Phrygia

PHRY´GIA(Φρυγία: Eth. Φρύγες, Phryges), one of the most important provinces of Asia Minor. Its inhabitants, the Phrygians, are to us among the most obscure in antiquity, at least so far as their origin and nationality are concerned. Still, however, there are many indications which seem calculated to lead us to definite conclusions. Some regard them as a Thracian tribe (Briges or Bryges), who had immigrated into Asia; others consider them to have been Armenians; and others, again, to have been a mixed race. Their Thracian origin is mentioned by Strabo (7. p. 295, 10. p. 471) and Stephanus B. (s. v); and Herodotus (Hdt. 7.73) mentions a Macedonian tradition, according to which the Phrygians, under the name of Briges, were the neighbours of the Macedonians before they migrated into Asia. This migration, according to Xanthus ( ap. Strab. 14. p. 680), took place after the Trojan War, and according to Conon ( ap. Phot. Cod. p. 130, ed. Bekk.) 90 years before that war, under king Midas. These statements, however, can hardly refer to an original migration of the Phrygians from Europe into Asia, but the migration spoken of by these authors seems to refer rather to the return to Asia of a portion of the nation settled in Asia; for the Phrygians are not only repeatedly spoken of in the Homeric poems ( Il. 2.862, 3.185, 10.431, 16.717, 24.535), but are generally admitted to be one of the most ancient nations in Asia Minor (see the story in Hdt. 2.2), whence they, or rather a portion of them, must at one time have migrated into Europe; so that in our traditions the account of their migrations has been reversed, as in many other cases. The geographical position of the Phrygians points to the highlands of Armenia as the land of their first abode, and the relationship between the Phrygians and Armenians is attested by some singular coincidences. In the army of Xerxes these two nations appear under one commander and using the same armour; and Herodotus (Hdt. 7.73) adds the remark that the Armenians were the descendants of the Phrygians. Eudoxus ( ap. Steph. B. s. v. Ἀρμενία, and Eustath. ad Dion. Per. 694) mentions the same circumstance, and moreover alludes to a similarity in the languages of the two peoples. Both are said to have lived in subterraneous habitations (Vitr. 2.1; Xenoph. Anab. 4.5.25; Diod. 14.28); and the names of both, lastly, are used as synonyms. ( Anecd. Graec. Oxon. 4. p. 257, ed. Cramer.) Under these circumstances it is impossible not to come to the conclusion that the Phrygians were Armenians; though here, again, the account of their migration has been reversed, the Armenians not being descended from the Phrygians, but the Phrygians from the Armenians. The time when they descended from the Armenian highlands cannot be determined, and unquestionably belongs to the remotest ages, for the Phrygians are described as the most ancient inhabitants of Asia Minor. (Paus. 1.14.2; Claudian, in Eutrop. 2.251, &c. Appulei. Metam.11. p. 762, ed. Oud.) The Phrygian legends of a great flood, connected with king Annacus or Nannacus, also are very significant. This king resided at Iconium, the most eastern city of Phrygia; and after his death, at the age of 300 years, a great flood overwhelmed the country, as had been foretold by an ancient oracle. (Zosim. 6.10; Suid. s. v. Νάννακος;Steph. B. s. v. Ἰκόνιον;comp. Ov. Met. 8.620, &c.) Phrygia is said to have first risen out of the flood, and the ark and Mount Ararat are mentioned in connection with the Phrygian town of Celaenae. After this the Phrygians are said to have been the first to adopt idolatry. ( Orac. Sibyll. 1.196, 262, 266, 7.12—15.) The influence of the Old Testament upon these traditions is unmistakahle, but the identity of the Phrygians and Armenians is thereby nevertheless confirmed. Another argument in favour of our supposition may be derived from the architectural remains which have been discovered in modern times, and are scarcely noticed at all by the ancient writers. Vitruvius (Vitr. 2.1) remarks, that the Phrygians hollowed out the natural hills of their country, and formed in them passages and rooms for habitations, so far as the nature of the hills permitted. This statement is most fully confirmed by modern travellers, who have found such habitations cut into rocks in almost all parts of the Asiatic peninsula. (Hamilton, Researches, 2. p. 250, 288 ; Texier, Description de l'Asie