Phrygia
By Levi Clancy for Student Reader on
updated
Founded in the 8th cent BC in the Sangarius Region, the Phrygian kingdom (750-546 BC) was one of three major Anatolian kingdoms founded in the first half of the 1st millennium BC along with Lydia (west) and Urartu (east). Phrygians were Indo-European nomads that entered Anatolia via Thrace toward the end of the 13th cent BC. At its peak, Phrygian hegemony extended to the Euphrates river in the east, Afyon in the west, Samsun (Amisos) in the north and Burdur in the southwest.
Era | Time | Description |
---|---|---|
Phrygian Kingdom | The first king was Gordias and the Phrygian capital was established at Gordion. Phrygians worshipped the Mother Goddess Cybele and her lover Attis. Burials of kings, lords and nobles included tumuli and monumental tombs cut into natural rocks. Peasant burials included small tumuli, pits and pethos. | |
Gordias | The first king of the Phrygian kingdom. | |
Midas | Late 8th cent BC | Phrygian power peaked under Phrygian king Midas. |
Cimmerian Invasion | Early 7th cent BC | Heralding from the Caucasus, the Cimmerians invaded and destroyed the already weakened Phrygian kingdom. |
Late 7th cent BC | Small Phrygian municipalities endured while dominated by the Lydian kingdom. | |
Collapse | 545 BC | Phrygians their independence to the Persians in 545 BC. |