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King Midas of Phrygia and the Greeks*

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King Midas of Phrygia and the Greeks* chapter twenty-three KING MIDAS OF PHRYGIA AND THE GREEKS* There are no internal historical sources for the history of the people the Greeks called Phrygians. The earliest reference to the Phrygians in western historical sources occurs in the text of Herodotus who lived in the 5th century bc (I.14, VII.73). Herodotus (1.14) records that King Midas of Phrygia dedicated his royal throne to the Delphic sanctuary and that he himself saw it still on view.1 The date of Midas’ dedication is speci cally situated by Herodotus to a time before the dedications of King Gyges of Lydia (reigned ca. 685–650bc).2 The implication of Herodotus’ statement is that Midas reigned at a time before Gyges, and this chronological positioning almost certainly establishes a pre-early 7th century date for Herodotus’ Midas. That Herodotus’ King Midas of Phrygia lived in the 8th century bc and is the very same person cited by the late 8th century Assyrian King Sargon II (between the years 717 and 709bc) as King Mita of Mushki has long been accepted by a majority of scholars, including the earliest to write about the Phrygians3 (G. Rawlinson: according to Bittel 1950: 76, but without references; Winckler 1901: 136, 283f., 287; Koerte 1904: 9f., 17, 18f., 21; Kroll 1932: 1538f.; Friedrich 1941: 863; Bittel 1942: 67f.; 1950: 76; 1970: 135; Akurgal 1955: 113, 120f.; Goetze 1957: 202; Dunbabin 1957; 64; Mellink 1965: 317f.; Muscarella 1967: 59f., 72, n. 1; Herrmann 1975: 310; Roller 1983: 300).4 Herodotus’ rm chronological statement allows us to accept as an his- torical fact—a hard fact—that it was the 8th century bc, King Mita of the * This chapter originally appeared as “King Midas of Phrygia and the Greeks,” in Anatolia and the Ancient Near East: Studies in Honor of Tahsin Özgüç, eds. K. Emre, M. Mellink, B. Hrouda, and N. Özgüç (Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu, 1989), 33–44. 1 Koerte 1904: 21, suggests that the throne was not Midas’ but was one sent for the god’s use; see also Friedrich 1941: 888; Kroll 1932: 1539. 2 M. Cogan, H. Tadrnor, “Gyges and Assurbanipal”, Orientalia 46, 1977, 78., n. 25. 3 Snodgrass 1971: 350, claims we cannot be certain of the equation; Young1981: 261, implies the same lack of certainty. 4 Most of these scholars also accept the equation that Mushki equals Phrygians; see also Muscarella 1988: 179f. Postgate 1973 is ambiguous. He translates Mushki as Phrygian from Sargon’s letter but on p. 24, n. 4, he claims that he does not “imply that Mushku and Phrygia were identical”. 704 chapter twenty-three Mushki-Phrygians cited by Sargon II who sent—surely from his capital city, Gordion—a valuable artifact, a throne, to Greece. Concomitantly, we have important historical information that may legitimately be extrapolated con- cerning Phrygian relations with the Greeks in the late 8th century, both with the Greek east and speci cally with the Greek mainland. This information indicates (or at least suggests) an impulse that reects something more than casual knowledge of Greek cultural afairs. It precisely informs us that King Midas had speci c knowledge of the Delphic oracle, that he was aware of its powers, and, most signi cantly, that he decided to honor the Greek god, and perhaps make use of his oracular function. For although it may not be claimed as an historical reality, it does not ofend the evidence on its own terms to suggests that behind Herodotus’ narrative lies an historical event: Midas consulted the Delphic oracle with regard to a problem faced by the Phrygians and the throne was presented as a dedication related to the ora- cle sought.5 That is, the throne may not have been sent solely as a freewill gift, but rather is to be viewed as a kind of gift exchange, the throne for the oracle. Whether the throne was presented as a free-will gift or as a dedication related to an oracle, surely Phrygians themselves accompanied it to Delphi. Such a valuable gift-dedication would presumably be delivered by personal representatives of the donor; and if indeed an oracle was involved, the oracle seeker’s delegates would presumably wish to be present to receive it and take the message home. Phrygians travelled to Greece in the last decades or years of the 8th century bc. Aside from the personal comment that the throne was worth seeing, Herodotus did not describe it or mention its material (pace DeVries 1981: 33, and Prayon 1987: 193). As a result, however, of recent research and conserva- tion of the wooden furniture from Tumulus P and MM at Gordion (accom- plished by Elizabeth Simpson), we have an insight concerning the throne’s material and decoration. The serving screens and the elaborate three-legged table (the “Pagoda Table”) from Tumulus MM are intricately manufactured and formed of diferent colored woods, boxwood and walnut, and they are decorated in geometric patterns with inlays of a diferent colored wood, juniper (Simpson 1983; 1986). The Tumulus P serving stand has both juniper and yew inlays; and a stool from the same burial is made of two woods, box- wood and yew (information from E. Simpson). 5 The oracle sought could have been related to Midas’ problems with the Assyrians, or even later with the Kimmerians..
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