Phrygian coffin from Gordion, Tumulus B. Lead joinery stitches across the coffin lid (1)

Phrygian cremation urn from Gordion, Tumulus B. (1)

Phrygian cremation urn from Gordion, Tumulus B. (1)

Burial of two horses with bridals, Gordion, Tumulus KY. Compare this to Herodotus' description of the burials of Scythian kings, including horses and mounted attendants. See also the Tuva burial. (1) For a description (from Herodotus) of burial and sacrificial practices of the Scythians, Egyptians and those of the Iliad, see maravot.com/Banquet.html.

The underlying thread to this story recalls the myth of the birth of Atys from Cybele and his death in a boar hunt. In the case of Croesus' son Atys, the death was from an iron weapon in the course of hunting a "monster" boar. The story blends into a larger issue of the happiest man in the world ultimately sacrificing his entire kingdom, and the story plays upon sympathhies with the story of the Greek hero Amphiaraus. Also, the story addresses the most reliable oracles in the world, none of which include the great sanctuary – its priests or priestesses – of "Midas City."

The story is aware of the Mysian Olympus which would be further distant from Sardes than "Midas City," and certainly the friendship Croesus had with the Phrygian royal house causes us to wonder why "Midas City" is not discussed.

The relationships involve a patriarchal society. In the movement of weapons from the men's quarters, we are told how the men and women shared separate quarters. And we are told how the Lydians and Phrygians shared purification rites that were common to the Greek rites. Coupled with this we know that Croesus occupied territories that had been settled by Greeks. Thus, Lydian society was no doubt a blend of Lydian and Greek cultures (See map, Lydian.html). In

In the Iliad we have the description of the burial of Patrocles which included the celebration of games and the award of gifts (most of which were bronze weapons, except for some iron spears), the erection of a funeral pyre which involved gathering a considerable amount of wood from the mountain nearby, the placement of sacrificial offerings, including horses, precious weapons, vases, etc., on the pyre and the sacrifice of the Trojan captives. All were thrown on the pyre with Patroclus and then it was set on fire. After this a mound was raised over the "burial." A similar mound was raised for Achilles. We can compare this mound and the ritual involved with it to that of the burial of Atys which involves inhumation, not cremation, and no games are listed.

Croesus is shown as a very "pious" man who spent two years in mourning and sent forth messengers to seek advice from oracles in Greece and Libya (Egypt?). He trusted only the Greek oracle from Delphi. We have already wondered why the oracle of "Midas City" was not consulted – we assume the complex had an oracle – and we may also ask why the oracle of Artemis at Epheseus nearby was not consulted. Clearly, in terms of the piety of Croesus, the Lydian royalty had a bias towards Greek culture. Likewise, the Phrygian sought refuge with him, the friend of his father's house. Here the orientation of the Phrygian was to that which is familiar: the Lydians, who woud purify him of his crime. Since Croesus purified the man we may speculate that the Lydian king was a priest-king. He performed the purification ritual himself. Because of the connection with Phrygia we can presume that the Lydian practice was also common to the Phrygians.

Finally, the duration of the Phrygian empire must be kept in perspective. Says varchive.org:

R. S. Young, the excavator of Gordion, estimated a period of “a half century” or more for the flourishing of Phrygian culture at the site—“The Nomadic Impact” in Dark Ages and Nomads, p. 54. No Phrygian presence can be recognized in the archaeology until the middle of the eighth century—and soon after the start of the seventh, about the year 676 B.C., the Phrygian kingdom was destroyed in the catastrophic Cimmerian invasion. This is also when Midas met his end (by suicide, according to Eusebius, (Chron. p. 92) and Strabo Geography I. 3. 21), and his capital Gordion was burned to the ground. The Cimmerian destruction level was found in 1956; see Young, Gordion 1956: Preliminary Report” in American Journal of Archaeology 61 (1957) p. 320. Cf. also idem, “The Nomadic Impact: Gordion” pp. 54f.

According to the Iliad the Phrygians were allies of the Trojans. The destruction of Troy by the Mycennean Greeks coincides with other destructive events in the same period. William H. Stiebing, Jr. writes, "When Civilization Collapsed: Death of the Bronze Age," Archaeology Odyssey, September-October, 2001 [See fontes.lstc.edu]:

Then came the widespread disasters of the early 12th century B.C.E.(2) Around 1200 B.C.E. Pylos was destroyed and Thebes was burned again, along with Gla, Iolkos, Midea, Tiryns and the Menelaion (a site near Sparta associated with the Homeric king Menelaus, the younger brother of the Mycenaean king Agamemnon and the husband of Helen). Portions of Mycenae were burned (possibly twice) in the early 12th century B.C.E., but this great citadel survived the fires. Then, around 1150 B.C.E., Mycenae, Tiryns and the nearby sites of Asine and Iria were razed. Many sites in Greece were simply abandoned, with refugees settling as far off as Cyprus. The population of Greece seems to have declined by about 75 percent. The literate, highly centralized Mycenaean kingdoms with their elaborate bureaucracies disappeared—and small, poor agricultural villages took their place.(3)

Similarly, Crete seems to have suffered a major decline in population. People abandoned the coastal areas and built new villages in the hills or in other easily defensible positions.(4) Without the palace bureaucracies to maintain it, knowledge of writing was lost both here as well as in Greece.** A "Dark Age" descended over the entire Aegean region.

Texts surviving from the reign of the last Hittite king, Suppiluliuma II (c. 1200-1180), refer to general discontent among the Hittite people. The population's displeasure may well have been due to food shortages. Not long before the destruction of Canaanite Ugarit around 1185 B.C.E., the city's king received three letters mentioning famine in the Hittite Empire. One demanded that Ugarit furnish a ship to transport 2,000 measures of grain to Cilicia, in southern Anatolia. It is, the letter says, a matter of life or death!(5)

With the Hittite Empire severely weakened, Hittite vassals in western Anatolia and elsewhere rebelled. Egyptian annals record that the so-called Sea Peoples (see Invasions of the Sea Peoples) were marauding in Anatolia at this time. The Hittites raised an army and navy from their citizens and their loyal vassals and deployed them to meet these threats. However, this left the Hittites' loyal allies like Alashiya (Cyprus) and Ugarit defenseless. The king of Alashiya appealed to the last king of Ugarit, Ammurapi, for help in defending the island. Ammurapi regrets that he is unable to help:

My father behold, the enemy's ships came (here); my cities(?) were burned, and they did evil things in my country [Ugarit]. Does not my father know that all my troops and chariots(?) are in the Hittite country, and all my ships are in the land of Lycia [Lukka]? ... Thus, the country is abandoned to itself. May my father know it: the seven ships of the enemy that came here inflicted much damage upon us.(6)

Hittite and Ugaritic records then become silent, so we do not know what happened to the Hittite forces to which King Ammurapi had committed troops and ships. It is likely that the Hittite forces were defeated, for a wave of destruction swept over the Hittite Empire. Hattusa was violently sacked and burned—as was Troy, Miletus, Alaca Hüyük, Alisar, Tarsus, Alalakh, Ugarit, Qatna, Qadesh and numerous other cities either ruled by the Hittites or associated with the empire.

Michael Ventris and John Chadwick, the translators of Linear B, found in clay tablets scattered in the ruins of the Mycenaean Civilization, noted that the tablets, written in a syllabary, in ancient Greek, dealt with accounting matters, listing inventories, and many were reports of enemy sightings and attacks. The tablets in fact documented the cataclysm that was upon them. And it may be from the archeology of the sites that the Trojan War of ten years duration involved counterattacks from the Anatolian mainland against the Mycenaean citadels. The front of the war may not have been just in the Troad / Lydia. It may, in fact, have been the continuation of a long event ushering in instability in the Near East since the Battle of Kadesh (1274 B.C.), between the Hittite king Muwatali II and Pharoah Ramesses II. Wikipdia.org says of this battle:

Pharaoh Ramesses II and the Hittite king met at Kadesh in the mountains containing the headwaters of the Orontes in northern Syria in July of 1274 BC. Ramesses II recorded the names of the Hittite allies who opposed him; among them are the following: 1) Pi-da-sa, 2) Da-ar-d(a)-an-ya, 3) Ma-sa, 4) Qa-r(a)-qi-sa, 5) Ru-ka, and 6) Arzawa. The first name has been associated with Pedasos in Mysia of the Troad south of Troy, the second with the Dardanoi of the Troad, the third with southwest Anatolia, the fourth with Caria, the fifth with Lukka/Lycia, and the sixth with Arzawa in western Anatolia (Barnett 1975, 359-62; Breasted 1906, 3:123ff.; Gardiner 1961, 262ff.). [1]

This battle marked a stalemate between Hittite power and the power of 19th Dynasty Egypt, where the two met face to face along their outermost marches, in what is now Syria. The Hittites, based at Carchemish, were angry over the defection of Amurru to Egypt and wanted to bring it back under control – on the other hand the Egyptians wanted to protect their new vassal.
The Hittite king Muwatallis, who had mustered several of his allies (among them Rimisharrinaa, the king of Aleppo), had positioned his troops behind the hill at Kadesh, but Ramesses thought they were at Aleppo and learned the truth only after capturing two Hittites. Immediately Ramesses sent messengers to hasten the coming of the Ptah and Setekh divisions of his army which were still on the far side of the river Orontes.

Before Ramesses could gather them all together, however, 2500 of Muwatallis' chariots attacked the Ra and Amon divisions and plundered the Egyptian camp. The Egyptians retreated, and Ramesses himself narrowly escaped capture, mainly thanks to the intervention of a troop contingent from Amurru, which suddenly arrived to assist the pharaoh and drive the Hittites back. The Egyptians regrouped and almost surrounded the Hittites, but the Hittite chariots retreated back across the Orontes to join their infantry.

