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GORDION
The
site of ancient Gordion is located 100 km/
62 miles west of Ankara in the village of
Yassıhöyük, near the point of confluence
of the Sakarya (old
Sangorius) and Porsuk rivers. The origins
of Gordion date back to the Bronze
Age. It was a Hittite
city which later became the capital of the
Kingdom of
Phrygia. The city reached its apogée between
725 and 696 BC, under the reign of king
Midas, the king of the "golden touch
and the ass's ears". Two pleasant mythological
stories tend to make forget that Midas was
a real and important king. According to the
first legend, Midas rescued Silenus, the favorite
companion of Dionysos as he was completely
drunk, and treated him well. Therefore Dionysos,
to thank him, granted him one wish. Unwise
Midas asked to be given the capacity of turning
everything to gold. Alas, every single thing
he touched turned to gold, even his food.
Rich but starving he begged Dionysos to forgive
him and to relieve him from the spell. So
the god told him to bathe in the spring of
the Pactolus , which
he did (this is the reason why the Pactolus
bore gold). According to the second legend
Midas, as a judge during a musical contest,
prefered the flute of the Satyr Marsyas to
the lyre of Apollo. He was punished by the
offended god of music who changed his ears
into the ears of an ass. As for Marsyas, he
was flayed alive. Midas managed to hide this
deformity under a conical cap*, but
his barber, having to know the secret, was
threatened of death if he revealed it. The
secret being too heavy, he dug a hole on the
riverbank and whispered the secret in it.
But the wind in the reeds that grew there
short after rustled "Midas has ass's
ears"...
It is believed that the destruction of Gordion
by the Cimmerians resulted in the suicide
of King Midas in 696 BC. The city, which was
rebuilt on a smaller mound, came under the
domination of the Lydians
and the Persians
until Alexander the Great gave it back
its independence in 333 BC (but Gordion never
regained its past importance). This is when
the story of the enigmatic "Gordian
knot" took place: according to the
legend, when their king died, leaving no heir,
the Phrygians consulted the oracle at Delphi
and were told that their next king would arrive
drawn by oxen. One day Gordius and
his wife, immigrants from Macedonia, rode
into town on their ox-drawn cart. To Gordius'
surprise and delight he was made king. To
remind himself of his humble origins and to
show his gratitude, Gordius offered to the
Temple of Zeus his oxcart tied with an intricate
knot. When King Midas, who was Gordius' son,
died leaving no heir to rule in his stead,
a new problem of succession occured. The Oracle
foretold that the one who unravelled the knot
tied between the shaft and the yoke would
be the ruler of all Asia. New rulers came
but the knot remained fast. Centuries later
as he was wintering in Gordion during his
campain against the Persians, Alexander
the Great solved the knot simply...cutting
it with his sword! (cutting the Gordion Knot
came to mean solving a difficult problem).
*
The Phrygian cap, a conical headdress
fitting snugly around the head and characterized
by a crown that curls forward, originates
in Phrygia. In Roman times, this cap was worn
by emancipated slaves as a symbol of their
freedom. Known under the name of red cap,
it was worn by the French revolutionaries.
Marianne, the nickname of the French Republic,
is represented by the bust of a woman wearing
a Phrygian cap, the symbol of liberty.
The
Körte brothers conducted the first excavations
in 1900. In 1950 the University of Pennsylvania
Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology began
modern excavations of the archaeoligical site
which is extremely widespread. It consists of
the Citadel Mound, the smaller mound
of Küçük Höyük with a fortress and partial
city wall, an outer city 20-30 ha in
area on the opposite bank of the Sakarya dating
to 6 - 4 C BC. On the low slopes overlooking
the valley floor on both sides of the river,
are approximately 100 burial tumuli of
varied sizes dating to the first millennium
B.C.
The
Tumulus of King Midas
inside which is a 70 m/ 230 ft long tunnel that
leads to a funerary chamber. This chamber is
protected by a double wall of tree logs and
timbers, which is the earliest known intact
wooden structure in the world. Here was found
the disintegrated body of King Midas, laid out
in state on a thick pile of well preserved purple-
and blue-dyed textiles inside a log coffin accompanied
by 14 wood furniture pieces. They were serving
and dining tables for a funerary banquet eaten
by the mourners before the interment. The banquet
had been "re-created" inside the tomb
by the ancient caretakers who laid out more
than 150 metal vessels, described as "the
most comprehensive Iron Age drinking set"
ever found. Analyses of organic residues left
in the drinking vessels - the lion-headed and
ram-headed situlae (buckets), a small vat used
in serving, 9 small and 4 large drinking bowls
- determined that a mixture of grape wine, barley
beer, and honey mead had been served at the
funerary banquet. Jars filled with the remains
of a spicy lentil and barbecued sheep or goat
stew, can be seen inside one of the large vats
or cauldrons. The "leftovers" may
have been intended for the king's sustenance
in the afterlife.
The artifacts and tomb furniture are displaid
in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations
in Ankara.
The Museum
which is located opposite the royal tumulus,
displays local artifacts from the Phrygian,
Hellenistic and Roman periods, a Galat monumental
tomb, Phrygian mosaics known as the oldest
in Anatolia, and Roman mosaics. One of the
mosaics depicts Alexander the Great at the
Battle of
Issus.
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Tumulus
and funerary chamber with
the body of King Midas
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Walnut
and boxwood table and bronze
vessels as originally found
in the Tomb
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Artist
's impression of preparing King
Midas' Burial Chamber
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