The meaning of Alexander and the Gordian knot is that to rule Asia you have to use the sword instead of trying to disentangle all of the political intricacies of tribal allegiance.

The Ancient Greeks had already noticed since Antiquity that from all languages, Phrygian shares most of its features with Greek, which is regarded its closest relative.

Alexander's creative solution to the gordion knott was probably The model for Capt. Kirk's success with the No-Win Kobyashi Maru scenario.

Phrygian ethno-linguistic homogeneity is debatable. Ancient Greek authors used "Phrygian" as an umbrella term to describe a vast ethno-cultural complex located mainly in the central areas of Anatolia rather than a name of a single "tribe" or "people".[4] Plato observed that some Phrygian words resembled Greek ones. These features betray very close prehistoric ties between the two languages, Phrygian and Greek, as well as the fact that they belong, no doubt, to the same dialectal subgroup of early Indo-European (Greco-Phrygian)

When the Greeks named Asia, they were referring to what we now call Asia Minor. They didn’t know then about the extent of what we now call Asia

Those that know their music theory would know that one of the modes of ancient music was the "Phrygian mode" which referred to more warlike sounds while the Lydian mode was associated with less military matters like having fun at parties etc.

Buddy I watch your videos all the time... I was trying to figure out how someone could know so much about near eastern civilizations and then I read you're actually a history professor! Thanks and keep up the good work.

Knew this one was coming after the Luwians and Lycians... Phrygia, the land of King Midas. Thanks for another phenomenal video!

The Phrygian language, which died out in the 6th century AD, belonged to the Indo-European group of languages. It was closely related to Greek, as can be seen from 80 ancient Phrygian inscriptions (7th-4th centuries BC), written in a script rather like Greek and over 110 neo-Phrygian writings in Greek from Roman times.

The odds are that Midas titulature in inscription M-01a, “Midai lawagtaei wanaktei” - ' Midas leader (of the people) and king', where appear two functions that are also found in the Mycenaean Greek documents (lawagetas and wanax), does not correspond to Greek borrowings, but rather reflects the existence of a common heritage.

It is summary of phrygian history. There is a little bit more of what you have sad. Pteria is being excavated now. Hopefully we will hear more on phrygians beyond Hallys. You do a great job by shedding light and interests on times after the late bronze age collapse in anatolia. Much love from Phrygia.

Honestly beautiful editing! I can tell you love what you do and that’s worth more than gold. I love history.

You deserve many more subscribers for telling the history of the near east alot of people think we are just idiot's with bombs but you know our history

Recently found this channel, I’ve found all the videos I’ve seen so far to be incredible! Keep up the good work

I discovered your channel two days ago, and I really like your detail on things and how concise you are. Great job, old chap. Sub.

Very comprehensive as always. I have read that many of the Greek gods have Phrygian roots.

Men and Gods a book about Greek Literature had fantastic stories and i think many people know the story of King Midas

excellent and once again thank you for your devotion to history!

Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God! History with Cy!!!

Very well explained! Great video

Love your podcasts!

Excellent as usual. I know I am pushing it. However what about the last Eilamite episode? Keep the good work. Proud of you

What I love so much about myths from these ancient times is how they are constructed to explain a natural phenomenon. Beautiful stuff P.S. All fear Cimmerian nukes! Would be amazing if you could do an episode on them, just saying :)

Once again, another great episode !

I love your videos so much!

Nice, love me some Phrygia! Love the topics you select Cy, another great video.

Alexander's "shortcut" of the Gordian Knot resulted in his domination of Asia to be cut short.

Maybe this could be part of a series on the civilizations the musical modes are named after: Phrygia, Lydia, Ionia . . . haha! Just kidding. Love your videos, Cy! I visited Tel Maresha in Israel several times and felt like I once lived there in the 3rd century BCE. It felt like home to me. Maybe you could do presentations of various parts of the Hellenistic world, Hellenistic Egypt, Hellenistic Palestine, etc. Just an idea.

Fantastico, come sempre! Tanti COMPLIMENTI!

Nice, informative documentaries, many thanks.

Thanks alot for this one-I always assumed Phrygians were simply a Greek colony, but them being Hellenized gradually makes them a lot more interesting in my eye. I always am fascinated by these ancient cultures that are extinct and that we know little about-the original Phrygian culture, the Iberians, the Etruscans, etc. Fun fact: the Ancient Greeks called one of their musical modes the Phrygian mode; they deemed it adventurous and exotic, and so called it after this city in Asia Minor, at the gates of the "rest of the world" and the unkown. I suppose the persistence of this distinct cultural identity played a hand in calling this "adventurous and exotic" scale Phrygian.

