Chronology: The case of Croesus

Lendering expends considerable effort at criticizing Farrokh’s citation of “wrong dates” for events. The issue of specific dates are often a matter of debate among historians. What matters is time frame versus exact accuracy with dates. The fact of the matter is that often we simply cannot be 100 percent certain about specific dates unless we engage in time-travel.

On a more serious note, Lendering’s observations were forwarded to Georgian and other Eastern European universities. Here is one of the responses by a graduate student from the University of Tbilisi (now studying in Oxford University:

“Lendering appears very picayune and petty about dates. These comments are more typical of a first-year college student, not one who claims to be an expert in the Classics. Take for example his complaint against Farrokh regarding the date of the defeat of the Lydian king, Croesus in 547 BC. Lendering believes that the defeat took place later simply because he wrote an article on this stating that the identification of 547 was an error perpetuated by historians!  Lendering is in fact guilty of the very same charge that he accuses Farrokh of: he cites his own writings as evidence! In Georgia we are only too well aware of such substandard methods; the memories of Soviet “historians” remain strong in the Caucasus.  Lendering fails to state that his theory has yet to be accepted by the academic mainstream: He is confusing his own hypothesis as fact.”

This discussion raises some interesting questions. Lendering's version of Cyrus' date of the capture of Croesus is in fact contradicted by a whole tradition of historiography and sources. Below are a mere handful of a virtual cornucopia of sources that support the date of 547 BC with regards to the Lydian King's capture: these contradict Lendering:. Note that many of these references are very recent:

Briant, P. (2002). From Cyrus to A lexander: A History of the Persian Empire. Published by Eisenbrauns. See p.34.

Bradford, E. (2004). Thermopylae: The Battle for the West. Published by De Capo Press. See page 41.

Curtis, John (1990, reprinted 2000). Ancient Persia. Published by Harvard University Press. See p.39.

Eder, Walter, Renger, Johannes, Henkelman, Wouter Chenault, Robert (2007). Chronologies of the Ancient World: Names, dates and Dynasties. Published by Brill. See p.89.

Frye, Richard Nelson (1984). The History of Ancient Iran. Published by C.H. Beck. See p.92.

MacKenzie, Donald A. (2008). Myths of Babylon and Assyria. Published by Kessinger Publishing. See p. 454.

Mallowan, Max, (1985). Cyrus the Great (558-529 BC). In Ilya Gershevitch (ed.): The Cambridge History of Iran, vol. II: The Median and Achaemenian Periods, Cambridge, pages 392-419.

Mieroop, Marc Van de (2004). A History of the Ancient Near East. Published by Wiley Blackwell. See p.268.

Mikalson, Jon D. (2003). Herodotus and Religion in the Persian Wars. The University of North Carolina press. See p.48

Padgen, Anthony (2006). Worlds at War: The 2,500 Year Struggle Between East and West. Published by Random House. See p. 7.

Prevas, John (2002). Xenophon's March: Into the liar of the Persian Lion. Published by De Capo Press. See p.21.

Wiesehofer, Josef. (2001). Ancient Persia: From 550 BC to 650 AD. Published by I.B. Taurus. See p.2

What is most interesting is that Lendering is also contradicted by Briant, one of the very scholars of Iranian Studies that he selectively acknowledges (see references cited above). This is strange given that Lendering claims to know Briant's works in detail. This clearly indicates that Lendering's command of the history literature appears weak and misinformed.

Lendering's approach here is parallel to his issue regarding the role of Scylax in discovering the Suez Canal (see item 9). Technically speaking, Lendering is challenging not only Farrokh but world-class scholars such as Briant, Bradford, Curtis, Eder, Renger, Henkelman, Chenault, Eder, Renger, Henkelman, Chenault, MacKenzie, Mallowan, Mieroop, Mikalson, Padgen, Prevas, Wiesehofer, etc. not to mention world-class reference guides such as The Encyclopedia Americana (see p.733) or The Encyclopedia Brittanica (see p. 942) .

Lendering is indeed a maverick in that he substitutes the historiography of Croesus' capture with his own unique hypothesis.