From Midas to Cyrus and Other Stories

Papers on Iron Age Anatolia in Honour of Geoffrey and Françoise Summers

Catherine M. Draycott, Scott Branting, Joseph W. Lehner, Yasemin Özarslan, Catherine M. Draycott, Scott Branting, Joseph W. Lehner, Yasemin Özarslan

• Publisher: British Institute at Ankara
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN: 9781912090129
• eBook ISBN: 9781912090112
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Archaeology
• Index: Social Sciences

The period of Anatolian history between the death of the semi-legendary king Midas of Gordion ca. 700 BC and the advent of the Achaemenid Persian Empire ca. 550 BC is dominated by certain narratives: the rise of the Mermnad Lydian Kingdom, from Gyges to Croesus; the demise of the Urartian Kingdom and 'Neo-Hittite'-type culture and polities; and the invasion of shadowy forces from the Steppe: Cimmerians, Scythians and Medes. The discoveries of Geoffrey and Francoise Summers's project at the massive walled city on Kerkenes Da?? have changed the cultural history and texture of Anatolia during this time period, opening up insights into the spread of Phrygian culture and language and inviting further discussion of how the period is framed. This book honors their accomplishments by presenting papers addressing the dynamics and events of that period from various angles, and in various regions and places, as well as other interventions on Iron Age Anatolia, from dating of kings to rare and potentially influential medical techniques. The volume sheds light on and also advocates for further synthesis of the regional dynamics affecting the Mediterranean, Near East and Anatolia together, toward the production of revised, more nuanced narratives.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of figures
• Preface
• Türkçe özet
• 1. Filling in the gaps and joining up the dots of the seventh century BC in Anatolia and beyond: an introduction
• 2. Bibliography of Geoffrey and Françoise Summers
• 3. Exploration of the metropolis at Kerkenes Dağı over the past 120 years: a tangled tale
• 4. The Late Iron Age at Boğazköy
• 5. Domestic architecture at Middle Phrygian Gordion
• 6. Gordion and Phrygia in the seventh century BC
• 7. Troy, the Troad and the Hellespont, 700–550 BC
• 8. Vanishing kingdoms: Tabal and Tuwana during the seventh century BC
• 9. After the Assyrians, before the Persians: Kinet Höyük and its Cilician context
• 10. Epiphany of the Mother Goddess. A renewed examination of the Phrygian rock-cut façades
• 11. Multiple drills on skulls: trepanation with boring-and-cutting in eastern Anatolia during the Iron Age
• 12. Dendrochronological investigations at Kerkenes and beyond
• 13. The dating of the Tabalian inscriptions: archaic or archaising?
• 14. The phantom menace? The chronology of Cimmerian expeditions, territories and zones of influence in Anatolia
• 15. The Medes in Anatolia: a return visit
• 16. Urartu in its later age and its external relations
• 17. The adventure of the Lydian Hoard
• 18. Epilogue: Reflections and questions on ethno-cultures, polities and dynamics in Anatolia between Midas and Cyrus
• Indices