Mineure, 1. p. 210, who describes an immense town thus formed out of the natural rock.) A few of these architectural monuments are adorned with inscriptions in Phrygian. (Texier and Steuart, A Description of some ancient Monuments with Inscriptions still existing in Lydia and Phrygia, London, 1842.) These inscriptions must be of Phrygian origin, as is attested by such proper names as Midas, Ates, Aregastes, and others, which occur in them, though some have unsuccessfully attempted to make out that they are Greek. The impression which these stupendous works, and above all the rock-city, make upon the beholder, is that he has before him works executed by human hands at a most remote period, not, as Vitruvius intimates, because there was a want of timber, but because the first robust inhabitants thought it safest and most convenient to construct such habitations for themselves. They do not contain the slightest trace of a resemblance with Greek or Roman structures; but while we assert this, it cannot be denied, on the other hand, that they display a striking resemblance to those structures which in Greece we are in the habit of calling Pelasgian or Cyclopian, whence Texier designates the above mentioned rock-city (near Boghagkieui, between the Halys and Iris) by the name of a Pelasgian city. (Comp. Hamilton, Researches, i. pp. 48, 490, ii. pp. 226, &c., 209.) Even the lion gate of Mycenae reappears in several places. (Ainsworth, Travels and Researches, 2. p. 58; Leake, Asia Minor, p. 28.) These facts throw a surprising light upon the legend about the migration of the Phrygian Pelops into Argolis, and the tombs of the Phrygians in Peloponnesus, mentioned by Athenaeus (14. p. 625). But yet much remains to be done by more systematic exploration of the countries in Asia Minor, and by the interpretation of their monuments. One conclusion, however, can even now be arrived at, viz. that there must have been a time when the race of the Phrygians formed, if not the sole population of Asia Minor, at least by far the most important, bordering in the east on their kinsmen, the Armenians, and in the southeast on tribes of the Semitic race. This conclusion is supported by many facts derived from ancient writers. Independently of several Greek and Trojan legends referring to the southern coasts of Asia Minor, the name of the Phrygian mountain Olympus also occurs in Cilicia and Lycia; the north of Bithynia was in earlier times called Bebrycia, and the town of Otroia on the Ascanian lake reminds us of the Phrygian chief Otreus. (Hom. Il. 3.186.) In the west of Asia Minor, the country about Mount Sipylus was once occupied by Phrygians (Strab. 12. p. 571); the Trojan Thebe also bore the name Mygdonia, which is synonymous with Phrygia (Strab. 13. p. 588); Mygdonians are mentioned in the neighbourhood of Miletus (Aelian, Ael. VH 8.5); and Polyaenus ( Strateg. 8.37) relates that the Bebryces, in conjunction with the Phocaeans, carried on war against the neighbouring barbarians.
From all this we infer that Trojans, Mysians, Maeonians, Mygdonians, and Dolionians were all branches of the great Phrygian race. In the Iliad the Trojans and Phrygians appear in the closest relation, for Hecuba is a Phrygian princess (16.718), Priam is the ally of the Phrygians against the Amazons (3.184, &c.), the name Hector is said to be Phrygian (Hesych. s. v. Δαρεῖος), and the names Paris and Scamandrius seem likewise to be Phrygian for the Greek Alexander and Astyanax. It is also well known that both the Greek and Roman poets use the names Trojan and Phrygian as synonyms. From the Homeric hymn on Aphrodite (113) it might be inferred that Trojans and Phrygians spoke different languages; but that passage is equally clear, if it is taken as alluding only to a dialectic difference. Now as the Trojans throughout the Homeric poems appear as a people akin to the Greeks, and are even called Hellenes by Dionysius of Halicarnassus ( Ant. Rom. 1.61), it follows that the Phrygians also must have been related to the Greeks. This, again, is further supported by direct evidence; for, looking apart from the tradition about Pelops, which we have already alluded to, king Midas is said to have been the first of all foreigners to have dedicated, about the middle of the eighth century B.C.,a present to the Delphic oracle (Hdt. 1.14); and Plato ( Cratyl. p. 410) mentions several words which were common to the Greek