|
The Phrygians were a Thracian
people who flourished in Western and Central
Anatolia from about 1200 to 546
BC.
Around 1200 BC there were great migrations
of "Sea Peoples"
from Greece and Thrace to Anatolia.
Some of these people—probably Phrygians—conquered
the Hittite capital
of Hattusha (hah-TOO-shah, Bogazkale)
and set up their own city there. Phrygians
may also have participated in the battle
for Troy.
Having come from Thrace,
the Phrygians occupied Anatolia from
the Sea
of Marmara to the Halys (or Kizilirmak)
River, as far east as Çorum,
Yozgat, Nevsehir and Nigde.
Important Phrygian cities included Afyon, Ankara, Gordion, Eskisehir and Hattusa.
In the same period other "Peoples" migrated
to the Aegean
coast, giving rise to other cultures: Ionian around Izmir, Lydian around Sardis, Carian around Milas,
and Lycian around Antalya.
The flowering of classical Hellenic
civilization happened
along the Aegean coast about the same
time the Phrygians were flourishing
inland.
These cultures flourished for 3 or
4 centuries, that is from around 1000
to 600 BC. The Phrygian Kingdom flourished
under Midas at Gordion from
about 725 to 675 BC—only half
a century—before a Cimmerian
invasion put
an end to this golden age.
While the Phrygians flourished,
here's what else was happening:
- The great Hellenic philosophers,
poets and scientists were
holding forth in Ionia
- Rome and Byzantium were
founded as small towns
- The earliest Jewish prophets were
teaching their wisdom
- In India, physicians
were learning their art, no longer
looked upon as mystical, from anatomical
models
- The wretched Assyrians discovered
that if they filled animal bladders
with air they could float across rivers
and kill people on the other side.
Phrygian culture flourished again
from the mid-600s to the mid-500s alongside
the great florescence of Hellenic
civilization, science and philosophy in
Ionia (the region around Izmir). Coinage came
into use in Anatolia around this time,
and King Croesus of Lydia, one
of its first great advocates, became
exceedingly rich using it.
Phrygian culture recovered after
the Cimmerian invasion and flourished
again to the west of Gordion between Eskisehir and Afyon for
a short period, leaving the monuments
at Midas
Sehri (Yazilikaya), Aslankaya,
Aslantas, etc.
In 546 BC, Cyrus of Persia conquered Anatolia all
the way to Ionia, putting an end to
the Phrygian flowering for good. And
in 333 BC Alexander
the Great stormed through and
cut the Gordian
knot.
History of
Turkey
History
Timeline
King Midas
Alexander
the Great
The Hittites
Hellenic
Civilization
Bogazkale
Gordion
Midas
Sehri (Yazilikaya)
Aegean
Turkey
Central
Anatolia
Where
to Go
Turkey
Travel Planner Homepage
|
