The Phrygians (
Greek: Φρύγες, ''Phruges'' or ''Phryges'') were an ancient
Indo-European speaking people, who inhabited central-western
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
(modern-day
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...
) in antiquity. They were related to the
Greeks
The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, ot ...
.
Ancient Greek authors used "Phrygian" as an
umbrella term
In linguistics, semantics, general semantics, and ontologies, hyponymy () is a semantic relation between a hyponym denoting a subtype and a hypernym or hyperonym (sometimes called umbrella term or blanket term) denoting a supertype. In othe ...
to describe a vast ethno-cultural complex located mainly in the central areas of Anatolia rather than a name of a single "tribe" or "people", and its ethno-linguistic homogeneity is debatable. Phrygians were initially dwelling in the southern
Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
– according to
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria (Italy). He is known fo ...
– under the name of
Bryges (Briges), changing it to Phryges after their final migration to
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
, via the
Hellespont. However, the Balkan origins of the Phrygians are debated by modern scholars.
Phrygia
In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; grc, Φρυγία, ''Phrygía'' ) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. After its conquest, it became a region of the great empir ...
developed an advanced
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
culture. The earliest traditions of
Greek music are in part connected to Phrygian music, transmitted through the Greek colonies in Anatolia, especially 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
Orpheus (; Ancient Greek: Ὀρφεύς, classical pronunciation: ; french: Orphée) is a Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet in ancient Greek religion. He was also a renowned poet and, according to the legend, travelled with J ...
himself, according to the myth. Another musical invention that came from Phrygia was the
aulos, a reed instrument with two pipes. In classical Greek iconography
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
, a
Trojan, is represented as non-Greek by his Phrygian cap, which was also worn by
Mithras and survived into modern imagery as the "
Liberty cap" of the
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
and
French revolutionaries.
Phrygians spoke the
Phrygian language, a member of the
Indo-European
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Du ...
linguistic family. Modern consensus regards
Greek as its closest relative.
[Brixhe, Cl. "Le Phrygien". In Fr. Bader (ed.), ''Langues indo-européennes'', pp. 165-178, Paris: CNRS Editions.]
History
A conventional date of c. 1180 BC is often used for the influx (traditionally from Thrace) of the pre-Phrygian
Bryges or
Mushki, corresponding to the very end of the
Hittite Empire. Following this date, Phrygia retained a separate cultural identity. From tribal and village beginnings, the state of
Phrygia
In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; grc, Φρυγία, ''Phrygía'' ) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. After its conquest, it became a region of the great empir ...
arose in the 8th century BC with its capital at
Gordium. Around 690 BC, it was invaded by the
Cimmerians. Phrygia was briefly conquered by its neighbour
Lydia
Lydia ( Lydian: 𐤮𐤱𐤠𐤭𐤣𐤠, ''Śfarda''; Aramaic: ''Lydia''; el, Λυδία, ''Lȳdíā''; tr, Lidya) was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern western Turkish pro ...
, before it passed successively into the
Persian Empire of
Cyrus the Great
Cyrus II of Persia (; peo, 𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁 ), commonly known as Cyrus the Great, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, the first Persian empire. Schmitt Achaemenid dynasty (i. The clan and dynasty) Under his rule, the empire embraced ...
and later the
empire
An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
of
Alexander and his
successors. Later, it was taken by the
Attalids of
Pergamon, and eventually became part of the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...
. The last mention of the
Phrygian language in literature dates to the 5th century AD and it was likely extinct by the 7th century.
Migration
After the collapse of the Hittite Empire at the beginning of the twelfth century BC, the political vacuum in central-western Anatolia was filled by a wave of
Indo-European
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Du ...
migrants and "
Sea Peoples", including the Phrygians, who established their kingdom with a capital eventually at
Gordium. It is presently unknown whether the Phrygians were actively involved in the collapse of the Hittite capital
Hattusa or whether they simply moved into the vacuum left by the collapse of Hittite hegemony. The so-called
Handmade Knobbed Ware was found by archaeologists at sites from this period in Western Anatolia. According to Greek mythographers,
Midas had been king of the Phrygians, who were originally called the
Bryges (Brigi) and came from the western part of archaic
Thrace
Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to ...
or
Macedon
Macedonia (; grc-gre, Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled ...
