Apameia in Phrygia Ancient Greek Coin Artemis Diana Cult Satyr Marsyas i49505

Item: i49505

Authentic Ancient Coin of:

Greek city of

Bronze 14mm (3.85 grams) Struck 133-48 B.C.

Reference: Sear 5122 var. (different magistrate); B.M.C. 25.85,91-3 
var. (different magistrate)

Turreted bust of Artemis right, bow and quiver at 

shoulder.

Naked Marsyas advancing right, playing double flute, 

Maeander pattern beneath; to right,
AΠΑΜΕ; to left, 
magistrate’s name.

Founded by Antiochus I, and named 

after the king’s mother, Apama, Apameia was situated 

near the sources of the great river Maeander and was an 

important road junction for routes in all directions. It 

grew to become one of the great cities of Asia Minor, 

and participated in the silver cistophoric coinage under 

the later Pergamene kings and, after 133 B.C., under the 

Romans.

 You 

Authenticity.  

Artemis
was one of 
the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. 
Some scholars believe that the name, and indeed the 
goddess herself, was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers 
to her as Artemis Agrotera,
Potnia Theron
< 
Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals”. In the 
classical period of
Greek mythology
, 
Artemis (Greek: 
(nominative)
Ἄρτεμις, (genitive)
Ἀρτέμιδος) was 
often 
described as the daughter of
Zeus
and
Leto
, and the twin 
sister of
Apollo
. She was the 
Hellenic goddess of the hunt, wild animals, wilderness, 
childbirth, virginity and young girls, bringing and 
relieving disease in women; she often was depicted as a 
huntress carrying a bow and arrows. The
deer
and the
cypress
were sacred to 
her. In later Hellenistic times, she even assumed the 
ancient role of
Eileithyia
in aiding 
childbirth.

Artemis later became identified with
Selene
, a
Titaness
who was a 
Greek moon goddess, sometimes depicted with a crescent 
moon above her head. She was also identified with the 
Roman goddess
Diana
, with the
Etruscan
goddess
Artume
, and with the 
Greek or
Carian
goddess
Hecate
.

In
Greek mythology
, a
satyr 
is one of a troop of
ithyphallic
male 
companions of
Dionysus
with
horse
-like (equine) 
features, including a horse-tail, horse-like ears, and 
sometimes a horse-like phallus. Early artistic 
representations sometimes include horse-like legs, but 
in 6th-century BC
black-figure pottery
 
human legs are the most common. In Roman Mythology there 
is a concept similar to satyrs with goat-like features, 
the
faun
being half-man, 
half-goat. Greek-speaking Romans often used the Greek 
term saturos when referring to the Latin
faunus, and eventually syncretized the two. The 
female “Satyresses” 
were a late invention of poets — that roamed the woods 
and mountains. In myths they are often associated with 
pipe-playing.

The satyr’s chief was
Silenus
, a minor deity 
associated (like
Hermes
and
Priapus
) with 
fertility. These characters can be found in the only 
complete remaining
satyr play
, Cyclops, 
by
Euripides
, and the 
fragments of
Sophocles
‘
Ichneutae
(Tracking 
Satyrs). The satyr play was a short, lighthearted 
tailpiece performed after each trilogy of tragedies in 
Athenian
festivals honoring Dionysus
. 
There is not enough evidence to determine whether the 
satyr play regularly drew on the same myths as those 
dramatized in the tragedies that preceded. The 
groundbreaking tragic playwright
Aeschylus
is said to 
have been especially loved for his satyr plays, but none 
of them have survived.

Attic painted vases
 
depict mature satyrs as being strongly built with flat 
noses, large pointed ears, long curly hair, and full
beards
, with
wreaths
of vine or ivy 
circling their balding heads. Satyrs often carry the
thyrsus
: the rod of
Dionysus
tipped with a 
pine cone.

Satyrs acquired their
goat
-like aspect 
through later Roman conflation with
Faunus
, a carefree
Italic
nature spirit of 
similar characteristics and identified with the Greek 
god
Pan
. Hence satyrs are 
most commonly described in Latin literature as having 
the upper half of a man and the lower half of a goat, 
with a goat’s tail in place of the Greek tradition of 
horse-tailed satyrs; therefore, satyrs became nearly 
identical with
fauns
. Mature satyrs 
are often depicted in Roman art with goat’s
horns
, while juveniles 
are often shown with bony nubs on their foreheads.

About Satyrs, Praxiteles gives a new interpretation 
on the subject of free and carefree life. Instead of an 
elf with pointed ears and repulsive goat hooves, we face 
a child of nature, pure, but tame and fearless and 
brutal instincts necessary to enable it to defend itself 
against threats, and survives even without the help of 
modern civilization. Above all, the Satyr with flute has 
a small companion for him, shows the deep connection 
with nature, the soft whistle of the wind, the sound of 
gurgling water of the crystal spring, the birds singing, 
or perhaps the singing a melody of a human soul that 
feeds higher feelings.

