850 P H R Y G I A traced in Asia Minor an ancient road-system, to which belongs the "royal roa d" from Sardis to the Persian capital, Susa (Herod., v. 5f>). The royal road followed a route so difficult and circuitous that it is quite unintelli gible as the direct path from any centre in Persia, Assyria, or Syria to the west of Asia Minor. It can be understood only by reference to an imperial centre far in the north. The old trade-route from Cappadocia to Sinope, which had passed out of use centuries before the time of Strabo (pp. 540, 546), fixes this centre with precision. It must be far enough west to explain why trade tended to the distant Sinope, 1 hardly accessible behind lofty and rugged mountains, and not to Amisus by the short and easy route which was used in the Grseco-Roman period. This road- system, then, points distinctly to a centre in northern Cappa docia near the Halys. Here must have stood the capital of some great empire connected with its extremities, Sardis or Ephesus on the west, Sinope on the north, the Cilician Gates on the south, by roads so well made as to continue in use for a long time after the centre of power had changed to Assyria, and the old road-system had become circuitous and unsuitable. 2 The precise spot on which the city stood is marked by the great ruins of Boghaz Keui, probably the ancient Pteria, of which the wide circuit, powerful walls, and wonderful rock-sculptures make the site indis putably the most remarkable in Asia Minor. The ancient road from Pteria to Sardis crossed the upper Sangarius valley, and its course may be traced by the monuments of this early period. 3 Close to its track, on a lofty plateau which overhangs the Phrygian monu ment inscribed with the name of "Midas the King," is a great city, inferior indeed to Pteria in extent, but sur rounded by rock-sculptures quite as remarkable as those of the Cappadocian city. The plateau is between 2 and 3 miles in circumference, and presents on all sides a per pendicular face of rock 50 to 200 feet in height. In part, at least, this natural defence was crowned by a wall built of large squared stones. 4 This city was evidently the centre of the old Phrygian kingdom of the Sangarius valley, but at least one of the monuments in it seems to belong to the older period of Cappadocian supremacy, and to prove that the city already existed in that earlier time. 5 The Phrygian kingdom and art therefore took the place of an older civilization. It is as yet impossible to determine the relation in which the Phrygians stood to the ruling race of that older period, whether they came in from the north-west, or whether they were a primitive people taught, and for a time ruled, by foreigners from Cappadocia, but at last expelling their teachers. It is probable that the tradition of battles between the Phrygians and the Amazons on the banks of the Sangarius preserves the memory of a struggle between the two races. 6 Of the monuments that exist around this city two classes may be confidently referred to the period of Phrygian greatness. That which is inscribed with the name of "Midas the King" is the most remarkable example of one class, in which a large perpendicular surface of rock 1 Sinope was made a Greek colony in 751 B.C., but it is said to have existed long before that time. 2 When the Persians- conquered Lydia they retained, at least for a time, this route, which they found in existence, and the royal messengers went first across the Halys to Pteria, and then by the road across Cappadocia to the Cilician Gates. 1 See a paper on " The Early Historical Relations between Phrygia and Cappadocia," in Journ. Roy. As. 8oc., 1883. 4 The small fortress Pishmish Kalessi is a miniature of the great city beside it; see Perrot, Explor. Archtol., p. 169 and pi. viii. A large tumulus exists in this district between Bei Keui and Ak Euren, from which one large stone, with an inscription in the usual Cappadocian hieroglyphics, has already been dug. 6 Abel (I.e. ) identifies these two races, and makes the city at Boghaz Keui a Phrygian city. is covered with a geometrical pattern of squares, crosses, and mueanders, surmounted by a pediment supported in the centre by a pilaster in low relief. In some cases a floral pattern occupies part of the surface, and in one case the two sides of the pediment are filled by two sphinxes of extremely archaic type. 7 In some of these monuments a doorway is carved in the lower part ; the door is usually closed, but in one case, viz., the sphinx monument just alluded to, the valves of the door are thrown wide open and give access to a little chamber, on the back of which is sculptured in relief a rude image of the Mother-goddess Cybele, having on each side of her a lion which rests its forepaws on her shoulder and places its head against hers. Sometimes a grave has been found hidden behind the carved front ; in other cases no grave can be detected, but it is probable that they are all sepulchral. 8 The imitation of wood -work is obvious on several monuments of this kind. The second class is marked by the heraldic type of two animals, usually lions rampant, facing one another, but divided by a pillar or some other device. This type is occasionally found conjoined with the preceding ; and various details common to both classes show that there was no great difference in time between them. The heraldic type is used on the monuments which appear to be the older, and the geometrical pattern is often employed on the inscribed monuments, which are obviously later than the uninscribed. Monuments of this class are carved on the front of a sepulchral chamber, the entrance to which is a small doorway placed high and inaccessible in the rocks. Early Phrygian art stands in close relationship with the art of Cappadocia, but has such individuality, such freedom from conventionality, such power of varying and combining types learned from other peoples, as to show that the Phrygians possessed high artistic faculty very similar in character to the Greek. The monuments of the type of the Midas tomb are obviously imitated from patterns employed in cloth and carpets. Such patterns were used in Cappadocia, and the priest in the rock- sculpture at Ibriz wears an embroidered robe strikingly similar in style to the pattern on the Midas tomb; but the idea of using the pattern as the Phrygians did seems peculiar to themselves. The heraldic type of the second class is found also in the art of Assyria, and was undoubt edly adopted by the Phrygians from earlier art ; but it is used so frequently in Phrygia as to be specially character istic of that country. 9 While Phrygian art is distinctly non-Oriental in spirit, its resemblance to archaic Greek art is a fact of the greatest importance. It is not merely that certain types are employed both in Phrygia and in Greece, but most of the favourite types in early Greek art can be traced in Phrygia, employed in similar spirit and for similar purposes. The heraldic type of the two lions is the device over the principal gateway of Mycenae, and stamps this, the oldest great monument on Greek soil, with a distinctly Phrygian character. Mycenaa was the city of the Pelo- pidse, whom Greek tradition unhesitatingly declares to be Phrygian immigrants. A study of the topography of the Argive plain leads to the conclusion that Mycenae, Midea, and Tiryns form a group of cities founded by an immi grant people in opposition to Argos, the natural capital of the plain and the stronghold of the native race. Midea
- Published in Journ. Hell. Stud., 1884.
8 The monuments of Phrygia fall into two groups, which probably mark the sites of two cities about 16 miles distant from each other. One group lies round the villages of Kumbet, Yapuldak, and Bakshish j the other beside Liyen, Bei Keui, Demirli, and Ayazin. n The heraldic type continues on gravestones down to the latest period of paganism. Carpets with geometrical patterns of the Midas- tomb style are occasionally found at the present time in the houses of the peasantry of the district.