. Midas has been linked to the
Mushki king Mita. However, the origins of the Mushki, and their connection to the Phrygians, is uncertain. Some scholars have suggested that Mita was a
Luwian name (it was recorded in Asia Minor in the 15th century BCE).
Though the migration theory is still defended by many modern historians, most archaeologists have abandoned the migration hypothesis regarding the origin of the Phrygians due to a lack substantial archeological evidence, with the migration theory resting only on the accounts of
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria (Italy). He is known fo ...
and
Xanthus.
8th to 7th centuries
Assyrian sources from the 8th century BC speak of a king Mita of the
Mushki, identified with king Midas of Phrygia. An Assyrian inscription records Mita as an ally of
Sargon of Assyria in 709 BC. A distinctive Phrygian pottery called Polished Ware appears in the 8th century BC. The Phrygians founded a powerful kingdom which lasted until the
Lydia
Lydia ( Lydian: 𐤮𐤱𐤠𐤭𐤣𐤠, ''Śfarda''; Aramaic: ''Lydia''; el, Λυδία, ''Lȳdíā''; tr, Lidya) was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern western Turkish pro ...
n ascendancy (7th century BC). Under kings alternately named Gordias and Midas, the independent Phrygian kingdom of the 8th and 7th centuries BC maintained close trade contacts with her neighbours in the east and the Greeks in the west. Phrygia seems to have been able to co-exist with whatever power was dominant in eastern Anatolia at the time.
The invasion of Anatolia in the late 8th century BC to early 7th century BC by the
Cimmerians was to prove fatal to independent Phrygia. Cimmerian pressure and attacks culminated in the suicide of its last king, Midas, according to legend. Gordium fell to the Cimmerians in 696 BC and was sacked and burnt, as reported much later by Herodotus.
A series of digs have opened Gordium as one of Turkey's most revealing archeological sites. Excavations confirm a violent destruction of Gordion around 675 BC. A tomb of the Midas 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). The Gordium site contains a considerable later building program, perhaps by Alyattes, the Lydian king, in the 6th century BC.
Minor Phrygian kingdoms continued to exist after the end of the Phrygian empire, and the Phrygian art and culture continued to flourish. Cimmerian people stayed in Anatolia but do not appear to have created a kingdom of their own. The Lydians repulsed the Cimmerians in the 620s, and Phrygia was subsumed into a short-lived Lydian empire. The eastern part of the former Phrygian empire fell into the hands of the
Medes
The Medes ( Old Persian: ; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) were an ancient Iranian people who spoke the Median language and who inhabited an area known as Media between western and northern Iran. Around the 11th century BC, ...
in 585 BC.
Croesus' Lydian Empire
Under the proverbially rich King
Croesus
Croesus ( ; Lydian: ; Phrygian: ; grc, Κροισος, Kroisos; Latin: ; reigned: c. 585 – c. 546 BC) was the king of Lydia, who reigned from 585 BC until his defeat by the Persian king Cyrus the Great in 547 or 546 BC.
Croesus was r ...
(reigned 560–546 BC), Phrygia remained part of the Lydian empire that extended east to the
Halys River. There may be an echo of strife with Lydia and perhaps a veiled reference to royal hostages, in the legend of the twice-unlucky
Adrastus, the son of a King Gordias with the queen,
Eurynome. He 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.
Post-state history
Lydian
Croesus
Croesus ( ; Lydian: ; Phrygian: ; grc, Κροισος, Kroisos; Latin: ; reigned: c. 585 – c. 546 BC) was the king of Lydia, who reigned from 585 BC until his defeat by the Persian king Cyrus the Great in 547 or 546 BC.
Croesus was r ...
was conquered by
Cyrus
Cyrus (Persian: کوروش) is a male given name. It is the given name of a number of Persian kings. Most notably it refers to Cyrus the Great ( BC). Cyrus is also the name of Cyrus I of Anshan ( BC), King of Persia and the grandfather of Cyrus ...
in 546 BC, and Phrygia passed under
Persian dominion. 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 (provinces). In the 5th century,
Phrygia
In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; grc, Φρυγία, ''Phrygía'' ) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. After its conquest, it became a region of the great empir ...
was made into two administrative provinces, that of
Hellespontine Phrygia (or Lesser Phrygia), with its provincial capital established at
Dascylium
Dascylium, Dascyleium, or Daskyleion ( grc, Δασκύλιον, Δασκυλεῖον), also known as Dascylus, was a town in Anatolia some inland from the coast of the Propontis, at modern Ergili, Turkey. Its site was rediscovered in 1952 and ...