Muwatallis called for a truce with Ramesses. Though both sides later proclaimed the battle a victory, Ramesses' troops had suffered many casualties and he was unable to capture any more territory. The Hittite king, on the other hand, continued to campaign successfully as far south as Apa. Kadesh remained in Hittite hands, and Amurru was recaptured by the Hittites. The consequent loss of prestige sparked revolts within the Egyptian empire, and Ramesses could not resume direct hostilities against the Hittites until 1269 BC.

The conflicts were finally concluded by a peace treaty in 1258 BC, in the 21st year of Ramesses II's reign, with the new king of the Hittites, Hattusili III. (1263-1245 B.C.)

The treaty bond that was established was inscribed on a silver tablet, of which a clay copy survives. An enlargement of the clay tablet hangs on a wall at the headquarters of the United Nations, as one of the earliest international peace treaties. Its text, in the Hittite version, appears in the links below. An Egyptian version survives in a papyrus. Peace reigned until Ramses' successor Merneptah had to undertake a campaign to Canaan shortly after his accession in order to quell unrest among the local kings.

The texts of Hittite-Egyptian documents are at: nefertiti.iwebland.com. Of interest with regard to the events leading up to the Trojan War and following it are the Hittite Chronicles. In the "Legacy of Arnuwandas" (1410-1386 B.C.) we have this testimony concerning the land of Arzawa (Lydia and portions of Phrygia):

(From maravot.com/Hittite_Treaties.html) "Chronicles of Mursulis," Arnuwandas Chronicle, A ii: 7-49

The Hittite Kindom, (New Kingdom) (B.C.)*(5) [According to UCLA]

1430-1406 Tudhaliya I [III - 1360-1344] 1410-1386 Arnuwanda I (son) [II - 1322-1321] 1385-1381 Tudhaliya II (son) [III -1360-1344] 1380-1358 Hattushili II (brother) [III - 1267-1237] 1357-1323 Shuppiluliuma I (son) [1344-1322] 1322-1322 Arnuwanda II (son) [1322-1321] 1321-1297 Murshili II (brother) [1321-1295] 1296-1271 Muwatalli (son) [ II -1295-1272] 1270-1264 Murshili III (son) [1272-1267] 1263-1245 Hattushili III (son) [1267-1237] .................... Karunta [1228-1227?] 1244-1220 Tudhaliya III (son) [1360-1344; IV 1237-1209] 1219-1218 Arnuwanda III (son) [1209-1207] 1217-1200 Shuppiluliuma II (brother) [1207-?] *The Wordsworth Handbook of Kings & Queens, John E. Morby, 1989

(7) Then I came back from Palhuissa to Hattusas, and I mustered troops and horse(-troop)s. Then in that year I also marched out to Arzawa (Hit. ar-za-u-wa). I sent a courier to Uhhazitis, and I wrote to him: "My subjects who came over to you, although I have petitioned after them, you have not given them back to me. You have called me a child: it belittled me. Now, come, let us to battle! Let Tarhunnas, my lord, judge!"

(15) Then as I marched, when I reached Mt. Lawasa, the awesome Tarhunnas, my lord, manifested (his) grace (Hit.: para handandatar): he hurled a thunderbolt (logogram, giskalmis). My army (or: troops) beheld the thunderbolt, it (i.e. the army) surveyed the land of Arzawa (or: the land of Arzawa saw it): the thunderbolt passed and it struck the land of Arzawa. It hit Apasas, the city of Uhhazitis, and it caught his knee, and he sickened. Since Uhhazitis was sick, he did not come against me in battle, he sent forth his son, Piyama-Kurundas, (logogram, mSUM-ma-dLAMMA-an, acc. case) together with troops and horse(-troop)s against me. He stood against me in battle at Walma, at the R. Astarpa, and I My Sun(god) fought him. The Sungoddess of Arinna, my lady, the awesome Tarhunnas, my lord, Mezzullas, and all all the gods aided me (lit.: they fore-ran, preceded), and I smote Piyama-Kurundas, the son of Uhhazitis, together with his troops (and) his horse(-troop)s, and I defeated him. Moreover, I caught him in the rear (lit. seized him behind). I advanced across into the land of Arzawa, and I proceeded to Apasas, the city of Uhhazitis. Uhhazitis did not oppose me, he evaded me and he went across the sea to the islands (Hit. <gursauwanza). There he remained.

(33) The whole land of Arzawa fled. Some deportees went to Mt. Arinnandas, and they held Mt. Arinnandas; and some deportees went forth to Purandas, and they held Purandas; but some deportees went across the sea with Uhhazitis. And I, My Sun(god) went after the deportees to Mt. Arinnandas and I attacked Mt. Arinnandas. My lady the sungoddess of Arinna, my lord the awesome Tarhunnas, Mezzullas, and all the gods aided me, and I conquered Mt. Arinnandas. And the deportees (logogram, NAM.RA.MES: Hit. arnuwalas), whom I the Sun(god) brought to the palace, they were 15,500. But the deportees whom the Hittite officers, troops and horse(-troop)s brought: it is not possible to number them. I sent forth the deportees to Hattusas, and they brought them out.

(46) As soon as I conquered Mt. Arinnandas, then I came back to the R. Astarpa, and I set up a fortified camp, and I celebrated the Festival of the Year there. These things I accomplished in one year.

YEAR 3: EXTENSIVE ANNALS

CTH 61 II, 2B i: 23-32

(23) So it became Spring. Because Uhhazitis stood beside (i.e. allied himself with) the king of Ahhiuwa, the land of Millawanda (...) to the king of Ahhiuwa. I, My Sun(god) (...). And (I) sent forth Gullas and Malazitis (with) troops and horse(-troop)s, and they attacked (the land of Millawanda?), and they came back (lit. took up) with deportees, cattle and sheep (and they brought them away to Hattusas).

(27) When Mashuiluwas, the king of Mira, held Impa, Piyama-Kurundas (logogram mSUM-dKAL-as), the son of Uhhazitis, stood for battle against him. My gods went before Mashuiluwas and he beat Piyama-Kurundas and he defeated him. Inasmuch as Mashuiluwas vanquished Piyama-Kurundas, the son of Uhhazitis, he therefore went further, and he attacked the land of Hapanuwa. (...) his half of the land of Mira was with Mashuiluwas. (...). And he turned to the land of Hatti.

[Blank space: enough for six lines; another 6-8 lines broken away.]

Here the king of Mira comes into play. The land in Arzawa may be Smyrna (Modern Izmir, Turkey). Says wikipedia.org:

It is said to have been a city of the autochthonous Leleges before the Greek colonists started to settle in the coast of Asia Minor as of the beginning of the first millennia BCE. Throughout Antiquity Smyrna was a leading city-state of Ionia, with influence over the Aegean shores and islands. Smyrna was also among the cities that claimed Homer as a resident.

There are several explanations brought forth as regards its name. One of these involve a Greek myth derived from an eponymous Amazon named Smyrna, which was also the name of a quarter of Ephesus, and can also be recognized under the form Myrina, a city of Aeolis. The early Aeolian Greek settlers of Lesbos and Cyme, expanding eastwards, occupied the valley of Smyrna. It was one of the confederacy of Aeolian city-states, marking the Aeolian frontier with the Ionian colonies.

Strangers or refugees from the Ionian city of Colophon settled in the city and finally (traditionally in 688 BCE) by an uprising Smyrna passed into their hands and became the thirteenth of the Ionian city-states. Revised mythologies made it a colony of Ephesus. In 688 BCE the Ionian boxer Onomastus of Smyrna won the prize at Olympia, but the coup was probably then a recent event. The Colophonian conquest is mentioned by Mimnermus (before 600 BCE), who counts himself equally of Colophon and of Smyrna. The Aeolic form of the name was retained even in the Attic dialect, and the epithet "Aeolian Smyrna" remained current long after the conquest.

Smyrna's position at the mouth of the small river Hermus at the head of a deep arm of the sea (Smyrnaeus Sinus) that reached far inland and admitted Greek trading ships into the heart of Lydia, placed it on an essential trade route between Anatolia and the Aegean and raised Smyrna during the seventh century BCE to power and splendor. One of the great trade routes which cross Anatolia descends the Hermus valley past Sardis, and then, diverging from the valley, passes south of Mount Sipylus and crosses a low pass into the little valley where Smyrna lies between the mountains and the sea. Miletus, and later Ephesus, situated at the sea end of the other great trade route across Anatolia, competed for a time successfully with Smyrna, but after both cities' harbors silted up, Smyrna remained without a rival.

The river Meles, which flowed by Smyrna, is famous in literature and was worshipped in the valley. A common and consistent tradition connects Homer with the valley of Smyrna and the banks of the Meles; his figure was one of the stock types on coins of Smyrna, one class of which numismatists call "Homerian"; the epithet Melesigenes was applied to him; the cave where he was wont to compose his poems was shown near the source of the river; his temple, the Homereum, stood on its banks. The steady equable flow of the Meles, alike in summer and winter, and its short course, beginning and ending near the city, are celebrated by Aristides and Himerius. The description applies admirably to the stream which rises from abundant springs east of the city and flows into the southeast extremity of the gulf.

The archaic city ("Old Smyrna") contained a Temple of Athena from the seventh century BCE.

David Ross's "Arzawa Page" carries interesting studies on the connection of Arzawa and the kingdom of Mir:

Arzawa is in Anatolia, to the west of the Hittite capital. Beyond this, no-one knows its location; one must as yet rely upon sketchy Hittite records. The same is true of the other western states.

The picture is clearing up, though. Some 1986 texts place a number of kingdoms in the southern littoral of Anatolia. That pushes the Lukka lands to classical Lycia and Arzawa in turn to the Ephesos region. In 1998, J D Hawkins (Anatolian Studies Vol 48) deciphered a relief of Tarkasnawa, last recorded King of Mira, near classical Smyrna.

Based on the celebrated "Ahhiyawa problem" - whether Ahhiyawa was in Mycenaean Greece or not - there have been numerous rival maps of western Asia Minor. The texts as of now suggest that Ahhiya lay outside Asia Minor, and are beginning to agree on those kingdoms that remain within it. Of course the most controversial of these is Wiluja, which sounds a lot like "Wilios".

