Sterling Silver Jewelry History: King Midas And The Paktolos River
After King Priam’s defeat at the hands of Agamemnon’s Greek army led by Achilles, Troy was eventually absorbed into the Hittite empire. More than a hundred years later, in 1200 B.C., the great walls of the northern-most outpost of Asia-Minor fell again, this time to the Phrygians.
By 1190 B.C. the Phrygians, a race of people originating from southern Europe definitively ended the Hittite reign of Anatolia with the sacking of their capital Hattusas, and eventually penetrated as far south as the Assyrian border to the east of Anatolia. By the 8th Century B.C. they had created the political state of Phrygia in western Anatolia. The states capital Gordian, originally named after a poor peasant farmer called Gordias, was located slightly southwest of what is today modern Ankara.
According to Phrygian legend, the farmer Gordias was appointed King by the gods. In tribute to them he tied up his ox-cart outside the temple as a reminder to all not to forget the nobility of humble origins. As time passed into centuries another legend grew around the bound cart.
According to the oracle of Gordian, only the rightful ‘King of Asia’ could unravel the ‘Gordian Knot’ that tied the cart up. In the winter of 333 B.C., an army of mercenaries led by a young man called Alexander came to Gordian. As had many before him, Alexander rose to the undefeated 400-year challenge, but instead of trying to untie it with his hands Alexander took his sword and slashed the knot in two…that Alexander became ‘Alexander The Great’.
Today, the saying cutting the "Gordian Knot" is an expression meaning to solve a difficult problem with a bold solution. However, this is not the most famous of Phrygian legends. King Gordias, having had no heir to succeed him had adopted a son who came to the throne in 725 B.C., his tale is one of the first and most famous legends on the perils of wealth:
According to classical mythology Dionysus, or Bacchus as the Romans knew him, was the Olympian god of wine. Unsurprisingly popular, he was especially venerated in the Asian Minor city-state of Phrygia where he held a cult status. Dionysus, son of Zeus, was followed by a group of satyrs, half-human half-goat figures. One day Silenus, the eldest of the satyrs and also Dionysus' tutor, drunk himself paralytic and passed out in the King of Phrygia’s rose garden. The Phrygian ruler who took great pride in his roses was no less than King Midas. After Midas had found the aging satyr, he treated his alcohol poisoning and guided him back to good health.
Dionysus, in gratitude for saving Silenius’ life, asked what King Midas wanted in return. After some consideration Midas asked that everything he touched should turn to gold. Granted with his wish Midas amused himself by touching everything around him, watching it turn to gold. However, his gift soon manifested itself as a burden when he found that even the food he touched turned to gold. Dying of hunger he asked his daughter to feed him, but in the process she too turned to gold. Consumed with grief Midas pleaded that the gift, turned curse, be lifted. Dionysus instructed Midas that if he washed in the Paktolos River that flowed through the kingdom, he would be cured. Midas did as he was told and after bathing the spell lifted. But in cleansing the King of his curse the river became laden with the precious metal.
One of the first parables created on the evils of excessive wealth, the ‘Midas Touch’ is the stuff of legend. However, neither King Midas nor his bounty of precious metals is myth. King Midas ruled over Phrygia during the 7th Century B.C. until he committed suicide when Gordian fell to the Cimmerian invasions. Up until then, under Midas, the Phrygian city-state witnessed a golden age.
This wealth was due to the Paktolos River, which also ran through the neighboring city-state of Lydia. The Paktolos, still flowing in Anatolia today, was laden with a naturally occurring precious metal called electrum: an alloy of gold and silver. Enriching the economies of both Phrygia and Lydia, the Paktolos River’s bounty of precious metals ensured that the two regions became the most coveted areas of Anatolia and the known civilized world.
“…Paktolos glad to gratify Dionysus murmured as he poured the gold sowing water upon the purple sand, and the gilded fish went swimming in wealthy sounding where the rich ore lay deep.” – From Nonnos Dionysiaca Greek Epic 500 A.D.
In 696 B.C. Cimmerian attacks ended Midas’ rule of Phrygia and the sacking and burning of Gordian. Having occupied Phrygia and assumed its wealth the barbaric Cimmerians, from whose name Crimea is derived, continued to invade Anatolia pushing into the neighboring city-state of Lydia until the 620 B.C. when the Lydian armies finally defeated them. Phrygia’s wealth of gold, silver and electrum was then absorbed into the Lydian empire where it would be forged into a radical concept that would change the world forever…
Copyright © SilverShake Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Written for SilverShake, an online retailer of vintage jewelry and sterling silver jewelry at wholesale prices. Purchase today and get silver jewelry worth up to $60...Free!