, and the province of Greater Phrygia.
Culture
Language
The
Phrygian language is a member of the
Indo-European
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Du ...
linguistic family with its exact position within it having been debated due to the fragmentary nature of its evidence. Though from what is available it is evident that Phrygian shares important features with
Greek and
Armenian. Phrygian is part of the
centum group of Indo-European languages. However, between the 19th and the first half of the 20th century Phrygian was mostly considered a
satəm language, and thus closer to Armenian and
Thracian
The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied ...
, while today it is commonly considered to be a centum language and thus closer to Greek. The reason that in the past Phrygian had the guise of a satəm language was due to two secondary processes that affected it. Namely, Phrygian merged the old labiovelar with the plain velar, and secondly, when in contact with palatal vowels /e/ and /i/, especially in initial position, some consonants became palatalized. Furthermore,
Kortlandt (1988) presented common sound changes of Thracian and Armenian and their separation from Phrygian and the rest of the
palaeo-Balkan languages
The Paleo-Balkan languages or Palaeo-Balkan languages is a grouping of various extinct Indo-European languages that were spoken in the Balkans and surrounding areas in ancient times.
Paleo-Balkan studies are obscured by the scarce attestation o ...
from an early stage.
Modern consensus regards Greek as the closest relative of Phrygian, a position that is supported by
Brixhe, Neumann, Matzinger, Woodhouse, Ligorio, Lubotsky, and Obrador-Cursach. Furthermore, 34 out of the 36 Phrygian isoglosses that are recorded are shared with Greek, with 22 being exclusive between them. The last 50 years of Phrygian scholarship developed a hypothesis that proposes a
proto-Graeco-Phrygian stage out of which Greek and Phrygian originated, and if Phrygian was more sufficiently attested, that stage could perhaps be reconstructed.
Archaeology
Based on an extremely slight archaeological record, some scholars such as
Nicholas Hammond
Nicholas Hammond (born May 15, 1950) is an American-born Australian actor and writer who is best known for his roles as Friedrich von Trapp in the film ''The Sound of Music'' and as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the 1970s television series '' The A ...
and
Eugene N. Borza suggested that the Phrygians were members of the
Lusatian culture that migrated into the southern
Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
during the
Late Bronze Age. However, the lack of western (European) ceramic ware, and the continuation of the pre-Bronze Age collapse pottery styles in central Asia Minor, have led some scholars to reject a Balkan or European origin for the Phrygians.
Religion
The Phrygians worshipped the goddess
Cybele. In their language it was known as , and was also referred to as (from which the Greek and Latin derive) or . 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
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
Agoracritus
Agoracritus ( Greek ''Agorákritos''; fl. late 5th century BC) was a famous sculptor in ancient Greece.
Life
Agoracritus was born on the island of Paros, and was active from about Olympiad 85 to 88, that is, from about 436 to 424 BC.Pliny, '' ...
, and became the image most widely adopted by Cybele's expanding following, both in the
Aegean world and at
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus ( legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
. 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 tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called " zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, tho ...
.
The Phrygians also venerated
Sabazios
Sabazios ( grc, Σαβάζιος, translit=Sabázios, ''Savázios''; alternatively, ''Sabadios'') is the horseman and sky father god of the Phrygians and Thracians. Though the Greeks interpreted Phrygian Sabazios as both Zeus and Dionysus, ...
, the sky and father-
god depicted on horseback. Although the Greeks associated Sabazios with
Zeus
Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek relig ...
, 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
Cattle are prominent in some religions and mythologies. As such, numerous peoples throughout the world have at one point in time honored bulls as sacred. In the Sumerian religion, Marduk is the "bull of Utu". In Hinduism, Shiva's steed is ...
, 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.
Mythological accounts
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
Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease gods, a human ruler, an authoritative/priestly figure or spirits of dead ancestors or as a retainer sacrifice, wherei ...
. Tantalus was also falsely accused of stealing from the lotteries he had invented. In the mythic age before the
Trojan war
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans ( Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and ...
, during a time of an
interregnum,
Gordius (or Gordias), a Phrygian farmer, became king, fulfilling an oracular
prophecy
In religion, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a ''prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divine will or law, or p ...
