The site of Gordion is 70 km southwest of Ankara, in Central Anatolia. The Main Settlement Mound lies on the Sakarya river (Classical Sangarios, Hittite Sahiriya), in the village territory of Yassıhöyük. The site has a long history of occupation, extending from the Early Bronze Age (3rd millennium BCE) into the Medieval period (12th to 13th centuries CE). Yet Gordion is best known for having been the political and cultural capital of Phrygia and the Phrygians, a southeast European people who probably first arrived at the site in the 12th century BCE, after the collapse of the Hittite Empire. The Phrygian cultural presence continues to be strong going well into the 4th century BCE, until the conquests of Alexander the Great, who came to Gordion in 333. It is, in fact, the later Historians of Alexander who link the site with King Midas and relate the famous episode of the Gordian Knot.
Date of Submission: 13/04/2012
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