Cimmerians was carried out by the joint forces of Madyes, whom Strabo credits with expelling the Treres and Cimmerians from Asia Minor, and of Sadyattes's son, the king Alyattes of Lydia, whom Herodotus and Polyaenus claim finally defeated the Cimmerians.