In the later part of his story Herodotus is dependent on the family traditions of Harpagus, whose treason is justified by the cruelty with which Astyages had treated him (the story of Atreus and Thyestes is transferred to them).
Harpagus afterwards stood in high favour with Cyrus, and commanded the army which subdued the coasts of Asia Minor; his family seems to have been settled in Lycia.
During the next years the Persian army under Harpagus suppressed a rebellion of the Lydians under Pactyas, and subjugated the Ionian cities, the Carians and the Lycians (when the town Xanthus resisted to the utmost).
In Lycia, which in spite of " the son of Harpagus " and King Pericles, had never been brought under one man's rule, the Greek influence is more limited.
The Lydians failed to subdue Lycia, but after the fall of the Lydian empire it was conquered by Harpagus the general of Cyrus, Xanthus or Arnna, the capital, being completely destroyed.