Midas and the Gordian Knot

Author(s): Lynn E. Roller

Source: Classical Antiquity, Vol. 3, No. 2 (Oct., 1984), pp. 256-271
Published by: University of California Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25010818 .
Accessed: 18/06/2014 01:58

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

University of California Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Classical
Antiquity.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.253 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 01:58:02 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 LYNN E. ROLLER

Midas and the Gordian Knot

OF ALL THE Anatolian peoples with whom the Greeks came into contact, the
Phrygians are perhaps the least known and understood. Their history must be pieced
togetherthoughscatteredliteraryreferencesandarcheologicalmaterial, and theirtradi
tions of myth and saga have all but disappeared. IOnly one individual in Phrygian history,
the king Midas who ruled Phrygia in the late eighth and early seventh centuries B.C.
from his capital city of Gordion,2 is at all well known, and even his name survives
primarily in a series of Greek and Roman legends recounted by classical authors.3 One
of the narratives associated with the name Midas seems, however, to preserve a core
of genuinelyPhrygian legend.This is the explanatorynarrativeappendedto the story
of Alexander and the Gordian knot, which describes how the wagon towhich the fabled
knot was tied came to be found in the ancient city of Gordion. Arrian, Plutarch, Curtius,
and Justin give accounts of this episode inAlexander's career,4 and they claim to relate
the local Phrygian historical tradition about Midas and the wagon. The tale given by

1. The most complete history of Phrygia is still thatof A. K6rte (Korte1-27), who also assembled
all the literarytestimoniaon Gordion known to him. One additionalreferenceon anOxyrhyncus papyrus
that has come to light since Korte's work is given in FGrHist 66 F l.xvi.
2. The dates of Midas' reign are given by Eusebios as 738 (741 in the Armenian edition) to 696 B.C.
According to Julius Africanus, Midas died in 676 B.C. (K6rte 20). On Gordion as the capital of Phrygia,
see Strabo 12.5.3 and Pliny Nat. Hist. 5.146.
3. L. E. Roller, "The Legend of Midas," CA 2 (1983) 299-313.
4. The principalancientsourcesareArrianAnabasis2.3, PlutarchAlexander 18.1-4, Curtius3.2.11-18,
Justin11.7.3-16. See also infrann. 12, 29. Of the copious bibliographyby modern scholars, I have found
especially useful theworks cited above in shortenedform, and also the studiesof F. Riihl, "Die Sage von
Gordios," Z7stG 33 (1882) 811-817; R. Schubert,Beitrage zurKritikderAlexanderhistoriker(Leipzig1922)
1-9; J.Kaerst, Die Geschichte des Hellenismus I3 (LeipzigandBerlin 1927); L. Schmidt, "Der gordische
Knoten und seineLosung," Die Volkserzahlung(Berlin1963) 29-40; J. R. Hamilton, Plutarch:Alexander;

? 1984BY THE REGENTSOF THE UNIVERSITYOF CALIFORNIA

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.253 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 01:58:02 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Midas and theGordian Knot
ROLLER: 257

theAlexander historiansdoes indeedappear to contain several elements of Phrygian

tradition,but the legendas ithas been preservedforus has been influencedby itsGreek
transmissionandby itsassociationwithAlexander.Therefore it isworthwhile toexamine
this legend afresh to determinewhat the original Phrygian traditionmight have been
and what factors might have affected its presentation in our Greek and Latin sources.
The legendofMidas and theGordian knot is known to us solely throughthe con
text of Alexander's visit to Gordion in 333 B.C. The feature of this visit that attracted
the attentionof antiquitywas not, however, a connectionwith Midas and Phrygian
history, but the wagon itself and the prophecy associated with it. This wagon bore an
intricateknotof cornelbark joining theyoke to thewagon pole. It stoodon theacropolis
of Gordion, and an ancient tradition prevalent among the local inhabitants stated that
whoever could loose thisknotwas destined to ruleAsia. Alexanderunfastenedtheknot,
either by cutting it with a sword or by separating the yoke from the wagon pole so
that the ends of the knot unraveled naturally; as a result he and his followers believed
that the conditions of the oracle had been correctly fulfilled.
It is not thepurposeof thispaper to determinehowAlexander actuallyunfastened
the knot,5 a problem which is probably insoluble in any case,6 or to examine the effect
of the prophecy on Alexander's career.7 The circumstances that drew Alexander's

a Commentary(Oxford1969) 46-47; J. E. Atkinson, A Commentaryon Q. CurtiusRufus'Historiae Alex

andriMagni 3-4, London Studies inClassical Philology 4 (Amsterdam1980) 84-91.
5. The version that Alexander cut the knot with his sword is found in all four of the ancient sources
cited in n.4. Arrian and Plutarchalso recordan alternativeversion, thatAlexander unfastened the pin that
attachedtheyoke to thepole of thewagon and thenremoved theyoke, whereupon the fasteningsunravelled
naturally;both authorscredit this toAristoboulos. The version describing the act of cutting the knotwith
a sword is presumed to come from theVulgate (Mederer10-11, Fredricksmeyer160, Frei 111), although
Schachermeyer (192) attributes it toKallisthenes.
Most scholarshave assumed thatPtolemy omitted the storyaltogether(Mederer11;Tarn 263; Jacoby,
Commentaryon FGrHist 139 F 7; Fredricksmeyer168 n. 41; Schachermeyr 192; Frei 111). I, however,
find theargumentsof P. A. Brunt, CommentaryonArrian, I, LCL (CambridgeandLondon 1976) 130-131,
andBosworth, Commentary185,more convincing, namely thatPtolemy didmention the incidentof Alex
ander and the prophecy connected with the knot, but merely failed to say precisely how the knot was unfastened.
The story was a famous one, as Justin's claim that the prophecy was the major motivating factor for Alex
ander's visit to Gordion indicates; moreover, Arrian's statement that Alexander offered sacrifices to the gods
who had shown him how to unloose the knot indicates that Alexander himself considered the matter impor
tant. For these reasons Ptolemy very likely did include the episode in his history. Arrian's and Plutarch's
references to Aristoboulos pertain only to the method of unfastening the knot, not to the wagon and the meaning
of the prophecy.
Modern scholars are also divided in their opinion as to which version is the more accurate. Tarn 262-265,
followed by Fredricksmeyer 160, andKraft 84 n.13, strongly supportedAristoboulos, while Mederer 11
and Schachermeyr 192-193 argued that the sword-cutting version ismore likely. See also G. Wirth, Historia
13 (1964)215 n.56, who pointsout thatAristoboulos'versionmerelymakesAlexander's cheatinglessdrastic,
a view supportedby Hamilton (supran.4) 47, and Bosworth, Commentary187. Bosworth suggests that
Alexander cut through the fastenings as a first stage and then, when the ends had been revealed, removed
the fastenings from yoke.
6. Note the remarks of Pearson 157, Hamilton (supra n.4) 47, and Frei 111.
7. Fredricksmeyer 166 and P. Green, Alexander theGreat (NewYork 1970) 116 have argued that
the act of unloosing the knot and fulfilling the prophecy fired Alexander's ambition to conquer the Persian

Empire. The comments of Kraft 90, Schachermeyr 193, and Bosworth, Commentary 186, form a sensible
corrective to this point of view.

