Aryenis was, according to Herodotus, the daughter of King Alyattes of Lydia and the sister of King Croesus of Lydia.

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-, which meant "free", that is a free person, as opposed to an enslaved or unfree person.

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

Sources