As Dionysiac creatures they are lovers of wine and 
women, and they are ready for every physical pleasure. 
They roam to the music of pipes (auloi),
cymbals
,
castanets
, and
bagpipes
, and they love 
to chase
maenads
or bacchants 
(with whom they are obsessed, and whom they often 
pursue), or in later art, dance with the
nymphs
, and have a 
special form of dance called
sikinnis
. Because of 
their love of wine, they are often represented holding 
wine cups, and they appear often in the decorations on 
wine cups.

In
Greek mythology
, the
satyr

Marsyas  is a central figure in two 
stories involving music: in one, he picked up the double flute (aulos) 
that had been abandoned by
Athena
and played it; in the other, he 
challenged Apollo
to a contest of music and lost his hide 
and life. In
Antiquity
, literary sources often emphasise the
hubris
of Marsyas and the justice of his 
punishment.

In one strand of modern comparative
mythography
, the domination of Marsyas by 
Apollo is regarded as an example of myth that recapitulates a supposed 
supplanting by the
Olympian pantheon
of an earlier
“Pelasgian”
religion of
chthonic

heroic
ancestors and
nature spirits
. Marsyas was a devoté of the 
ancient
Mother Goddess

Rhea
/Cybele, 
and his episodes are situated by the mythographers in
Celaenae
(or Kelainai) in
Phrygia
(today, the town of
Dinar
in
Turkey
), at the main source of the
Meander
(the river
Menderes
).

When a genealogy was applied to him, Marsyas was the son of
Olympus
(son of
Heracles
and
Euboea
, daughter of
Thespius
), or of
Oeagrus
, or of Hyagnis. Olympus was, 
alternatively, said to be Marsyas’ son or pupil.

Among the Romans, Marsyas was cast as the inventor of
augury
and a proponent of free speech (the 
philosophical concept παρρησία, “parrhesia“) 
and “speaking truth to power.” The earliest known representation of Marsyas at 
Rome stood for at least 300 years in the
Roman Forum
near or in the
comitium
, the space for political activity. He 
was depicted as a silen
, carrying a
wineskin
on his left shoulder and raising his 
right arm. The statue was regarded as an indicium libertatis, a symbol of 
liberty, and was associated with demonstrations of the
plebs
, or common people. It often served as 
a sort of kiosk
upon which invective verse was posted.

Marsyas served as a minister for Dionysus or Bacchus, who was
identified by the Romans with
their
Father Liber
, one of three deities in the
Aventine Triad
, along with
Ceres
and Libera (identified with
Persephone
). These gods were regarded as 
concerning themselves specially with the welfare of the plebs. The 
freedom that the
ecstasies
of
Dionysian worship
represented took on a 
political meaning in Rome as the

libertas that distinguished the free from 
the enslaved. The
Liberalia
, celebrated March 17 in honor of 
Liber, was a time of speaking freely, as the poet and playwright
Gnaeus Naevius
declared: “At the Liberalia 
games we enjoy free speech.” Naevius, however, was arrested for his
invectives
against the powerful.

Marsyas was sometimes considered a king and contemporary of
Faunus
, portrayed by
Vergil
as a native Italian ruler at the time of
Aeneas
.
Servius
, in his
commentary
on the
Aeneid
, says that Marsyas sent Faunus 
envoys who showed techniques of augury to the Italians. The plebeian

gens of the
Marcii
claimed that they were descended from 
Marsyas.
Gaius Marcius Rutilus
, who rose to power from 
the plebs
, is credited with having dedicated 
the statue that stood in the Roman forum, most likely in 294 BC, when he became 
the first plebeian
censor
and added the
cognomen

Censorinus to the family name
. Marcius Rutilus 
was also among the first plebeian augurs,
co-opted
into their
college
in 300, and so the mythical teacher of 
augury was an apt figure to represent him.

In 213 BC, two years after suffering one of the worst military defeats in its 
history at the
Battle of Cannae
, Rome was in the grip of a 
reactionary fear that led to excessive
religiosity
. The
senate
, alarmed that its authority was being 
undermined by “prophets and sacrificers” in the forum, began a program of 
suppression. Among the literature confiscated was an “authentic” prophecy 
calling for the institution of
games in the Greek manner for Apollo
, which the
senate
and
elected officials
would control. The prophecy 
was attributed to Gnaeus Marcius, reputed to be a descendant of Marsyas. The 
games were duly carried out, but the Romans failed to bring the continuing
wars with the Carthaginians
to a victorious 
conclusion until they heeded a second prophecy and imported the worship of the 
Phrygian Great Mother
, whose song Marsyas was said to 
have composed; the song had further relevance in that it was also credited by 
the Phrygians with protecting them from invaders. The power relations between 
Marsyas and Apollo reflected the continuing
Struggle of the Orders
between the elite and 
the common people, expressed in political terms by
optimates
and
populares
. The arrest of Naevius for 
exercising free speech also took place during this period.

