Γόρδιον Gordiyon | |
 The Early Phrygian East Citadel Gate at Gordion, with the Terrace Building Complex and Megaron buildings behind it | |
  Shown within Turkey | |
| Location | Yassıhüyük, Ankara Province, Turkey |
|---|---|
| Region | Phrygia |
| Coordinates | 39°39′01″N31°58′42″E / 39.650356°N 31.978243°E /39.650356; 31.978243 |
| Type | Settlement |
| Site notes | |
| Website | www |
| Official name | Gordion |
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | (iii) |
| Designated | 2023 (45th session) |
| Reference no. | 1669 |
| UNESCO Region | Europe and North America |
Gordion (Ancient Greek:Γόρδιον,romanized: Górdion;Turkish:Gordion orGordiyon;Latin:Gordium) was the capital city of ancientPhrygia. It was located at the site of modernYassıhüyük, about 70–80 km (43–50 mi) southwest ofAnkara (capital of Turkey), in the immediate vicinity ofPolatlı district. Gordion's location at the confluence of theSakarya andPorsuk rivers gave it a strategic location with control over fertile land. Gordion lies where the ancient road betweenLydia andAssyria/Babylonia crossed theSangarius river. Occupation at the site is attested from theEarly Bronze Age (c. 2300 BCE) continuously until the 4th century CE and again in the 13th and 14th centuries CE.[1] The Citadel Mound at Gordion is approximately 13.5 hectares in size, and at its height habitation extended beyond this in an area approximately 100 hectares in size. Gordion is thetype site ofPhrygian civilization, and its well-preserved destruction level ofc. 800 BCE is a chronological linchpin in the region. The long tradition oftumuli at the site is an important record of elite monumentality and burial practice during the Iron Age.
In 2023, Gordion was listed asUNESCOWorld Heritage Site.[2]
The English placename Gordion comes fromAncient GreekGórdion (Γόρδιον).
In antiquity, the Sakarya river flowed on the east side of the Citadel Mound, just beyond the Küçük Höyük fort. Its course changed several times, ultimately moving to the west side of the mound, where it is now. This was a relatively recent change, most likely occurring during the 19th century.[3][4]
| Period Name | Approximate Dates |
|---|---|
| Early Bronze Age | 3000–2000 BCE |
| Middle Bronze Age | 2000–1600 BCE |
| Late Bronze Age | 1600–1200 BCE |
| Early Iron Age | 1200–900 BCE |
| Early Phrygian Period | 900–800 BCE |
| Middle Phrygian Period | 800–540 BCE |
| Late Phrygian Period | 540–330 BCE |
| Hellenistic Period | 330–1st century BCE |
| Roman | 1st–5th century CE |
| Medieval | 13th–14th century CE |
| Modern Gordion | 1920s–present |
Gordion was inhabited from at least theEarly Bronze Age,c. 2300 BCE. By the end of this period it displayed ceramic commonalities with communities as far west as theTroad and as far east asCilicia.[5]
During theMiddle Bronze Age, Gordion came under the influence of theHittites, with administrative seals evident at the site. There is an extensive necropolis attested on the Northeast Ridge, with burials of the MH III-IV periods.[6]
Late Bronze Age Gordion was part of the Hittite Empire and located at the western edge of its heartland.[7]
There is a cultural change at Gordion in theEarly Iron Age, with distinct differences from theLate Bronze Age in regard to architecture and ceramics. Ceramic and linguistic links withsoutheastern Europe point to an influx ofBalkan migrants at this time, possibly theBrygians.[8]
There were several monumental construction projects on the citadel during the 10th and 9th centuries, the Early Phrygian period, resulting in a circuit wall around the Citadel Mound with an extensive gate complex. The East Citadel Gate provided both increased defense and a projection of power; it is still preserved to a height of ten meters, making it the best preserved example in Anatolia. Around the same time,c. 850 BCE, Tumulus W was constructed, the first known example of a tumulus burial in Anatolia and a marker of elite prominence at Gordion. Beyond the East Citadel Gate, a series of elite buildings occupied the eastern side of the mound. These included severalmegaron-plan buildings and the large interconnected Terrace Building Complex. The Megarons at Gordion likely served an administrative function, with the largest, Megaron 3, perhaps serving as an audience hall. The Megarons include several pebble mosaic floors with elaborate geometric designs, among the earliest known examples of their type.[9] The Terrace Building, a complex of eight interconnected buildings stretching over one hundred meters in length, was a locus of grinding, cooking, and weaving, as well as storage. The remains of the Early Phrygian period were preserved due to a conflagration on the eastern side of the Citadel Mound, likely dating toc. 800 BCE. This destruction level and the subsequent rebuilding of the site above it preserved the architecture and many of the finds from the Early Phrygian period. The Early Phrygian period at the site is thus better understood than the Middle Phrygian.