and Phrygian languages. (Comp. Jablonski, Opera, vol. 3. p. 64, &c. ed. Te Water.); and, lastly, the Armenian language itself is now proved to be akin to the Greek. (Schroeder, Thesaur. Ling. Arm. p. 51.) The radical identity of the Phrygians, Trojans, and Greeks being thus established, we shall proceed to show that many other Asiatic nations belonged to the same stock. The name of the Mygdonians, as already observed, is often used synonymously with that of the Phrygians (Paus. 10.27.1), and in Homer ( IL. 3.186) the leader of the Phrygians is called Mygdon. According to Stephanus B. (s. v. Μυγδονίαlastly, Mygdonia was the name of a district in Great Phrygia, as well as of a part of Macedonia. The Doliones, who extended westward as far as the Aesepus, were separated from the Mygdonians by the river Rhyndacus. (Strab. 14. p. 681; Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. 1.936, 943, 1115.) At a later time they disappear from history, their name being absorbed by that of the Phrygians. The Mysians are easily recognisable as a Phrygian people, both from their history and the country they inhabited. They, too, are called Thracians, and their language is said to have been a mixture of Phrygian and Lydian (Strab. 12. p. 572), and Mysians and Phrygians were so intermingled that their frontiers could scarcely be distinguished. (Strab. 12. p. 564; Eustath. ad Horn. Il. 2.862, ad Dionys. Per. 810; Suid. s. v. οὐδὲν ἧττον.) As to the Maeonians, see LYDIA. The tribes of Asia Minor, which are usually designated by the name Pelasgians, thus unquestionably were branches of the great Phrygian stock, and the whole of the western part of the peninsula was thus inhabited by a variety of tribes all belonging to the same family. But the Phrygians also extended into Europe, where their chief seats were in the central parts of Emathia. (Hdt. 8.138; comp. Strab. 14. p. 680.) There we meet with Phrygians, or with a modification of their name, Brygians, in all directions. Mardonius, on his expedition against Greece, met Brygians in Thrace. (Hdt. 6.45; Steph. B. s. v. Βρύκαι; Plin. Nat. 4.18, where we have probably to read Brycae for Brysae.) The Phrygian population of Thrace is strongly attested by the fact that many names of places were common to Thrace and Troas. (Strab. 13. p. 590; comp. Thucyd. 2.99; Suid. s. v. Θάμυρις; Solin. 15; Tzetz. Chil. 3.812.) Traces of Phrygians also occur in Chalcidice. (Lycoph. 1404; Steph. B. s. v. Κρουσίς.Further south they appear about Mount Oeta and even in Attica. (Thucyd. 2.22; Strab. 13. p. 621; Steph. B. s. v. Φρυγίαand Φρίκιον;Eustath. ad Dionys. Per. 810.) Mount Olympus, also, was perhaps only a repetition of the Phrygian name. In the west of Edessa in Macedonia, about lake Lychnidus, we meet with Bryges (Strab. vii. pp. 326, 327; Steph. B. s. v. Βρύξ), and in the same vicinity we have the towns of Brygion, Brygias, and Mutatio Brucida. (Steph. B. s. vv.; It. Hieros. p. 607.) The westernmost traces of Brygians we find about Dyrrhachium. (Strab. l. c.; Appian, Bell. Civ. 2.39; Scymn. 433, 436.) It is difficult to determine how far Phrygian tribes extended northward. The country beyond the eastern part of Mount Haemus seems to have been occupied at all times by Thracians; but Phrygians extended very far north on both sides of Mount Scardus, for PANNONIA and MOESIA seem to be only different forms for PAEONIA and MYSIA;and the Breucae on the Savus also betray their origin by their name. It is possible also that the DARDANI were Phrygians, and descendants of the Teucrians in Troas; at least they are clearly distinguished from the Illyrians. (Plb. 2.6.) Strabo, lastly, connects the Illyrian Henetes with those of Asia Minor who are mentioned by Homer (Hom. Il. 2.852), and even the Dalmatians are in one passage described as Armenians and Phrygians. (Cramer, Anecd. Graec. Ox. 3. p. 257.) If we sum up the results thus obtained, we find that at one time the Phrygians constituted the main body of the population of the greater part of Thrace, Macedonia, and Illyricum. Allusions to their migrations into these countries are not wanting, for, independently of the traditions about the migrations of the Teucrians and Mysians (Hdt. 5.13, 7.20; Strab. Fraym. 37; Lycophr. 741, &c.), we have the account of the migration of Midas to the plains of Emathia, which evidently refers to the same great event. (Athen. 15. p. 603; Lycoph. 1397, &c.)