Another descendant of Marcius Rutilus,
L. Marcius Censorinus
, issued coins depicting 
the statue of Marsyas, at a time when the
augural college
was the subject of political 
controversy during the
Sullan civil wars of the 80s BC
^[32] 
On the coin, Marsyas wears a
Phrygian cap
or

pilleus, an emblem of liberty. This Marcius 
Censorinus was killed by
Sulla
and his head displayed outside
Praeneste
. Sulla’s legislative program 
attempted to curtail power invested in the people, particularly restricting the 
powers of the plebeian tribunes
, and to restore the dominance 
of the senate and the privileges of
patricians
.

Marsyas was also claimed as the
eponym
of the
Marsi
, one of the ancient peoples of Italy. The
Social War of 91–88 BC
, in which the
Italian peoples
fought to advance their status 
as citizens under Roman rule, is sometimes called the Marsic War from the 
leadership of the Marsi. The Roman
coloniae

Paestum
and
Alba Fucens
, along with other Italian cities, 
set up their own statues of Marsyas as assertions of their political status.

During the
Principate
, Marsyas became a subversive symbol 
in opposition to
Augustus
, whose propaganda systematically 
associated him with the silens’ torturer Apollo. Augustus’s daughter
Julia
held nocturnal assemblies at the statue, 
and crowned it to defy her father. The poet

Ovid, who was ultimately exiled by Augustus, twice tells the story of 
Marsyas’s flaying by Apollo, in his epic
Metamorphoses
and in the
Fasti
, the calendrical poem left unfinished 
at his death. Although the immediate cause of Ovid’s exile remains one of 
literary history’s great mysteries, Ovid himself says that a “poem and 
transgression” were contributing factors; his poetry tests the boundaries of 
permissible free speech during Rome’s transition from
republic
to
imperial monarchy
.

Pliny
indicates that in the 1st century AD, the 
painting Marsyas religatus (“Marsyas Bound”), by
Zeuxis of Heraclea
, could be viewed at the
Temple of Concordia
in Rome. The goddess
Concordia
, like the Greek
Harmonia
, was a
personification
of both
musical harmony as it was understood in antiquity
, 
and of social order
, as expressed by
Cicero
‘s phrase concordia ordinum. The 
apparent incongruity of exhibiting the tortured silen in a temple devoted to 
harmony has been interpreted in modern scholarship as a warning against 
criticizing authority.

Apamea or Apameia  – 

previously, Kibotos , hê 

Kibôtos or Cibotus – was an ancient city in

Phrygia

,

Anatolia

, founded by

Antiochus I Soter

(from whose mother, Apama, it 

received its name), near, but on lower ground than,

Celaenae

(Kelainai).

//

 Geography

It overlooks the

Ghab

valley and the site is now partly occupied by 

the city of

(sometimes locally known also as

Geyikler, “the gazelles,” perhaps from a tradition 

of the Persian hunting-park, seen by

Xenophon

at Celaenae), which by 1911 was connected 

with

İzmir

by railway; there are considerable remains, 

including a theater and a great number of important

Graeco-Roman

inscriptions.

Strabo

(p. 577) says, that the town lies at the 

source (ekbolais) of the

Marsyas

, and the river flows through the middle of 

the city, having its origin in the city, and being 

carried down to the suburbs with a violent and 

precipitous current it joins the

Maeander

after the latter is joined by the

Orgas

(called the Catarrhactes by

Herodotus

, vii. 26).

 History

The original inhabitants were residents of Celaenae 

who were compelled by Antiochus I Soter to move farther 

down the river, where they founded the city of Apamea (Strabo, 

xii. 577).

Antiochus the Great

transplanted many

Jews

there. (Josephus, Ant. xii. 3, § 4). It 

became a seat of

Seleucid

power, and a center of Graeco-Roman and

Graeco-Hebrew

civilization and commerce. There

Antiochus the Great

collected the army with which he 

met the

Romans

at

Magnesia

, and two years later the

Treaty of Apamea

between Rome and the Seleucid realm 

was signed there. After Antiochus’ departure for the 

East, Apamea lapsed to the

Pergamene

kingdom and thence to Rome in 133 BCE, but 

it was resold to

Mithridates V of Pontus

, who held it till 120 BCE. 