Some scholars have attempted to locate Arzawa's later capital in Ephesos. This is due to a phonetic similarity between it and "Apasas," a western port town which Mursilis II called the city of the rebel Uhha-Ziti. One such scholar is Sarah Morris, in this pdf.

Gods

Like other Luwiyans, the Arzawans chiefly worshipped the storm god (Teshub in Hurrian, and later the Greek Zeus took on the storm god's role) whom they called "Tarhun" but rendered "Tarhunta" in theophoric names. Another god was Uhha, as seen in the names Uhha-Muwa ("Uhha's Might") and Uhha-Ziti ("Uhha's Man"). When the Arzawans made treaty with the Hittites, they also called the river and mountain gods to witness.

Another element that appears in the personal names is "Kurunta", often under the Sumerograms KAL and LAMMA. "Kurunta" alone became a personal name for a later prince of Tarhuntassa, founded by Luwiyans, so it seems likely that Kurunta was a local hero as much as a god (like Heracles).

The donkey was important to western Anatolia. Sarah Morris noted that Tarkasnawa of Mira was named after a donkey, and used ass's ears in his royal seal. The donkey's ear as a symbol of west Anatolian kingship survived into legends of Midas the Phrygian. It is further notable that these Dark Age legends have this king of non-Luwiyan origin adopting this Luwiyan custom after attaining kingship over Luwiyan land.
Worship

The religious practice of Arzawa seems to have been the same mix of piety and superstition which ruled the Hittite kingdom at this time:

These are the words of Uhha-Muwa, the Arzawa man. If people are dying in the country and if some enemy god has caused that, I act as follows:
They drive up one ram. . . . They drive the ram onto the road leading to the enemy and while doing so they speak as follows: "Whatever god of the enemy land has caused this plague -- see! We have now driven up this crowned ram to pacify thee, O god! Just as the herd is strong, but keeps peace with the ram, do thou, the god who has caused this plague, keep peace with the Hatti land! In favor turn again toward the Hatti land!" They drive that one crowned ram toward the enemy.

We continue with the Arnawandas Chronicle, noting the association of Mt. Arinnandas with the "weighty mountains," impassible heights jutting into the sea. We also note in the Hittite Chronicles the wars were carried out under the auspices of the Storm God, Telephus, and "My lady the sungoddess," Arinna.

27) But I, since the displaced persons (logogram, NAM.RA.MES: Hit. arnuwalas) took flight, wrote as follows to my brother: "The displaced persons who have fled away from me the Hursanassan deportees, the Surudan deportees and the Attariman deportees they have crossed over and while they (...)-ed, they have split apart. The Hursanassan deportees, the Surudan deportees and the Attarimman deportees: they are among those separating over to Mt. Arinnandas; and the Hursanassan deportees the Surudan deportees and the Attarimman deportees: they are also among those separating over to (the town of) Purandas." Because these displaced persons took flight from me, and they held again the impassable heights (lit.: weighty mountains), I (My Sun(god)?) issued Sarri-Kusuh, the king of Kargamis, my brother a command: "Because the deportees fled away from me, and they hold again the impassable heights, and the year is closing upon us, come, we will force march to one or the other and we will bring them down." And I My Sun(god) went to Mt. Arinnandas. This same Mt. Arinnandas (is) very inaccessible, jutting (lit. going forth) into the sea. Furthermore it (is) very high and rugged. Moreover, being rocky, it is impossible to drive up with horses (i.e. chariots). The deportees held it completely, and the troops were entirely on top. Since it was not possible the horses drive up, I My Sun(god) advanced before the army on foot, and I went up Mt. Arinnandas on foot. And I beleaguered the deportees to hunger and to thirst. And when it became intolerable for them in hunger and in thirst, the deportees came down, and they knelt down at my feet. "Do not destroy us, our lord! Take us in servitude, our lord! Lead us up to Hattusas!" Then the deportees knelt down at my feet, and I brought the deportees down from Mt. Arinnandas. I alone brought 15,500 deportees to my house, but it is impossible to number the deportees whom the Hittite troops, horse(-troop)s, and sarikuwas-troops brought.

2A iii: 23-43

(23) And as soon as I brought down the displaced persons from Mt. Arinnandas and sent them forth to Hattusas, I My Sun(god) went after the deportees in Purandas. When I reached (the town of) (...), I wrote to the people of Purandas: "You were my father's subjects: my father received you. But you have gone in fief to Uhhazitis: the one (who) helped (lit.: stepped after) the king of Ahhiuwa and made war. Now, you become mine again and no longer stand by Uhhazitis! You hand over my subjects who are the Hursanassan deportee, the Surudan deportee, and the Attarimman deportee!" But they wrote the following back to me: "We hold (...). You subjects who have come in, we will not hand them over. (...) to (...). If he (...) in the sea. (...). We will drive you backwards. (...) we will authorize." But I, because it was early autumn, then went back to the river Astarpa. And I set up camp at the river Astarpa. But Uhhazitis (...) fell sick, and he died. (...). And his wife (...). Piyama-Kurundas (...).

Of interest is the practice of capturing and deporting the people of Arzawa to Hattasus. While we know the ongoing wars between the Hittites and Arzawa included such deportations, we wonder whether the sanctuary of Midas City might also have seen similar activity. We explore the Hittite documents for evidence of such a sanctuary. So far, in all of the documents and histories no mention is made of the multi-altar sanctuary of "Midas City" and the goddess and god that resided there. We continue with the chronicle:

CTH 61, I. A ii: 50-86

(50) Then it became Spring. Since Uhhazitis was ill, he was in the islands (Hit.: aruni anda, lit. in the sea) and his sons were with him. Uhhazitis died in the islands: his sons split up, the one in the same islands, but the other, Tapalazunaulis, came away from the sea. Because all the land of Arzawa (...) it had gone up into Purandas. Tapalazunaulis went up into Purandas.

(57) As soon as I observed the Festival of the Year, I went to Purandas for battle. Tapalazunaulis came down from Purandas with troops and horse(-troop)s, and he came against me in battle, and he stood in battle before me in the field(s) and his pasture land. My Sun(god) attacked him: my lady the sungoddess of Arinna, my lord the awesome Tarhunnas, the goddess Mezzullas, and and all the gods drove before before and I struck Tapalazunaulis (...) with his troops and his horse(-troop)s and I defeated him. Then I besieged him: I went and I encircled Purandas, and I invested it and I dammed (lit.: brought away) its water.

(66) Since I invested Purandas, Tapalazunaulis the son of Uhhazitis, who was up inside Purandas became afraid, and he escaped by night down from Purandas. Then he sent ahead his sons and deportees out of the citadel, and he led them down.

(71) As soon as My Sun(god) heard "Tapalazunaulis is escaping by night, and he is sending ahead his wife, his sons and the deportees from the citadel and he led them down", My Sun(god) sent after him troops (and) horse(-troop)s. They cut off Tapalazunaulis en route, and they separated his wife, his sons and the deportees from him: they re-captured them, Tapalazunaulis alone escaped. The deportees whom they captured en route, he took them as troops and horse(-troop)s.

(79) Then I went and I besieged Purandas by day. I battled (...) they ran. My lady the sungoddess of Arinna, my lord the awesome Tarhunnas, Mezzullas, and all the gods drove before me, and I vanquished Purandas. The deportees whom I brought to the palace were 16,x00 deportees. But the deportees, cattle and sheep whom the lords, troops and horse(-troop)s brought to Hattusas, it is impossible to number. I sent them on to Hattusas, and they brought them away.

CTH 61, I. A iii: 1-41

(1) (...). (...). (...) he was in the sea/on an island. (...). Piyama-Kurundas (logogram: mSUM--ma-dKAL-as), the son of Uhhazitis (...). And he came out of the sea and he (...) and he came in with the King of Ahhiyawa. My Sun(-god) sent (man's name) by ship (...). (...). And they brought him out. With him (were) deportees whom they also brought out. And they, with the deportees of (city name) and with the deportees of Lipa altogether were x0,x00 deportees. I sent sent them on to Hattusas, and they brought them away.

(13) Then I came back to the land of the River Seha. As soon as Manapa-Tarhundas, who was the lord of the River Seha, heard "the King of Hatti comes", he was afraid and then he did not come before me. He sent forth before me his mother, the old men and the old women, and they knelt down at my feet. I gave way against the women: and then I did not go into the River Seha. The Hittite deportees who were in the River Seha, they sent them forth to me, and the deportees whom they sent forth to me, they were 4,000. I sent them on to Hattusas and they brought them away. I took Manapa-Tarhundas and the land of the River Seha in vassalage.

(26) Then I went to the land of Mira. The land of Mira I gave to Mashuiluwas, the land of the River Seha I gave to Manapa-Tarhundas, the land of Hapalla I gave to Targasnallis. And I enfeoffed all these lands at this place, and I imposed on them troops, and they took to providing troops for me. Since I wintered over in the land of Arzawa, my lady the sungoddess of Arinna, my lord the awesome Tarhunnas, Mezzullas, and all the gods drove before me and I conquered the land of Arzawa in two years. Some of which I brought out to Hattusas, and some of which in this place I enfeoffed. I imposed troops on them, and they took to providing troops for me. As I conquered the whole of the land of Arzawa, the deportees whom My Sun brought to the palace they were in total (Hit.: anda 1-etta) 66,000; the deportees, cattle and sheep which the Hittite lords, troops and horse(-troop)s brought it is impossible to number. As soon as I conquered the whole of the land of Arzawa, then I came away to Hattusas. Then I overwintered in Arzawa: these things I accomplished in one year.

