An overview of research on Phrygian from the nineteenth century to the present day

Abstract

Contrary to what the title of the paper implies, the author does not limit himself to the presentation of the current state of research on Phrygian, but also provides his own interpretations and evaluations in many places. The very extensive list of references attached will certainly prove to be useful to the reader interested in the subject analysed.On hearing the word 'Phrygian' most people I come across tend to look blank until I remind them of Phrygian stories and personages that seem to be part of our European cultural inheritance, such as King Midas of the golden touch or Alexander the Great cutting the Gordian knot at the Phrygian capital Gordion. Literateurs will of course associate Phrygian with Helen of Troy and her lover Paris Alexander. Classicists will undoubtedly remember Herodotus' story about the twins who were reared without language and one morning clamoured for bekos, the Phrygian word for 'bread.' It seems to be generally agreed that the Phrygians came to Asia Minor from the Balkans, where they were known by names like Brikes, Brugoi, etc., and they arrived at Gordion (about 100 k SW of Ankara on the ancient Sangarios river, now called the Sakarya) about the time of the Hittite collapse, i.e. about 1200 BCE. At the height of their power in the 8 th century they occupied a sizable chunk of what is now modern Turkey. Their inscriptions are thought to date from the late 8 th century BCE and continue down to the fourth century by which time their political power was on the wane. The language of these inscriptions, 50 odd on stone and some 200 on pottery and other small items, is termed Old or Paleo-Phrygian (OPhr.). They are written essentially in an adaptation of a form  A lecture given at a meeting organized by the editorial staff of Studia Etymologica

Regionalized autosomal STR profiles among Armenian groups suggest disparate genetic influences

“…Alternatively, and perhaps more likely, these signals may represent remnants of ancient Greek or Balkan Phrygian influence during the Iron Age. While the absolute correlation of the European signals in Lake Van to Phrygian influences is, at this point, unclear, such an association is particularly fascinating as several authors have proposed that these tribes represent substantial contributors to the source population of the Armenian ethnicity (Diakonoff,1984; Woodhouse,2010).…”

Phrygi̇a Şapkasinin Türki̇ye’den Kolombi̇ya’ya Yolculuğu/El Vi̇aje Del Gorro Fri̇gi̇o Desde Turquía Hasta Colombi̇A

“…En los años 1200 a.C., en la época que sigue la caída de la civilización Hitita, los Frigios, después de atravesar los Estrechos que separan los Balcanes y el Asia Menor, se instalaron en Anatolia occidental y establecieron su capital en la ciudad de Gordon a unos 100 kilómetros en el suroeste de la actual capital turca Ankara (Ilustración 2). En el siglo 8 a.C., bajo el reinado de Midas, los frigios se volvieron un poder importante (Bogh, 2007;Woodhouse, 2009;Bahar, 2011 [271] nombre usado por los griegos (Salzman, 198;Bogh, 2007). Cibeles, poseedora de un atributo universal, es la diosa de la vida y de la fecundidad presente en la naturaleza.…”