The great commotions which took place in Asia and Europe after the Trojan War were most unfortunate for the Phrygians. In Europe the Illyrians pressed southwards, and from the north-east the Scytho-Thracian tribes pushed forward and occupied almost all the country east of the river Axius; Hellenic colonies were established on the coasts, while the rising state of the Macedonians drove the Phrygians from Emathia. (Syncell. pp. 198, 261 ; Justin (Justin. 8.1.) Under such circumstances, it cannot surprise us to find that the great nation of the Phrygians disappeared from Europe, where the Paeonians and Pannonians were their only remnants. It is probable that at that time many of them migrated back to Asia, an event dated by Xanthus ninety years before the Trojan War. It must have been about the same time that Lesser Mysia and Lesser Phrygia were formed in Asia, which is expressed by Strabo (xii. pp. 565, 571, 572, 13. p. 586) in his statement that the Phrygians and Mysians conquered the ruler of the country, and took possession of Troas and the neighbouring countries.
But in Asia Minor, too, misfortunes came upon the Phrygians from all quarters. From the southeast the Semitic tribes advanced further and further; Diodorus (Diod. 2.2, &c.) represents Phrygia as subdued even by Ninus ; but it is an historical fact that the Syrian Cappadocians forced themselves between the Armenians and Phrygians, and thus separated them. (Hdt. 1.72, 5.49, 7.72.) Strabo also (12. p. 559) speaks of structures of Semiramis in Pontus. The whole of the south coast of Asia Minor, as far as Caria, received a Semitic population at a very early period; and the ancient Phrygian or Pelasgian people were in some parts reduced to the condition of Helots. (Athen. 4. p. 271.) The latest of these Syrophoenician immigrants seem to have been the Lydians [LYDIA], whose struggles with the Mysians are expressly mentioned. (Strab. 13. p. 612; Scylax, p. 36.) This victorious progress of the Semitic races exercised the greatest influence upon the Phrygians; for not only was their political im portance weakened, but their national independence was lost, and their language and religion were so deeply affected that it is scarcely possible to separate the foreign elements from what is original and indigenous. In the north also the Phrygians were hard pressed, for the same Thracians who had driven them out of Europe, also invaded Asia; for although Homer does not distinctly mention Thracians in Asia, yet, in the historical ages, they occupied the whole coast from the Hellespont to Heracleia, under the names of Thyni, Bithyni, and Mariandyni. (Comp. Hdt. 7.75.) The conflicts between the ancient Phrygians and the Thracians are alluded to in several legends. Thus king Midas killed himself when the Treres ravaged Asia Minor as far as Paphlagonia and Cilicia (Strab. 1. p. 61); the Mariandyni are described as engaged in a war against the Mysians and Bebryces, in which Mygdon, the king of the latter, was slain. (Apollod. 1.9.23, 2.5.9; Apollon. 2.752, 780, 786, with the Schol.; Tzetz. Chil. 3.808, &c.) The brief period during which the Phrygians are said to have exercised the supremacy at sea, which lasted for twenty-five, and, according to others, only five years, and which is assigned to the beginning of the ninth century B.C.,is probably connected with that age in which the Phrygians were engaged in perpetual wars (Diod. 7.13; Syncell. p. 181); and it may have been about the same time that Phrygians from the Scamander and from Troy migrated to Sicily. (Paus. 5.25.6.)