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.253 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 01:58:02 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
258 CLASSICAL
ANTIQUITY Volume 3/ No. 2/ October 1984

attention to the oracle, however, are important for an examination of the Phrygian legend,
for theyhelp determine the original importof theprophecy and the legend.Three of
our four sources attributeAlexander's presence in Gordion to practicalmilitary
considerations.Arrian relates thatAlexander came toGordion for strategic reasons
and that only when he arrived at the city did the longing to see the wagon and the knot
seize him. Fear of causing a disturbance among the local populace forced him to unfasten
theknot (bywhatevermeans), and a thunderstormduring the following nightprovided
confirmationthathe had correctly fulfilled theoracle. Plutarch'saccountagrees inpart
with thatof Arrian, thatAlexander went toGordion for strategic reasons and that it
was only after seeing thewagon and hearingof theprophecy connectedwith theknot
that he attempted to unfasten it; Plutarch differs from Arrian in stating that the prophecy
referredtodominionover thewhole world. Curtius too impliesthatAlexander'smotive
for seizing the city was strategic and that only after his arrival did he learn of the
prophecy;a longing to fulfill thisprophecyand theexcitementof the crowddrove him
to cut the knot with his sword. Justin alone states that Alexander came to Gordion

specifically to unloose the knot and fulfill the prophecy.

Justin's statement,however, seems to reflect laterrationalizingresultingfrom the
fame of the incident, and the reasons of military strategy offered by our other three
sources seem more likely grounds for Alexander's arrival in Gordion.8 Arrian,
moreover, states thatAlexander's longing drove him only to see the wagon,9 and Arrian,
Plutarch, and Curtius all note that the prophecy was a local one and was told to Alex
ander by the local inhabitants. He had apparently not known of it before he came to
Gordion. This suggests that theprophecy of rule over Asia originally pertainedonly
to Phrygian rulers,'1 and thus the background story which describes how the wagon

8. Kraft 84-92; Bosworth, Commentary174-175. Gordion lieson a key transportationroutebetween

Sardis and the interiorof Anatolia, and its situationhas always been one of military importance,up to and
includingthe twentiethcentury.See R. S. Young, "Gordionon theRoyal Road," ProcPhilSoc 107 (1963)
348-350, although the actual road illustratedby Young, fig.2, is a Roman road.
9. V. Ehrenberg,Alexander and theGreeks (Oxford 1938) 55, citingArrian, claims that itwas Alex
ander's pothos which drove him to Gordion in the first place, but the passage in Arrian does not support
this interpretation. Arrian and Curtius both state that it was only after Alexander's arrival in Gordion and
after he had heard of the prophecy that the famous "longing" seized him. See Kraft 84-86 and Bosworth,

Commentary185.Atkinson (supran.4) 88, suggests thattheappearanceof theword cupidoby Curtius reflects

a formulaic expression found in several Latin historical works.
10. The problem rests on what ismeant by Asia. Frei 123, andBosworth, Commentary186, have
argued that the prophecy as recordedby Arrian referredonly to rule over Phrygia. Mederer 14 and
Schachermeyr192 suggestedthattheprophecyfirstpertainedonly toPhrygiaand thatitsmeaningwas expanded
by the Alexander historians to include all of Asia. To the Alexander historians, however, Asia evidently
was a very loose termand could be used indifferentlyto indicatea political entity (i.e., thePersianEmpire),
a geographical area, or merely a rhetorical flourish, and so its use in this context tells us little. See S. I.
Oost, "The Alexander Historians and 'Asia' " Ancient Macedonian Studies in Honor of Charles F. Edson,
ed. H. J. Dell (Thessaloniki 1981) 265-282, esp. 268. In fact, an element of rhetorical exaggeration seems
to be present in the statement of Plutarch that the prophecy referred to control of the world (the oikoumene),
and also in Justin's assumption that the prophecy was so famous that it drew Alexander to Gordion. Arrian's
insistence that the legend behind the prophecy came from the local inhabitants seems to imply, however,
that originally it was relevant only to Phrygian rulers. It is very possible, though, that dominion over Asia
meant to the Phrygians dominion over all of Anatolia (thus Frei 123), for the territory under Phrygian con

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.253 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 01:58:02 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Midas and theGordian Knot
ROLLER: 259

came to be foundon theacropolisof Gordion should recorda Phrygian legend, a point

explicitly stated by Arrian and Plutarch. 1With this inmind, let us turn to an examination
of the legend of the wagon and of its treatment in the histories of Alexander.
Informationconcerning the legendaryhistory of Gordion and thewagon with its
propheticknot comes from the four authorscited above and from a few other, shorter
citations.12 All agree on connecting the wagon with Midas or his father Gordios and
the city of Gordion. Beyond this, however, there aremajor points of disagreement,
and our extant sources preserve two distinct versions of the story, one featuring Midas
as the dedicator of the wagon and the other his father Gordios. One version is set out
most completely by Arrian and the other by Justin.'3
Arrian's version gives prominence tobothMidas andhis fatherGordios. Gordios,
a poor Phrygian peasant, was plowing his fields when an eagle came and sat on the
plow yoke until sunset.Astonished by this sign,Gordios went to consult a Telmessian
seer, for thesepeoplewere reputedto be skilledat interpretingdivine portents.Arriv
ing at the Telmessian village, he met a woman drawing water, who happened to be
a prophetess. She ordered him to return to the spot where the eagle landed and sacrifice
to Zeus Basileus. Gordios did so and also married the woman, who bore him a son,
Midas. When Midas was grown into a handsome and noble man, he and his parents
chanced to drive up, in his father's wagon, to an assembly of the Phrygian people.
The Phrygians immediatelyproclaimedhim their ruler, for they had received a pro
phecy saying thata wagon would end their civil war by bringing them a king. The
new kingMidas dedicated thewagon on the acropolisof Gordion as a thank-offering
to Zeus Basileus for the sign of the eagle.
In the version preserved by Justin, however, Midas hardly figures at all in the story
of thewagon. According to Justin,Gordios was plowing his fieldwhen birds of every
sort began to circle around him. On his way to the city to consult an oracle concerning
the meaning of these birds, Gordios met a beautiful young maiden in a doorway. She
was skilled inpropheticartsandpredictedthatGordioswould become king;moreover,
she offered herself to him inmarriage. In the midst of a civil war, the Phrygians were
told by an oracle to proclaim as king the first man whom they found going to the tem
ple of Zeus in a wagon. That man turned out to be Gordios, whom the Phrygians
immediatelygreetedas king.Gordios dedicatedto themajesty of thekingdomthewagon
by which the right of rule had been granted, and he placed the wagon in the temple

