“Son of Cambyses, the gods assuredly watch over thee, or never wouldst thou have passed through thy many wonderful adventures”
~ ‘The History’ by Herodotus (George Rawlinson translation. GB6 - p. 29)
1 - Croesus & Lydia’s Legacy
When Croesus sends messengers to the oracle of Delphi asking how their prophecies could be so wrong, they respond by saying that this was meant to happen this way. Long before, when their ancestor Gyges took over, it was prophesied that the kingdom would be taken away from his descendants after five generations. In fact, Apollo had delayed it by many years to give Croesus more time. Also, the prophesy clearly stated that a mighty empire would fall and that a mule would rule. If Croesus cared to get things clarified, he might have understood the prophecy better - that the mighty empire was Lydia and the mule was Cyrus. Croesus admits his mistake.