It was a salutary circumstance that the numerous Greek colonies on the coast of Asia Minor counteracted the spreading influence of the Semitic race; but still the strength of the Phrygians was broken; they had withdrawn from all quarters to the central parts of the peninsula, and Croesus incorporated them with his own empire. During the conquests of Cyrus, Greater and Lesser Phrygia are already distinguished (Xenoph. Cyrop. 1.5.3, 6.2.10, 7.4.16, 8.6.7), the former being governed by a satrap (2.1.5), and the latter, also called Phrygia on the Hellespont, by a king. (7.4.8).
After having thus reached the period of authentic history, we are enabled to turn our attention to the condition of the Phrygians, and the country which they ultimately inhabited. As to the name Phryges, of which Bryges, Briges, Breuci, Bebryces, and Berecynthae are only different forms, we are informed by Hesychius (s. v. Βρίγες) that in the language of the kindred Lydians (that is, Maeonians) it signified freemen.The nation bearing this name appears throughout of a very peaceable disposition, and unable to resist foreign impressions and influences. None of their many traditions and legends points to a warlike or heroic period in their history, but all have a somewhat mystic and fantastic character. The whole of their early history is connected with the names Midas and Gordius. After the conquest of their country by Persia, the Phrygians are generally mentioned only with contempt, and the Phrygian names Midas and Manes were given to slaves. (Cic. p. Flacc. 27; Curt. 6.11; Strab. 7. p. 304.) But their civilisation increased in consequence of their peaceful disposition. Agriculture was their chief occupation; and whoever killed an ox or stole agricultural implements was put to death. (Nicol. Damasc. p. 148, ed. Orelli.) Gordius, their king, is in said to have been called from the plough to the throne. (Arrian, Arr. Anab. 2.3.1; Justin (Justin. 12.7.) Pliny (Plin. Nat. 7.6) calls the biga an invention of the Phrygians. Great care also was bestowed upon the cultivation of the vine ; and commerce flourished among them in the very earliest times, as we must infer from their well-built towns mentioned by Homer (Hom. Il. 3.400). The foundation of all their great towns, which were at the same time commercial emporia, belongs to the mythical ages, as, e. g., Pessinus, Gordium, Celaenae, and Apamea. The religious ideas of the Phrygians are of great interest and importance, and appear to have exercised a greater influence upon the mythology of the Greeks than is commonly supposed, for many a mysterious tradition or legend current among the Greeks must be traced to Phrygia, and can be explained only by a reference to that country. Truly Phrygian divinities were Cybele (Rhea or Agdistis), and Sabazius, the Phrygian name for Dionysus. (Strab. 10. p. 470, &c.) With the worship of these deities were connected the celebrated orgiastic rites, accompanied by wild music and dances, which were subsequently introduced among the Greeks. Other less important divinities of Phrygian origin were Olympus, Hyagnis, Lityerses, and Marsyas. It also deserves to be noticed that the Phrygians never took or exacted an oath. (Nicol. Damasc. p. 148.) But all that we hear of the religion of the Phrygians during the his. torical times appears to show that it was a mixture of their own original form of worship, with the less pure rites introduced by the Syro-Phoenician tribes.