There is ample evidence of widespread burning of the eastern portion of the Citadel Mound of Gordion, in a level referred to by the initial excavator,Rodney S. Young, as the Destruction Level. This event, and the subsequent deposition of up to five meters of clay above the burnt level, sealed and preserved many buildings and hundreds of objects from the Early Phrygian phase, providing an astonishing insight into the character of the elite district of anIron Age citadel, unique in Anatolian archaeology. As such, the Early Phrygian Destruction Level provides well-dated comparative material for other sites in the region and constitutes a key fixed point in Central Anatolian chronology.[10]
Archaeologists at first interpreted the Destruction Level as the remains of aCimmerian attack,c. 700 BCE, an event referred to much later byStrabo andEusebius as resulting in the death ofKing Midas. Initial radiocarbon data analyzed by Young cast some doubt on this interpretation, but the date of 700 BCE was widely used. Beginning in 2000, a renewed program ofradiocarbon dating,dendrochronological analysis, and a closer examination of the objects in the Destruction Level began. Three factors were of particular importance: the establishment of the date ofTumulus MM atc. 740 BCE based on dendrochronology; the comparison of Destruction Level objects with those in Tumulus MM and other independently dated assemblages in theGordion tumuli; and the study of well-known 8th century Greek ceramics in post-Destruction Level contexts. Taken altogether, this research indicated that the date of the conflagration was approximately one hundred years earlier than previously thought,c. 800 BCE.[11]
Initial criticism of the radiocarbon analysis[12] focused on the preliminary publication of five samples[13] but was subsequently refuted by the publication of fifteen more short-lived samples, each the average of dozens of barley, lentil, and flax seeds from the Destruction Level. These all indicated a rangec. 840–795 BCE, most likely between 830/815 and 810/800 BCE, and were in no way compatible with ac. 700 BCE date, even with extreme adjustments to the outliers within the data.[14] Consequently, the fire can no longer be associated with a Cimmerian incursion and was probably accidental in nature, with no indications of a military attack. A date ofc. 800 BCE for the Early Phrygian Destruction Level has been widely accepted by scholars working throughout Central Anatolia,[15][16][17][18][19] with objections voiced only by Muscarella and Keenan.[20][12]
Thec. 800 BCE destruction level marks the change from the Early Phrygian period to the Middle Phrygian.[8] After the fire, the inhabitants of Gordion completed a massive construction program on the Citadel Mound that included the laying of up to five meters of clay to raise the height of the mound. The citadel was rebuilt on a largely similar plan, a process of monumentality that required an immense amount of labor and planning. The fortifications at Gordion at this time expanded to include a pair of forts to the north and south of the Citadel Mound connected by a circuit wall that enclosed an area over twenty-five hectares, the Lower Town. Beyond the Lower Town, settlement continued in the Outer Town, protected by a further wall and ditch.[21] Settlement stretched onto the Northeast Ridge, where a series of houses were destroyed in an attack by an unknown enemy around 700 BCE. During the Middle Phrygian period, Gordion grew to its largest size, encompassing an area of settlement of approximately one hundred hectares. At this time the political influence of Phrygia in Anatolia increased substantially. During the 9th and 8th centuries BCE, the city grew into the capital of akingdom that controlled much ofAsia Minor west of theriver Halys. In the course of the 6th century BCE, the kingdom ofLydia, Phrygia's neighbor to the southwest, began to exert influence within Anatolia, likely at the expense of Phrygian control. The incursion ofCyrus the Great and the Achaemenid Empire into Anatolia, beginning in 546 BCE, spelled the end of any Lydian control and of Phrygian autonomy at Gordion.
