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“Gordion Through Lydian Eyes,” the title proposed by Brian Rose for this chapter,1 recalls the brilliant conceit of Walter Andrae, in his book Das Wiedererstandene Assur (1977), to introduce the Assyrian city through an imagined visit in the early 7th century BC by a traveler from Greek Ionia, who has guidance from Assyrian friends.2 A Lydian from Sardis arriving at Gordion towards the middle of the 6th century BC (after ten days of upland travel) would have found a landscape broadly similar to that of his homeland, with river valley and mountains. Today, the Sakarya (ancient Sangarios) River valley is less cultivated and the surrounding mountains at Gordion more barren, respectively, than the Hermos River Valley and Tmolos mountain range at Sardis; but in antiquity, the two landscapes may have been more comparable in those respects. Mountains at Gordion, however, are farther away from the city than Mt. Tmolos, which looms over Sardis; in addition, the Gordion landscape with its elevation some 600 m higher than that of Sardis would have had much colder winters, and its plant community would have been distinctly different , lacking that great staple of lower Mediterranean lands, the olive.3 The remoteness of the surrounding mountains at Gordion might have reassured less-advantaged Lydians of Sardis, where the proximity of Mt. Tmolos (Fig. 18.1) included the threat of its predatory and destructive animals—leopard, hyena (Fig. 18.2a, b), and pig. For the Lydian visitor who belonged to a privileged class, however, nearby mountains were welcome. With his horse and retainers, he could enjoy the challenges of hunting dangerous animals, as well as fleet-footed deer and elusive wild goat in their habitat (Fig. 18.3); and with gracious permission of his majesty, he was occasionally allowed to cut timber in the mountain forest preserves of Taranza. Furthermore , his three strong sons all belonged to his majesty’s cavalry, and their horses had been superbly trained (even in “above the ground” exercises like the levade, courbette, capriole, etc., of modern times), largely because they had been raised in the exclusive highland pastures of nearby Mt. Tmolos.4 “Come back another time and hunt with us,” said his Phrygian host. “Deer we also have in plenty, likewise wild goat, who control our forest growth too well; and, beneath our glorious canopy of heaven even the timorous hare makes joyous hunting—with the help of our trained falcons (Fig. 18.4). As for mountain predators, they live far from the city, to be sure; but nearby river swamps are a haven of troublesome pig, and our vast surrounding plains bring us wolves, which in winter are a constant menace.5 Outside Gordion, as at Sardis, final resting places of local greats and their families were marked by artificial hills; they were distributed, however, in several parts of the surrounding land, not displayed together in a distant but prominent ridge opposite the city, like the burial hills of Lydian greats near Sardis. Gordion hills lacked the stone curb walls (crepides) at their bases and the “phallic” markers on their summits, which were characteristic of burial hills at Sardis, as in parts of the East Greek world. “The small burial hills show that Phrygian lesser gentry have begun to ape their betters, as Lydian upstarts at Sardis continually agitate for permission to do,” said the Lydian (Fig. 18.5). “Ours have done that here for countless generations,” replied his Phrygian host.6 18 Gordion Through Lydian Eyes Crawford H. Greenewalt, Jr. 260 THE arCHaEoLoGy of pHryGIan GordIon, royaL CITy of MIdas The biggest burial hill at Gordion, which commemorated the most illustrious of past greats at Gordion, was much higher than any of the others. At Sardis, two burial hills were even larger, including one recently built to commemorate his late majesty, Alyattes, father of the reigning monarch (Fig. 18.6). On the other hand, some of the Phrygian hills were far more venerable, older by eight-to-nine generations than the earliest at Sardis.7 Nearing the city, our Lydian visitor admired its outer defenses: with high walls (standing 14 m or about 46 feet high), regularly spaced bastions, and, at strategic locations along the fortification line, several ‘podium forts’ that rose even higher (one with a building that rose four stories above the chemin de ronde). At Sardis, the city wall had few towers, but was at least as high, and much thicker (20 m or nearly 65 feet thick at its base). One...

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