trol in theearly firstmillenniumB.C. includedmost of Anatolia andextended into theupperEuphratesvalley.

See K. Bittel, Kleinasiatische Studien (Istanbul1942) 108-109, andM. J.Mellink, "Mita,Mushki, and
Phrygians," Anadolu Arastirmalari (Istanbul1965) 317-325.
G. Radet, REA 19 (1917) 98-100, and W. Deonna, "Le noeud gordien," REG
"L'omphalos gordien,"
31 (1918) 39-82, followed byMederer 13, Schachermeyr192, andAtkinson (supran.4) 85, argued that
the Phrygians considered their oracle the navel of the world, specifically represented by the knot on the
an idea which seems very farfetched and is not supported at all by our sources.
wagon,
11. Bosworth, Commentary 186.
12. Strabo 12.5.3, Aelian Anim. 13.1, Tzetzes Chil. 6.72.690.
of the separate versions of each episode in
13. Frei 112-114 presents a point-by-point comparison
the legend and an analysis of the variations between them.

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.253 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 01:58:02 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 260 CLASSICAL
ANTIQUITY Volume 3/ No. 2/ October 1984

of Zeus. Justin then named Midas as the son and successor of Gordios and the ruler
who, as a followerof Orpheus, gave thePhrygians theirreligionand therebyimproved
their life.
The other references to the Phrygian legend aremuch briefer and provide little
additional information. Curtius mentioned a royal palace of Midas inGordion but stated
that Gordios was the one whom the wagon had brought to the city. Plutarch mentioned
thewagon and the fact that theprophecy concerning the knotwas an article of belief
among the locals, and he also called Gordion the seat of ancient Midas. Strabo called
Gordion thehomeofMidas andof his fatherGordios beforehim,while Aelian recounted
the episode of the eagle settlingon Gordios' plow, which foretold thekingshipof his
sonMidas.
The major differences between the two versions center on the following points:
(1) the precise means by which the oracular sign was given, an eagle (Arrian) or birds
of every sort (Justin); (2) the identity of the woman interpreting the oracle, a Telmes
sian maiden (Arrian) or a local inhabitant (Justin); (3) the divinity to whom the wagon
was dedicated,Zeus Basileus (Arrian)or themajesty of thekingdom (Justin);(4) the
location of the wagon, Arrian merely locating it on the acropolis of Gordion, Justin
in the temple of Zeus; and (5) perhaps most significantly, the identity of the dedicator,
Midas (Arrian) or Gordios (Justin). Any attempt to determine the original Phrygian
4
story cannot, however, simply choose one version over the other as themore accurate.
The differences between the two are significant enough to suggest that they derive from
5 and itwill be
two separate historical works on Alexander, necessary to consider what
those works might have been and how the original sources might have treated the legend.
Before considering thepotential sourcesof Arrian and Justin, several featuresthat
recur in both versions should be noted, for these features seemmore akin toGreek
legendarytraditionandmay well have influencedtheGreek presentationof thePhrygian
legend.The first is the figureof Gordios himself.While thenameMidas is genuinely
Phrygian, as is shownby its appearanceinPhrygian inscriptionsand inAssyrian texts
referringtoPhrygia,'6thenameGordios isunknownoutsideGreek andRoman literature.
It appears to be an artificial name created from the city nameGordion, on analogy
with thenamesof Greek eponymousheroes,17a practicealso followedforotherPhrygian
14. Gutschmid459 opted forArrian'sversionas themore authentic,althoughhe notedseveralHellenizing
details such as thepresenceof theeagle, theTelmessianmaiden, and thegod Zeus Basileus.Korte 14,Kaerst
(supra n.4) 357 n.6, and Frei 121 have proposed that the version of Justin is closer to the original Phrygian
legend.
15. Modern scholars have been divided on the question of whether the versions of the legend given
by Arrian and Justin were derived from two different Greek originals or from the same Greek source. Pear
son 39 argued that Callisthenes was the source for all other Greek treatments of the
legend. Others, including
Gutschmid 457-459, Korte 12-13, Kaerst (supra n.4) 357 n.6, and Frei 114 (see also infra n.26), have stated
that the two versions known to us are derived from two different sources. Rihl (supra n.4) 812 stated that
there were originally two separate versions of the story but that they had been combined into one at a point
prior to Alexander's visit to Gordion.
16. The nameMidas appears inPhrygian inscriptions:J.Friedrich,Kleinasiatische Sprachdenkmaler
(Berlin 1932) 123-128, nos. 1, 19; and inAssyrian texts:D. D. Luckenbill,Ancient Records of Assyria
and Babylonia II (Chicago 1927) nos. 8, 25, 42, 71, and J. N. Postgate, Iraq 35 (1973) 21-34.
17. Stephanos Byzantinus s.v. Gordieion. The word Gordion is derived from the Indo-European root
meaning "to enclose," and in thePhrygian languagesimplymeant "city": J. Pokorny, Indogermanisches