Keep up the good work man, love your videos from Ethiopia

I thought King Midas was Lydian, but thank you for clarifying

The Phrygian language (/ˈfrɪdʒiən/) was the Indo-European language of the Phrygians, spoken in Anatolia , during classical antiquity (c. 8th century BC to 5th century AD). Phrygian ethno-linguistic homogeneity is debatable. Ancient Greek authors used "Phrygian" as an umbrella term to describe a vast ethno-cultural complex located mainly in the central areas of Anatolia rather than a name of a single "tribe" or "people". Plato observed that some Phrygian words resembled Greek ones. Because of the fragmentary evidence of Phrygian, its exact position within the Indo-European language family is uncertain. Phrygian shares important features with Greek and Armenian. Evidence of a Thraco-Armenian separation from Phrygian and other Paleo-Balkan languages at an early stage, Phrygian's classification as a centum language, and the high frequency of phonetic, morphological, and lexical isoglosses shared with Greek, have led to a current consensus which regards Greek as the closest relative of Phrygian

Thanks for this great video! I've been waiting for a video that covers the Phrygians for quite some time. I do wanna say however that the destruction level at Gordion ca. 800 BCE is no longer associated with the Cimmerians. Instead, the widely held view by academics today is that it was likely an accidental fire that went out of control which explains why no human victims (I say human because sadly there were animal victims lol) found associated with this level of destruction. It is worth noting that the citadel was almost immediately rebuilt to be even more monumental than it was before which does seem to suggest that Phrygia, or its capital Gordion at least, was at its height around the time of the destruction. That does go against the accounts of ancient historians such as Strabo and Eusebius but they weren't contemporaries anyway, so it's highly likely that their accounts weren't historically accurate (which wouldn't be a first).

Interesting story of Midas, great video

Love this !

Who dislikes these videos? Seriously.....

Another great episode, glad this time you put something onf Phrygians, they were mysterious people for sure, i think they were connected to Thracians for sure, just a story about King MIdas and his gold, Thracians were known for their gold treasures. Do you think maybe the Phrygians invasions led to dissolusion of Hitittes, because they made their settlements really close to the region where Hittites emerged

I did my own video, Blood Cults of Phrygia. Paul of Tarsus was from Tarsus in Cicilia, formerly part of the Phrygian Empire. Greco-Romanized Mithraism dates back to the 16th Century BCE. The region was once part of the Akkadian Empire, if you go back far enough. They had silver mines there. Jewish worshippers of Ba’al, by adopting Mithras, were able to maintain their child sacrificing customs. It’s why there are phylacteries in Greco-Romanized religion. The first time Greco-Romanized Mithraism crossed into Latinum was during the Second Punic War and it became a religion throughout the Roman Empire in 2nd-1st Century BCE.

Phrygians are related to Greeks. There is currently archaeological evidence to support such a scenario. Apart from the ancient accounts and archeology, the numerous isoglosses between Greek and Phrygian presuppose a close genetic relationship in prehistoric times (see Brixhe 1994:176-77). The two languages must have been in close contact until the end of the second millennium BC and it seems that the proto-Indo-European ancestors of the Phrygians, Greeks and Armenians entered the Balkans during the early bronze age.

Their little smurf hats later became a symbol of rebellion.

Great.. nice one

Love to our brothers from a fellow Thracian!

What's fascinating to me is that the Midas of Greek mythology is obviously identical to the historical King Midas of the eighth century BCE, yet virtually no one acknowledges what this means for the chronology of the Greek myths, since Midas was said to have lived at about the time of the Trojan War. This supports (along with countless other pieces of evidence) the fact that the Trojan War occurred at the end of the eighth century BCE, not the 12th century BCE.

Thanks for the video. Do you think Phrigians (or Brigi) have something to do with the ancient kingdom of Khorasm

Another amazing video! Always assumed they were Luwian speaking but guess not. Pretty cool they were allied with the Trojans (according to Homer at least). I always wonder how these ancient peoples were able to communicate with one another even though they spoke different languages. Maybe they spoke the "lingua franca" of the time (Aramean or Akkadian?), which would have been easy for the Assyrians but maybe not so for the Indo-European speaking Phrygians when they made their agreements.

CAN you tell me the name of background music from 2.43

So I've noticed a trend on the past few videos, as they mostly deal with Anatolian civilizations. Does that mean I'm the future a video on Commagene or Galatia are coming up?

