Gordion: a crossroads

Polatlэ may be considered a junction and has been so throughout the centuries, allowing people to travel in all directions. If colors were used to denote cities in Turkey, then Polatlэ would no doubt be assigned dark blue for the clouds hovering above the area at night look like a quilt of the deepest hue of blue. The clouds seem to joyfully celebrate weddings over the hills which at one time witnessed the death of heroes but life perpetually springs forth anew and a tiny green plant growing on a hill symbolizes the renewal of life. To reach the antique city of Gordion, one has to pass over the Sakarya River that was once personified by the ancient legendary god, Sangarios.

After climbing a small hill, the city presents itself with all its tarnished glory. Now, one arrives at the point where that ancient knot was cut by Alexander the Great which opened up all of Asia to him. A glance at the citadel recalls a scene, which occurred during ancient times. A king, who was originally from Lycia, defeated and sad, could not bear the destiny that had befallen his city. According to tradition, he had gulped down a glassful of bull’s blood as he walked towards the ramparts of the city. The Cimmerian soldiers were looking at him with great surprise. The war was over and the Phrygian soldiers who had survived were now members of an army who were doomed to death. Their proud king Midas kept his authoritarian appearance. The inhabitants of the razed city began to pay their last tribute to their king. Incidentally, there were many kings namedfor it is believed that Midas was a title used to denote a king. There was not even one golden coin left in the city but the inhabitants put many valuable items and grave goods into a room, which had been built above ground and had not been hollowed out from the earth.

According to the legend, the priests of Ma, carried King Midas into the room and put a wooden door on the tomb. Then making an artificial tumulus, each Phrygian threw barrels of earth on the wooden edifice. There is an ancient saying in Anatolia said of the dead, namely, “may there be plenty of soil for the deceased” and this saying perhaps is traced back to the building of artificial tumuli in various locations in Anatolia. Midas was loved so much that his subjects built a pyramid out of the earth, which literally reached the heavens. The vanquished king even in death seemed to be guarding his razed city from this tumulus.

It is interesting to note that recent scientific investigations have revealed that what we have just presented is but a legend for in reality King Midas was killed by a blow to the head while defending Gordion and fell off the ramparts. Recently, his cracked skull was taken to the forensic medicine department of a medical university in Ankara where magnetic resonance imaging was performed on it.

Excavations revealed that the palace at Gordion used kilims on the walls for insulation purposes. Today, the women of Anatolia perform special folk dances wearing costumes, the fabric of which has patterns reminiscent of Phrygian flat weaves. Scholars have noted that civilization may be considered a chain and what past civilizations have accomplished may come down throughout the ages by way of their graphic motifs and crafts. On those lands in the middle of Anatolia masters still produce decorative items and pottery from clay, which are fired in ovens. These earthenware vessels which were and are still used to store cereals, olives and beverages may be traced back millennia in Anatolia and may be considered Turkey’s legacy. Almost all of these vessels are decorated with the motifs of their respective regions. Roofs made of sun-dried clay and pipes to collect rainwater channeling it away from the structure go back quite far in Anatolian history. Kybele, the mother goddess of Anatolia was responsible for the abundance of the earth and was the chief deity at one time in central Anatolia. She was indeed the Phrygian mother goddess.

While wandering through Gordion one feels the sense of history associated with the area. The sherds of pottery that are seen were dropped there millenia ago by some Phrygian women. The Phrygian master potters created a unique type of ceramic vessel. Some were shaped like a goose while others like a bullhorn. They were purchased by travellers to take to their home regions. Wine receptacles in the shape of bull’s horns were so sought after that travellers in caravans would purchase loads of them to transport to their countries.

On the other side of the river in Gordion, there is a relief of a god which looks as if it might be of Hittite origin. Actually, it is a depiction of the Phrygian sun god, Attis, who was the lover of Kybele. He castrated himself when Kybele made him mad because he wished to marry a young Phrygian princess. According to legend, his blood gave rise to violets, which color the fields of Anatolia during spring. This interesting frieze illustrates the syncretism existing between the Hittite and Phrygian belief systems.