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.253 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 01:58:02 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Midas and theGordianKnot
ROLLER: 261

cities. 8The second

point is the appearance of the names Midas and Gordios in a body
of Greek traditionconnecting these two figureswith Macedonia. The connectionwas
evidentlyof long standing,for itwas known toHerodotos,19who reportedthatMidas
son of Gordias (sic) met Silenos in a rose garden on the slopes of the Bermios moun
tains, an area inMacedonia settled by Perdiccas, ancestor of the royal line of Alex
ander. It was also recounted by several other authors of the fifth and fourth centuries
B.C., among themAristotle,20and Justin'shistorypreserves a referencetoMidas, king
of Macedonia, who ruled inAegae.21 Third, itwas believed thatMidas was the name
of a king of theBrigians, a peoplewho originally lived inMacedonia andwho changed
their name to Phrygians after their migration toAnatolia.22 This last tradition may well
reflectgenuinehistoricalcircumstances.
Herodotos recordedthatthePhrygiansmigrated
toAnatolia fromMacedonia,23andhis statementis supportedby linguisticevidence,24
although it is uncertain what these people called themselves or who their leaders were
before themigration.25
While the versions of bothArrian and Justin seem to reflect knowledge of these
points,Arrian's story shows signsof havingbeen given itsexpressionby someoneclose
toAlexander, perhapsCallisthenes, for itcontains severalelements thatseemdesigned
tomake the story of the wagon and the prophecy especially relevant to theMacedonian
king.26 The first of these is the prominent role of Midas himself, who here was named
as the dedicator of the wagon.27 Because the name Midas was connected with Macedonia,
and specificallywith thegeographicalarea importantto theMacedonian royal family,

etymologischesWorterbuch I (Bern 1959) 444. See also R. S. Young, Gordion, a Guide to theExcavations
(Ankara 1975) 10-11.
18. Inevery case interestin sucheponymous foundersappearsonly afterPhrygiancontactwith Greek
tradition.See P. Carrington, "FoundingHeroes of Phrygia," Yayla 1 (1977) 8.
19. Herodotos 8.138.
20. Aristotle, fr. 44 (Rose);Theopompos,FGrHist 115F 75; Bion, FGrHist 14 F 3. See Roller (supra
n.3) 303 and n.27.
21. Justin7.10-11.
22. Strabo 7.3.2; Conon, FGrHist 26 F 1. See Fredricksmeyer 161-162, and P. Carrington, "A Heroic

Age of Phrygia in Ancient Literature and Art," AnatSt (1977) 117-122.

23. Herodotos 7.73.
24. The Phrygianlanguageseems tohavebeen relatedtootherprehistoricBalkan languages:J. Friedrich,
RE 201 (1941) 878-880, s.v. Phrygia; R. A. Crossland, CAHFIII' (1982) 849.
25. N. G. L. Hammond, A History ofMacedonia (Oxford 1972) I, 300-308 and407-414, suggested
thattheBrigians andPhrygianswere originally two separatealthoughrelatedpeoples, and thattheBrigians
remained inMacedonia or Illyria after the Phrygiansmigrated toAsia.
26. F. Jacoby,RE 102 (1919) 1704, s.v Kallisthenes. Pearson 39 and Schachermeyr192 thoughtthat
Callisthenes was the source for both versions of the story. Frei 122 supported this, although he has argued
that the two versions preserved by Arrian and Justin were derived directly from Aristoboulos and the Vulgate,
respectively.
27. As will be argued below, I too think that the name attached to the wagon was that of Midas, although

my reasonsare based on Midas' position in Phrygian history and religious tradition. The fact that Arrian

gives great prominence to the role of Gordios as well as Midas in his version of the legend suggests that
he or his source was strongly influenced by the Greek tradition of eponymous founders. Arrian's insertion
of Midas into the role of founder seems, in the context of his narrative, rather contrived, and the contrivance

may well have resulted from Callisthenes' interpretation. There are other examples of Callisthenes' associating
the exploits of Alexander with a mythical past: see Pearson 36-49; Jacoby, Commentary on FGrHist 124
F 14 and other fragments; Hamilton (supra n.4) liv; Bosworth, Commentary 31.

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.253 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 01:58:02 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
262 CLASSICAL
ANTIQUITY Volume 3/ No. 2/ October 1984

a prophecy attached to his name would have found special favor with a Macedonian

king and his chroniclers.28This suggestion is supportedby a citation from a second

centuryB.C.historyofMacedonia byMarsyas of Philippi,which recordsthatthewagon
towhich the prophetic knot was tied was the very wagon thatMidas had driven in leading
themigration of thePhrygians fromMacedonia toAnatolia.29This appearsdesigned
to supporttheAlexander connectioneven furtherby stressing the relevanceof thepro
phecy to theMacedonian royal family.Another factor thatappears tomake Arrian's
version of the legend more in harmony with Alexander is the use of a Telmessian maiden
to elucidate the prophecy.30 There are two cities inAnatolia named Telmessos that have
a tradition of prophecy, one in Lycia and one in Caria,31 but both seem impossibly
far away for a peasant driving an ox-cart, and the mention of a Telmessian divine is
more likely to arise from the fact that a Telmessian seer acompanied Alexander and
his army.32A thirdpoint thatsuggestsparticularrelevance toAlexander is the identity
of the divinity to whom the wagon was dedicated, Zeus Basileus,33 a divinity cited on
other occasions as importantforAlexander. 34The version preservedby Justin,on the
other hand, appears to stem from the Vulgate tradition.35 It too has been affected by
Greek legendary tradition, as the prominent role assigned to Gordios and the reference

