Aug 00 - The city's entrance gate (8th cent. BC, Phrygian), Gordion

This is the monumental gateway to the 8th cent. BC acropolis at Gordion, Phrygian capital (Fridge-ee-an, home of King Midas and the Gordion knot. "A formidable structure ..., even in its current, truncated state, it's > 19 m.s high, the best preserved citadel gateway from the Iron Age in Asia Minor, and one of the largest surviving pre-classical bldg.s in Anatolia. The outer portal was flanked by twin towers [one of which is in the centre of this shot]. The foundations of what are thought to have been storage rooms stand on either side of the inner portals; the remains of pithoi [stone storage jars], were found in one." (RG)

 

- "By 1200 BC ... the Hittite domination of Anatolia was at an end. Their place was taken by the Phrygians, [invaders from SE Europe] who occupied Hattusas [at the end of the Bronze Age] and then moved their capital here. ..." (Steele and Berlitz). The archaeological record reveals a wave of destruction in a brief period from 1200-1190 BC of citadel, palace after palace, incl. those at Troy, Hattusas, Mycaenae, Cyprus, etc., and when much of the Mediterranean went up in smoke, incl. the Hittite empire. It's thought that environmental factors played a role.

- According to Homer the Phrygians participated in the Trojan war, in which they were allies with the Trojans who aided them against the 'Amazons'. But the archeological record indicates that they soon occupied both Troy and Hattusas following the fall of the Hittite empire, as well as Gordion, which had already been established but which they would develop into a great city, 4 x the size of Troy, 200 x 300 m.s, rising > 15 m.s above the plain. www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPgZhBagmbk

- "The mound of Gordion itself housed settlements over a period of @ 3,700 yr.s (from @ 2,300 B.C. to 1,200 A.D.). The period of its greatest prominence was in the Iron Age /b/ the 10th and 7th cent.s BC, when Gordion controlled much of central Anatolia as one of the great powers in the Near East.

- "Gordion is one of the most complex and extensive archaeological sites known in Anatolia, with settlement and funerary remains extending over 2 km.s and covering more than 400 ha.s. Today, Gordion appears as a cluster of impressive grassy mounds straddling the valley of the Sakarya River. ... These mounds are the visible remains of a central multi-period citadel, parts of the fortifications of the surrounding Iron Age town and associated Persian siege works, and close to 150 iron Age, Persian, and Hellenistic tumuli or elite burial mounds on the sides of the valley and along the approach roads. Not visible on the ground are the thousands of multi-period buildings and graves that lie buried by overlaying archaeological remains, by river silt, and by soil washed down from the surrounding hills. Because of this covering, many remains are exceedingly well preserved. Although considerable excavation is necessary to access lower levels, Gordion is not encumbered by the presence of a major modern settlement." (Darbyshire and Pizzorno)

- @ 100 burial mounds can be seen on the plain nearby, built for the elite over @ 175 yr.s, from the late 8th - mid 6th cent. BC and the Persian conquest. 25 have been excavated. Typically they have wooden tomb bldg.s at the core (the world's oldest intact wooden bldgs). The largest is 53 m.s high, @ 300 m.s in diameter (and that after over 2,500 yrs of erosion), the 2nd highest tumulus in the ancient world, and the highest built to that time. A 230' tunnel was dug into the mound by archaeologists from the U. of Penn. museum that led to a stone wall and rubble fill surrounding a log-cabin structure, 6 x 7 m.s, almost 4 m.s in height, and inside which the remains of a short male @ 60 yrs. old, either the late 8th cent. King Midas (grave goods date to his reign), aka 'Mita of Muski' in the annals of the Assyrian king Sargon II, or (more likely) his father Gordios who died @ 740 B.C., were found on a 'hollowed-out log coffin' in the corner surrounded by rich grave goods, inlaid wooden furniture, etc., plenty in bronze incl. incised wine bowls; but no gold was found (and this dates from the reign of Midas of 'the Midas touch' fame). @ 696 BC, Gordion was destroyed by Cimmerian tribesmen, and Midas was either killed in battle or, according to another legend (recorded by Strabo), committed suicide. [Update: In 2020, an ancient Luwian inscription from a heretofore unknown kingdom at a large tepe, Türkmen-Karahöyük, on the central plains near Konya, inhabited from 3,500-100 B.C., credits one King Hartapu with the conquest of the nearby kingdom of 'Muska' aka Phrygia.]