They say that history repeats itself, and this can also be applied to items that man has fashioned for there is always a prototype and if we literally dig back into history we can find many examples to support this statement. Examining a tumulus in Gordion revealed furniture used by a child. Other wooden furniture found in the other tumuli in Gordion have such significant designs that one would believe that they were designed today. The workmanship is of extraordinary quality and the designs are at home in a modern room so much so as if having been conceived and fashioned in modern times.

Gordion is situated on a low flat mound called Yassihoyuk, on the east bank of the Sakarya (Sangarios) river, north of its confluence with the Porsuk (Tembris). The site was first investigated by the Korte brothers in 1900, and from 1950 Was excavated by the Pennsylvania University Museum Expedition under the directorship of Rodney Young, until his tragic death in 1974. Since then, the expedition has been led by Kenneth Sams and Mary Voigt

The name of the city is clearly related to the name Gordios, the first king of the Phrygians, but the relationship has not been conclusively explained. Whether the king gave his name to the city, or his own name was invented from the city's name, will perhaps never be known. The name Midas, son of Gordios, is also controversial and may be a generic name for 'king' rather than referring to a specific king or kings.

The site is a strongly fortified citadel, with a monumental gateway 9 m. wide and 23 m. deep, approached by a passageway and ramp designed to discourage attackers, who would be at the mercy of defenders placed strategicdly on the walls above. The focal point of the citadel was a royal palace within a separate enclosure system. The buildings were constructed on the megaron plan, which is characterized by a large inner room, fronted by a porch or anteroom roughly half the length of the main room. There was usuafly a hearth in either the main room or the porch, and sometimes in both. That the megaron roofs were gabled is indicated by the pitched roof of the Great Tumulus (MM) and graffiti drawn on the walls of one of the megara, Megaron II. The archaeological evidence for the construction of the roofs, timber beams covered by reeds and clay, was excavated in the bumt destruction levels. The doodling on the walls of Megaron II includes human figures, animals and birds, and agricultural implements, as well as the gabled houses.

This megaron also provides an early example of a polychrome pebble mosaic, the dark blue, dark red and white pebbles creating a series of scattered geometric designs. Geometric motifs were also favoured for Phrygian painted pottery of the 8th century. The large Megaron III, immediately to the west of Megaron II, was divided internally into a nave and two aisles and seems to have had a wooden gallery mnning around the rear wall and the two side walls. The contents of this building were preserved by the conflagration dated to the early 7th century, and include fragments of carved wooden furniture with ivory inlay, bronze and ceramic vessels, and traces of burnt textiles, the implied luxury suggesting that this was the residence of the Phrygian king, or of some other royal or aristocratic personage.

The so called Terrace Building is on a terrace to the south, and comprises eight contiguous megara, all apparently with wooden gafleries as in Megaron III. The importance of the megara of the Terrace Building is the evidence they provide for domestic activities connected with the palace complex, finds of burnt wheat and barley, domestic cooking pots, grinding stones, loom weights, and ovens and hearths in the outer rooms, testifying overall to operations relating to grinding, baking, cooking and weaving, and use as storage rooms. In two of the rooms were carved ivory horse-trappings, bronze animal figurines, large bronze vessels, and gold and electrum jewellery.

The cemetery, to the northeast and southeast of the mound, is represented by over 80 tumuli, dating from the Phrygian to the Galatian periods (8th to 1st centuries BC). The largest of these (Tumulus MM, or the Great Tumulus) is believed to represent the tomb of King Midas.
The objets from the tumulus burials, which were excavated intact, and those items which were retrieved from the burned remains of the palace megara, demonstrate that Phrygian art of the 8th and early 7th century reflects a combination of traditions, including influences from the East (Urartu, Assyria, Iran, North Syria and Phoenicia) and from Greece, perhaps via the East Greek cities, which in turn were receptive to Phrygian ideas. Most striking, however, is an innovative style in which can also be detected a mastery of the art of metalworking on a par with that of their Urartian neighbours.

Дата добавления: 2015-10-29