The most famous king of Phrygia wasMidas, who reigned during the Middle Phrygian period at Gordion. He was likely on the throne at Gordion byc. 740 BCE, based on the completion ofTumulus MM around that time. ContemporaryAssyrian sources dating betweenc. 718 and 709 BCE call himMit-ta-a. According to the Greek historianHerodotus, King Midas was the first foreigner to make an offering at the sanctuary of Delphi'sTemple of Apollo, dedicating the throne from which he gave judgment.[22] During his reign, according toStrabo, the nomadicCimmerians invaded Asia Minor, and in 710/709 BCE, Midas was forced to ask for help from the Assyrian kingSargon II. In Strabo's account, King Midas committed suicide by drinkingbull's blood when the Cimmerians overran the city.[23]
There are over one hundredtumuli in the vicinity of Gordion, dating from the 9th to the 6th centuries BCE. The largest of these burial mounds have traditionally been associated with kings, especially Tumulus MM. There are two main necropoleis, the Northeast Ridge and the South Ridge. Tumulus W at Gordion, dating toc. 850 BCE, is the earliest known at the site and the first known anywhere in Anatolia.[24] Tumuli are associated with inhumation burials at Gordion until the late 7th century, when cremation began at the site. The two traditions then coexisted through the 6th century BCE.
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Tumulus MM (for "Midas Mound"), the Great Tumulus, is the largest burial mound at Gordion, standing over fifty meters high today, with a diameter of about three hundred meters. It was builtc. 740 BCE,[11] and at that time was the largest tumulus in Anatolia, only surpassedc. 200 years later by theTumulus of Alyattes in Lydia. Tumulus MM was excavated in 1957 by Young's team, revealing the remains of the royal occupant, resting on purple and golden textiles in an open log coffin, surrounded by a vast array of magnificent objects. The burial goods included pottery and bronze vessels containing organic residues, bronze fibulae (ancient safety pins), leather belts with bronze attachments, and an extraordinary collection of carved and inlaidwooden furniture, exceptional for its state of preservation. The Tumulus MM funeral ceremony has been reconstructed, and scientists have determined that the guests at the banquet ate lamb or goat stew and drank a mixedfermented beverage.[25][26] Now generally assumed to be the tomb of Midas' fatherGordias, it was probably the first monumental project of Midas after his accession.[27]
Following the campaigns ofCyrus the Great in Anatolia in the 540s BCE, Gordion became part of theAchaemenid Persian Empire. There is extensive evidence for the Persian siege of 546 BCE at Gordion, mainly associated with the fort at Küçük Höyük. The Persian attackers built a large siege ramp to assault the fortress, still visible today. After its conquest, Gordion became part of the satrapy ofHellespontine Phrygia, which hadDaskyleion on theSea of Marmara, not Gordion, as its capital. Despite its relegation in status, Gordion initially continued to prosper under the Achaemenids, with tumulus burials and monumental buildings maintained through the 6th century. Around 500 BCE, a semi-subterranean structure, the Painted House, was added to the east side of the Citadel Mound. It featured a program of wall frescoes showing the procession of women. It is perhaps associated with cultic activity, although the nature of this is uncertain.[28]
The 4th century BCE at Gordion began with the combination of an earthquake and the attack of the Spartan kingAgesilaos. The subsequent century saw an absence of monumental buildings on the Citadel Mound, and, in fact, stone from many of the earlier structures was used for smaller buildings elsewhere around the site.
The advent ofAlexander in 333 BCE precipitated a major change at the site, with worship of Greek deities, inscriptions in Greek, and Greek pottery allreplacing their Phrygian predecessors at the site.[29] The middle of the 3rd century BCE saw the arrival of theGalatians, aCeltic people who first came to Anatolia as mercenaries hired byNicomedes I of Bithynia. The Galatians ultimately settled in Phrygia, including at Gordion. The settlement at Gordion during the Hellenistic period shows a distinctly residential character, with large houses built over the public buildings on the Citadel Mound and no evidence of habitation in the Lower or Outer Towns. In 189 BCE, the Roman consulGnaeus Manlius Vulso campaigned through Galatia, forcing the inhabitants of Gordion to temporarily abandon the site. Gordion was briefly reinhabited but abandoned again sometime during the 1st century BCE.