YEAR 5: TEN YEAR ANNALS

Laroche, CTH 61 I:

A. KBo 3.4 + KUB 23.125 + 2 BoTU 48 (155)

C. KUB 19.38 (+) 14.21 = A iii: 37-52, 57-69

A iii: 42-59 (Ca 8'-17')

(42) In the (next) year I went to Mt. Asharpaya. The Gasgan town that (lit. what) had held Mt. Asharpaya had cut the roads (logogram: KASKAL.MES) to the land of Pala. I attacked the very same Gasgas of Mt. Asharpaya, and the sungoddess of Arinna my lady, the awesome Tarhunnas my lord, Mezzullas and all the gods led before me, and the Gasgan who had settled Mt. Asharpaya, him I vanquished, and him I slew. And I laid bare Mt. Asharpaya. Moreover I came away, and then I reached (the town of) Sammaha, and I came into (the town of) Ziulila.

(50) While my father was in the land of Mitanni, because the Arauwannan enemy (Hit.: l KUR uruarauwannas) had continued to assail the land of Kissiya, he had greatly harassed it. I My Sun, went to the land of Arauwanna, and I struck the land of Arauwanna. And the sungoddess of Arinna my lady, the awesome Tarhunnas my lord, Mezzullas and all the gods drove before me, and I conquered the whole land of Arauwanna. And the deportees from the land of Arauwanna whom I brought to the palace, they were 3,500 deportees; but the deportees whom the lords, the soldiers and the horse(-troop)s brought, it is impossible to number. As soon as I conquered the land of Arauwanna, then I came back to Hattusas. These things I accomplished in one year.

YEAR 7: EXTENSIVE ANNALS
(18) As soon as the men of Nuhassi (...), and they made war, then the Egyptian troops (...): "He is coming!" And I went against the Egyptian troops. Kantuzzilis (...) I sent forth ahead to the land of Kargamis [Carchimish, ed. note], and he came down to Sarrikusuh, my brother, in the land of Kargamis. I instructed Kantuzzilis as follows: "Because the men of Nuhassi have become hostile: wipe them out (Hit. arha harnink)! And if the Egyptian troops are aiding them, (...), and (...) and I will fight them."

B. ii: 28-39 = AM p. 86, 88

[Line 27 is missed out.]

But as soon as I arrived at Zilunas, they brought the information before me: "The Egyptian troops were crushed; they have departed." Thus the troops of the land of Egypt did not come. Pihhuniyas, the Gasgan, was the man of Tipiya. While my father was in the Hurri lands, Pihhuniyas attacked the Upper Land (logogram: KUR UGUti) and the land of Istitina. He reached as far forward as Zazzissas (para INA uruZazzissa). And he, Pihhuniyas, (...) not of (-...)gani(-...) he ruled in the manner of (...). (...) the Gasgans (...). (...). (...) and his/its (...). He ruled (...), As soon as (...). (...).

The Hittites, as can be seen in this excerpt from the Arnuwandas Chronicle, were fighting on two fronts. In the west they were fighting Arzawa and the east the Egyptians, culminating with the battle of Kadesh. Connected with this event and period of time leading up to the Trojan War less than a hundred years later was the fact that the Egyptians were recording and fighting invading "Sea Peoples." Says wikipedia.org:

...Some sea peoples appear in four letters found at Ugarit, the last three of which seem to foreshadow the destruction of the city around 1180 BCE. The letters are therefore dated to the early twelfth century. The last king of Ugarit was Ammurapi, or Hammurabi (c. 1191–1182 BC), who, throughout this correspondence, is quite a young man.

The earliest is letter RS 34.129, found on the south side of the city, from "the Great King," presumably Suppiluliuma II of the Hittites, to the prefect of the city. He says that he ordered the king of Ugarit to send him Ibnadushu for questioning, but the king was too immature to respond. He therefore wants the prefect to send the man, whom he promises to return.

Among the Sea Peoples were listed the Shardana, Sikils, Danua (Achaeans), and Tjwrsa, possibly the Tyrhennians / Etruscans, and Lukka and Pulusti (later called Philistines, now called Palestinians). Among these the myth of Dionysus describes the god being abducted by Tyrhennian pirates. The presence of the Sea Peoples, the constant warfare with Arzawa and the simultaneous collapse of major kingdoms, beginning with Troy, suggest that the Mycenean invasion of Troy may have been one front of a World War that resulted in the collapse of civilization, leaving the Eastern Mediterranean – West – in a 500 year Dark Age. Writing stopped and did not surface again until about 650 B.C., with the Phonecians, then the Greeks and Etruscans. We note from the Hittite chronicles that communication in writing was a common method of communication between the Hittites, the kings of Mira, Arzawa, Egypt, etc. This process appears to have stopped in the sphere of the Greek and Anatolian communities about 1180 B.C.

The problem of the scripts of Wilusa

The references in the Hittite texts to Wilusa are believed to be of Ilion (Troy). A book review by Ian Morris of Stanford University, 2005 (http://www.princeton.edu/~pswpc/pdfs/morris/120506.pdf.) clarifies the issue, where he comments on Joachim Latacz’s book Troy and Homer: Towards a Solution of an Old Mystery (2004), focusing on the archaeological issues. He says:

In August 2003 Frank Starke announced his reinterpretation of a Hittite text as a letter from the king of Achijawa to a Hittite king (probably Hattusili II, c. 1265-1240 BC), asserting Achijawan ownership of islands in the north Aegean that had been in their hands since the days of the king’s ancestor—none other than Kadmos. Combining this name with the implication of Linear B tablets excavated at Thebes in the 1990s that this city controlled a realm reaching into Euboea, L. suggests that in the thirteenth century Thebes displaced Mycenae as the leading city in an Achijawan kingdom. Departing from Korfmann’s thesis, L. then suggests that under Theban leadership Hittite-Achijawan tensions mounted. The Hittites punished Achijawan aggression by capturing Millawanda; the Achijawan king responded by besieging Wilusa. Soon after the Trojan War both kingdoms collapsed, but Greek migrants to western Turkey in the eleventh century preserved a good deal of knowledge of the war, enshrining it in epic poetry. Stories about Troy probably entered the tradition at a time when the genitive of Ilion was Ilioo, midway between the Mycenaean form Ilioio and the Homeric Iliô. The basic storyline and certain set pieces—above all the Catalogue of Ships — then survived until the Iliad was written down in the eighth century.

...L.’s qualified confidence in the accuracy of Homer’s account of the war rests largely on the way external sources (Hittite, Egyptian, and Mycenaean) confirm that Achijawa was a major power, and clashed with the Hittite Empire around Wilusa. But if the non-bardic evidence does show that Homer knew a lot about Late Bronze Age political history, it is then odd that he apparently did not know the basic fact that the war was a frontier clash between the Achijawan and Hittite Empires. It seems to me that there is a logical problem here. This worsens if L. is right that Achijawa attacked Wilusa in revenge for the Hittite sack of Millawanda. L. explains the absence of Miletus from Homer’s story by pointing to the speculation of Wolf-Dietrich Niemeier (Miletus’ excavator) that Tudhalija III captured the city in the later thirteenth century (p. 284). Homer’s silence would then simply be faithfulness to the facts: Miletus took no part in the war. But if early archaic poets were silent about Miletus because they knew this, it strikes me as remarkable that the Trojan Cycle never mentions Miletus in the lead-up to the war, even as the setting for one of the clearly mythological events that precipitated the crisis. It might be more economical to assume that the poets’ knowledge was extremely spotty.

...The most troubling archaeological problem is the absence of an archive comparable to those found at most west Asian royal centers. L. suggests that because of the Hellenistic leveling of the citadel and Schliemann’s onslaught “any ruins of the 'state chancellery,' which must be regarded as firmly established at least for these periods [i.e., Troy VI-VII], were scattered to the four winds” (p. 115). The Luwian inscription found in 1995, he suggests, is just a tiny trace of what was originally there.

Like the arguments based on the ditch, this may be correct, but needs to be tested by more excavation. Schliemann dug badly, even by 1870s standards, but would even he have thrown away an entire archive without noticing? While hacking through the mound of Kuyunjik in 1849 Layard recovered thousands of Assyrian cuneiform tablets; was Schliemann really so much worse than Layard? Possibly, as L. suggests, Schliemann’s spoil tips will yield inscriptions; but equally possibly there was no archive there for him to destroy in the 1870s. If Hellenistic builders had leveled such an archive and dumped the debris, it is rather surprising that no fragments of tablets have ever turned up. L. also suggests that the archive remains unexcavated, in the lower town. This is very possible, but again calls for more excavation. In the meantime, we can only conclude that the case for Hisarlik being the capital of a Hittite vassal state remains unproven. The single inscription we do have comes from a Troy VIIb context, of the late twelfth century. L. insists that “The idea that the seal was kept for seventy or eighty years as a piece of antique decoration in the citadel only to be thrown away [or lost?] one day is less probable than that it continued in use as a seal in Wilusa even after the collapse of the central administration in Hattusa” (p. 119), but since we have no evidence for state writing in Troy VI, let alone Troy VII, I see no way to tell whether the seal was an heirloom brought from somewhere else in the Hittite Empire or the last remaining trace of a flourishing scribal bureaucracy. Despite these concerns over the state of the evidence, I continue to suspect L. is right to think that Hisarlik was Wilusa, and was the scene of repeated clashes between a Hittite client kingdom and Achaean adventurers in the thirteenth century.

We need to see some texts from Troy. Assuming Troy (VII) was a major center of commerce, at least for wool, and assuming it controlled shipping between the Aegean and the Black Sea, we would expect to find tablets with writing on them. The Mycenean invaders were literate, the Hittites were literate and communicated in writing with the vassal states and those whom they conquered. In like manner the Egyptians communicated in writing during that period, and more artifacts from Egypt and Africa would probably be in order to substantiate that Troy was a commercial trading center deserving of conquest.