After the

Mithridatic Wars

it became and remained a great 

center for trade, largely carried on by resident

Italians

and by Jews. By order of Flaccus, a large 

amount of Jewish money – nearly 45

kilograms

of gold – intended for the Temple in 

Jerusalem was confiscated in Apamea in the year 62 BCE (Cicero,

Pro Flacco, ch. xxviii.). In 84 BCE

Sulla

made it the seat of a

, and it long claimed primacy among 

Phrygian cities. When Strabo wrote, Apamea was a place 

of great trade in the Roman

province of Asia

, next in importance to

Ephesus

. Its commerce was owing to its position on 

the great road to

Cappadocia

, and it was also the center of other 

roads. When Cicero was

proconsul

of

Cilicia

, 51 BCE, Apamea was within his jurisdiction 

(ad Fam. xiii. 67), but the dioecesis, or 

conventus, of Apamea was afterwards attached to Asia.

Pliny the Elder

enumerates six towns which belonged 

to the conventus of Apamea, and he observes that there 

were nine others of little note. The city minted its own 

coins in antiquity. The name Cibotus appears on some 

coins of Apamea, and it has been conjectured that it was 

so called from the wealth that was collected in this 

great emporium; for kibôtos in Greek is a chest or 

coffer. Pliny (v. 29) says that it was first Celaenae, 

then Cibotus, and then Apamea; which cannot be quite 

correct, because Celaenae was a different place from 

Apamea, though near it. But there may have been a place 

on the site of Apamea, which was called Cibotus.

The country about Apamea has been shaken by 

earthquakes, one of which is recorded as having happened 

in the time of

Claudius

(Tacit.

Ann. xii. 58); and on this occasion the payment 

of taxes to the Romans was remitted for five years.

Nicolaus of Damascus

(Athen. p. 332) records 

a violent earthquake at Apamea at a previous date, 

during the

Mithridatic Wars

: lakes appeared where none were 

before, and rivers and springs; and many which existed 

before disappeared. Strabo (p. 579) speaks of this great 

catastrophe, and of other convulsions at an earlier 

period.

Apamea continued to be a prosperous town under the

Roman Empire

. Its decline dates from the local 

disorganization of the empire in the

3rd century

; and though a

bishopric

, it was not an important military or 

commercial center in

Byzantine

times. The

Turks

took it first in 1070, and from the 13th 

century onwards it was always in

Muslim

hands. For a long period it was one of the 

greatest cities of

Asia Minor

, commanding the Maeander road; but when 

the trade routes were diverted to

Constantinople

it rapidly declined, and its ruin was 

completed by an earthquake.

 Apamea 

in Jewish tradition

Apamea is mentioned in the

Talmud

. The passages relating to witchcraft in 

Apamea (Ber. 62a) and to a dream in Apamea (Niddah, 30b) 

probably refer to the Apamea in Phrygia which was looked 

upon as a fabulously distant habitation. Similarly the 

much-discussed passage, Yeb. 115b, which treats of the 

journey of the exilarch Isaac, should also be 

interpreted to mean a journey from

Corduene

to Apamea in Phrygia; for if

Apamea in Mesene

were meant (Brüll’s Jahrb. 

x. 145) it is quite impossible that the

Babylonians

should have had any difficulty in 

identifying the body of such a distinguished personage.

 Christian 

Apamea

Apamea is enumerated by

Hierocles

among the

episcopal cities

of

Pisidia

, to which division it had been transferred. 

The bishops of Apamea sat in the

Council of Nicaea

(325). Arundell contends that 

Apamea, at an early period in the history of

Christianity

, had a church, and he confirms this 

opinion by the fact of there being the ruins of a 

Christian church there. It is probable enough that 

Christianity was early established here, and even that

Saint Paul

visited the place, for he went throughout 

Phrygia. But the mere circumstance of the remains of a 

church at Apamea proves nothing as to the time when 

Christianity was established there.

In antiquity, Phrygia (
Greek
:
Φρυγία,
Ancient Greek: [pʰryɡía])
Turkish
:
Frigya) was 
a kingdom in the west central part of
Anatolia
, in what is 
now modern-day
Turkey
, centered around 
the
Sakarya River
.

The
Phrygians
are most 
famous for their legendary kings of the
heroic age
of
Greek mythology
:
Gordias
whose
Gordian Knot
would 
later be untied by
Alexander the Great
,
Midas
who turned 
whatever he touched to gold, and
Mygdon
who warred with 
the
Amazons
. According to
Homer
‘s
Iliad
, the Phrygians 
were close allies of the
Trojans
and 
participants in the
Trojan War
against the
Achaeans
. Phrygian 
power reached its peak in the late 8th century BC under 
another, historical
King Midas
, who 
dominated most of western and central Anatolia and 
rivaled
Assyria
and
Urartu
for power in 
eastern Anatolia. This later
Midas
was however also 
the last independent king of Phrygia before its capital
Gordium
was sacked by
Cimmerians
around 695 
BC. Phrygia then became subject to
Lydia
, and then 
successively to
Persia
,
Alexander
and his
Hellenistic
successors,
Pergamon
,
Rome
and
Byzantium
. Phrygians 
were gradually assimilated into other cultures by the 
early medieval era, and the name Phrygia passed out of 
usage as a territorial designation after the
Turkish
conquest of 
Anatolia.

