The Western Valley of Phrygia

There are fairy tales that begin, “Once upon a time in a happy land where people lived in peace and plenty.” Fertile lands of golden ears of grain and forests of emerald green, where fairies dance in luxuriant gardens deep in valleys riven by sparkling streams. Lands of goodness and justice, where the sky is always blue, a magical and slightly mysterious landscape that lures, astonishes and awes the visitor.
The Phrygian Valley is such a place, a fabled land of magic, peace and beauty. Plains, groves, flat-topped mountains, and the steep volcanic rocks that render this landscape extraordinary. The Phrygian Valley is a land of stunning natural formations where white fairy chimneys crop up sporadically amidst the lush vegetation. But what makes it truly special is that these rocks have been transformed into splendid monuments by human hands.
High or low, pointed or flat, almost every hill and jutting rock here has been worked by man.

The landscape created by these rocks, once fortresses, refuges, temples or graves, and by the endless underground networks of tunnels and passages and enormous cisterns, is what makes this fabled geography at once so mysterious and magical.

ROCKS THAT EXUDE CULTURE
This valley, which boasts the most striking monuments of the Phrygian world, is actually a series of several valleys. Known in Antiquity as Lesser Phrygia, this mountainous strip in upper Sakarya, intersected by the provinces of Eskisehir, Afyonkarahisar and Kütahya, is a virtual civilization of rock-dwellers. Midas-Yazilikaya with its monumental Midas inscription, and the valleys of Kümbet, Köhnüs (Göynüs) and Karababa,
are one of Anatolia’s most remarkable regions for revealing the unique face of Phrygian culture, as well as the rich natural beauty of the landscape. It’s not for nothing that Lesser Phrygia was known in Greek as Phrygia Salutaris, ’healthy Phrygia’.
Fresh waters and thermal springs, abundant oxygen, and trees of every species, which Phrygian carpenters transformed into tasteful furniture.

 

WHO ARE THESE PHRYGIANS?
The rock civilization of the Phrygians speaks a multi-dimensional language of superior workmanship, artistic spirit, and religious belief. Their kingdom, traditions and lifestyle naturally flow from the same language. But this still fails to lift the mysterious veil that conceals their identity. Their Indo-European language has not yet been deciphered. Even Strabo (1st cent. B.C. - 2nd cent. A.D.), famed geographer of antiquity, was stumped, asking in the end, “So who are these Phrygians?” The Phrygians first appear as a powerful state in Assyrian sources in the 8th century B.C. The names of Gordios, its legendary founder, and his son Midas stand out, followed by the Persian invasion in the 6th century and the ultimate demise of the state. What is known however is that Phrygian culture survived for about three more centuries through the Greek and up to the Roman periods. Evidence of its existence lies in the magnificent monuments the Phrygians left behind, in the goddess Cybele and the world-famous legends of Attis and Marsiyas, of Alexander the Great and the Gordion knot, and of the ears and gold of King Midas. These legends also attest to the creativity of the Phrygians. According to some ancient writers, the Phrygians were the inventors of the flute and several other musical instruments. The word ‘tapestry’, variants of which occur in many languages today, is also Phrygian in origin. And a floor mosaic made of painted pebbles discovered at Gordion is the first known example of this art.

STONE AND WOOD WORKMANSHIP
Among all these firsts, the Phrygians had another skill which makes them the supreme masters of the ancient period: wooden furniture and architecture. These unique items, decorated with carvings and inlays, also exhibit one of the Phrygians’ most distinctive trademarks:
the geometric designs that attest to their superior aesthetic concepts as well as revealing the beauty of their
decorations, their creativity and the perfection they attained. This rock civilization poured all that same dynamism into stone as well. The magnificent rock monuments on the facades of the Phrygian royal temples are visible from afar. With their triangular roofs, pediments and other elements, they represent copies in stone, equally masterful, of the monuments in wood.

UNDER CYBELE’S WINGS
As mother of the earth, mountains and all living things, Cybele stands guard over the land of the Phrygians from these monumental rock carvings. Although the meaning of the inscription is not yet precisely understood, her name is readily discernible among the words, in the word mater (matel/matep/matera), for example, inscribed on the great Midas Monument (Eskisehir’s Han township), regarded today as one of the wonders of the world. Cybele also makes her presence felt outside this giant monument, erected for King Midas according to an inscription in its niche.

The monuments at Arazastis/Areyastin (Han) and Bahsayis in the Kumbet Valley (Seyitgazi township) and the smaller-scale Berberini monument are some of the most interesting rock facades dedicated to the Great Mother goddess. Meanwhile the Aslankaya Monument on the plain of Döger (Afyon’s Ihsaniye township) dominates the entire plateau.
Surrounded by sacred lions, Cybele seems to protect the entire land from deep in the rocks. Leaving no spot undefended, she summons people to her cult at the nearby Great Kapi Kaya Monument. The lions that appropriately symbolize her power are usually positioned on either side of her, touching her shoulders --often so realistically that they seem about to come to life, for example, at the Aslantas and the toppled Yilantas monument in Köhnüs Valley (Ihsaniye). The Maltas monument, which still impresses despite being half buried in the earth, is another monumental facade among many in the Köhnüs valley. Several of these monuments in the Phrygian Valley are actually open-air temples to Cybele, where spring, rebirth and fertility were celebrated.
At these cult centers, people danced to exuberant music, prayers were recited, and men who wanted to be priests of the goddess dedicated their lives to her by undergoing castration. Together with these rituals, which are described at length in the ancient sources, Cybele’s cult spread beyond the Phrygian lands to Greece and to Italy as Rome’s Magna Mater.
Evolving as Kubile or Kibele from the Kubaba
of Hittite and earlier cultures, she is a universal symbol of prosperity, abundance, procreation and permanence, safeguarding Phrygia
in the countryside,
on the steep rocks, beneath the cities and around the fields, blessing the fabled landscape not only in great monuments but from small niches in the many altars dedicated to her cult.

Text: NERMIN BAYÇIN
Photo: NUSRET NURDAN EREN