I always wonder how things would have gone or what the world would look like if certain things had happened differently.. Like if Alexander the Great died at a ripe old age, if the Library of Alexandria hadn't burned or other libraries monuments around the world hadn't been destroyed, if the Black Death never happened, if the Mongols never left their steppe homeland, if the Roman Empire never split or if the two halves didn't fall or fell much later (or if maybe Charlemagne and Irene had gotten married), if the Rashidun Caliphate had been crushed in its infancy (or any other major kingdoms for that matter), if certain leaders never existed, if battles had gone a different way, if people would have had more advanced or less advanced technology, etc. Those fictional/alternative histories are super fascinating to me and I wish someone would either make a TV or KZfaq series on something like this. Really, either a documentary type scenario or a proper historical drama would be cool, if not a docu-drama like "Rise of Empires: Ottoman" which was pretty cool. I'm reading a book called "Clash of Eagles" (I'm not that far yet), but from what I can tell, the Roman Empire never split, survived at least until the 1200's in the book, had successfully subjugated pretty much all of the "barbarian" tribes/regions that had been a thorn in their side (the Britons, Visigoths, even the Vikings...) - Christianity co-exists with Paganism, the Romans end up discovering North America in like 1218 and are fighting the Native Americans as they march across the continent.. Oddly, the Native Americans have "gliders" made from animal hides and the Romans are having a hell of a time with them lol.. That sort of thing is fascinating to me.

*_While the Phrygians language and the phrygian people might've been more closely related to the peoples of the balcans, the tombs of their kings, midas and gordion show treasures and artistic style more alligned with that of the medes and the persians. Since the Hittites and Mittannis were already an indo-aryan people that inhabited those regions it is not far fetched to say that their kings were of that stock/ethnicity. There are beautiful rhytons and cauldrons with farvahar motif in the tombs, I implore you to look them up. These objects alone I feel give them a direct link to the medes who shared these artistic styles and were close to the languages of the mittanni who ruled over what became Gordion and are geographically as well as chronologically close to eachother._*

No, thank you, it was a great video! 👍 👍 👍

Hey Buddy, this soudtrack is incredible! Can you tell where is from?

Phrygging hell... sorry couldn't help myself Thanks Cy. Another great vid 😊👌✌

Thanks

The language is thracian and peonian. It shares linguistical features with archaic latin too. In balcans they are asociated with aromanians.

I only knew of the Phyrigians due to Iron Maiden yelling about them in their song on Alexander the Great

musicians: “hey, that sounds familiar...”

cool

Different from the polar people the Fridgians.

Please create more videos on Scythians and their kurgans in Southern Ukraine, about king Ateus, the story how Persians didn't conquer Scythia. The alliance of King Philip of Macedon and Scythian kings. I really recommen you the lectures of historian Yuri Boltryk on that topic.

The word "frieze" meaning a decorative feature across the top of abuildingcomes from the word "phrygian"

Where could be more information about the Cimmeriams besides Herodotus?

Pretty cool, I miss any reference to the cult of Cybeles, which would go on to become assimilated into Rome and reach Western Europe. Also I have two lesser issues: (1) I'd say that Phrygian language should be precursor of Armenian (apparently Phrygian colonists under Mede rule, an obscure episode but clearly replacin Urartu and making Armenian Y-DNA more Balcanic or European than usual in the region) and probably related not so much to Illyrian (now Albanian) nor Thracian (extinct) but to Macedonian language instead. This also shows in the names of the peoples, where Mushki is similar to Makedon and Phyrgian to Bryges (a tribe from that same area of Macedonia) and it may help to explain why Armenian and Greek are relatively close to each other in the internal phylogeny of Indoeuropean languages (my take is that both ultimately derive from Vucedol culture). (2) The chronology of Phrygian arrival to Asia Minor strongly suggests than rather than being a migration occupying an empty niche, they were the main force that destroyed the Hittite Empire in the time of the c.1178 "Sea Peoples" wave. They were not sea-based though and that's why we don't hear from them in the Egyptian records, they were the land army of the Sea Peoples instead.

King Midas/Mytha/mitras maybe(to be continued, cause i have not heard you notice the well known cap) 👨🏻‍🎤♠️👍🏼

Canada and the United States in my opinion are the most interesting. More unknown. I wish more people gave it a try. Not many talk about southern Africa, United States , Australia, and Canada. The native americans are sooo cool in the US. Just read some of the conquistadors that went through America they painted in a different picture.