The once extensive territory inhabited by the Phrygians, had been limited, as was observed above, at the time of the Persian dominion, to LESSER PHRYGIA,on the Hellespont, and GREATER PHRYGIA.It is almost impossible accurately to define the boundaries of the former; according to Scylax (p. 35; comp. Pomp. Mela, 1.19) it extended along the coast of the Hellespont from the river Cius to Sestus; but it certainly embraced Troas likewise, for Ptolemy marks the two countries as identical. Towards the interior of the peninsula the boundaries are not known at all, but politically as a province it bordered in the east on Bithynia and Great Phrygia, and in the south on Lydia. GREAT PHRYGIA formed the central country of Asia Minor, extending from east to west about 40 geographical miles, and from south to north about 35. It was bounded in the north by Bithynia and Paphlagonia, and in the east by Cappadocia and Lycaonia, the river Halys forming the boundary. (Hdt. 5.52.) The southern frontier towards Pisidia and Cilicia was formed by Mount Taurus; in the west Mounts Tmolus and Messogis extend to the western extremity of Mount Taurus; but it is almost impossible to define the boundary line towards Mysia, Lydia, and Caria, the nationalities not being distinctly marked, and the Romans having intentionally obliterated the ancient landmarks. (Strab. 12. p. 564, 13. p. 629.) The most important part in the north of Phrygia was the fertile valley of the Sangarius, where Phrygians lived in the time of Homer (Hom. Il. 3.187, 16.719), and where some of their most important cities were situated. Iconium, the easternmost city of Phrygia, was situated in a fertile district; but the country to the north-west of it, with the salt lake Tatta, was barren and cold, forming a high plateau, which was only fit for pasture, and suffered from frequent droughts. The southern portion of Phrygia, surrounded by Mount Taurus, a branch of it turning to the north-west, and by the mountains containing the sources of the Maeander, bore the surname PARORIOS;it was a table-land, but, to judge from the many towns it contained, it cannot have been as barren as the northern plateau. In the west Phrygia comprised the upper valley of the Maeander, and it is there that we find the most beautiful and most populous parts of Phrygia; but that district was much exposed to earthquakes in consequence of the volcanic nature of the district, which is attested by the hot-springs of Hierapolis, and the Plutonium, from which suffocating exhalations were sent forth. (Claudian, in Eutrop. 2.270, &c. Strab. xii. pp. 578, &c., 629, &c. Hdt. 7.30;Vitr. 8.3.）
Phrygia was a country rich in every kind of produce. Its mountains seem to have furnished gold; for that metal plays an important part in the legends of Midas, and several of the Phrygian rivers are called auriferi.(Claudian, l. c.258.) Phrygian marble, especially the species found near Synnada, was very celebrated. (Strab. 12. p. 579; Paus. 1.18.8, &c. Ov. Fast. 5.529 ; Stat. Silv. 1.5. 36.) The extensive cultivation of the vine is clear from the worship of Dionysus (Sabazius), and Homer (Hom. Il. 3.184) also gives to the country the attribute ἀμπελόεσσα.The parts most distinguished for their excellent wine, however, were subsequently separated from Phrygia and added to neighbouring provinces. But Phrygia was most distinguished for its sheep and the fineness of their wool (Strab. 12. p. 578). King Amyntas is said to have kept no less than 300 flocks of sheep on the barren table-land, whence we must infer that sheep-breeding was carried on there on a very large scale. (Comp. Suid. s. v. φρυλίων ἐρίωνAristoph. Av. 493; Strab. l. c.p. 568.)
When Alexander had overthrown the Persian power in Asia Minor, he assigned Great Phrygia to Antigonus, B.C. 333 (Arrian, Arr. Anab. 1.29); and during the first division of Alexander's empire that general retained Phrygia, to which were added Lycia and Pamphylia, while Leonnatus obtained Lesser Phrygia. (Dexipp. ap. Phot. p. 64; Curt. 10.10; Diod. 18.3; Justin (Justin. 13.4.) In the beginning of B.C. 321, Perdiccas assigned Greater Phrygia, and probably also the Lesser, to Eumenes (Justin (Justin. 13.6; Corn. Nep. Eum. 3); but in the new division of Triparadisus Antigonus recovered his former provinces, and Arrhidaeus obtained Lesser Phrygia, which, however, was taken from him by Antigonus as early as B.C. 319. (Diod. 18.39, 19.51, 52, 75; Arrian, ap. Phot. p. 72.) After the death of Antigonus, in B.C. 301, Lesser Phrygia fell into the hands of Lysimachus, and Great Phrygia into those of Seleucus (Appian, App. Syr. 55), who, after conquering Lysimachus, in B.C. 282, united the two Phrygias with the Syrian empire. (Appian, App. Syr. 62; Justin (Justin. 