Candaules

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Candaules

Candaules (?a?da????), also known as Myrsilos (???s????) was a king of the ancient Kingdom of Lydia

Lydia

Lydia was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern Turkey provinces of Manisa Province and inland Izmir Province....
from 735 BC to 718 BC. He succeeded Meles

Meles of Lydia

Meles was the twenty-fourth king of Lydia, and twenty-first king of the Heraclid dynasty; see List of Kings of Lydia. He was succeeded by his son, Candaules....
and was followed by Gyges

Gyges of Lydia

Gyges was the founder of the third or Mermnad dynasty of Lydian kings and reigned from 716 BC to 678 BC . He was succeeded by his son Ardys II....
. His name is the origin of the term candaulism

Candaulism

Candaulism is a paraphilia or fantasy in which a man exposes his woman, or pictures of her, to other people for their voyeurism pleasure. According to Gugitz, the term is derived from ancient King Candaules who made a plot to show his unaware naked wife to his servant Gyges of Lydia....
, for a sexual practice

Paraphilia

Paraphilia refers to powerful and persistent sexual interest other than in copulatory or precopulatory behavior with phenotype normal, consenting adult human partners....
attributed to him by legend.

Several stories of how the Heraclid dynasty of Candaules ended and the Mermnadae dynasty of Gyges began has been related by different authors throughout history, mostly in mythical tones.

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Candaules'

Start a new discussion about 'Candaules'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

Candaules (?a?da????), also known as Myrsilos (???s????) was a king of the ancient Kingdom of Lydia

Lydia

Meles of Lydia

Meles was the twenty-fourth king of Lydia, and twenty-first king of the Heraclid dynasty; see List of Kings of Lydia. He was succeeded by his son, Candaules....
and was followed by Gyges

Gyges of Lydia

Gyges was the founder of the third or Mermnad dynasty of Lydian kings and reigned from 716 BC to 678 BC . He was succeeded by his son Ardys II....
. His name is the origin of the term candaulism

Candaulism

Paraphilia

Plato

Plato , was a Classical Greece Greeks philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Platonic Academy in Ancient Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the western world....
's Republic, Gyges used a magical ring to become invisible and usurp the throne, a plot device

Plot device

A plot device is an element introduced into a narrative solely to advance or resolve the Plot of the story. In the hands of a skilled writer, the reader or viewer will not notice that the device is a construction of the author; it will seem to follow naturally from the setting or characters in the story....
which reappeared in numerous myths and works of fiction throughout history. The earliest story, related by Herodotus

Herodotus

Herodotus of Halicarnassus was a Greeks historian who lived in the 5th century BC and is regarded as the "Father of History" in Western culture....
in the fifth century BCE, has Candaules betrayed and executed by his wife in a cautionary tale against pride and possession.

Herodotus - Candaules, his wife and Gyges

Etty Candaules King of Lydia Shews His Wife To Gyges

According to The Histories of Herodotus

Herodotus

Herodotus of Halicarnassus was a Greeks historian who lived in the 5th century BC and is regarded as the "Father of History" in Western culture....
, Candaules bragged of his wife's incredible beauty to his favorite bodyguard Gyges. "It appears you don't believe me when I tell you how lovely my wife is," said Candaules. "A man always believes his eyes better than his ears; so do as I tell you - contrive to see her naked."

Gyges refused; he did not wish to dishonor the Queen by seeing her nude body. He also feared what the King might do to him if he did accept.

Candaules was insistent, and Gyges had no choice but to obey. Candaules detailed a plan by which Gyges would hide behind a door in the royal bedroom to observe the Queen disrobing before bed. Gyges would then leave the room while the Queen's back was turned.

That night, the plan was executed. However, the Queen saw Gyges as he left the room, and recognized immediately that she had been betrayed and shamed by her own husband. She silently swore to have her revenge, and began to arrange her own plan.

The next day, the Queen summoned Gyges to her chamber. Although Gyges thought nothing of the routine request, she confronted him immediately with her knowledge of his misdeed and her husband's. "One of you must die," she declared. "Either my husband, the author of this wicked plot; or you, who have outraged propriety by seeing me naked."

Gyges pleaded with the Queen not to force him to make this choice. She was relentless, and eventually he chose to betray the King so that he should live.

The Queen prepared for Gyges to kill Candaules by the same manner in which she was shamed. Gyges hid behind the door of the bedroom chamber with a knife provided by the Queen, and killed him in his sleep. Gyges married the Queen and became King, and father to the Mermnad Dynasty.