[Gordium]. A city occupying the mound of Yasi Hüyük, 90 km west of Ankara in Turkey, capital of the Phrygian kingdom in the 8th century bc and sacked by Cimmerian nomads in 685 bc. Gordion occupied c8 hectares, surrounded by a massive mud-brick wall with a monumental gateway. The city was dominated by about ten important buildings built on the megaron plan and a palace complex. Outside the city gate was a cemetery of nearly 80 large tumuli, which have yielded a wealth of material of the 8th-6th centuries bc. The ‘Great Tumulus’ was c300 metres in diameter and c53 metres high; it covered a wooden chamber with a double-pitched roof and contained the extended burial of an old man lying on a bed. Some authorities identify the occupant as King Midas, who allegedly committed suicide when the Cimmerians attacked the city. The tomb also contained nine tables and two screens of wood, three bronze cauldrons, 166 other bronze vessels and 146 bronze fibulae [brooches]. Traces of linen and woollen textiles were found on the bed, and traces of purple cloth were also found on the throne in another rich tumulus, Tumulus P.
The Macmillan dictionary of archaeology, Ruth D. Whitehouse, 1983Copied