Gordium - Clickable Map of the Roman Empire - First Century AD

Gordium
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Ancient Gordium Ancient capital city of Phrygia which was located on the Sangarius River. Gordium was the place where it is said that Alexander the Great cut the Gordian knot during the winter of 334 BC.

Gordium (Γόρδιον, also Γορδίειον). The ancient capital of Phrygia, situated on the Sangarius; the royal residence of the kings of the dynasty of Gordius, and the scene of Alexander's celebrated exploit of cutting the Gordian knot. See Gordius. - Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. New York. Harper and Brothers.

Gordium  GO�RDIUM
GO�RDIUM (Γόρσιον), a town of Bithynia, a little to the north of the river Sangarius, was in later times called Juliopolis. This city must have been of considerable antiquity, having been the residence of the ancient Phrygian kings; but in the time of Strabo (xii. p.568) it had sunk to the condition of a mere village it appears, however, that it was rebuilt and enlarged in the time of Augustus under the name of Juliopolis, and thenceforth it continued to flourish for several centuries. (Strab. l.c. p. 574; Plb. 22.20; Liv. 38.18; Plin. Nat. 5.42; Ptol. 5.1.14.) In the time of Justinian it had suffered from the inundations of the river Scopas, and was therefore repaired by that emperor. (Procop. de Aed. 5.4.) Gordium is celebrated in history as the scene of Alexander's cutting the famous Gordian knot. This adventure took place in the acropolis of the town, which had been the palace of king Gordius. (Arrian, Anab. i 29, 2.3; Q. Curt. 3.1, 12; Justin, 11.7.)  - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, William Smith, LLD, Ed. 

Gordium (Greek: Γόρδιον, G�rdion; Turkish: Gordiyon) was the capital city of ancient Phrygia. It was located at the site of modern Yassıh�y�k, about 70�80 km southwest of Ankara (capital of Turkey), in the immediate vicinity of Polatlı district.

Gordium lies where the ancient road between Lydia and Assyria/Babylonia crossed the Sangarius river.

In the twelfth century BCE, Gordium appears to have been settled by Thracians who had migrated from southeastern Europe. During the ninth and eighth centuries, the city grew to be the capital of a kingdom that controlled much of Asia Minor west of the river Halys. The kings of Phrygia built large tombs near Gordium called tumuli, which consist of artificial mounds constructed over burial chambers. There are about one hundred of them, and many of the chambers were wooden. In the 8th century, the lower city and the area to the north of the citadel was surrounded by a fortification circuit wall with regularly spaced towers.

The most famous king of Phrygia was the quasi-legendary Midas. Contemporary Assyrian sources dating at least 717 to 709 BCE call him Mit-ta-a. During his reign, according to Strabo, a nomadic tribe called Cimmerians invaded Asia Minor, and in 710/709, Midas was forced to ask for help from the Assyrian king Sargon II.

There are traces of destruction at Gordium. Archaeologists at first interpreted the destruction level as the remains of a Cimmerian attack, circa 700 BCE. The traces were later reinterpreted as dating to circa 800 BCE, on the basis of archaeology (the style of the pottery and artifacts discovered in the destruction level), dendrochronology, and radiocarbon.[1] If this reinterpretation is right, then the otherwise-unrecorded destruction would seem to have been caused by a conflagration, and not by a Cimmerian attack. The archaeological reinterpretation, though, is debated.[2][3] Also, the correct radiocarbon date seems to have a wide range that is consistent with both proposed archaeological dates.[4]

The so-called "mound of Midas", the Great Tumulus, is near Gordium. When excavated, a man's corpse was found. The man may have been the famous king's father.

During the winter of 334 BCE, Alexander the Great traditionally cut the Gordian Knot in the temple. - Wikipedia