By 1190 B.C. the Phrygians, a race of people originating from southern Europe definitively ended the Hittite reign of Anatolia with the sacking of their capital Hattusas, and eventually penetrated as far south as the Assyrian border to the east of Anatolia. By the 8th Century B.C. they had created the political state of Phrygia in western Anatolia. The states capital Gordian, originally named after a poor peasant farmer called Gordias, was located slightly southwest of what is today modern Ankara.
According to Phrygian legend, the farmer Gordias was appointed King by the gods. In tribute to them he tied up his ox-cart outside the temple as a reminder to all not to forget the nobility of humble origins. As time passed into centuries another legend grew around the bound cart.
According to the oracle of Gordian, only the rightful ‘King of Asia’ could unravel the ‘Gordian Knot’ that tied the cart up. In the winter of 333 B.C., an army of mercenaries led by a young man called Alexander came to Gordian. As had many before him, Alexander rose to the undefeated 400-year challenge, but instead of trying to untie it with his hands Alexander took his sword and slashed the knot in two…that Alexander became ‘Alexander The Great’.
Today, the saying cutting the "Gordian Knot" is an expression meaning to solve a difficult problem with a bold solution. However, this is not the most famous of Phrygian legends. King Gordias, having had no heir to succeed him had adopted a son who came to the throne in 725 B.C., his tale is one of the first and most famous legends on the perils of wealth:
According to classical mythology Dionysus, or Bacchus as the Romans knew him, was the Olympian god of wine. Unsurprisingly popular, he was especially venerated in the Asian Minor city-state of Phrygia where he held a cult status. Dionysus, son of Zeus, was followed by a group of satyrs, half-human half-goat figures. One day Silenus, the eldest of the satyrs and also Dionysus' tutor, drunk himself paralytic and passed out in the King of Phrygia’s rose garden. The Phrygian ruler who took great pride in his roses was no less than King Midas. After Midas had found the aging satyr, he treated his alcohol poisoning and guided him back to good health.
Dionysus, in gratitude for saving Silenius’ life, asked what King Midas wanted in return. After some consideration Midas asked that everything he touched should turn to gold. Granted with his wish Midas amused himself by touching everything around him, watching it turn to gold. However, his gift soon manifested itself as a burden when he found that even the food he touched turned to gold. Dying of hunger he asked his daughter to feed him, but in the process she too turned to gold. Consumed with grief Midas pleaded that the gift, turned curse, be lifted. Dionysus instructed Midas that if he washed in the Paktolos River that flowed through the kingdom, he would be cured. Midas did as he was told and after bathing the spell lifted. But in cleansing the King of his curse the river became laden with the precious metal.
One of the first parables created on the evils of excessive wealth, the ‘Midas Touch’ is the stuff of legend. However, neither King Midas nor his bounty of precious metals is myth. King Midas ruled over Phrygia during the 7th Century B.C. until he committed suicide when Gordian fell to the Cimmerian invasions. Up until then, under Midas, the Phrygian city-state witnessed a golden age.
This wealth was due to the Paktolos River, which also ran through the neighboring city-state of Lydia. The Paktolos, still flowing in Anatolia today, was laden with a naturally occurring precious metal called electrum: an alloy of gold and silver. Enriching the economies of both Phrygia and Lydia, the Paktolos River’s bounty of precious metals ensured that the two regions became the most coveted areas of Anatolia and the known civilized world.
“…Paktolos glad to gratify Dionysus murmured as he poured the gold sowing water upon the purple sand, and the gilded fish went swimming in wealthy sounding where the rich ore lay deep.” – From Nonnos Dionysiaca Greek Epic 500 A.D.
In 696 B.C. Cimmerian attacks ended Midas’ rule of Phrygia and the sacking and burning of Gordian. Having occupied Phrygia and assumed its wealth the barbaric Cimmerians, from whose name Crimea is derived, continued to invade Anatolia pushing into the neighboring city-state of Lydia until the 620 B.C. when the Lydian armies finally defeated them. Phrygia’s wealth of gold, silver and electrum was then absorbed into the Lydian empire where it would be forged into a radical concept that would change the world forever…
Copyright © SilverShake Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Written for SilverShake, an online retailer of vintage jewelry and sterling silver jewelry at wholesale prices. Purchase today and get silver jewelry worth up to $60...Free!
