Phrygia (redirected from Phyrgia)

Phrygia (frĭ`jēə), ancient region, central Asia Minor (now central Turkey). The Phrygians, who settled here c.1200 B.C., came from the Balkans and apparently spoke an Indo-European language. A kingdom, associated in Greek legend with the names of Midas and Gordius, flourished from the 8th to the 6th cent. B.C., when it fell with the Cimmerian invasion (676–585 B.C.) and became dominated by Lydia. Phrygia was best known to the Greeks as a source of slaves and as a center of the cult of Cybele. N Phrygia became part of Galatia with the invasion of the Gauls (3d cent. B.C.). The kings of Pergamum ruled much of Phrygia until it passed to the Romans. There has been much archaeological excavation in the area.

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Phrygia

Ancient district, west-central Anatolia. It was named for a people whom the Greeks called Phryges and who dominated Anatolia between the Hittite collapse (12th century BC) and ascent of Lydia (7th century BC). The Phrygians were possibly of Thracian origin (see Thrace) and had their capital at Gordium. The kingdom of their legendary ruler, Midas, ended c. 700 BC with the invasion of the Cimmerians, who burned the capital. The Phrygians excelled in metalwork, wood carving, carpet making, and embroidery. Their religious cult of the Great Mother of the Gods was passed on to the Greeks. Excavations conducted since 1945 have uncovered carved stone tombs and shrines there.

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Phrygia

an ancient country of W central Asia Minor

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Phrygia 

in antiquity, a region in northwestern Asia Minor populated by the Phrygians, Indo-European tribes that migrated from Europe (Macedonia or Thrace) in the second millennium B.C.

In the 13th century B.C. the Phrygians aided Troy in its war with the Greeks and, when the war ended in ruin for the Trojans, established their own dominion over the Troas. The Phrygians played a major role in the downfall of the Hittite empire (c. 12th century), much of whose territory subsequently came under their control. From the tenth to eighth centuries, Phrygia was a kingdom; its capital was Gordium, a city named after King Gordius. In the ninth century Phrygia came to dominate the Aegean Sea.

At the end of the eighth century, tribes of Bithynians and Mysians began settling in northern and northwestern Phrygia. In the east, clashes with Assyria became more frequent. In the 670’s Cimmerian tribes seized a considerable portion of Phrygia, and in the sixth century, Phrygia fell under Lydian domination, although it retained some measure of autonomy.

In 546, Phrygia, with nearly all of Asia Minor, was seized by the Persian king Cyrus II. It was conquered by Alexander the Great in the fourth century; after Alexander’s death his successors fought among themselves for control of various parts of the region. In 275 the territory of Phrygia east of the Sangarius River (now Sakarya) was seized by the Galatians. The territory west of the river was ruled by Pergamum. In 133, Phrygia west of the Sangarius was incorporated into the Roman province of Asia. Eastern Phrygia became part of the Roman province of Galatia, which was formed in 25 B.C.

REFERENCE

Haspels, E. The Highlands of Phrygia: Sites and Monuments, vols. 1–2. Princeton, N.J., 1973.