17.2; Memnon, Hist. Heracl. 9. ) Soon two other kingdoms, Bithynia and Pergamum, were formed in the vicinity of Phrygia, and the Gauls or Galatae, the most dangerous enemy of the Asiatics, took permanent possession of the northeastern part of Phrygia, the valley of the Sangarius. Thus was formed Galatia, which in our maps separates Greater Phrygia from Paphlagonia and Bithynia; and the ancient towns of Gordium, Ancyra, and Pessinus now became the seats of the Gauls. To the east also Phrygia lost a portion of its territory, for Lycaonia was extended so far westward as to embrace the whole of the above mentioned barren plateau. (Strab. 14. p. 663.) It is not impossible that Attalus I. of Pergamum may have taken possession of Lesser Phrygia as early as B.C. 240, when he had gained a decisive victory over the Gauls, seeing that the Trocmi, one of their tribes, had dwelt on the Hellespont (Liv. 38.16); but his dominion was soon after reduced by the Syrian kings to its original dimensions, that is, the country between the Sinus Elaeus and the bay of Adramyttium. However, after the defeat of Antiochus in the battle of Magnesia, in B.C. 191, Eumenes II. of Pergamum obtained from the Romans the greater part of Asia Minor and with it both the Phrygias. (Strab. 13. p. 624; Liv. 37.54, &c.) Eumenes on that occasion also acquired another district, which had been in the possession of Prusias, king of Bithynia. Livy (Liv. 38.39) calls that district Mysia, but it must have been the same country as the PHRYGIA EPICTETUS of Strabo (xii. pp. 563, 564, 571, 575, 576). But Strabo is certainly mistaken in regarding Phrygia Epictetus as identical with Lesser Phrygia on the Hellespont,the former, according to his own showing, nowhere touching the sea (p. 564), but being situated south of Mount Olympus (p. 575), and being bounded in the north and partly in the west also by Bithynia (p. 563). The same conclusion must be drawn from the situations of the towns of Azani, Midaeum, and Dorylaeum, which he himself assigns to Phrygia Epictetus (p. 576), and which Ptolemy also mentions as Phrygian towns. These facts clearly show how confused Strabo's ideas about those countries were. The fact of Livy calling the district Mysia is easily accounted for, since the names Phrygia and Mysia are often confounded, and the town of Cadi is sometimes called Mysian, though, according to Strabo, it belonged to Phrygia Epictetus. It was therefore unquestionably this part of Phrygia about which Eumenes of Pergamum was at war with Prusias, and which by the decision of the Romans was handed over to the Pergamenian king, and hence obtained the name of Phrygia Epictetus, that is, the acquired in addition to.(Polyb. Excerpt. de Legat. 128, 129, 135, 136; Liv. 39.51; Strab. p. 563.) After the death of Attalus III., B.C. 133, all Phrygia with the rest of the kingdom of Pergamum fell into the hands of the Romans. A few years later, when the kingdom of Pergamum became a Roman province, Phrygia was given to Mithridates V. of Pontus (Justin. 38.1; Appian, Bell. Mithr. 57), but after his death in B.C. 120 it was taken from his son and successor, Mithridates VI., and declared free. (Appian, L. c. ) This freedom, however, was not calculated to promote the interests of the Phrygians, who gradually lost their importance. The Romans afterwards divided the country into jurisdictiones, but without any regard to tribes or natural boundaries. (Strab. 13. p. 629; Plin. Nat. 5.29.) In B.C. 88 the districts of Laodiceia, Apameia, and Synnada seem to have been added to the province of Cilicia. (Cic. in Verr. 1.1. 7, 37.) But this arrangement was not lasting, for afterwards we find those three districts as a part of the province of Asia, and then again as a part of Cilicia, until in B.C. 49 they appear to have become permanently united with Asia. The east and south of Phrygia, however, especially the towns of Apollonia, Antiocheia, and Philomelium, did not belong to the province of Asia. In the new division of the empire made in the 4th century A. D., Phrygia Parorios was added to the province of Pisidia, and a district on the Maeander to Caria. The remaining part of Phrygia was then divided into Phrygia Salutaris, comprising the eastern part with Synnada for its capital, and Phrygia Pacatiana (sometimes also called Capatiana), which comprised the western part down to the frontiers of Caria. ( Notit. Imp. 100.2; Hierocl. pp. 664, 676; Constant. Porph. de Them. 1.1; Ducas, p. 42 ; see the excellent article Phrygiain Pauly's Realencyclopaedie, by O. Abel; Cramer, Asia Minor, 2. p. 1, &c. ; Niebuhr, Lect. on Anc. Hist. 1. p. 83, &c., 2. p. 382.)
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