Resizing Phrygia: Migration, State and Kingdom

Abstract This paper considers the concept of Phrygia, its origins at the cusp of the Early Iron Age, the beginning of the process of state formation marking the start of the Middle Iron Age and the possible development of a large unified kingdom under Midas son of Gordias. Secondly, the paper turns to consider the aftermath of the Phrygian state following the death of Midas and the period of Lydian hegemony together with the establishment of a new Phrygian petty kingdom east of the Kızılırmak (the Red River, the classical Halys River) in the first half of the 6th century BCE. In order to assess the extent of the territory of Phrygia, it has been necessary to consider evidence for neighbouring polities, particularly the Neo-Hittite kingdoms to the south and ‘Cappadocia’ to the southeast and east. Two maps graphically illustrate the principal suggestions.