Any chance that Phrygia was called Stygia at some point in time? or was that some other Location? "The Underworld" a Collective term describing the Sunless Lands. the Shadowlands, Stygia, the Far Shores, and the Tempest are geographical locations. The Underworld - comprising of the Shadowlands, the Tempest, Stygia, and the Far Shores - Is the Netherworld inhabited by the dead. The Shadowlands, the Far Shores, and Stygia. Roughly correspond to "Continents" and "Islands." The Tempest, a seething Sea of nightmares. Devides and separates these realms.

3:38 what is this?

❤

I love you fin I miss you and love you

Phrygian was not particularly close to Illyrian or Thracian, or basically we don't know how close it was because these languages are barely attested. It could have been close to Thracian, for example, but not much more than to Indo-Iranian or even pre-proto-Germanic. It seems to have had some features in common with Greek, Indo-Iranian and Armenian, like, for example, the augment. And some phonlogical changes have parallels in Armenian and / or Germanic. (there is no agreement concerning the details. Personally I believe that the PIE "simple stops", for example had shifted to fricatives like in Germanic.) There are some who speak about "Greco-Phrygian" but E. Hamp, for example, groups it with "NW IE" (Balto-Slavic, Italo-Celtic, Germanic). Concerning the Muskhi, "According to Igor Diakonoff, the Mushki were a Thraco-Phrygian group who carried their Proto-Armenian language from the Balkans across Asia Minor, mixing with Hurrians (and Urartians) and Luwians along the way." That may be close to the truth, though I would phrase it differently. Armenian being essentially the product of a Phrygian language with Anatolian IE elements and a Hurrian and/ or Urartian stratum.

Phrygian hats are cool.

Iskandar the Terrible. It's interesting to see other peoples point of view.

Phrygian Zeus is all like "Ok wise guy, I see what you did. Alright, you can have Asia. But you won't keep it for long!"

Hellenic 🇬🇷 Branch according to their Language! :)

i know their scales... on guitar and such

Entering a city in an oxcart huh? Beats pulling a sword out of a stone I guess.

U should make a video about the Caucasus lol

👍👍👍👍👍👍

Love your videos but I must say, you're recording your voice very hot and it can be a bit grating to listen to. Great videos tho, keep it up.

You forgot to say that Phrygians also called according to Herodotus Bryges and they were to north Greece between epirus and Thrace . according to Herodotus the ancient Macedonians called them Bryges and maybe they were Thracian tribe one part of them went to illyria and were illyrized and another one went to Phrygia in Asia minor .In conclusion that the Phrygians according to ancient Greek Herodotus were maybe a Thracian tribe and a part of them were illyrized and another came to Asia minor (Phrygia) Ancient Macedonians called them Bryges and when they passed the Thrace went to Phrygia Bryges were the same people to Phrygians but when they went Phrygia change their language and the historians and archaeologists say that the language o Phrygians were related to Greek language ... Ancient Greek language had one language to related to them the Phrygian in conclusion that archaeologists concludes to Graeco-phrygian Language and they ancestors were proto greek-phrygian

Before I watch, I just gotta say, you had better talk about their caps. LUL

Where do you get your information about the classification of the Phrygian language, seriously mate? Closer to Illyrian or Thracian? That's actually false. Phrygian is closer to Greek, and it's thought of having had a common ancestor with Greek, namely what scholars have described as Graeco-Phrygian. More about the language here, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrygian_language (also look at the "Isoglosses" section to better understand the very close affinity Greek and Phrygian had). Hopefully you read this so future uploads don't include the same mistake. Take care.

🙏🙏🙏👍👍👍

There are historians who have stated that the Phrygians and Armenians are either the same or a very closely linked people, both coming from Thrace. Have you researched this?

I am frrom western Turkey. Its strange to know that 3000 years ago these people lived in the exact same place i live now. They catched fish from the same river wandered arond the grasses where we build our ugly concrete blocks:))).. But speaking entirely different langauge

Turkey is like Disneyland for Archaeologists.

This is all symbolism for idolatry. The ox cart is simply the new idol with which they will worship, and the knot is the divination they'd use to summon the new ruler whom is a demon. Peace and blessings. Great video!

I am still confused by... Why does Mithra, in the mithraic cult, sometimes wear a phrygian hat? 😕 I get why Cybele's spose, Atti, wore this headress, since Atti and Cybele were the GODS of the Phrygian kingdom. But why Mithra? Why did this hat become so popular in the ancient world? And why did it become a symbol of freedom and so many other things, especialy in Roman times? I feel like the phrygian hat's history is worth a video of its own. (A thing I never thought to say in my life...😐)

Tanto monta, monta tanto, Isabel como Fernando

Why is it that every time I hear these peoples name I feel an arctic blast? Meanwhile back in the Dysfunctional States of America I'm just fine isolated and happy to see another video by Cy.

