Monumental tomb discovered in Turkey might be of royal from King Midas’ kingdom
An ancient tomb discovered in Turkey may have been made for a member of the family of the legendary King Midas, who lived in the 8th century BC and is renowned for his mythical “touch of gold”.
The possibly royal tomb, from the ancient kingdom of Phrygia (1200 to 675 BC), lies more than 100 miles west of the kingdom’s ancient capital, Gordion. Its remote location suggests that Phrygian society was not politically concentrated in the capital, according to a new study. Rather, it appears that political power was distributed across the ancient kingdom of Central Anatolia.
“Historically, Phrygia was often seen as a centralized kingdom similar to that of Assyrian Or Ourartian empires”, archaeologist Hüseyin Erpehlivan from Bilecik University in Türkiye, told Live Science in an email.
But the tomb, located in the Karaağaç burial mound in the Bozüyük district of northwest Turkey, suggests otherwise; the fact that an elite tomb was built so far from the capital “supports the idea that Phrygian political organization was not limited to a strictly centralized, city-centered system” GordonErpehlivan said.
However, he acknowledged that the tomb’s lavish grave goods might not indicate a royal burial, but rather an exchange of royal gifts with an important person with royal connections, such as the governor of the region.
Distant mound
The barrow (or barrow) now rises approximately 26 feet (8 meters) above a natural mound and more than 100 feet (30 m) above the surrounding plain, with a diameter of approximately 110 feet (60 m). It was discovered in 2010 when satellite photographs showed damage from looting, and researchers have been excavating it since 2013.
In a new investigation into the mound, published in the January issue of American Journal of ArcheologyErpehlivan analyzed the architecture and funerary objects of the tomb.
Erpehlivan said the monumental architecture of the wooden chamber tomb inside the mound is comparable to elite burials near Gordion, while the funerary objects in the tomb are similar to those found in royal burials in the capital. These aspects of the burial in the Karaağaç tumulus “go beyond what one would expect from a purely local, non-elite individual, pointing instead to a figure embedded in Phrygian power structures”, he said.
Erpehlivan and his colleagues determined that the grave goods included numerous ceramic pots, one of which bore a Phrygian name, and several situlae—elaborately worked bronze vessels, often decorated with scenes of battles, hunts, and processions—that could indicate that the person in the tomb had local royal rank or ties to the royal family of Midas.
The presence of situlae is important because, prior to this study, the only documented examples were found in the “Midas Tumulus” at Gordion, which was likely the tomb of his father Gordias. Erpehlivan wrote that the artifacts also help date the tomb to between 740 and 690 BC.
Ancient Kingdom
Midas is widely known today for the myth of his “Golden Touch” or “Midas Touch” which turned everything into gold, including his food, his drink and his daughter. This cautionary tale was known to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, who cited it in the 4th century BC as an example of greed. The myth was embellished by later writers; the girl was added in the 19th century by the American author Nathaniel Hawthorne.
But Midas was also a real king of Phrygia in central Anatolia who lived in the 8th century BC. The ancient Greeks thought he was fabulously wealthy, and this part of the legend appears to have been true: ornate metalwork, jewelry, pottery, rare wooden furniture, and traces of fine textiles have been discovered in several Phrygian royal tombs. There are more than 120 burial mounds near Gordion, about half of which have been studied; however, Midas’ tomb has not yet been found.
Old bones
Erpehlivan and his colleagues discovered human remains inside the Karaağaç burial mound, but they do not believe they belong to the tomb’s original occupant. Some bones come from an ancient cemetery that already existed on the site, while others come from burials made after the construction of the tumulus and the Phrygian tomb.
“The newly discovered mound is unique in that it contains tombs spanning a period of nearly three millennia,” said a University of Pennsylvania archaeologist. Brian Rose told Live Science in an email. Rose was not involved in the latest study but has excavated tombs at Gordion for decades. “The information that this dates from the reign of King Midas in the late 8th century is particularly welcome, since two other recently excavated barrows in the Phrygian capital of Gordion date from the same period,” he said.
Archaeologist Maya Vassileva of the New Bulgarian University of Sofia, who was not involved in the study, told Live Science in an email that the Karaağaç tumulus is “very important evidence” of an elite Phrygian burial far from Gordion.
But Vassileva is not convinced that the tomb site fragments are a sign of royal connections. “I would not consider the presence of situlae as evidence of local royal status or royal connections,” she said. “The other hypothesis suggested for an exchange of gifts between elites seems more plausible.”
