According to the chronicler Herodotus, around 550 BC the Lydian king Croesus (as in " as rich as") consulted the Oracle at Delphi as to whether he should invade the Persian Empire. That visionary told Croesus if he attacked Persia "a great empire" would be destroyed. Croesus, unbelievably wealthy and full of himself, took that as a go-ahead signal, attacked Persia, and in the end became the last king of Lydia.