According to the Iliad the Phrygians and Lydians were powers that were allied with Troy during the Trojan War. It may be that the wars of Mursilis against the North Country (Gasgan's land of Tipiya) is an indication that there was pressure from the north from incoming "hoards" who eventually participated in the sacking of the major civilizations about 1180 B.C.:

YEAR 2: TEN YEAR ANNALS

The rebellion in the Upper Land

KBo 3.4 + KUB 23.125 (A); A: 49-52 = KBo 16.1 ii : 6 ff. (B); AM 26 ff., Grelois 57 ff., 77 ff.

(49) In the next year I went to the Upper Land because the Gasgans of the land of Tipiya had become hostile to me and it did not raise troops for me. I, My Sun, defeated (the town of) Kathaidduwa, and I came away with deportees, cattle, sheep and I brought them away to Hattusas. But I burnt down the town.

The Gasgans in the North Country seemed to be the beginning of troubles for the Hittite King Arnuwandas. Note the comment, "Pihhuniyas did not rule in the forthright manner of the Gasga: because with the Gasga there is not the rule of one (person)." Then his attention shifted towards Arzawa and seemed to be preoccupied with troubles there and also from Assyria and Babylon. His contemporary in Assyria (Arnuwanda III, from 1219-1218) would be Tukulti-Ninurta I (1243-1207) and Ashur-nadin-apli (1206-1203). In Babylon ruled the Kassites, whose king at the time was Adad-shuma-usur (1216-1187). The Kassite Dynasty (c. 1729-1155 B.C.) ended with King Enlil-nadin-ahi (Enlil-shuma-usur, 1157-1155), who was conquered by Assyria. (5)

The Drought leading to the Dark Age beginning 1180 B.C.

The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) published an interesting chart October 24, 2000 that compared sea-level rise with solar activity during the period 14,000 years BP to 2,000 years after the present year (AP). The study (Click on PNAS link for larger view of chart) said:

...The "Global Chill" centered near 8,200 years BP (point H, Fig. 2) on the solar-output model is reflected in a small dip in the otherwise steady rise in the Ters sea-level curve. Later, there is evidence for two "Sahara Aridity" cold periods, one centered near 7,000 years BP (point I, Fig. 2) and another at 5,500 years BP (point J, Fig. 2), which prompted a great migration of a pastoral civilization from the now Sahara Desert to the Nile River Valley in Egypt (9). The "4,000 BP Event" that in fact prevailed from 4,400 to 3,800 BP (point K, Fig. 2) (9) may have been the coldest period since the Younger Dryas cold period. The "Centuries of Darkness" from 3,250 to 2,750 years BP (point L, Fig. 2) included the downfall of the great empires of the Bronze Age (9). Another little ice age occurred during the period from 2,060 to 1,400 years BP [60 before Christ (B.C.) to anno Domini (A.D.) 600] (point M, Fig. 2) called the "Migration of Nations," when at its coldest point, the Germanic tribes overran the Roman Empire and the northern Asiatic tribes overran the Chinese Empire (9).

The "Centuries of Darkness," (about 1500-1200 B.C.) mark another cold period – reduced solar activity and declining sea levels – after which the sea level began to rise again. During this period we have testimony from two sources on a drought of that era: 1) Herodotus (1.94), The Tyrrhenians were "Lydians driven from their homeland by prolonged famine. They took their name from a son of the Lydian king Atys, Tyrsensus, who led them to a new home among the Ombrici of northern and central Italy;" and 2) the Chronicle of Mursulis, where he speaks of a blight. Nicholas of Damascus (1st Cent. B.C.) FGr.History 90 F16 spoke of a drought during Melos' (Mopsos) time:

"Maxos the Lydian did many marvelous things. When he had driven Meles from the tyranny urged the Lydians to surrender a tithe to the gods, as he had vowed. They agreed and reckoning up their goods they took a tenth part and dedicated it to the gods. In this man's time a great drought took hold of Lydia and the citizens took refuge in divination."

A drought affecting Anatolia would reflect an overall drought condition across Asia, affecting the pastoralists that ranged from the Altai Mountains to the Caspian Sea. Suffering from drought, herdsmen would extend their range across the steppes to find greener pastures and as they expanded their range they would impact other herdsmen, perhaps exemplified by the migrations of the Huns and the Goths during the 4th-10th Centuries A.D., who, in wave after wave, pushed out of the steppes into Europe. In 410 A.D., the Visigoths led by Aleric stormed Rome. The movements of the Huns and the Germanic tribes was during a time of another little ice age. The PNAS report sited above said: "Another little ice age occurred during the period from 2,060 to 1,400 years BP [60 before Christ (B.C.) to anno Domini (A.D.) 600] (point M, Fig. 2) called the 'Migration of Nations,' when at its coldest point, the Germanic tribes overran the Roman Empire and the northern Asiatic tribes overran the Chinese Empire (9). Because of these correlations it is probable that the last Hittite kings were dealing with pressures from pastoralist tribes impinging upon their Northern Land(s) while, at the same time they were taking on the Egyptian Empire. That Arzawa came to be active, challenging the Hittite kings, may have to do with an alliance with Egypt. We have no evidence of this in any record, that I know of, however. Again, if we were to find documents from the ruins of Troy, or Hittite / Egyptian documents connecting Egypt with the king of Wusila, it would not be surprising.

The Sea Peoples and lineages of the time of the Iliad

The webpage nefertiti.iwebland.com/sea_peoples.htm cites sources suggesting that the Sea Peoples were enlisted by both the Hittites and Egyptians:

Egyptian Nineteenth Dynasty (Theban) (B.C.(5)

1293-1291 Menpehtyre Ramesses I 1291-1279 Menmare Seti I (son) 1279-1212 Usermare Ramesses II (son) 1212-1202 Baenre Merenptah (son) 1202-1199 Menmire Amenmesses (brother?) 1199-1193 Userkheprure Seti II (son of Merenptah) 1193-1187 Akhenre Merenptah-Siptah (son?) 1193-1185 Sitre-meryetamun Tawosret (widow of Seti II)

Egyptian Twentieth Dynasty (Theban) (B.C.)

1185-1182 Userkhaure Setnakht 1182-1151 Usermare Ramesses III (son) 1151-1145 Heqamare Ramesses IV (son) 1145- 1141 Usermare Ramesses V (son) 1141-1133 Nebmare Ramesses VI (son of Ramesses III) 1133-1127 Usermare-meryamun Ramesses VII 1127-1126 Usermare-akhenamun Ramesses VIII 1126-1108 Neferkare Ramesses IX 1108-1098 Khepermare Ramesses X 1098-1070 Menmare Ramesses XI

Twenty-first Dynasty (Tanite) 1070 -946

Attempts were made to enlist them as allies; the Sherden for instance, became mercenaries in the Egyptian army under Ramses II, and the Lukka associated themselves with the Hittites [Source: Lionel Casson Ancient Egypt, Time-Life Books]. There are a few Egyptian inscriptions referring to military action against the Sea Peoples. Merneptah defended his country in his fifth year by defeating a coalition of forces in Libya:

[Beginning of the victory which his majesty achieved in the land of Libya (?)] //////i, Ekwesh, Teresh, Luka, Sherden, Shekelesh, Northerners coming from all lands. [J.H.Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, Part Three, § 574]

The mortuary temple of Ramses III [1182-1151 B.C.] at Medinet Habu has the following inscription, though some doubt that this is more than a modified copy of that of Merneptah:

The countries /// ///, the [Northerners (?)] in their isles [11] were disturbed, taken away in the [fray (?)] /// at one time. Not one stood before their hands, from Kheta [1] (xtA), Kode [2] (qdj), Carchemish [3] (qArAqAmSA), Arvad [4] (ArATw), and Alasa [5] (ArAsA), they were wasted. [The]y [set up (?)] a camp in one place in Amor [6]. Tthey desolated his people and his land like that which is not. They came with fire prepared before them, forward to Egypt. Their main support was Peleset (pwrAsAT), Thekel (TAkkArA), Shekelesh (SAkrwSA), Denyen (dAjnjw), and Weshesh (wASASA). (These) lands were united, and they laid their hands upon the land as far as the Circle of the Earth. Their hearts were confident, full of their plans.
Inscription on the second pylon at Medinet Habu [J.H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, Part Four, § 64]

I established my boundary in Djahi [7], prepared in front of them, the local princes, garrison-commanders, and Maryannu [12]. I caused to be prepared the river mouth like a strong wall with warships, galleys, and skiffs. They were completely equipped both fore and aft with brave fighters carrying their weapons and infantry of all the pick of Egypt, being like roaring lions upon the mountains; chariotry with able warriors and all goodly officers whose hands were competent. Their horses quivered in all their limbs, prepared to crush the foreign countries under their hoofs. [Harris Papyrus]

The Egyptians stopped the Sea Peoples in the end, but the Pulusti, or Peleset, – believed to have been originaly from Crete – ended up securing a place for themselves in Canaan, afterwhich the land became known by their name: Palestine.

The Kingdom of Lydia Atyads (Tantalids) (?)*

Manes (Tmolus) - Gored to death by a bull

Omphales - Widow of Tmolus, after whom she reigned, daughter of the river god Iardanus

Atys (Tantalus) - Son of Tmolus and Pluto, offered up his son Pelops in a feast for the gods

Lydus (Broteas) - Son of Tantalus and Dione - Went mad and threw himself into a fire

Tantalus - Son of Broteas, married Clytemnestra but never reigned in Lydia

The Kingdom of Lydia Heraclids (1221-716 B.C.)*

1221-? Agron Ardys (Ardyss I) 795-759 Alyattes 759-745 Meles (Myrsus) 745-733 Candaules (Myrsilus) 733-716

The Kingdom of Lydia Mermaneds (680-547 B.C.) (5) *

680-645 (or 716- 678*) Gyges (son of Dascylus; traditional founder of a new royal dynasty c. 680 B.C.) 645-624 (or 678-629*) Ardys II (son) 624-610 Sadyattes (629-617*) (son) 610-560 Alyattes II (617-560*)(son) 560-547 Croesus (560-546*) (son); conquest of Lydia by Cyrus the Great of Persia c. 547 B.C.)