Origins

Inscriptions found at
Gordium
make clear that 
Phrygians spoke an
Indo-European
language 
with at least some vocabulary similar to
Greek
, and clearly not 
belonging to the family of
Anatolian languages
 
spoken by most of Phrygia’s neighbors.
According to one of the so-called
Homeric Hymns
, the
Phrygian language
was 
not mutually intelligible with Trojan.

According to ancient tradition among Greek 
historians, the Phrygians anciently migrated to
Anatolia
from the
Balkans
.
Herodotus
says the 
Phrygians were called
Bryges
when they lived 
in Europe. He and other Greek writers also recorded 
legends about King
Midas
that associated 
him with or put his origin in
Macedonia
;
Herodotus
for example 
says a wild rose garden in Macedonia was named after
Midas
. The Phrygians 
were also connected by some classical writers to the
Mygdones
, the name of 
two groups of people, one of which lived in northern 
Macedonia and another in
Mysia
. Likewise the
Phrygians
have been 
identified with the
Bebryces
, a people said 
to have warred with
Mysia
before the
Trojan War
and who had 
a king named
Mygdon
at roughly the 
same time as the Phrygians were said to have had a king 
named Mygdon. The classical historian
Strabo
groups 
Phrygians,
Mygdones
,
Mysians
,
Bebryces
and
Bithynians
together as 
peoples that migrated to Anatolia from the
Balkans
. This image of 
Phrygians as part of a related group of northwest 
Anatolian cultures seems the most likely explanation for 
the confusion over whether
Phrygians
,
Bebryces
and Anatolian
Mygdones
were or were 
not the same people.

The apparent similarity of the
Phrygian language
to 
Greek and its dissimilarity with the
Anatolian languages
 
spoken by most of their neighbors is also taken as 
support for a European origin of the Phrygians.

However, most scholars reject such a recent Phrygian 
migration and accept as factual the
Iliad
‘s account that 
the Phrygians were established on the
Sakarya River
before 
the
Trojan War
, and thus 
must have been there during the later stages of the
Hittite Empire
, and 
likely earlier. These scholars seek instead to trace the 
Phrygians’ origins among the many nations of western 
Anatolia who were subject to the
Hittites
. This 
interpretation also gets support from Greek legends 
about the founding of Phrygia’s main city
Gordium
by
Gordias
and of
Ancyra
by
Midas
, which suggest 
that Gordium and Ancyra were believed to be date from 
the distant past before the
Trojan War
. Some 
scholars dismiss the claim of a Phrygian migration as a 
mere legend, likely arising from the coincidental 
similarity of their name to the
Bryges
.

No one has conclusively identified which of the many 
subjects of the
Hittites
might have 
represented early Phrygians. According to a classical 
tradition, popularized by the Jewish-Roman historian
Flavius Josephus
, the 
Phrygians can be equated with the country called
Togarmah
by the ancient 
Hebrews, which has in turn been identified as the 
Tegarama of Hittite texts and Til-Garimmu of Assyrian 
records.
Josephus
called
Togarmah
“the 
Thrugrammeans, who, as the Greeks resolved, were named 
Phrygians”. However, the Greek source cited by
Josephus
is unknown, 
and it is unclear if there was any basis for the 
identification other than name similarity. Scholars of 
the
Hittites
believe 
Tegarama was in eastern Anatolia – some locate it at
Gurun
– far to the east 
of Phrygia. Some scholars have identified Phrygia with 
the
Assuwa
league, and 
noted that the
Iliad
mentions a 
Phrygian (Queen
Hecuba
‘s brother) named
Asios
. Another possible 
early name of Phrygia could be Hapalla, the name of the 
easternmost province that emerged from the splintering 
of the Bronze Age western Anatolian empire
Arzawa
. However, 
scholars are unsure if Hapalla corresponds to Phrygia or 
to
Pisidia
, further south.

A further claim made by
Herodotus
is that 
Phrygian colonists founded the
Armenian
nation. This 
is likely a reference to a third group of people called
Mygdones
living in 
northern
Mesopotamia
who were 
apparently allied to the Armenians;
Xenophon
describes them 
in his
Anabasis
in a joint 
army with the
Armenians
. However, 
little is known about these eastern
Mygdones
and no 
evidence of
Phrygian language
in 
that region has been found.

History

Around the time of the Trojan war

The
Iliad
describes the 
homeland of the Phrygians on the
Sangarius River
, which 
would remain the center of Phrygia throughout its 
history. According to the
Iliad
, Phrygia was 
famous for its wine and had “brave and expert” horsemen.

