Myth and History
This once great capital of the Phrygian dynasty is famously connected to the story of the Gordion Knot but its history stretches much further back than that. Excavations in the surrounding area show that this region was already settled in the Early Bronze Age (2500 BC) while a cemetery discovered beneath the Phrygian necropolis suggests a subsequent Hittite presence.
The Phrygians are thought by scholars to be one of the so-called 'Sea Peoples' who overran Asia Minor in around 1200 BC in a series of invasions. Assyrian sources dating from roughly 1100 BC refer to them as the Mushki or Mosher and state that they settled on both sides of the Kızılırmak River in Anatolia, from where they began to threaten their eastern neighbours.
Phrygian finds at Gordion date from the mid-9th century BC. Greek sources have preserved the legend of the founding of the Phrygian dynasty and its capital which begins when a farmer named Gordius busy ploughing his field was startled by a flock of birds descending around his oxen. Keen to learn the meaning behind this omen he set out to consult augurs in a nearby town. Along the way he met a beautiful woman who told him the birds were a sign of his royal destiny and offered him her hand in marriage. Gordius then drove his ox-cart onward to the temple where he was immediately hailed as king by the town's people; an oracle having prophesied that the first person they saw driving thus to the temple would be their king. Gordius then set up his ox-cart in the temple, attaching the yoke to the shaft with a long and elaborately-knotted strap which would become known as the Gordion Knot. This elaborate knot had no visible end and was considered impossible to unravel. According to legend whoever succeeded would become ruler of Asia Minor.
The most famous Phrygian ruler was King Midas, the son of Gordius who, in Greek mythology, turned all he touched into gold. The Phrygian dynasty wasn't to last though. Phrygia was overrun by both Cimmerians and Scythians between 700 and 670 BC and from the rubble of the Kingdom of Phrygia emerged the Lydian Empire, under the auspices of which Phrygian culture was, for a period, preserved. In 546 BC the Persian Archaemid dynasty defeated the Lydians and built a new settlement at Gordion. An earthquake destroyed the town in about 400 BC and by the time Alexander the Great arrived here to over-winter in 334 BC Gordion was little more than a village.
Gordius' original ox-cart was still tied up on Gordion's citadel hill beside the temple when the ambitious Alexander arrived. Resolving to fulfil the Gordion Knot prophecy Alexander the Great is said to have sliced the knot in two with his sword (according to the Greek Historian Aristobulos Kassandreia, Alexander instead removed the peg holding the shaft, thus freeing the end of the knot). Whatever the case, Alexander the Great went on to conquer Asia Minor, thus the legend of the Gordion Knot prophecy became true.
By the time archaeologists led by Rodney S. Young of Pennsylvania University began excavation work here in 1953 the Sakarya River had deposited a layer of sediment several meters thick over the ruins of Gordion's lower town. By 1963 169 bronze vessels and 175 bronze fibulae (ornamental brooches) had been unearthed. There was no trace however of the legendary Phrygian treasure, presumed to have been taken by the Cimmerians.
Acropolis
In the upper town of Gordion, archaeologists have unearthed an imposing city gate from the eighth century B.C. Preserved to a height of over 9 m it is a testament to the sophistication of Phrygian stone architecture. Other finds from that era include the stone foundations of a palace complex, once supporting walls of mud brick on a timber framework. In three of the four megaron-style buildings, with a hearth, anteroom and principal hall, mosaics were found. A second gate excavated here dates from the Persian period.
Midas Tumulus
The so-called Midas Tomb was erected at the beginning of the 7th century BC at the earliest and at 53 m high and measuring 250 m in diameter it is the largest of its kind found in Anatolia.
On the southwest side a 70 m long passage leads down to the burial chamber, 39 m below the top of the mound. This chamber, concealed beneath a mass of limestone blocks, was discovered in 1957 with its original wooden beam walls and gable roof still intact. When archaeologists entered the tomb they found the intact skeleton of a man, roughly 60 years of age, his clothes fastened with well-preserved bronze fibulae (a total of 175 of these bronze objects were discovered within the burial chamber). Around the body tables were laden with rich grave gifts.
Other Tombs
Other, smaller mounds nearby contain tombs from the period 725 to 550 BC. The so-calledChild's Tomb to the southeast of the museum yielded some rather special treasures including wooden furniture, ivory reliefs and box-wood carvings.
Gordion Museum
The Gordion Museum, opposite the Midas Tomb, displays finds from the site including bronze statuary, glass jewellery and an extensive coin collection.
Location: The Gordion archaeological site is in the village of Yassıhöyük, about 100 km southwest of Ankara
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