This was not the last time Egypt hired mercenaries. The Gauls served as mercenaries in Egypt to such an extent that they had a thriving colony near Alexandria. They were also employed by Rome as "shock troops" because of their vigor and valor. They would commit suicide rather than surrender, as horrifyingly described by Julius Caesar in his "Galic Wars," where he stopped the movement of the Helveti (Swiss) from moving into France from their homeland near Geneva. When the Roman army had them surrounded with a ditch and breastwork, all 50,000 of the Helveti men committed suicide, taking their women and children with them. By these examples and more we may postulate that certain Sea Peoples were enlisted by the Armies of the Hittites and Egyptians in the struggle for power over the Near East and having attracted these people, and perhaps others, invited disaster upon themselves. As the powers in the Near East collapsed, new peoples invaded, filling the void. Some of them may have become known as the Phrygians and Lydians, who probably were on site, as it were, by 1150 B.C., though the Dynastic Tables cannot account for the period 1180 B.C. to 700 B.C. with respect to the kingdoms of Lydia or Phrygia (which appear to be concurrent kingdoms). King Midas was the son of King Gordias by Cybele, for instance. And it was Adrastus, seeking refuge with King Croesus, who said he was the son of Midas. This would appear to place King Gordias in the same generation as King Alyattes of Lydia.

Lineage of the House of Atreus and the House of Priam - accounts from Lydia

The lineage and history (myths) of the Etruscans, Lydians and Phrygians were so woven together that it is difficult to discuss the history based on mythological accounts without discussing all three peoples. Our work, "Etruscan Phrases, addressed this issue, as we continue to ascertain what happened ~1180 B.C. and to whom and why these people are so intricately interwoven.

According to Herodotus 4.45, the Greeks claimed that "Asia was named after the wife of Prometheus, but the Lydians have a share in this name, saying that Asia was so named after Asies the son of Cotys, who was the son of Manes, and not after Prometheus' wife, Asia. They declare that it is from this man that the tribe Asias in Sardis takes its name." Scholars have noted the linguistic similarity between the Hittite Assuwa / Arzawa and the Greek name Asia. See H. T. Bossert, Asia, Istanbul 1946. Asius was the son of Cotys and Muio, a king of the Lydians, according to Christodorus in his Lydiaka. For the equation of Lydia with Asia see Apolonius Rodius 2.777. The ancients would trace their lineage back to the gods, so it is expected that Adrastus would account his lineage to the goddess Cybele, just as Achilles could account his lineage to the sea-nymph Theti, or Tantalus is said to be of Zeus.

Joannes Laurentius Lydus, De mensibus 4.71, quoting Eumelus the Corinthian (ca. 8th Cent. B.C.), said that "Zeus was born in what today we call Lydia, and he is as reliable as anyone: for still today on the western side of the city of Sardis, on the mountain ridge of Tmolus, there is a place which used to be called the Birth of Rain-bringing Zeus, and now with language altered by times is known as Deusion."

Lydus, De mensibus 3.20, quoting Xanthus, says that the Lydians honored the year as a divinity. "For Xanthus calls Sardis itself Xuaris, and if anyone analyzes the name Sardis arithmetically, he will find that it contains three hundred and sixty-five units . From this then it is clear that the city was called sardis to honor the sun that brings a year with just so many days. And it is agreed by many that the new year is still now the new Sardis. There are those who say that in the ancient tongue of the Lydians the year was called sardis."

Dionysius of Halicarnassus (1st Cent. B.C.), Antiquitates Romanae, 1.27.1-2 says that the Etruscans, under the leadership of Tyrrhenus, was a Lydian by birth, from the area foremly called Maeonia. He was the fifth in line from Zeus, they say; and they claim tht the son of Zeus and Ge was Manes, the first king in the land, and his son by Callirhoe, daughter of Oceanus, was Cotys. By Halie, daughter of earthborn Tyllus, Cotys had two sons, Asies and Atys; and by Callithea, daughter of Choraeus, Atys fathered two sons himself, Lydus and Tyrrhenus. Lydus remained there and took over his father's kingdom, and from him the land was called Lydia. Tyrrhenus, the leader of the colony, took a large part of Italy and gave his name to those who had participated in the enterprise." Thucydides 4.109-4 said that the Tyrsenoi inhabited a promntory, Acte, in Chalcidice, after having been expelled from Attica and Lemnos (See also Herodotus .137ff). Xanthus of Lydia does not name Tyrrhenus in any part of his history as a prince of the Lydians nor is he aware of the landing of a colony of Maeonians in Italy. And though he is mindful of several less important matters, he does not make the least mention of Tyrrhenia as a Lydian foundation. He says that Lydus and Torebus were the sons of Atys, and that they divided the kingdom between them and both remained in Asia, another scholar has argued. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitates Romanae, 1.30.1 further says, "Nor do I believe that the Tyrrhenians were a colony of the Lydians; for they do not speak the same tongue, nor is it possile to say that, though they no longer speak a similar language, they retain other signs of their motherland. For they neither recognize the same deities as the Lydians nor have similar laws and institutions, but in these matters they are more different from the Lydians than from the Pelasgians." He also notes in paragraph 3.61 that a purple robe worn by Tyrrhenian kings is said to resemble those of the kings of Lydia and Persia.

Nicholas of Damascus , FGRHist. 90 F44 says, "Adyattes king of the Lydians left his kingdom to his twin sons, Cadys and Ardys, who then ruled together in mutual harmony and the affection of the people. But Cadys' wife, Damonno, took a handsome cousin of her husband's, Spermes, as a lover and with him plotted the death of her husband. She gave a poison to him and though he did not die..Treated by a doctor, Cadys improved. Wishing to get rid of the doctor because of this, the woman decided cunningly not to give him poison. Instead shedug a pit in her house and hid it by placing a couch above it and others nearby. Summoning the doctor when he had arrived for dinner, she bade him sit down where the pit was. When he had fallen in she piled in the earth and buried him. Not mch later Cadys died. Damonno and her lover then exiled Ardys and seized the kingdom; Ardys escaped with his family to Kyme. Spermes sent a brigand, Cerses, to kill Ardys with the promise of his daughter in marriage and a thousand staters. Cerses found Ardys living as an innkeeper in Kyme, fell in love with his daughter, and told him the whole story. By agreement with Ardys, Cerses returned to Sardis, deceived Spermes with a ruse, and chopped off his head. The Lydians were not unduly upset since Spermes had been a villain and there had been a drought during his reign. He had ruled for two years but he does not appear in the king lists. Cerses returned to Kyme in good spirits, got drunk in a shop where he stopped, told the tradesman the story, and was in turn beheaded. The tradesman, named Thuessus, took both the heads to Ardys who in gratitude agreed to allow him to conduct business without taxes in the future. As a result Thuessus became rich and set up a market, named after him, and a temple of Hermes. The Lydians sent envoys, among whom were some of the Heraclidae, to recall Ardys. ardys ruled best of all the kins after Acimius, being highly esteemed by the Lydians and the just. He numbered the Lydian army, which was mainly horsemen, and reportedly counted 30,000 cavalry. As Ardys grew old, Dascylus son of Gyges the Mermnad became very close to him and held practically all governmental power. Adrys' son Adyattes, in fear that when his father died Dascylus would seize the throne, killed him surreptitioously. Dascylus' pregnant wife fled to Phrygia, her homeland, in fear of her husband's murderers. The bedridden king was overcome with grief, denounced the killers, and cursed them, giving anyone who found them the authority to kill them. he died after a reign of 70 years.

Herodotus 1.94 says,

"The Lydians have very nearly the same customs as the Greeks, with the exception that these last do not bring up their girls in the same way. So far as we have any knowledge, they were the first nation to introduce the use of gold and silver coin, and the first who sold goods by retail. They claim also the invention of all the games which are common to them with the Greeks. These they declare that they invented about the time when they colonize Tyrrhenia, an evnt of which they give the following account. In the days of Atys the son of Manes, there was great scarcity through the whole land of Lydia. For some time the Lydians bore the affliction patiently, but finding that it did not pass away, the set to work to devise remedies for the evil. Various expedients were discovered by various persons; dice, and knuckle-bones, and ball, and all affairs to the neglect of his own. Hereupon robbery and lawlessness broke out afresh, and prevailed through the country even more than heretofore; wherefore the Medes assembled from all quarters, and held a consultation on the state of affairs. The speakers, as I think, were chiefly friends of Deioces [~700 - 647 B.C.]. "We cannot possibly," they said, "go on living in this country if things continue as they now are; let us therefore set a king over us, that so the land may be well governed, and we ourselves may be able to attend to our own affairs, and not be forced to quit our country on account of anarchy." The assembly was persuaded by these arguments, and resolved to appoint a king."

The Egyptian Pharoah Merneptah (1224-1204 B.C.) records grain shipments to the Hittites. Plutarch (277 A.D.) in his Quaestiones Romanae, # 53, said, "Now the Etruscans are Lydians in origin, and Sardis was the metropolis of the Lydians, so they offered the Veians for sale under the name; and even nowadays they keep the custom in jest. The question was: Why did they proclaim Sardians for sale?"

Nicolas of Damascus, FGrHist. 90 F45 says: "In the reign of Meles [745-733 B.C.] there was a great famine in Lydia and the people turned to auguries. The deity decreed that they should exact penalties from the royal house for the murder of Dascylus. When he heard this from the interpreters, and was told that he ought to go away for three years to expiate the murder, Meles departed to Babylon of his own accord. he also sent to Phrygia to Dascylus, son of the murdered Dascylus, who was not yet born when his mother fled from Sardis, and summoned him to Sardis to receive recompense for his father's murder; for this is what the soothsayers decreed. But Dascylus refused to come, saying that he had never seen his father, that he was not yet born when he had been taken away, and that therefore it was not seemly for him to meddle in these matters. On his departuere Meles entrusted the realm to Sadyattes, son of Cadys, whose ancestor was Tylon. Sadyattes administered the kingdom for him while he was away, welcomed him when he returned from Babylon three years later, and loyally gave him back the throne."