. The kingless Phrygians had turned for guidance to the oracle of Sabazios ("Zeus" to the Greeks) at
Telmissus
Telmessos or Telmessus ( Hittite: 𒆪𒉿𒆷𒉺𒀸𒊭 ''Kuwalapašša'', Lycian: 𐊗𐊁𐊍𐊁𐊂𐊁𐊛𐊆 ''Telebehi'', grc, Τελμησσός), also Telmissus ( grc, Τελμισσός), later Anastasiopolis ( grc, Αναστ� ...
, in the part of Phrygia that later became part of
Galatia
Galatia (; grc, Γαλατία, ''Galatía'', "Gaul") was an ancient area in the highlands of central Anatolia, roughly corresponding to the provinces of Ankara and Eskişehir, in modern Turkey. Galatia was named after the Gauls from Thrace ...
. 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.
Later mythic kings of Phrygia were alternately named
Gordias Gordias ( grc, Γορδίας, ''Gordías''; also Γόρδιος, ''Górdios'', "Gordius") was the name of at least two members of the royal house of Phrygia.
The best-known Gordias was reputedly the founder of the Phrygian capital city Gordium, ...
and
Midas. Myths surround the first king Midas. There were seven altogether connecting him with a mythological tale concerning
Attis. This shadowy figure resided at Pessinus and attempted to marry his daughter to the young Attis in spite of the opposition of his mother figure Agdestis and his lover, the goddess
Cybele. When Agdestis 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 was said to be a son of the kind Gordius mentioned above. He is said to have associated himself with
Silenus and other satyrs and with
Dionysus
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; grc, wikt:Διόνυσος, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstas ...
, who granted him the famous "golden touch".
The mythic Midas of Thrace, accompanied by a band of his people, traveled 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.
According to the ''Iliad'', the Phrygians were Trojan allies during the
Trojan War
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans ( Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and ...
. The Phrygia of
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
's ''Iliad'' appears to be located in the area that embraced the Ascanian lake and the northern flow of the Sangarius river and so was much more limited in extent than classical Phrygia. Homer's ''Iliad'' also includes a reminiscence by the Trojan king
Priam, who had in his youth come to aid the Phrygians against the
Amazons
In Greek mythology, the Amazons (Ancient Greek: Ἀμαζόνες ''Amazónes'', singular Ἀμαζών ''Amazōn'', via Latin ''Amāzon, -ŏnis'') are portrayed in a number of ancient epic poems and legends, such as the Labours of Hercule ...
(''
Iliad
The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Ody ...
'' 3.189). During this episode (a generation before the Trojan War), the Phrygians were said to be led by
Otreus and
Mygdon. Both appear to be little more than eponyms: there was a place named Otrea on the Ascanian Lake, in the vicinity of the later
Nicaea
Nicaea, also known as Nicea or Nikaia (; ; grc-gre, Νίκαια, ) was an ancient Greek city in Bithynia, where located in northwestern Anatolia and is primarily known as the site of the First and Second Councils of Nicaea (the first and s ...
; and the Mygdones were a people of Asia Minor, who resided near Lake
Dascylitis (there was also a
Mygdonia in Macedonia). During the Trojan War, the Phrygians sent forces to aid
Troy
Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Ç ...
, led by
Ascanius
Ascanius (; Ancient Greek: Ἀσκάνιος) (said to have reigned 1176-1138 BC) was a legendary king of Alba Longa and is the son of the Trojan hero Aeneas and Creusa, daughter of Priam. He is a character in Roman mythology, and has a divine ...
and
Phorcys
In Greek mythology, Phorcys or Phorcus (; grc, Φόρκυς) is a primordial sea god, generally cited (first in Hesiod) as the son of Pontus and Gaia (Earth). Classical scholar Karl Kerenyi conflated Phorcys with the similar sea gods Nereu ...
, the sons of
Aretaon.
Asius, son of
Dymas and brother of Hecabe, is another Phrygian noble who fought before Troy.
Quintus Smyrnaeus mentions another Phrygian prince, named
Coroebus, son of
Mygdon, who fought and died at Troy; he had sued for the hand of the Trojan princess
Cassandra in marriage. King Priam's wife
Hecabe is usually said to be of Phrygian birth, as a daughter of King
Dymas.
