Phrygia
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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 MidasMidas, in Greek mythology, king of Phrygia. Because he befriended Silenus, the oldest of the satyrs, Dionysus granted him the power to turn everything into gold by touch. But when even the food that he touched turned to gold, Midas begged to be relieved of his gift.
..... Click the link for more information. and GordiusGordius
, in Greek mythology, king of Phrygia. An oracle had told the Phrygians that the king who would put an end to their troubles was approaching in an oxcart, and, thus, when Gordius, a peasant, appeared in his wagon, he was hailed king.
..... Click the link for more information. , 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 CybeleCybele
, in ancient Asian religion, the Great Mother Goddess. The chief centers of her early worship were Phrygia and Lydia. In the 5th cent. B.C. her cult was introduced into Greece, where she was associated with Demeter and Rhea.
..... Click the link for more information. . 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.
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.