- Phrygian culture continued for another 100 years in the region until conquest and occupation by the Lydians in 650 BC, then by the Persians just over a century later, the Greeks, Celts, Attalids, and Romans. I've also read that "the arrival of the Galatians (Gauls) in Asia Minor in 278 BC was the final chapter in the long decline of Gordion, precipitating the flight of the city's population." (RG) Gordion was abandoned by 200 AD. But there was some construction at Gordion in the medieval, Selcuk period, and a presence there until @ 1,400 A.D.

- According to Greek legend an oracle predicted that a man in a wooden wagon would come to rule the Phrygians and end a period of strife, and Gordius or Midas obliged. The wagon was dedicated to and enshrined in a temple of Zeus or Cybele, and another oracle said that whoever could untie the knot of cornel bark that bound the pole to the yoke of the cart would become ruler of all Asia. Alexander passed through in 333 BC on his great march east and 'solved' the 400 yr old puzzle of the Gordion knot by chopping it through with his sword or by pulling out the peg that held it, thus ensuring his destiny.

 

- "The original settlement at Gordion dates to the Bronze Age and the site was certainly occupied in the Hittite period. The Phrygians probably took up residence during the mid-9th-cent. and @ 100 yr.s later the settlement became the capital of the empire founded by the Phrygian king Gordios. The history of Gordion under the Phrygians mirrors the history of the Phrygian empire itself, a brief flowering followed by destruction and protracted decline. Phrygian prosperity stemmed from the abundant natural resources of the region and the fact that their empire straddled major east-west trade routes. ..."

 

- "The palace at the heart of the acropolis consisted of 4 megara (large halls with vestibules). In the 2nd of these are the remains of red, white and blue floor mosaics forming geometrical patterns. Charred fragments of wooden furniture inlaid with ivory were found in the rubble [in that megara], suggesting that this could have been the central hall of the palace. The 4th megaron was likely a temple to Cybele. If so, than that's where Alexander the Great cut the Gordion Knot. Behind the palace are the foundations of 8 more large megara, thought to have been the quarters of palace servants." (RG)

 

- Re the most famous legends concerning King Midas of Gordion.: "A number of Phrygian kings bore the name Midas, and over the centuries a composite mythical figure emerged. The best known legend re King Midas is that of 'the Golden touch'. Midas captured the water daemon Silenus after making him drunk by pouring wine into his spring. In ransom for Silenus, Dionysus granted [Midas' wish that all he touched would turn to gold], but Midas was dismayed to find he had been taken quite literally, and his food and even his own daughter were transformed. He begged Dionysus for release from the curse and was ordered to wash his hands in the River Pactolus. The cure worked, and thereafter the river ran gold." (RG)

- "Another tale tells of how Midas was called upon to judge a musical contest /b/ Apollo and the satyr Marsyas. Midas decided in favour of Marsyas and in revenge Apollo caused him to grow ass's ears (whereas Apollo skinned Marsyas alive). To hide his new ears, Midas wore a special hat, revealing them only to his barber who was sworn to secrecy on pain of death. Desperate to tell someone the king's secret, the barber passed it on to the reeds of the river who ever after whispered "Midas has ass's ears"." (RG)

- www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxYrPc_oeTE

- www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPgZhBagmbk

 

- I hitched to Gordion from Iznik, a 290 km. trip, and headed first past the acropolis to the extensive Gordion museum, which I toured thoroughly (before it closed; the acropolis doesn't close). The most memorable exhibits were portions and sections of mosaic pavements. The largest of these was primitive, to be fair, relative to the average Roman or Byzantine floor mosaics, "a scatter of geometric patterns with no overall plan", but it's been dated to the 9th cent. B.C., and as such is the OLDEST extant floor mosaic found anywhere, as well as the oldest pebble mosaic. (The earliest mosaics found In the Aegean region date from the 5th cent. B.C., hundreds of years later). Measuring @ 10 x 11 m.s and covering the entire floor of a large megaron, the geometric pattern might depict woven textiles for which the city was famous. www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/early-mosaics-at-gordion/ (I'd seen simpler but much older wall mosaics in the Pergamon museum in Berlin from Uruk made with ceramic cones, but not floor mosaics). Some Roman-era mosaics are on display as well, and a Galatian (Celtic) tomb.