Alexander did it shortly... as his life...

Cimmerians? Conan? Naaah!

Phrygia - The People who Invented the Phryge, aka, Fridge.

Sabazios is identified with the God Dionysus aka Bacchus.

king might as

Phrygians are also the ancestors of Armenians. They came to our region 6000 years ago and mixed with the locals and created the first Armenian kingdom Ararat (or in Assyrian language Urartu) 🇦🇲🇦🇲❤️

Phrygian was closely related to Greek

I thought Midas was a Minoan *edit* nvm minos is who I'm thinking of

If anyone really wants to know ancient Phrygian history, they need to ask a Phrygian who knows the history, not someone who read a few books written by jealousy driven rivals of the Phrygians, some who poeticized myth with reality to create a Hollywood Disney You tube Facebook like rendition of REAL REALITY. The REAL history of the Phrygians is the most complex family history of all family histories. If not for the Phrygians, there would not be "America," or type o- blood; the universal donator; a blood type that developed from long term mixing of peoples. The Phrygians inhabited Northern Africa from early days of human history, and moved north through what became the Balkans. They were everywhere from Africa, India, Balkans, the Netherlands, spain, Afghanistan etc. They were skilled craftsman--builders, carpenters, stone cutters, rug makers (elaborate deluxe high quality products, still made today). They had the superior "caldron" for refining gold and silver, copper, tin, and mixing the elements. They invented music (tapping tree limbs to tree trunks and finding harmony and rhythm). It was said by some "all the Phrygians want to do is play music and dance." (not true.) Together with Sumerians, Phoenicians, Greeks, and others the Phrygians helped create (led the way) to what became Greek, Latin, and English. There are MANY spellings of the name Phrygi, some do not look like Phrygi in a translation, such as Friya, but ONE thing is certain--the Phrygians clarified the sounds and uses of Ph, f, r, e, i, g, j, and y. (Try and speak English without the sounds and "rules" of use surrounding these "sound vibrations." Primitive misuse of the "sound vibrations" could mean the difference between "I love you" and "I'm going to kill you." ) Of course, this fact will be challenged by people who have based their learning upon accepting what is misstated in books that attempt to explain the same. The Phrygians were exceedingly wealthy in ancient terms, they were widely into commerce, education, Farming, livestock management, training skilled labor forces and soldiers; they invented what became Christianity, it was called Nature Religion. They literally had their hands in everything, they are unknowingly imitated by people all over the planet still today. MOST of the recorded Phrygian history was burned in Gordium; the remnants are loaded with assumptions and faulty conclusions. The "Midas Golden Touch" is more accurately defined in action by the following word image illustration. Suppose you attended the Phrygian Chariot Races and had a moment of inspiration that enabled you to come up with a new chariot design that would revolutionize chariot racing; a lighter weight, streamlined FASTER chariot, stronger chariot. If you took your idea(s) to "Midas with the Golden Touch," odds were REAL good that he could/would turn your idea into GOLD. He owned the stadium where the chariot races took place. Phrygians tamed horses, built chariots and wagons, and gambled on virtually everything. Have an idea for a new jewelry design, a pair of stylish sandals, a new stringed musical instrument, a new tool design------if Midas supported (TOUCHED it) it would turn to GOLD for the inventor. The Phrygians shared everything. Phrygian females married into many tribes. Phrygian males married into many tribes. They were very prolific. They were most generally a source amazement; i.e when they came into a new tribal boundary riding horses, playing musical instruments, dancing, sounding happy and joyous, ecstatic, they were MOST generally widely accepted; the sound of their music was very sexually suggestive (instrumentally). They also built "THE ROYAL PHRYGIAN ROAD that ran from Troy to Rome, it was intended to hook up with the Silk road. WARS stopped that. They were loved by most peoples. However, as we know, in the current mindset (a by-product of Zeus politics) wherever GOOD exists, EVIL is there to butt in and start spreading their masked evil, out of jealousy, or the need to be charge of other people; i.e. destroy everything and take the spoils, set up a slave state with immediate family in charge. The Phrygians laid the foundations for Egypt, Babylon and Rome, and it all backfired in their faces, LARGELY due to ALL the primitive immigrants that flooded the cites with their "cultures" trying to make Phrygian projects accepting of THEIR immigrant traditions, many of which the Phrygians found to be abominations. Sounding a lot like America. Babylon and Rome self-destructed. ONE sign of a failing society; internal struggles by a minority demanding the right to act out behaviors that were previously condemned activities. (sorry, no time to edit.) I am typically very Phrygian busy.