Gyges

Gyges, king of Lydia, who obtained the throne by murdering his master, King Candaulēs, and marrying his widow. This happened about 687 B.C. Gyges reigned thirty-four years, during the course of which he wrested Magnesia and Colophon from the Ionian Greeks, lent assistance to Psammetichus in his revolt in Egypt against Assyria, and, after stoutly defending himself for some time against the Cimmerians, was at last slain by them (654 B.C.). Plato has a fable in which Gyges, having miraculously obtained possession of a golden ring of great virtue, was enabled by means of it to make himself invisible, and thus took occasion to murder his sovereign and usurp the supreme power.