Destroy a kingdom

In the time of Socrates, the Delphic Oracle was considered the centric of the Earth. Greeks would travel to the Oracle to ask questions of the gods and receive a reply, which unfortunately took the form of an amphiboly (a statement whose meaning is indeterminate in a peculiar way). Thus, in 559 BC, the fabulously wealthy King Croesus of Lydia asked the Oracle whether he should wage war against Persia and was told that if he did so, he would destroy a great kingdom. Taking this as a yes, King Croesus attacked the Persians under Cyrus the Great, but lost the war and destroyed his own kingdom.

~ Alexander Rose (Financial Post, 1999)