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Aryenis (Ancient Greek: Αρυηνις, romanized: Aruēnis; Latin: Aryenis) was, according to Herodotus, the daughter of King Alyattes of Lydia and the sister of King Croesus of Lydia.^[1]

Name

The name Aryenis comes from the Latin transliteration of the Ancient Greek Aruēnis (Αρυηνις), which was itself the Hellenised form of a Lydian name cognate with the Hittite term arawanni- (𒂖), which meant "free", that is a free person, as opposed to an enslaved or unfree person.^[2][3]

Family

Following the Battle of the Eclipse, was married to Astyages, son of the Median king Cyaxares as part of a diplomatic marriage to seal a peace treaty between Cyaxares and Alyattes. Aryenis became the Queen consort of Astyages when he succeeded Cyaxares.^[4]

Herodotus does not clearly identify her as the mother of Mandane (the wife of Cambyses I of Anshan)^[5] and there is speculation that she may have been born to an earlier wife of Astyages.^[1]

Sources