28. Fredricksmeyer160-165. Bosworth, Commentary185, criticizes Fredricksmeyer'semphasison

theMacedonian origin of Midas and the implicationthis had forAlexander, noting that the tale of Midas
and thewagon of Gordios is cited by Arrian as a local Phrygian legend.This is certainly true, and there
is no reason to think that thePhrygiansmade a connectionbetween a Phrygian and aMacedonianMidas,
but this does not alter the likelihood thatAlexander himself or his followersmay have done so.
29. FGrHist 135-136 F 4; Frei 115.
30. Gutschmid 459, Riihl (supran.4) 813, Frei 121.Korte 14 has criticizedGutschmid's interpreta
tionand suggestedthattheTelmessiansmay have been local residentsof Gordion, remnantsof a pre-Phrygian
people, but there is no evidence to support this.
31. Bosworth, Commentary 186.
32. On theTelmessian seerAristandros, see H. Berve, Das Alexanderreichaus prosopographischer
Grundlage (Munich 1926) II, 62. n.117, andW. S. Greenwalt, "A MacedonianMantis," AncientWorld
5 (1982) 17-25. Greenwalt 17 n.2 suggests thatLycian Telmessos had a special tiewith Gordion and cites
Arrian's version of the legendof Gordios' wagon. Arrian, however, merely states that themaiden lived
in a Telmessian village, with no indicationas towhich Telmessos was meant.
33. Curtius and Justin both located the wagon in the temple of Zeus, without defining which manifestation
of Zeus was meant. This is likely to have been theprincipalmale Phrygiandeitywhom theGreeks would
have identifiedas Zeus. Bosworth, Commentary186, suggested that thiswas Zeus Sabazios.M. Lejeune,
"Regardssur les sonoresi.-e. en vieux phrygien,"FlorAnat224, however,has drawnattentionto thePhrygian
divinityBagaios, identifiedas Zeus Phrygios byHesychios, and connectedhimwith a dedicatory inscription
on a small alabaster hawk from Gordion; this divinity seems to me the most likely candidate for the Phrygian
Zeus.
34. Arrian 3.5.2; Bosworth, "Alexander and Ammon," Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean: Studies
Presented to Fritz Schachermeyr, ed. K. H. Kinzl (Berlin 1977) 54-55.
35. Mederer 9 n.3, Frei 112. The source for the vulgate tradition appears to have been Cleitarchos
(Pearson 212-242; Schachermeyr 658-662; Frei 122; Bosworth, Commentary 30 n.52). This of course leaves
unanswered the question of what Cleitarchos' source for the story was, whether he was himself an eyewitness
to the event or was drawing on the source of another eyewitness, a question which depends in large part
on what date is assigned to Cleitarchos' work (Bosworth, Commentary, 30 n.52, suggests a date of ca. 310
B.C.). As will be stated in more detail below, Justin's account seems in several ways to correspond more
closely to what is known about Phrygian beliefs and traditions, which strongly suggests that the original
source for his account was present at the event and heard the story from the Phrygians, whoever that may
have been.

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.253 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 01:58:02 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
ROLLER:
Midas and theGordian Knot 263

toMidas as a disciple of theThracianOrpheus show, althoughother details given by

Justin, such as the identification of the clairvoyant maiden as a local resident and the
wagon's dedicationas themajesty of the (Phrygian)kingdom,36tiehis storymore closely
to Phrygia and toGordion.
The relationship of Gordios and Midas in the legend is unusual enough to call for
further comment. In every source Gordios was named as the person who received the
oracular sign of the birds, implying that he was the one divinely ordained to found
the dynasty. If, as has been suggested,Gordios was a mythical figure, analogous to
theeponymous foundersof Greek tradition,the appearanceof his namemay represent
a Hellenizing detail attached to the Phrygian legend.37 Midas, on the other hand, was
reported to be either the first king or the first ruler of note, and his position in the
legendseemsmore likely to representthememory of an actualruler.This is an impor
tant point because, as stated above, Midas was indeed the name of an historical king
of Phrygia, a man who ruled from 738 to 696 B.C. The existence of an historical Midas
has long been noted, but it is clear that this man ruled well after the establishment of
Phrygian hegemony inGordion38and thereforecould not be the same individualas
theputativefounderof thedynasty.A solution thathas foundwidespread favoramong
modern scholars is to assume thatMidas was not a personal but a dynastic name, and
that the namesMidas andGordios alternated throughoutthe course of independent
Phrygian rule.39It is indeedpossible that the nameMidas did recuramong Phrygian
rulers, although all the historical data relate only to the man who lived in the late eighth
century.There are, however, good reasons to doubt that the first (or second)king of
Phrygiawas namedMidas. The Phrygiansmigrated toAnatolia fromMacedonia after
the collapse of the Hittite Empire in ca. 1200 B.c.40 Yet the name Midas was known
inAnatolia before this, as the name of a disloyal vassal king of the Hittites, as a Hittite
word for servant,and as a personal name inHittite hieroglyphic texts.41It is unlikely
thattheearliestkingof thePhrygians,himselfpresumablyofMacedonianorigin,would
have borne such a characteristically Anatolian name at the time of the first settlement
of these people in central Anatolia.42

36. Gutschmid 460.

37. This pointof view isopposedbyGutschmid459-460, Rihl (supran.4) 812-813, andKorte 12-13,
all of whom felt that Gordios was part of the original Phrygian saga.
38. The archaeologicalevidence suggests thatGordionwas settledby thePhrygians shortlyafter the
collapse of theHittite Empire in ca. 1200 B.C.:R. S. Young, "The GordionCampaignof 1965," AJA 70
(1966) 274-277.
39. Gutschmid 457-460. He apparently drew on the work of Reiner Reineccius, Historia Julia I
(Helmstedt 1594), a work I have not been able to consult. See also Korte 12-20; Swoboda, RE 72 (1912)
1590-1592, s.v. Gordios; S. Eitrem,RE 152(1932) 1526-1540, s.v.Midas; F. B6mer,KommentarzuOvidii
Metamorphoses. Buch X-XI (Heidelberg 1980) 259.
40. Suprann.24, 38. Hammond (supran.25) 412 states that thePhrygians invadedAsia Minor in ca.
800 B.C., but the excavations at Gordion suggest a Phrygian presence at the site at a much earlier date. There
is also no reason to assume thatthePhrygian incursionwas a forced invasion,for the archaeologicalrecord
ismore consistentwith a peaceful infiltration.
41. Mellink (supran.10) 320.
42. It is possible that the Anatolian name Midas could have been adopted by the leader of the Phrygian

migration to legitimize his position in Anatolia, but since two of the three citations of this name in Hittite

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.253 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 01:58:02 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
264 CLASSICAL
ANTIQUITY Volume 3/ No. 2/ October 1984

