Gordion
Gordion was the capital city of ancient Phrygia. It was located at the site of modern Yassıhüyük, about southwest of Ankara, in the immediate vicinity of Polatlı district. Gordion's location at the confluence of the Sakarya and Porsuk rivers gave it a strategic location with control over fertile land. Gordion lies where the ancient road between Lydia and Assyria/Babylonia crossed the Sangarius river. Occupation at the site is attested from the Early Bronze Age continuously until the 4th century CE and again in the 13th and 14th centuries CE. 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 the type site of Phrygian civilization, and its well-preserved destruction level of is a chronological linchpin in the region. The long tradition of tumuli at the site is an important record of elite monumentality and burial practice during the Iron Age.
In 2023, Gordion was listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Name
The Ancient Greek Górdion comes from Phrygian ?????? ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰórdʰ-os. The English placename Gordion comes from the Ancient Greek.History of occupation
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.| 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 |
Bronze Age
Gordion was inhabited from at least the Early Bronze Age, By the end of this period it displayed ceramic commonalities with communities as far west as the Troad and as far east as Cilicia.During the Middle Bronze Age, Gordion came under the influence of the Hittites, 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.
Late Bronze Age Gordion was part of the Hittite Empire and located at the western edge of its heartland.
Early Iron Age
There is a cultural change at Gordion in the Early Iron Age, with distinct differences from the Late Bronze Age in regard to architecture and ceramics. Ceramic and linguistic links with southeastern Europe point to an influx of Balkan migrants at this time, possibly the Brygians.Early Phrygian period
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,, 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 several megaron-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. 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 to 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.Early Phrygian Destruction Level
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 an Iron 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.Archaeologists at first interpreted the Destruction Level as the remains of a Cimmerian attack,, an event referred to much later by Strabo and Eusebius as resulting in the death of [|King 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 of radiocarbon 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 of [|Tumulus MM] at based on dendrochronology; the comparison of Destruction Level objects with those in Tumulus MM and other independently dated assemblages in the [|Gordion 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,
Initial criticism of the radiocarbon analysis focused on the preliminary publication of five samples 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 range –795 BCE, most likely between 830/815 and 810/800 BCE, and were in no way compatible with a date, even with extreme adjustments to the outliers within the data. 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 of for the Early Phrygian Destruction Level has been widely accepted by scholars working throughout Central Anatolia, with objections voiced only by Muscarella and Keenan.