Midas city

Coordinates: 39 ° 12 ′ 2.8 ″  N , 30 ° 42 ′ 49.3 ″  E

Midas city​

Turkey

Midasstadt , Turkish Midas Şehir , also Midas Şehri , is next to Gordion one of the most important Phrygian ruins in the Anatolian highlands, around 50 kilometers northeast of Afyon and 30 kilometers south of Seyitgazi in the Turkish province of Eskişehir near today's village of Yazılıkaya. The so-called Midas monument was probably part of a cult site for the goddess Cybele . It is located on one wall of the high plateau, on the walls of which there are other, partly incomplete monuments. There are several cult facades of this type in the area around Afyon, for example Arslankaya and Maltaş . A second, unfinished facade and some altars can be found on the north wall. In addition to some sacrificial sites, there is also a so-called Midas throne with Phrygian inscriptions on the high plateau . Next to the Midas Monument there is a settlement mound from pre-Byzantine times, it has been used over the centuries as a living and shelter and a depository for grain as well as a burial place. There are several rock tombs in the area (see also Aslantaş and Yilantaş ).

In the east of the plateau, a so-called processional path leads past a Phrygian altar. On the path that leads down there, a series of reliefs has been carved into the rock. Ekrem Akurgal dates them to the late 8th century BC. BC and considers them to be Hittite , as he is of the opinion that at that time the Phrygians were not yet able to create larger sculptures and therefore transferred such tasks to Hittite sculptors. The first relief shows a bearded man with a round cap and a staff, reminiscent of the Assyrian style of the late Hittite reliefs. Next to it are two characters, a bird-like one and a cone, which he takes to be Luwian hieroglyphs . The other pictures show a man in a long coat, a lion man and several coat figures. The Scottish archaeologist William Mitchell Ramsay doubts that the characters are hieroglyphics. Other scientists think it is possible that at least the other reliefs were of Phrygian origin and thus emerged later.

The name Midas town is based on the last characters of the Phrygian inscription on the Midas monument, which can be identified as Midas . So far it has not been proven that the legendary King Midas was actually the ruler of this city on the high plateau.

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  Midas Monument

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  Phrygian inscription

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  Midasstadt: Unfinished facade

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  Byzantine settlement mound with dwelling caves, graves and stores

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  Altar on the high plateau with Cybele representation and inscription

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  Stairway from a cistern, which is now largely filled in.

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  Altar with possibly Hittite relief

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  Relief of a man with two characters, perhaps hieroglyphics

literature

• Emilie Haspels : La cité de Midas. Céramique et trouvailles miscellaneous . Paris 1951.
• Albert Gabriel : La cité de Midas. Topography: le site et les fouilles . Paris 1952.
• Albert Gabriel: La cité de Midas. Architecture . Paris 1965.
• Elke and Hans-Dieter Kaspar: Phrygia - A legendary kingdom in Anatolia . Hausen, 1990.
• Dietrich Berndt: Midasstadt in Phrygia. A legendary site in the Anatolian highlands . Mainz 2002. ( Antike Welt , special issue; Zabern's illustrated books on archeology ) ISBN 3-8053-2855-9
• Emilie Haspels: I am the Last of the Travelers. Midas City Excavation and Surveys in the Highlands of Phrygia, ed. by Dietrich Berndt. Arkeoloji ve Sanat, Istanbul 2009, ISBN 9786053960294 . 2nd edition, Istanbul 2012.

Web links

Commons : Midasstadt  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ekrem Akurgal: Phrygische Kunst , Ankara University 1955, pp. 67–68.
2. ↑ Eberhard P. Rossner: The Hittite rock reliefs in Turkey. An archaeological guide. 2nd expanded edition, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-924390-02-9 , pp. 53–56.