There is also evidence to suggest that laterGreek authors saw thePhrygianking

of the lateeighth centuryB.c. as a quasi-mythologicalfigure and associatedhis name
with a numberof characteristics,both good and bad, thatwere considered typicalof
Phrygians in general. Thus a number of legends set in Phrygia were attached to his
name,43he was considereda key figure inPhrygianmusic44 and inPhrygianorgiastic
religion,45and in amore negative vein, his namewas commonly used inGreece for
Phrygian slaves.46An incidentreportedby Herodotos about a Phrygian princewho
arrived at the court of Croesus of Lydia provides another example of this.47 The young
man introduces himself as Adrastos son of Gordias son of Midas, a genealogy that seems
virtually a formulaic identificationas a Phrygian noble, especiallywhen attached to
the good Greek name Adrastos. Similarly, the association of the name Midas with the
Brigians seems to reflect the transference of the fame of the Phrygian Midas to the
ancestralEuropeanhome of thePhrygianpeople. Thus ifGordios was consideredby
the Greeks to be the eponymous hero of the city and Midas the archetypal Phrygian
ruler, it is not surprisingthatthey shouldcome to be associatedwith one another,and
so it is difficult to place much weight on the reputedfather-sonconnection.
The obvious instancesof artificiality in the legendof thewagon of Gordios should
not detract us from our search to find the genuine Phrygian elements in the story. The
of the legendbyGreek authors,especially thoseclose toAlexander, did indeed
treatment
affect certain elements reported in our sources, but the core of the story still stands.
We can now examine this and make use of information available in Phrygia itself that
will help delineate the outlines of the original Phrygian tale and its significance for
the people of Gordion.
One aspect of the story that has often been pointed out is that the Phrygian legend
is cast in the form of a folk tale. Scholars have cited parallels with similar folk tales
known from Slavic48 and Irish literature,49 but it is not necessary to go so far afield
to understand the Phrygian tale. Similar tales exist inGreek literature which were drawn
from Near Eastern tradition and, in particular, several elements of the Gordian-knot
story correspond to Herodotos' account of the legend surrounding the birth of the Per
sian king Cyrus, itself a story with many parallels in Near Eastern legend.50 These
common points are especially notable in Arrian's version of the Gordian-knot story,

texts have an unfavorable connotation, it is uncertain whether, at the end of the Hittite Empire at least, the
use of this name would have done much to enhance the image of its bearer.
43. Roller (supran.3) passim.
44. Athenaios 14.617b; Pliny Nat. Hist. 7.204; Suidas, s.v. elegos.
45. Strabo 10.3.14; PlutarchCaesar 9.4.
46. AristophanesWasps 433; Strabo7.3.12; IG ii/iii21673,46. See alsoKretschmer,Glotta2 (1910)324.
47. Herodotos 1.35.
48. Gutschmid 460-461, Riihl (supran.4) 815-816.
49. Frei 115-121.
50. Herodotos 1.107-114;W. Aly, Volksmarchen, Sage undNovelle beiHerodotund seinenZeitgenossen
(1921, repr.Gottingen 1969) 48-50; H. Immerwahr,Form and Thought inHerodotos (Cleveland 1966)
161-167.

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.253 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 01:58:02 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Midas and theGordian Knot
ROLLER: 265

where an omen revealed to the parent establishes the son as the legitimate ruler.5' Other

examples includetheassociationof the futurekingwith the familyof a herdsman(Cyrus)

or peasant farmer (Gordios/Midas);a backgroundof poverty, which enables him to
pose as the championof the people; and the divine favormarking him, which helps
the new rulerestablishhimself againstoppositionby the existing government (Cyrus)
or in the absence of a government (Gordios/Midas).Through their contactswith the
Assyrians and later the Persians, the Phrygians would have been familiar with Near
Eastern tradition and could very easily have cast a legend about a famous king in the
guise of a Near Eastern folk tale.
Another source of potential information on the legend lies in the remains of the
city of Gordion. During the early centuriesof Phrygianoccupation the citywas pros
perous, and large buildings andmassive fortificationwalls attest to its political and
military importanceon theAnatolian plateau.52That city was completely destroyed
by fire during the Kimmerian sack in the early seventh century B.C., and when the
city was rebuilt in the early sixth century the older city was buried under several meters
of clay.53 The sixth-century city was itself severely damaged by an earthquake in the
early fourth century, and the city that Alexander saw was considerably reduced in
economic prosperity and commercial importance.54 Arrian and Curtius report the ex
istence in this fourth-century city of a palace of Midas. This is likely to have been a
building that survived the Kimmerian sack, but was surely much damaged and altered
and may in fact not have originally been a palace at all,"5 but simply a building vererated
by the local inhabitants as a relic from the early period of their history.56 The existence
of the wagon is more problematical, for one would expect that all perishable objects
from the early period of the city had been destroyed in the fire. There is reason to
believe, however, that some of the wooden furniture found in the Great Tumulus, which
appears to be contemporary with the Kimmerian sack, may have been saved at the time

51. Arrian seems to be conscious of his use of folk tale, for he introduces his version of the legend

by describing it as a logos, very much in the manner of a Herodotean logos, and the way Arrian's story
is attached to the main body of his narrative may be a conscious imitation of Herodotos' method; see Bosworth,

Commentary35, on the strong influenceof Herodotos on Arrian's style.

52. Young (supran.8) 350-364; K. De Vries, "GeometricGreeks andGeometric Phrygians," FATG
33-42.
53. R. S. Young, "The Gordion Campaign of 1967," AJA 72 (1968) 231.
54. R. S. Young, "Gordion-1950," UPMB 16 (1951)7, and "ProgressatGordion," UPMB 17 (1953)
9.
55. Only one major building, nicknamed thePersian-PhrygianBuilding (PPB, illustratedin theplan
in FATG 95 fig. 1) appears to have survived the Kimmerian sack, although it should be noted that less than
half of the city has been excavated. Among the buildings of the early Phrygian city, the one that is the most

likely candidatefor a palace is the structurecalledMegaron 3 (De Vries [supran.52] 34-36, 43 fig. 1),
but this buildingwas thoroughlydestroyed at the time of theKimmerian sack.
56. Despite the fact that the sixth-centurycity was separatedfrom the earlier levels of the city by a
thick layerof clay, theplan of the latercity reproducesalmost exactly the architecturallayoutof the earlier
city, as can be seen by a comparisonof theplans illustratedinFATG43 fig. 1 (eighth- to seventh-century
city) and 95 fig. 1 (sixth-centuryand latercity). This conservatismsuggests that thePhrygiansof the sixth
century B.C. and laterwere eager tomaintain strong tieswith the earlier history of the city.

