Gordion

Gordion, also known as Gordium, is the ancient Phrygian city that served as the capital of the Phrygian Kingdom in the first millennium BCE. It is located near the modern village of Yassıhöyük in the Polatlı district of Ankara Province, Turkey. The name Gordium is Greek; the Phrygians likely used a different local designation.

The site shows long-term occupation from the late Bronze Age onward, with a prominent royal core dating to the 8th–6th centuries BCE. Archaeological remains include a Phrygian palace complex, a monumental gate, and substantial defensive walls, indicating Gordion’s role as a major urban and political center in Phrygia. A large royal burial mound, known as the Midas Tumulus, is one of the site’s best-known features and is widely associated with the legendary king Midas; excavations have yielded wooden architecture, grave goods, and evidence for sophisticated funerary practices.

Gordion is also famous for the Gordian Knot story. According to later tradition, a complex knot tied to a wagon in the royal precinct was to be untied by the one who would rule Asia; Alexander the Great is said to have solved the problem by slicing the knot, a narrative that contributed to the site’s renown in classical sources and later lore.

Ongoing fieldwork and research at Gordion continue to illuminate Phrygian urbanism, state organization, and intercultural connections in ancient Anatolia.