Phrygians' Chronology

Chronology is always the most complicated point to deal with : opinions differ although the sources are the same.

This Web site having the aim of giving a general introduction on the subject, I will not go into the technical problems and will only give the traditional dates. However, this part should soon know a great change.

Phrygians are supposed to have migrated from the Balkans ( Macedonia or Thrace), somewhere between the 12^th and the 8^th centuries BC. This point is not clear and, as many works are dealing on the subject now, we can expect new data.

The beginning of the Phrygian state is unknown : it appears for the first time as a well-organized kingdom, under Midas’ authority, in the end of the 8^th c. BC. We know nothing for sure before him, but there was probably a king Gordias. We have very little informations about the rise of Phrygia.

Under the reign of Midas, in the last third of the 8th century., Phrygia gained a great importance, both in the occidental and oriental side. It was a threat for the Assyrians and was considered as a very powerful by the Greeks. This acme had a violent end with the Cimmerian invasion, traditionally placed in 696, causing the suicide of Midas.

A intermediary period takes place until the destruction of the Cimmerians by the Lydians in the 620’s and the take-over of Phrygia. Lydia now becomes the big Anatolian power and threatens the Greeks and even the Persians. Phrygia follows the history of Lydia as part of this big Anatolian state. It is also conquered by the Persians in 546 ; since then, Phrygia has absolutely no independent existence and passes through the hands of the different conquerors of Anatolia, the first one being Alexander the Great in 336.

If you want to have more precise informations on this subject, you can look in the Cambridge Ancient History, which gives a very complete image.