The Phrygian
Sibyl
The sibyls (, singular ) were prophetesses or oracles in Ancient Greece.
The sibyls prophesied at holy sites.
A sibyl at Delphi has been dated to as early as the eleventh century BC by PausaniasPausanias 10.12.1 when he described local trad ...
was the priestess presiding over the
Apollonian oracle at Phrygia.
Marsyas, a Phrygian follower of Cybele, was a
satyr
In Greek mythology, a satyr ( grc-gre, σάτυρος, sátyros, ), also known as a silenus or ''silenos'' ( grc-gre, σειληνός ), is a male nature spirit with ears and a tail resembling those of a horse, as well as a permanent, ex ...
who is regarded as the inventor of the
aulos, which he created using the hollowed
antler
Antlers are extensions of an animal's skull found in members of the Cervidae (deer) family. Antlers are a single structure composed of bone, cartilage, fibrous tissue, skin, nerves, and blood vessels. They are generally found only on ...
of a
stag. He unwisely competed in music with the
Olympian Apollo
Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
and inevitably lost, whereupon Apollo flayed Marsyas alive and provocatively hung his skin on Cybele's own sacred tree, a
pine
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family (biology), family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanic ...
.
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria (Italy). He is known fo ...
''Histories''
2.2 claims the priests of Hephaestus told him a story that the Egyptian pharaoh Psammetichus had two children raised in isolation in order to find the original language. The children were reported to have uttered ''bekos'' meaning "bread" in Phrygian. It was then acknowledged by the Egyptians that the Phrygians were a nation older than the Egyptians.
Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...
claimed the Phrygians were founded by the biblical figure Togarmah
Togarmah (Hebrew: ''Tōgarmā'') is a figure in the "table of nations" in Genesis 10, the list of descendants of Noah that represents the peoples known to the ancient Hebrews. Togarmah is among the descendants of Japheth and is thought to repre ...
, grandson of Japheth and son of Gomer
Gomer ( he, ''Gōmer'', ; el, Γαμὲρ, translit=Gamér) was the eldest son of Japheth (and of the Japhetic line), and father of Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah, according to the "Table of Nations" in the Hebrew Bible ( Genesis 10).
The ...
: "and Thrugramma the Thrugrammeans, who, as the Greeks resolved, were named Phrygians".
See also
* Bryges
*Paleo Balkan languages
The Paleo-Balkan languages or Palaeo-Balkan languages is a grouping of various extinct Indo-European languages that were spoken in the Balkans and surrounding areas in ancient times.
Paleo-Balkan studies are obscured by the scarce attestation of ...
* Phrygian cap
* Phrygian language
*Carians
The Carians (; grc, Κᾶρες, ''Kares'', plural of , ''Kar'') were the ancient inhabitants of Caria in southwest Anatolia.
Historical accounts Karkisa
It is not clear when the Carians enter into history. The definition is dependent on ...
* Mysians
*Lydians
The Lydians (known as ''Sparda'' to the Achaemenids, Old Persian cuneiform 𐎿𐎱𐎼𐎭) were Anatolian people living in Lydia, a region in western Anatolia, who spoke the distinctive Lydian language, an Indo-European language of th ...
* Lycians
References and notes
Further reading
* Drew-Bear, Thomas and Naour, Christian. "Divinités de Phrygie". In: ''Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt (ANRW)'' ise and Decline of the Roman World Ise may refer to:
Places
*Ise, Mie, a city in Japan
** Ise Grand Shrine, a Shinto shrine located in Ise, Mie
*Ise Ekiti, a city in Nigeria
* Ise, Norway, a village in Norway
* Ise Province, an ancient province of Japan
* River Ise, a tributary of t ...
Band 18/3. Teilband Religion (Heidentum: Die religiösen Verhältnisse in den Provinzen orts.. Edited by Wolfgang Haase, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2016 990
Year 990 ( CMXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
* Al-Mansur, ''de facto'' ruler of Al-Andalus, conquers the Castle of Montemor-o-Velho (mode ...
pp. 1907-2044. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110862768-006
* Roller, Lynn E. "Phrygian Myth and Cult". In:'' Source'' Volume 7, Number 3/4 (1988), pp. 43-50. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/sou.7.3_4.23202659
{{History of Anatolia
Indo-European peoples
Ancient peoples of Anatolia