Nicolas of Damascus, FGrHist. 90 F22 again says: " It is said that the Lydian king Camblitas became so much of a glutton that he took a fance to his wife and ate her. He thought that he had been influenced by drugs, and when the matter became common knowledge, he stood in the middle of the crowded agora with a sword in hand and said, 'O Zeus, if I did what I did of my own volition, let me impose the punishment on myself; but if I acted distraught with drugs, let those who drugged me suffer.' Whereupon in everybody's sight he killed himself. some sneered at him as a gluttonous man, and others pitied him as one deranged by drugs: and they thought that Iardanus had done this in hatred." In his Lydiaka Xanthus reports that Cambles the king of Lydia was quite a treacherman and a heavy drinker to the point of gluttony. One night he slaughtered his wife and ate her but when he found her hand in his mouth the next morning he killed himself since the murder was made common knowledge."

Alexander of Aetolia (3rd Cent. B.C.) in Anthologia Palatina 7.709 says this of Sardis in the time of Gyges: "Sardis, ancient habitation of my fathers, if I had been raised in you, clad in gold I should have been a priest or eunuch in the service of Cybele beating the chattering kettledrums. But now my name is Alcman and my home is Sparta rich in tripods; and I have learnt from the muses of helicon who have mademe greater than the kings Candaules and Gyges [passage recorded by Plutarch De exilio 599E].

Gyges' wealth matched that of the legendary King Midas of Phrygia.

Herodotus 1.12-14 says: "All was then prepared for the attack, and when night fell, Gyges, seeing that he had no retreat or escape, but must absolutely either slay Candaules, or himself be slain, followed his mistress into the sleeping-room. She placed a dagger in his hand, and hid him carefully behind the self-same door. Then Gyges, when the king was fallen asleep, entered privily into the chamber and struck him dead. Thus did the wife and kingdom of Candaules pass into the possession of his follower Gyges, of whom Archilochus the Parian, who lived about the same time, made mention in a poem written in Iambic trimeter verse.

Gyges was afterwards confirmed in the possession of the throne by an anser of the Delphic oracle. Enraged at the murder of their king, the people flew to arms, but after a while the partisans of Gyges came to terms with them, and it was agreed that if the Delphic oracle declared him king of the Lydians, he should reign; if otherwise, he should yield the throne to the Heraclidae. As the oracle was given in his favor, he became king. The Pythian priestess, however, added that, in the fifth genertion after Gyges, vengeance should come for the Heraclidate; a prophecy of which neither the Lydians nor their princes took any account till it was fulfilled. Such was the way in which the Mermnadae deposed the Heraclidae, and themselves obtained the sovereignty.

14. When Gyges was established on the throne, hesent no small presents to Delphi, as his many silver offerings at the Delphic shrine testify. Besides this silver he gave a vast number of vessels of gold, among which the most worthy of mention are the goblets, six in number, and weighing altogether thirty talents, which stand in the Corinthian treasury, dedicated by him. I call it the Corinthian treasury, though in strictness of speech it is the treasury not of the whole Corinthian people, but of Cyseleus, son of Eetion. Excepting Midas, son of Gordias, king of Phrygia, Gyges was the first of the barbarians whom we know to have sent offerings to Delphi. Midas dedicated the royal throne whereon he was accustomed to sit and administer justice, an object well worth looking at. it lies in the same place as the goblets presented by Gyges. The Delphians call the whole of the silver and the gold which Gyges dedicated, after the name of the donor, Gygian."

Midas was husband to the daughter of Agamemnon, king of Kyme, according to Aristotle, Fragmenta 611.37. Perhaps setting a prescedent for the future king Croesus, Gyges enjoyed his riches and power so much he wondered whether any mortal was happier. : "For when Gyges became arrogant because of the wealth and power of the Lydian empire and had come to the Pythian Apollo to find out whether any mortal was happier than he, the god from the hidden recess of the sanctuary replied and preferred Aglaus Psophidius to him." According to Herodotus 1.14, "While he ruled, this man invaded Miletus and Smyrna and took possession of the city of Colophon." Gyges and Lydia are mentioned in Assyrian sources (See D.D. Luckenbill, "Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia II," Chicago, 1927, pp. 290ff.)

Sardis' end came about by the assault of the Cimmerians, a Scythian tribe that had been pushed out of its territory around the Crimea. Strabo (1st Cent. B.C. - 1st Cent. A.D.) 1.3.21 says "The Cimmerians whom they also call Treres, or someone of their tribes, often overran the areas on the right of the Pontus and the continuous countries, at one time attacking the Paphlagonians and at another even the Phrygians; at which time they say Midas drank bull's blood and went to his fate. But Lygdamis [the chief of the Cimmerians] led his troops and marched to Lydia and Ionia, and he took Sardis, but perished in Cilicia." Again in the chapter 13.4-8 he says, "Calisthenes says that Sardis was first taken by the Cimmerians and subsequently by the Treres and the Lycians, as Callinus the elegiac poet makes plain; and finally a capture of the city took place in the time of Cyrus and Croesus." and 14.1-40, "...the Magnesians, who had experienced good fortune for a long time, were devastated by the Treres, a Cimmerian tribe; and in the following year the Milesians took over the place. Callinus recalls the Magnesians as still being in good shape and victorious in their war with the Ephesians, but Archilochus is apparently cognizatn of the disaster that overtook them..But Callinus remembers another earlier incursion of the Cimmerians when he says - 'Now the army of the Cimmerians fearful in deeds is approaching' ; in which he makes plain the capture of Sardis. "

Herodotus 1.15-16 records the capture of Sardis: "I will sooner make mention of Ardys the son of Gyges who succeeded him. He captured Priene and attacked Miletus. During his reign at Sardis the Cimmerians, pushed out of their domain by the wandering Scythians, came into Asia and took Sardis, all except its citadel. After Ardys had reigned forty-nine years, Sadyattes his son succeeded him and reigned for twelve years. After Sadyattes came Alyattes."

Before attacking Sardis the Cimmerians destroyed Gordion, the Phrygian capital. The Assyrian records tell of Gyges weathering their first assault and being killed in the second. [D.D. Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia II, Chicago, 1927, p. 298.] Alyattes "made war with the Medes under Cyaxares, the grandson of Deioces," says Herodotus 1.16, "drove the Cimmerians out of Asia, conquered Smyrna, the Colophonian colony, and invaded Clazomenae. From this last contest he did not come off as he could have wished, but met with a severe defeat: still, however, in the course of his reign, he performed other actions very worthy of note..." For the chronology of Alyattes see the Marmor Parium [FGrHist.]

Pelops lineage (Mycenean) (Archeological Date: 1550-1150 B.C.)	Priam's lineage (Trojan)
Tantalus, king of Sipylus, in Lydia. Son of Zeus and Pluto, daughter of Cronus - Clytemestra' first husband	Scamander, river-god and Idaea, a nymph of Mount Ida
Pelops & goddess, Dione or a Pleiad	Teucer
Atreus married Aërope, daughter of King Catreus of Crete	Dardanus, son of Zeus, married Teucer's daughter, Bateia
Agamemnon married to Clytemnestra, sister of Helen of Sparta, daughter of King Tyndareüs	Erichthonius married Astyoche, a daughter of the river-god Simöes
Orestes, avenger of Agamemnon's murder by Clytemnestra and her lover	Tros married Callirrhoë
xx	Ilus II married Eurydice
xx	Loaomedon married Placia?
xx	Priam married Hecuba
xx	Hector married Andromache
xx	Astyanax, last of theTrojan royal line

Thetis was abducted in her sleep at the encouragement of the gods by the mortal, Peleus. When comparing the two lineages we can see that during the time of the report of the story the descent was immediate. The short lineage suggests a new tradition, the beginning of a new dynasty or set of heros. Because of the relatively new lineage we can postulate that the generation of the Trojan War reflected a new influx of peoples whose memory could not go back more than two or three generations, like that of the Phrygian Adrastus. In like manner we have the leader of the Mycenaens, Agamemnon, who, with his brother, Menelaüs, were known as the Atreidae, sons of Atreus. Atreus was the son of Pelops and Hippodameia. Pelops was the son of Tantalus, by either Dione or a Pleiad, but he was cut up by his father and served to the gods in a stew as a test of their omniscience. All of them saw through this trick at once except Demeter, who ate a piece of the child's shoulder. The gods quickly restored him to life, and Demeter gave him a new shoulder of ivory. The youth was now so beautiful that Poseidon carried him off to Olympus. Later, however, Pelops was sent back to earth because of his father's crimes. Pausanias claims that Pelops was driven from his homeland of Lydia by the army of Ilus – presumably the king of that name who founded Ilium. In Ilium we have King Priam attacked by King Agamemnon's forces. Priam was called Podarces, the son of Laomedon by Strymo, Placia, or Leucippe. he was named Priam from the word priamai ("to buy") when ransomed from heracles by his sister Hesione. He succeeded his father as king of the wealthy city of Troy. He maried Arisbe, daughter of Merops, king of Percote, and had a son, Aesacus. Later he gave Arisbe to his ally Hyrtacus and married hecuba, daughter of Dymas, of Cisseus, or of the river Sangarius by Metope. It may be that he had met Hecuba while fighting beside the Mygdonians against the Amazons on the banks of the Sangarius river (Hittite: Sehirriya, Turkish, Sakarya). She bore him a son, Hector. When she was about to give birth to a second child, she dreamed that she had borne a firebrand that burned Troy. That child's name was Alexander (Paris), who would become the protaganist in the Trojan War by abducting the daughter of the King of Sparta who had been newly married to Menelaüs.