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.253 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 01:58:02 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
266 CLASSICAL
ANTIQUITY Volume 3/ No. 2/ October 1984

of the fire,57 and a wagon valued for its symbolic associations could also have been saved.
There are also severalelements in the legendthatpoint inanotherdirection,namely
to the connectionof the legendwith Phrygian religious tradition.The most striking
one is the detail that the sign that foretold the kingship to Gordios was given by a bird.
Arrian andAelian called thisbird an eagle, while Justinreferredtobirdsof every type.
A bird of prey is a very old symbol in Anatolian religion, and in Phrygia such a bird
was a frequentattributeof theprincipalPhrygiandivinity,Matar Kubileya, orKybele,
as the Greeks called her.58 She is depicted holding a bird in Phrygian reliefs of the
sixth century B.C. fromGordion, Ankara, andAya?,59 and a numberof representa
tionsof birdsof prey havebeen foundatGordion, oftendepictingthebirdwith a necklace
prominently set off from the base of the neck, as if to emphasize its special status.60
A stone statuette of a bird of prey and a terra-cotta bird attached to a ritual vessel were
also found in an eighth-centuryB.C.Phrygian shrine inBogazkoy.6' These birds are
usuallycalledhawks, althoughtheirfeaturesareoften indistinctenough tomake a precise
identificationuncertain.62Another such element is thewagon, which may also have
been an attribute of Kybele. In her Greco-Roman cult a wagon was used to carry the
goddess in festivalprocession.63The positionof thewomanwho interpretedtheprophecy
that foretold the kingship of Gordios and Midas further suggests a connection with
Phrygian religion. The text of Justin states that Gordios met the woman as she was
standing in a doorway, a detail pertinent to the iconography of Kybele, who was
frequentlydepicted standing in a doorway.64
These elements point to a connectionof the legendwith the importantPhrygian
deity Kybele.65 The Greek sources, of course, state that the wagon was associated with

57. R. S. Young, ThreeGreat Early Tumuli,UniversityMuseum Monograph 43 (Philadelphia1981)

271-272; E. Simpson, "ReconstructinganAncient Table," Expedition 25 (1983) 11-26.
58. M. J.Mellink, "A Votive Bird fromAnatolia," Expedition6 (1964) 28-32. The Phrygian name
of thedivinity is recorded inOld Phrygian texts:Friedrich (supran.16) 126 no. 9; C. H. E. Haspels, The
Highlands of Phrygia (Princeton1971) 289-94, nos. 4, 5, 11, 13, 16, 20; L. Tugrul andM. Firatli, Istan
bul ArkeolojiMiizeleri Yilligi 13-14 (1966) 236-241.
59. K. Bittel, "PhrygischesKultbildausBogazk6y,"AntikePlastik2 (Berlin1963)pls. 1la, b (Gordion).
pl. 10 (Ankara),pls. lic, d (Aya?).
60. These include doodles on stone and pottery of the eighth century B.c., and an ivory stamp seal
and stone figurines of the sixth century B.C. and later. For examples, see Korte 169 fig. 150; R. S. Young,
"The 1963 Campaign at Gordion," AJA 68 (1964) pl. 83 fig. 6; Mellink (supran.58) 30.
61. Th. Beran, "Eine Kultstatte phrygischer Zeit in Bogazk6y," MDOG 94 (1963) 33-52, figs. 9-14.
62. Beran (supran.61) called thebird figuresfromBogazk6y eagles,while R. D. Barnett(apudMellink
[supran.58] 31) identified the Phrygian sacredbird as a buzzard.
63. Ovid Fasti 4.345; Vergil Aeneid 3.113, 6.785. Ovid used the same word, plaustrum, to describe
the wagon of Cybele as did Justin in his account of the Gordion knot.
The GreekKybele isoften depicted ina two-wheeledchariot,e.g., on the reliefof theSiphniantreasury
inDelphi (R. Lullies andM. Hirmer, Greek Sculpture [Munich 1956] pl. 44), but this seems to be a dif
ferent type of vehicle from the four-wheeled wagon of the legend of Midas.
64. Kybele is shown framed in an architectural setting in the relief from Gordion (Bittel, supra n.59),
in a sculpturalgrouping fromBogazkoy (Bittel [supran.59] pl. 3), and in several rock-cut reliefs inWest
Phrygia (Haspels [supran.58] figs. 159, 184, 189).
65. Gutschmid 461-466 and Korte 14-15 also interpreted the legend with reference to Kybele, but
for very different reasons. Gutschmid felt that the Midas in the legend was the son of Kybele and therefore
thedivinely ordained firstking. See also Schubert (supran.4) 3. Korte argued that themarriage of Kybele

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.253 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 01:58:02 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Midas and theGordian Knot
ROLLER: 267

Zeus and notKybele, but there is evidence suggesting linksbetween the twodivinities
inPhrygia.The birdof preywas an attributeof Zeus aswell asKybele. Sculptedfigures
of birds, in some caseswith thedistinctivenecklace, continuedto bemade inAnatolia
until the fourthcenturyA.D.;many of these are clearly identifiableas eagles andwere
dedicated toZeus.66Furtherevidence of the connectionof the two divinities exists in
Aizanoi, where theywere worshipped jointly; here Zeus has themajor shrinewhile
Kybele occupies a subterraneanchamber.67
The religious element in the legend is strengthenedby linksbetweenKybele and
the Phrygian king Midas. The impressive monument carved onto the rock at Midas
City was a shrine to thegoddessKybele, and a longPhrygian inscriptionon the facade
above the monument records a dedication to the ruler Midas.68 His name also appears
together with that of the goddess in a graffito incised onto the doorpost of this shrine.69
Ithas been suggestedthat, throughhis contacts in southeasternAnatolia, thehistorical
ly Midas
attested may have been theperson responsible for introducingor strengthen
ing the cult of Kybele in Phrygia.70 Greek and Roman sources remembered Midas as
the person who established the rites of the goddess,71 and some authors even called
him the son of Kybele.72The referencesby laterauthors toMidas' involvementwith
Kybele may mean nothing more than that the Greeks associated the name Midas with
what they considered a distinctive featureof the Phrygians, theirorgiastic religion,
forMidas was also mentioned in connection with the rituals of Orpheus73 and Dionysos,74
but it could also mean that he found a part in the cult of the goddess.75 The palace