According to ancient tradition, in 333 BCEAlexander the Great cut (or otherwise unfastened) theGordian Knot: this intricate knot joined the yoke to the pole of a Phrygian wagon that stood on theacropolis of the city. The wagon was associated with Midas or Gordias (or both) and was connected with the dynasty's rise to power. A local prophecy had decreed that whoever could loosen the knot was destined to become the ruler of Asia.[30]
The Roman period at Gordion stretches from the 1st century CE through the 4th century, with a series of occupations and abandonments on the western part of the Citadel Mound.[31] The Roman road betweenAncyra andPessinus passed through Gordion, which may have been known as Vindia or Vinda at this time. The Roman buildings at Gordion were oriented to cardinal directions and built as part of a deliberate refoundation that included leveling the surface of the western part of the mound. The area of the Common Cemetery includes Roman burials from the 2nd to 4th centuries CE.
Evidence for the Medieval Period at Gordion is sparse but suggests habitation during the 13th and 14th centuries CE with at least some fortification.[32] Recent excavations have revealed lime-coated pits and ovens on the western side of the Citadel Mound, signalling food preparation and storage.[33]
Gordion lay along the front lines of the 1921Battle of the Sakarya, the turning point of theGreco-Turkish War of 1919–1922.[34] The Citadel Mound and several of the tumuli were used as defensive positions during the three weeks of fighting. The village of Bebi, located to the west of the Citadel Mound, was the main site of habitation in the area during the 19th and 20th centuries but was destroyed during the course of the battle. The modern village ofYassıhöyük was established in the aftermath of theTurkish War of Independence. It is part of thePolatlı district.[35]
The site was excavated byGustav Körte andAlfred Körte in 1900[36] and then by theUniversity of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, under the direction ofRodney S. Young, between 1950 and 1973.[37] Excavations have continued at the site under the auspices of the University of Pennsylvania Museum with an international team, directed by Keith DeVries (1977–1987), G. Kenneth Sams and Mary M. Voigt (1988–2006), G. Kenneth Sams andC. Brian Rose (2006–2012), and C. Brian Rose (2012–present). Finds from Gordion are on display at theMuseum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara, theIstanbul Archaeological Museums, and theGordion Museum, located in Yassıhöyük itself.
The Gordion Project renewed excavations in 2013, focusing on the southern fortifications and revealing a new approach and gateway to the Citadel Mound.[38] This new South Gate was originally constructed during the 9th century BC, broadly contemporaneous with the Early Phrygian phase of the East Citadel Gate. The South Gate approach saw further modification with bastions added in the 8th and 6th centuries, and the walled causeway leading to the gate ultimately reached over 65 m long, the longest known for a citadel gate in Anatolia. As elsewhere on the Citadel Mound, the Middle Phrygian phase of the South Gate made use of large polychromatic blocks. In 2017 a sculpted stone lion was discovered at the entrance to the South Gate.[39]
Since 2009, the project has undertaken a renewed program of architectural conservation on the Terrace Building Complex on the Citadel Mound, the large industrial quarter that burned in the Destruction Levelc. 800 BCE.[40] From 2014 to 2019, the architectural conservation team focused its efforts on restoring the South Bastion of the East Citadel Gate, affected by an earthquake in 1999. This project consolidated cracked stones, reinstalled them in the wall faces with stainless-steel supports, and addressed the drainage of the South Bastion through the repair of damaged masonry and the installation of a new capping support system.
Since 2007, another primary focus of the Gordion Project has been the exploration of the city's defensive fortifications beyond the Citadel Mound throughremote sensing.[41] The use ofmagnetometry,electrical resistivity tomography, andground-penetrating radar have allowed for a more complete reconstruction of the defense network and urban districts of the city during the Iron Age, providing evidence for a ditch and wall system surrounding the Outer Town to the west and confirming the existence of a second fort protecting the Lower Town at Kuş Tepe to the north.
The results of the excavations at Gordion are the subject of study for an international team of scholars, with ongoing research into all periods of the site's history.[42]
Gordion is mentioned in the following ancient sources: XenophonHellenica 1.4.1;Hellenica Oxyrhynchia 21.6; PlutarchLife of Alexander 18; Justin,History of the World 11.7; PolybiusHistories 21.37.1; LivyHistory of Rome 38.18; StraboGeography 12.5.3, 12.8.9; Pliny the ElderNatural History 5.42; ArrianAnabasis 1.29.1–2, 2.3.1; Suda omi.221; Stephanus of ByzantiumEthnica G211.1.[43]
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| Aegean | |
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| Black Sea | |
| Central Anatolia | |
| East Anatolia | |
| Marmara | |
| Mediterranean | |
| Southeastern Anatolia | |
| Multiple regions | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| Geographic | |
| Other | |
