GORDION (GORDIUM)
Gordium was probably the capital of Meshech. It was located where
the Royal Road of Persian Kings crossed the Sangarius (Sakarya)
River. Thus it was an active commercial center. A reference to Meshech's
trade in slaves and bronze occurs in Old Testament Ezekiel 27:13.
Excavations in the last forty years indicate that it was occupied as
early as the third millennium B.C. Between 2000 and 1200 B.C. the city
was an important Hittite outpost with Assyrian
colonists also living there, this parallels the situation in Kanesh
(Kayseri) at the same time. The city became
even more active when Phrygians settled
there beginning in the 9th century; it reached its highest prosperity under
them in the 8th century. By 690 Cimmerians had invaded the area and destroyed
the city. Lydians repaired the city, but in 547-546
Cyrus and his army destroyed it again. Under the Persians, however, it
regained its place as a commercial and military center.
Alexander the Great in 333 BC. cut the famous
Gordian knot and took the city
out of Persian control, but then in 278 BC. it was destroyed by the Gauls.
By 200 A.D. the city was completely deserted.
17th and 16th century B.C. Hittite graves have
been excavated and some of their contents are to be seen at the Museum
of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara.
In Gordium itself there are almost a hundred tumulus
graves of notables
who lived and died between Phrygian and Galatians
times. These stand out above the gently rolling landscape.
The largest tumulus has been identified as that belonging to King Midas.
It still contains some wooden furniture probably from his palace. Midas
in Assyrian records is a Mushki; in Greek references
he is a Phrygian. Perhaps he was both, or
maybe they were one and the same. Most of the finds from the tumuli are
in the Ankara museum for safe-keeping. Those
include furniture decorated with ivory inlay (from pre-Cimmerian times),
wooden statues, vases, bronze cauldrons, silver and gold jewelry, and images
of Cybele, the Mother Goddess, used
in religious ceremonies. In the Phrygian palaces
and public buildings are the earliest examples known in Anatolia
of decorative geometric patterns made with colored pebbles. The mosaic
technique suggests that the artists may have been familiar with weaving
or with basketry.