According to the
Iliad
, before the
Trojan War
, a young 
king
Priam
of
Troy
had taken an army 
to Phrygia to support it in a war against the
Amazons
. Homer calls 
the Phrygians “the people of
Otreus
and godlike
Mygdon
.^[12] 
According to
Euripides
,
Quintus Smyrnaeus
and 
others, this Mygdon’s son,
Coroebus
, fought and 
died in the
Trojan War
; he had sued 
for the hand of the Trojan princess
Cassandra
in marriage.

According to the
Bibliotheca
, the 
Greek hero
Heracles
slew a king 
Mygdon of the
Bebryces
in a battle in 
northwest Anatolia that if historical would have taken 
place about a generation before the
Trojan War
. According 
to the story, while traveling from
Minoa
to the
Amazons
, Heracles 
stopped in
Mysia
and supported the
Mysians
in a battle 
with the
Bebryces
. According to 
most interpretations,
Bebryces
is an 
alternate name for Phrygians and this Mygdon is the same 
person mentioned in the
Iliad
.

King
Priam
married a 
Phrygian princess,
Hecuba
, and maintained 
a close alliance with the Phrygians, who repaid him by 
fighting “ardently” in the
Trojan War
against the 
Greeks.

There are indications in the Iliad that the heart of 
the Phrygian country was further north and downriver 
than it would be in later history. The Phrygian 
contingent arrives to aid
Troy
coming from
Lake Ascania
in 
northwest Anatolia, and is led by
Phorcys
and
Ascanius
, an apparent 
eponym. The
Iliad
calls the 
Phrygians “the people of
Otreus
and godlike 
Mygdon”: the name Otreus could be an eponym for
Otrea
, a place on the 
Ascanian Lake in the vicinity of the later
Nicaea
, and the name 
Mygdon is clearly an eponym for the
Mygdones
, a people said 
by
Strabo
to live in 
northwest Asia Minor, and who appear to have sometimes 
been considered distinct from the
Phrygians
.^[15] 
However,
Pausanias
believed that 
Mygdon’s tomb was located at
Stectorium
in the 
southern Phrygian highlands, near modern
Sandikli
.

In one of the so-called
Homeric Hymns
, Phrygia 
is said to be “rich in fortresses” and ruled by “famous
Otreus
“.

Peak and destruction of the Phrygian kingdom

Detail from a reconstruction of a Phrygian 
building at Pararli, Turkey, 7th–6th 
Centuries BC; Museum of Anatolian 
Civilizations,
Ankara
. A 
griffin, sphinx and two centaurs are shown.

During the 8th century BC the Phrygian kingdom with 
its capital at
Gordium
in the upper
Sakarya River
valley 
expanded into an empire dominating most of central and 
western Anatolia and encroaching upon the larger
Assyrian Empire
to its 
southeast and the kingdom of
Urartu
to the 
northeast.

According to the classical historians
Strabo
,^[18]
Eusebius
and
Julius Africanus
, the 
king of Phrygia during this time was another
Midas
. This historical
Midas
is believed to be 
the same person named as Mita in Assyrian texts from the 
period and identified as king of the
Mushki
. Scholars figure 
that Assyrians called Phrygians “Mushki” because the 
Phrygians and
Mushki
, an eastern 
Anatolian people, were at that time campaigning in a 
joint army.^[19] 
This Midas is thought to have reigned Phrygia at the 
peak of its power from about 720 BC to about 695 BC 
(according to
Eusebius
) or 676 BC 
(according to
Julius Africanus
). An 
Assyrian inscription mentioning “Mita”, dated to 709 BC, 
during the reign of
Sargon of Assyria
, 
suggests Phrygia and
Assyria
had struck a 
truce by that time. This
Midas
appears to have 
had good relations and close trade ties with the Greeks, 
and reputedly married an Aeolian Greek princess.

A system of writing in the
Phrygian language
 
developed and flourished in Gordium during this period, 
using a Phoenician-derived alphabet similar to the Greek 
one. A distinctive Phrygian pottery called Polished Ware 
appears during this period.

However, the Phrygian Kingdom was then overwhelmed by
Cimmerian
invaders, and
Gordium
was sacked and 
destroyed. According to Strabo and others,
Midas
committed suicide 
by drinking bulls’ blood.

Tomb at
Midas
City 
(6th century BC), near
Eskişehir

A series of digs have opened
Gordium
as one of 
Turkey’s most revealing archeological sites. Excavations 
confirm a violent destruction of
Gordium
around 675 BC. 
A tomb from the period, popularly identified as the 
“Tomb of Midas,” revealed a wooden structure deeply 
buried under a vast tumulus, containing grave goods, a 
coffin, furniture, and food offerings (Archaeological 
Museum, Ankara).