Priam's father, Laomedon was the king of Troy born to Ilus and Eurydice, daughter of Adrastus. Apollo and Poseidon undertook to build a wall around Troy for him, either to test his reputation for untrustworthiness or because they were required to work for hire for a year as punishement for rebelling against Zeus. Laomedon not only refused their wages when the walls was finished but threatened to cut off their ears or to sell them, bound hand and foot, into slavery. Apollo and Poseidon punished this breach of contract by sending, respectively, a plague and a sea-monster to ravage Laomedon's land.

On the advice of an oracle, Laomedon chained his daughter hesione to a rock as an offering to the monster. Some say that many girls were sacrificed to the monster and eventually the lot fell to hesione. She would have died too had not heracles stopped at Troy, either on his way home from the Amazon campaign or on the ooutward voyage of the Argo. He offered to save hesione if Laomedon would give him the mares that Zeus had paid the king (or his grandfather Tros) for Ganymede. According to some accounts, Hesione herself was to be part of the wages. Laomedon kept his bargain no better with Heracles than he had with the gods. Heracles sailed awy empty-handed, swearing vengeance.

This vengeance had to await the complete of his labors, but in due course he returned to Troy with a sizable force, which included Telamon, king of Salamis. Laomedon's men fought fiercely and almost destroyed the Greek ships, but were eventually driven back into the city. Heracles killed Laomedon, gave Hesione to Telamon, and left Laomedon's son Priam to rule Troy.

The indigenous people of the Troad, the region dominated by Troy, were the Teucrians, named for their king Teucer. This Teucer was a son of the river-god Scamander and Idaea, a numph of Mount Ida, although Roman tradition makes him an immigrant from Crete. During Teucer's rule, Dardanus, a son of Zeus and Atlas' daughter Electra, came to the mainland from his birthplace on the island of Samothrace. (The Romans, however, claimed that Dardanus came to Samothrace from Italy.) Dardanus married Teucer's daughter, Bateia, and founded a city on the slope of Mount Ida that he called Dardania. At the death of Teucer, Dardanus succeeded to the rule of the entire region, and renamed the people Dardanians. Dardanus' son, Erichthonius gained great wealth and married Astyoche, a daughter of the river-god Simöes. Their son, Tros, gave his name to the people who came to be called Trojans, and to the region they inhabited, the Troad.

In the lineage we see that both houses involved in the Trojan War trace their origin in Lydia. Edward Tripp (6) identifies the Troad as a Phrygian domain. Of interest is the fact that both houses trace connect their lineage also to Crete.

Understanding the "Midas Monument" inscriptions

First we would like to ask, "Who is Akenano?" The first phrase of Script XA says: "ATES: ARKIA EFAIS AKENANO TAFOS: MIDAI: PAFAPa TAEI: FANA Ki TEI: EDAES – "Ates; the archon Akenano of Tafos: Midai (name): he feared Taei (name): the holy place that of the god you will produce, bring out."

XA- 25 BABA: MEM EFAIS: PROITA FOST TIPA NA EPOS: SKENEM AM: EL AES – Papa: the same he spoke out: the shaft / scepter of the model on the wall truly of the epic poem known I love: she of the bronze."

XA-18, the "Throne-altar," says: AKENANO: A FAN TIES NOA POPLA Ki: ATANA – "Akenano: at the holy place of the days he/she renews the people? that of Atana."

XB-22, of the "Areyastis Monument," says: BONO Ki: AKENANO PA USuS – "the good that: Akenano throughout the Euxinus, Black Sea"

XB- 27 FREKYN: TELATOS: SOS TUTU (TUTU) Te LEMNOS: AKENANO PAFOS AES – " of the Phrigian: Telatos: the double yours entire of Lemnos: Akenano of Paphos the bronze"

XB-37 ATANIS EN: KURSAN E SON: TA NEPERTOS – "of Atanis behold! they run hither and thither from, out of the sound: you Nepertos."

Akenano is the first name on the "Throne-altar." The throne-altar is the first altar one sees when reaching the top of the plateau, and it is at the highest point of the plateau. Akenano is at the holy place of the days he renews the people those, that of Atana. To understand who Akenano is we now need to ascertain who Atana, pl. Atanis is. Is she the Hittite Sun goddess of Arinna? The monuments at "Midas City" are dedicated to the sun, and we know that the Areyastis monument is dedicated to Mater. It also faces West, opposite to that of the Midas monument. In this context, Atana and Arinna could be the same. By means of reference we know that the name Aïdoneus, meaning "the unseen one," is the extended form of Hades.

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Phrygian1.htmlPhrygian1a.htmlPhrygian2.htmlPhrygian3.htmlPhrygian4.htmlPhrygian5.html

Notes:

(1) Images from "The Gordion Excavations, Final Reports, Volume II, The Lesser Phrygian Tumuli, Part II, The Inhumations," Ellen L. Kohler, University of Pennsylvania Museum, publisher, 1995.
(2) Above 5,000 gallons.
(3) The mighty empire he would destroy by attacking the Persians turned out to be his own.
(4) The oracle of Trophonius was visited by Pausanius who describes it as follows (See theoi.com):

[9.39.5] What happens at the oracle is as follows. When a man has made up his mind to descend to the oracle of Trophonius, he first lodges in a certain building for an appointed number of days, this being sacred to the good Spirit and to good Fortune. While he lodges there, among other regulations for purity he abstains from hot baths, bathing only in the river Hercyna. Meat he has in plenty from the sacrifices, for he who descends sacrifices to Trophonius himself and to the children of Trophonius, to Apollo also and Cronus, to Zeus surnamed King, to Hera Charioteer, and to Demeter whom they surname Europa and say was the nurse of Trophonius.

[9.39.6] At each sacrifice a diviner is present, who looks into the entrails of the victim, and after an inspection prophesies to the person descending whether Trophonius will give him a kind and gracious reception. The entrails of the other victims do not declare the mind of Trophonius so much as a ram, which each inquirer sacrifices over a pit on the night he descends, calling upon Agamedes. Even though the previous sacrifices have appeared propitious, no account is taken of them unless the entrails of this ram indicate the same; but if they agree, then the inquirer descends in good hope. The procedure of the descent is this.

[9.39.7] First, during the night he is taken to the river Hercyna by two boys of the citizens about thirteen years old, named Hermae, who after taking him there anoint him with oil and wash him. It is these who wash the descender, and do all the other necessary services as his attendant boys. After this he is taken by the priests, not at once to the oracle, but to fountains of water very near to each other.

[9.39.8] Here he must drink water called the water of Forgetfulness, that he may forget all that he has been thinking of hitherto, and afterwards he drinks of another water, the water of Memory, which causes him to remember what he sees after his descent. After looking at the image which they say was made by Daedalus (it is not shown by the priests save to such as are going to visit Trophonius), having seen it, worshipped it and prayed, he proceeds to the oracle, dressed in a linen tunic, with ribbons girding it, and wearing the boots of the country.

[9.39.9] The oracle is on the mountain, beyond the grove. Round it is a circular basement of white marble, the circumference of which is about that of the smallest threshing floor, while its height is just short of two cubits. On the basement stand spikes, which, like the cross-bars holding them together, are of bronze, while through them has been made a double door. Within the enclosure is a chasm in the earth, not natural, but artificially constructed after the most accurate masonry.

[9.39.10] The shape of this structure is like that of a bread-oven. Its breadth across the middle one might conjecture to be about four cubits, and its depth also could not be estimated to extend to more than eight cubits. They have made no way of descent to the bottom, but when a man comes to Trophonius, they bring him a narrow, light ladder. After going down he finds a hole between the floor and the structure. Its breadth appeared to be two spans, and its height one span.

[9.39.11] The descender lies with his back on the ground, holding barley-cakes kneaded with honey, thrusts his feet into the hole and himself follows, trying hard to get his knees into the hole. After his knees the rest of his body is at once swiftly drawn in, just as the largest and most rapid river will catch a man in its eddy and carry him under. After this those who have entered the shrine learn the future, not in one and the same way in all cases, but by sight sometimes and at other times by hearing. The return upwards is by the same mouth, the feet darting out first.

[9.39.12] They say that no one who has made the descent has been killed, save only one of the bodyguard of Demetrius. But they declare that he performed none of the usual rites in the sanctuary, and that he descended, not to consult the god but in the hope of stealing gold and silver from the shrine. It is said that the body of this man appeared in a different place, and was not cast out at the sacred mouth. Other tales are told about the fellow, but I have given the one most worthy of consideration.

[9.39.13] After his ascent from Trophonius the inquirer is again taken in hand by the priests, who set him upon a chair called the chair of Memory, which stands not far from the shrine, and they ask of him, when seated there, all he has seen or learned. After gaining this information they then entrust him to his relatives. These lift him, paralyzed with terror and unconscious both of himself and of his surroundings, and carry him to the building where he lodged before with Good Fortune and the Good Spirit. Afterwards, however, he will recover all his faculties, and the power to laugh will return to him.

[9.39.14] What I write is not hearsay; I have myself inquired of Trophonius and seen other inquirers. Those who have descended into the shrine of Trophonius are obliged to dedicate a tablet on which is written all that each has heard or seen. The shield also of Aristomenes is still preserved here. Its story I have already given in a former part of my work.

Interesting / related Links:

1) Central Asia Images, Geography, Ethnography and Scenery, http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/millwarj/website%20images/centralasiaimages.htm
2) Hochdorf: The Grave Barrow, http://home.bawue.de/~wmwerner/hochdorf/hgl1.html
3) "The Balts," by Marija Gimbutas, from vaidilute.com
4) Hittite Treaties: www.maravot.com/Hittite_Treaties.html
5)Catalog of Hittite Texts: http://www.asor.org/HITTITE/CTHHP.html
6) Hittite/Hurrian Mythology REF 1.2
7) Studies on Arzawa http://pages.sbcglobal.net/zimriel/amc/arzawa.html
8) Mycenean murals from the Museum of Thera
9) Documents and dates of Near Eastern rulers: http://prophetess.lstc.edu/~rklein/Documents/lb.htm
10) Greek Chronicles: http://www.attalus.org/translate/chronicles.html

 

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