Phrygia
Phrygia was a province of western Asia Minor, colonized by a distinct people who moved into the area before about 1200 BC. Legendary Phrygian kings include Gordias, whose Gordion knot was later cut by Alexander, Midas, whose touch turned objects into gold. The kingdom finally became parts of the Roman province of Asia and Galatia in 133BC. The notable feature of Phrygian civilization is the cult centres or temple sites, places for worship of Cybele, the mother goddess. The area of Phrygia was once subjected to tufa deposits from a volcano – therefore the surface rock is soft and has rolling contours, through which volcanic outcrops protrude. Many of these were carved into altars and other monuments – the most famous being ‘Midas’ city at the centre of the Phrygian Way. Beautiful pottery and tiles were produced and furniture made to the highest standards has been preserved in tumulus graves. With hot summers and cold winters, Phrygia has a continental climate. Olives and soft fruits do not grow here and the mainstays are animal grazing and barley. Pines grow in the river valleys.
Road Construction
Land transport was comparatively easy in Phrygia. The gently undulating ground permitted the use of wheeled carts and the soft tufa required no special construction to form roads. Iron production, pioneered by the Hittites, enabled the production of metal-rimmed wheels and thus strong but slow-moving ox-carts became the chief means of bulk transport. In many places, the roads form a jumbled network of overlying tracks. This makes it difficult to pinpoint the start and end of each road and to trace its course. With the lack of deep streams and rivers, other than the Sangarios, bridges were not required.
Iron and bronze goods, first produced in eastern Turkey by the Hittite and Urartian civilisations, were found both in tumuli in Phrygia and further west as far as the Aegean coasts and in Greece. From the 1st C BC, a specific purple-veined marble (marmor synnadicum) from mines in southern Phrygia (20km NE of Afyon) was transported as far as Rome. Clay from the Sangarius river was used for house tiles and pottery.
The Road Network of Phrygia
Since the roads were not initially constructed and the various tracks have not been mapped, we can only assume that they ran between the main settlements. The course of the Persian Royal Road bisects the Phrygian area, with its course given by Herodotes (although under dispute). It can be seen in one or two places heading towards Mulk, Gordium and Ancyra.
The Phrygian road network interfaced with the Via Sebaste in the south (for Perge and Attaleia) and with the ‘Pilgrim Road’ of the north (Nicomedia – Ancyra) as well as the Royal Road.