 

- I then toured the 53 m. high tumulus containing the tomb of the legendary King Midas (that I write about above) which was right across from the museum, following the 82 m.-long tunnel to the amazingly well-preserved wood-cabin-like bldg. within, an 8th cent. BC tomb built of planks of pine with an outer covering of juniper logs. I would see the wonderful contents (which I'd seen in National Geographic years earlier) in Ankara a few days later. I explored the citadel itself in the evening (when I took this) and had the whole site to myself. The 'wood-cabin'-esque bldg. is said to be the oldest wooden bldg. in the world, easily.

- It might surprise one to know that Gordion isn't a Unesco site, but it's on Turkey's lengthy tentative list for designation.

 

- A large contingent of American and Canadian archaeology students were working and living at a 'field school' there, a seasonal dig (led by both the U. of Pennsylvania Museum and the ROM here in Toronto), and in speaking to some of them or to someone (I forget who or how) I was invited to a feast! The students, their mentors, the excavation support staff et al. ate well every day at Gordion, I learned, in a large mess hall. After supper, I returned to the citadel site at dusk (when I took this shot) to explore it on my own as well as I could. I slept that night somewhere near the citadel in my tent, with permission, but vaguely recall that I didn't get as much sleep as I would've liked as at least one loud, obstreperous dog (a kangal?) was barking and howling away near my tent, perturbed by my presence. (At least I think it was at Gordion where I had that experience).

 

- I met and spoke at length with a most knowledgeable young Scots archeologist named Gareth, who must've been Gareth Darbyshire of the Oriental Institute in Oxford, "Gordion Archivist at the Penn museum", and co-author of this article.: www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/gordion-in-history/ I don't recall how the topic of the Celts came up in our discussion (again, Gareth IS Scottish), but the remains of Central-European Celts, who arrived by invitation as mercenaries before settling there, have been found at 'Galatian Gordion'. At one point in our discussion, Gareth advised in a very matter-of-fact manner that the alleged Celtic migration to the British Isles in the 1st mill. BC is a complete myth, with no evidence to support it. (That was the first time I'd been told that, and about time too.) That myth was propagated by a French historian and theorist in the 19th cent., he said, on the basis of the transfer of technology (the production of Iron weapons and tools) and art-styles from the continent to Britain and Ireland in that period. Since then I've used the analogy of the 'T.V. people' to explain this. ("Thousands of years in the future, archaeologists could claim that '[they] know the T.V. people migrated and spread @ much of the world in the 1950s and 60s as their T.V.s appear in the archaeological record at that time here, and here, and then here. They were preceded by the radio people.'") But today, decades later, most people still believe in this myth. I'm surprised how many history buffs get it wrong in their videos on youtube.: (Watch at the 1:07 min. pt. in this one.: www.youtube.com/watch?v=43v28TU0hiM It's fascinating though and a bit ironic that very recent DNA research has revealed the arrival and the population replacement in England of Neolithic farmers [at least the men, up to 90%!! over only a few centuries] by the 'Bell Beaker' people 1,500-2,000 yr.s earlier in @ 2,400 B.C., pastoralists who descended several millenia earlier from the Indo-European Yamnaya of the steppe north of the Black Sea, and who were taller, better built, and, importantly, brought their metallurgy and iron weapons and swords with them, as well as the horse. But I ask how they many managed to traverse the English channel in such numbers. - ?) I wish I could remember more of what Gareth had to say. He was encyclopedic.

 

- Galatians, or 'Celts', arrived at Gordion as mercenary soldiers, bringing their wives and children with them. Groups of mercenaries, invited to support one side or another in local squabbles, have taken over large chunks of the civilized world throughout history. Examples include the Mexica, ancestors of the Aztecs, in central Mexico; the Anglo-Saxons in SE Britain; the Magyars in latter day Hungary (or so I've read); and the Norman-Welsh and Norman-English in SE Ireland. In Gordion, these Galatians "put down deep roots, revived Gordion and created an ambitious, thriving society." www.nytimes.com/2001/12/25/science/archaeologists-find-ce...

 

- The next morning I enjoyed a breakfast with the American/Canadian archaeology students in their mess hall, and then hitched down through Beylikköprü to the E90, east to Polatli and then NE to Ankara.

- One miss en route 15 km NE of Polatli is 'Hacıtuğrul Höyüğü', the remains of an ancient Phrygian city which exceeded Gordion in size (!) with monumental fortifications and other bldg.s.

Done