As a Lydian province

After their destruction of
Gordium
, the Cimmerians 
remained in western Anatolia and warred with
Lydia
, which eventually 
expelled them by around 620 BC, and then expanded to 
incorporate Phrygia, which became the Lydian empire’s 
eastern frontier. The
Gordium
site reveals a 
considerable building program during the 6th century BC, 
under the domination of Lydian kings including the 
proverbially rich King
Croesus
. Meanwhile, 
Phrygia’s former eastern subjects fell to
Assyria
and later to 
the
Medes
.

There may be an echo of strife with Lydia and perhaps 
a veiled reference to royal hostages, in the legend of 
the twice-unlucky Phrygian prince
Adrastus
, who 
accidentally killed his brother and exiled himself to
Lydia
, where King
Croesus
welcomed him. 
Once again,
Adrastus
accidentally 
killed
Croesus
‘ son and then 
committed suicide.

As 
a Persian province

Some time in the 540s BC, Phrygia passed to the
Persian Empire
when
Cyrus
conquered
Lydia
. After Darius 
became Persian Emperor in 521 BC, he remade the ancient 
trade route into the Persian “Royal Road” and instituted 
administrative reforms that included setting up 
satrapies. The Phrygian satrapy lay west of the
Halys River
(now
Kızıl River
) and east 
of
Mysia
and
Lydia
. Its capital was 
established at
Dascylium
, modern
Ergili
.

Under Alexander and his successors

Alexander the Great
 
passed through
Gordium
in 333 BC, 
famously severing the
Gordian Knot
in the 
temple of Sabazios (“Zeus“). 
According to a legend, possibly promulgated by 
Alexander’s publicists, whoever untied the knot would be 
master of Asia. With
Gordium
sited on the
Persian Royal Road
that 
led through the heart of Anatolia, the prophecy had some 
geographical plausibility. With Alexander, Phrygia 
became part of the wider
Hellenistic
world.

In the chaotic period after Alexander’s death, 
northern Phrygia was overrun by
Celts
, eventually to 
become the province of
Galatia
. The former 
capital of
Gordium
was captured 
and destroyed by the Gauls soon afterwards and 
disappeared from history. In 188 BC, the southern 
remnant of Phrygia came under the control of the
Attalids
of
Pergamon
. However, 
Phrygian language survived, now written in the
Greek alphabet
.

Under Rome and Byzantium

The two Phrygian provinces within the 
Diocese of Asia, c. 400 AD

In 133 BC, the remnants of Phrygia passed to
Rome
. For purposes of 
provincial administration the Romans maintained a 
divided Phrygia, attaching the northeastern part to the 
province of
Galatia
and the western 
portion to the province of
Asia
. During the 
reforms of
Diocletian
, Phrygia was 
divided anew into two provinces: “Phrygia I” or Phrygia 
Salutaris, and Phrygia II or Pacatiana, both under the
Diocese of Asia
. 
Salutaris with
Synnada
as its capital 
comprised the eastern portion of the region and 
Pacatiana with
Laodicea on the Lycus
 
as capital the western portion. The provinces survived 
up to the end of the 7th century, when they were 
replaced by the
Theme system
. In the
Byzantine
period, most 
of Phrygia belonged to the
Anatolic theme
. It was 
overrun by the Turks in the aftermath of the
Battle of Manzikert
 
(1071). The Byzantines were finally evicted from there 
in the 13th century, but the name of Phrygia 
remained in use until the collapse of the Byzantine 
Empire in 1453. The last mentions of the Phrygian 
language date to the 5th century and it was likely 
extinct by the 7th century.

Culture

The Phrygian
goddess

Cybele
with 
her attributes

It was the “Great Mother”,
Cybele
, as the Greeks 
and Romans knew her, who was originally worshiped in the
mountains
of Phrygia, 
where she was known as “Mountain Mother”. In her typical 
Phrygian form, she wears a long belted dress, a polos 
(a high cylindrical headdress), and a veil covering the 
whole body. The later version of Cybele was established 
by a pupil of
Phidias
, the
sculptor

Agoracritus
, and became 
the image most widely adopted by Cybele’s expanding 
following, both in the
Aegean
world and at
Rome
. It shows her 
humanized though still enthroned, her hand resting on an 
attendant lion and the other holding the
tympanon
, a 
circular frame drum, similar to a
tambourine
.

The Phrygians also venerated
Sabazios
, the sky and 
father-god 
depicted on horseback. Although the Greeks associated 
Sabazios with
Zeus
, representations 
of him, even at Roman times, show him as a horseman god. 
His conflicts with the indigenous Mother Goddess, whose 
creature was the
Lunar Bull
, may be 
surmised in the way that Sabazios’ horse places a hoof 
on the head of a bull, in a
Roman relief
at the
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
.

