Cyrus the Great

Skeletal remains of two soldiers and weapons uncovered during excavations in Sardis, an ancient Lydian city in the western province of Manisa, shed light on a dramatic sixth-century battle that paved the way for a Persian invasion.

The distance between Athens and Tokyo is more than 9,500 kilometers; that between Greece and Japan in terms of technological development may well be even greater, with the Asian country having enjoyed a clear lead for decades.

What did Napoleon say? "Money… money... money..." 

Who invented money to become the world's richest person? Wasn't it the Lydian King Croesus, who printed money containing electrum in Sardis, present-day Salihli, Manisa, in the seventh-century B.C.?

Lydian electrum coin

When you've been conducting archaeological excavations since 1854 and you've only revealed 3 percent of what is believed to lie beneath, either your priorities are elsewhere or your quarry is really quite large.

Greece is in debt. It owes over 323 billion and counting! And as International Monetary Fund (IMF) Chief Christine Lagarde so rightly coined it… “a debt is a debt”. Of course, were it not for the ancient Greeks there may not have been anything to create debt with in the first place.

MATH

The number of tourists visiting the ancient city of Sardis in ?zmir's Salihli district has increased three fold over the last five years, thanks to promotional work. The ancient city was the capital of Lydia, the civilization that invented money.