Phrygian costumes

Phrygia developed an advanced
Bronze Age
culture. The 
earliest traditions of
Greek music
derived 
from Phrygia, transmitted through the Greek colonies in 
Anatolia, and included the
Phrygian mode
, which 
was considered to be the warlike mode in ancient Greek 
music. Phrygian
Midas
, the king of the 
“golden touch”, was tutored in music by
Orpheus
himself, 
according to the myth. Another musical invention that 
came from Phrygia was the
aulos
, a reed 
instrument with two pipes.
Marsyas
, the
satyr
who first formed 
the instrument using the hollowed
antler
of a
stag
, was a Phrygian 
follower of Cybele. He unwisely competed in music with 
the
Olympian

Apollo
and inevitably 
lost, whereupon Apollo flayed Marsyas alive and 
provocatively hung his skin on Cybele’s own sacred tree, 
a
pine
.

Phrygia retained a separate cultural identity. 
Classical Greek iconography identifies the
Trojan

Paris
as non-Greek by 
his Phrygian cap, which was worn by
Mithras
and survived 
into modern imagery as the “Liberty 
cap” of the American and
French revolutionaries
. 
The Phrygians spoke an
Indo-European language
. 
(See
Phrygian language
.) 
Although the Phrygians adopted the
alphabet
originated by 
the
Phoenicians
, only a few 
dozen inscriptions in the Phrygian language have been 
found, primarily funereal, and so much of what is 
thought to be known of Phrygia is second-hand 
information from Greek sources.

Mythic 
past

The name of the earliest known mythical king was 
Nannacus (aka Annacus). This king resided at Iconium, 
the most eastern city of the kingdom of Phrygia at that 
time; and after his death, at the age of 300 years, a 
great flood overwhelmed the country, as had been 
foretold by an ancient oracle. The next king mentioned 
in extant classical sources was called Manis or Masdes. 
According to Plutarch, because of his splendid exploits, 
great things were called “manic” in Phrygia. Thereafter 
the kingdom of Phrygia seems to have become fragmented 
among various kings. One of the kings was
Tantalus
who ruled over 
the north western region of Phrygia around
Mount Sipylus
. Tantalus 
was endlessly punished in
Tartarus
, because he 
allegedly killed his son
Pelops
and 
sacrificially offered him to the Olympians, a reference 
to the suppression of
human sacrifice
. 
Tantalus was also falsely accused of stealing from the 
lotteries he had invented. In the mythic age before the
Trojan war
, during a 
time of an
interregnum
,
Gordius
(or Gordias), a 
Phrygian farmer, became king, fulfilling an oracular
prophecy
. The kingless 
Phrygians had turned for guidance to the oracle of 
Sabazios (“Zeus” to the Greeks) at
Telmissus
, in the part 
of Phrygia that later became part of
Galatia
. They had been 
instructed by the oracle to acclaim as their king the 
first man who rode up to the god’s temple in a cart. 
That man was Gordias (Gordios, Gordius), a farmer, who 
dedicated the ox-cart in question, tied to its shaft 
with the “Gordian 
Knot“. Gordias refounded a capital at Gordium 
in west central Anatolia, situated on the old trackway 
through the heart of Anatolia that became
Darius
‘s Persian “Royal 
Road” from
Pessinus
to
Ancyra
, and not far 
from the
River Sangarius
.

The Phrygians are associated in Greek mythology with 
the
Dactyls
, minor gods 
credited with the invention of iron smelting, who in 
most versions of the legend lived at
Mount Ida
in Phrygia.

Gordias
‘s son (adopted 
in some versions) was
Midas
. A large body of 
myths and legends surround this first king Midas. 
connecting him with a mythological tale concerning
Attis
.^[24] 
This shadowy figure resided at Pessinus and attempted to 
marry his daughter to the young Attis in spite of the 
opposition of his lover Agdestis and his mother, the 
goddess
Cybele
. When Agdestis 
and/or Cybele appear and cast madness upon the members 
of the wedding feast. Midas is said to have died in the 
ensuing chaos.

The famous king Midas is said to have associated 
himself with
Silenus
and other 
satyrs and with
Dionysus
, who granted 
him the famous “golden touch”.

Man in Phrygian costume,
Hellenistic
 
period (3rd–1st century BC),
Cyprus

In one version of his story, Midas travels from 
Thrace accompanied by a band of his people to Asia Minor 
to wash away the taint of his unwelcome “golden touch” 
in the river
Pactolus
. Leaving the 
gold in the river’s sands, Midas found himself in 
Phrygia, where he was adopted by the childless king 
Gordias and taken under the protection of Cybele. Acting 
as the visible representative of Cybele, and under her 
authority, it would seem, a Phrygian king could 
designate his successor.

The Phrygian
Sibyl
was the priestess 
presiding over the
Apollonian oracle
at 
Phrygia.

According to
Herodotus
, Herodotus), 
the Egyptian pharaoh
Psammetichus II
had two 
children raised in isolation in order to find the 
original language. The children were reported to have 
uttered bekos which is Phrygian for “bread”, so 
Psammetichus admitted that the Phrygians were a nation 
older than the Egyptians.