(i.e., the clairvoyantmaiden) with Gordios representedthe fusion of the new immigrants,thePhrygians,
with the original inhabitantsof centralAnatolia.
66. K. Bittel, "Der Adler von Yamula-Yemliha," AfO 11 (1936-37) 52-56. An example of an eagle
with thenecklace is illustratedbyG. Mendel, Catalogues des sculptures,Musees imperiauxOttomans (Con
stantinople 1914) nr. 657. Note also the alabaster hawk cited supra n.33, which bears a dedicatory inscrip
tion apparentlynaming the PhrygianZeus.
It has been suggestedby Eitrem (supran.39) 1537 that thewagon may also have been an attribute
of Zeus, for an emptywagon was used by thePersians in theircampaigns to symbolize thepresence of Zeus
(Herodotos7.40, Xenophon Cyr. 8.3.12). This vehicle, however, seems to have been a war chariot rather
than a cart.
67. H. Weber, "Der Zeus-Temple von Aizani," AthMitt 84 (1969) 182-201, esp. 191-193. The temple
that brought the two divinities together under one roof was Hadrianic, but it is situated on the site of much
older cults of both Zeus and Kybele. Note also the nearby rock-cut throne of Kybele, similar to the monuments
fromMidas City: R. Naumann, "Das Heiligtum derMeter SteuenebeiAezani," IstMitt17 (1967) 230-31.
68. Haspels (supra n.58) 73-77; M. Lejeune, "A propos de la titulature de Midas," Athenaeum 47
(1969) 179-192.
69. Haspels (supran.58) 290-91, no. 5.
70. E. Laroche, "Koubaba, deesse anatolienne, et le problem des origines de Cybele," Elements
orientauxdans la religiongrecque ancienne (Paris 1960) 113-28, esp. 121-28. Larochediscusses theprob
ability that thePhrygianKybele was absorbedfrom theNorth Syrian goddessKoubaba, herself an ancient
Hittite divinity. See alsoM. J.Mellink, "Midas inTyana," FlorAnat 256-257.
71. Theopompos (FGrHist 115 F 260), apudAmmianusMarcellinus 22.9.7; Diodoros 3.59.8.
72. PlutarchCaesar 9.4; Hyginus Fab. 274; Pseudo-Hesiod, fr. 251 (Rzach).
73. Justin 11.7, Ovid Met. 11.92-3. This connection may have been influenced by the tradition that
Midas was originally a Thracian or Macedonian: see Fredricksmeyer 164 andRoller (supran.3) 310.
74. Clement Protrep. 1.12.
75. G. M. A. Hanfmann, "Lydiaka," HSCP 63 (1958) 65-68, also suggested a connection between

depictingTheseus and theMinotaur,

Midas andKybele inhis discussionof theGordionarchitecturalterra-cottas

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.253 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 01:58:02 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
268 CLASSICAL
ANTIQUITY Volume 3/ No. 2/ October 1984

of Midas mentioned by Arrian and Curtius thus takes on new significance, for the cita
tion of Arrian implies that the wagon, while dedicated to Zeus, may have stood in or
near this palace.76 This could have been some structure from the early period of the
city's history preserved as a shrine to the Phrygian king who was remembered as a
symbol of Gordion's former greatness.
Thus it appears that the legendof thewagon of Gordios does indeedpreserve a
genuine Phrygian core, but thatcore belongs to religious ratherthanhistorical tradi
tion.The legendappears to relate the historyof certain sacred artifactsof Gordion in
the form of a folk tale. It emphasizes the prominent position of Kybele and Zeus in
the religious life of Gordion,and also recalls Midas' connection with the cult of Kybele.
The nameMidas was probably the one associatedwith thewagon, althoughwhether
this was a reference to the historically attested Phrygian king of the late eighth century
B.C. or to an ancestor of the same name or was a collective name applied to several
representativesof thePhrygian rulingdynasty remainsunknown.While the relation
shipof all these elements in theoriginalPhrygian legend is now difficult to determine,
the versions of the legend preserved for us suggest that not only Zeus and Kybele but
also Midas enjoyed active cult in the ancient center of Gordion in Alexander's time.
Having examined this legendwith reference to the city of Gordion and the posi
tion of Midas in Phrygia, let us return to the Alexander historians and consider how
the accounts of Arrian and Justin can be correlated with the Phrygian elements in the
story.The firstdisparitynotedbetween them, theprecisemeans by which theoracular
sign was given, centers on what bird gave the original omen. The Phrygian sacred bird
has been identified with various birds of prey, but is usually called a hawk. This bird
later became assimilated to the eagle of Zeus, and it is possible that Arrian, writing in
Anatolia in the second century A.D., may have used as his example the bird that
was most familiar to him, as well as the one most obviously associated with Zeus. Justin
merely stated that there were birds of every type. The question of the identity of the
woman interpreting the oracle, a Telmessian maiden or one from Gordion, was touch
ed on earlier. We may note again that Curtius, Arrian, and Plutarch all stress the con
nection of the story with the local residents, and that Justin's detail that the prophetic
maiden was seen in a doorway harmonizeswith the religious iconographyof Kybele
at Gordion. The presence of a Telmessian seer inAlexander's army may have influenced
Arrian's version on this point.

which he interpretedwith reference to theAnatolian religious ritualof slaying a bull, a ritual that recalls
both the prominentposition of the bull in the cult of Kybele and the legendof Midas' death by drinking
bull's blood (recordedby Strabo 1.3.21).
76. Mederer 9 n.2 criticizes Schubert (supran.4) 5, who makes a distinctionbetweenArrian's loca
tion of the wagon (on the acropolis of Gordion with reference to the palace of Midas) and Justin's (in the

temple of Zeus). These two authors also differ on the identity of the one to whom the wagon was dedicated,
however, and their lackof consistencyon somany points suggests thattheirattributionof thewagon's loca
tion to twodifferentplaces is an intentionaldistinction.Zeus, or an importantPhrygianmale divinity iden
tifiedwith Zeus, surelyhad a part in the legend, butArrian does not specifically say that thewagon stood
in the temple of Zeus.

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.253 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 01:58:02 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 ROLLER:
Midas and theGordianKnot 269

The differing opinions on the identityof the divinity to whom thewagon was
dedicated and the location of the wagon may present less of an inconsistency than at
firstappears. It seems likely thaton theacropolisof Gordion therewere both a temple
of Zeus (or of an important male divinity whom the Greeks identified as Zeus) and
a structure known as the palace of Midas, very likely a shrine of Midas. Arrian's
information that the wagon was dedicated to Zeus but placed on the acropolis near the
palace (i.e., shrine)of Midas is almost exactly the reverseof Justin's,who recorded
that thewagon was dedicated to themajesty of the kingdom (perhapspersonified by
Midas) but placed in the temple of Zeus. If, as seems likely, Midas was closely associated
with Zeus andKybele in fourth-centuryPhrygia, these two shrineswould have been
closely allied, perhaps even part of the same structure, and so our two sources may
be citing the same evidence but phrasing itwith differing emphasis.We shouldnote,
though, that Arrian alone identifies the god as Zeus Basileus.
Themajor disparity lies in the identityof thewagon's dedicator.Arrian and Justin
seem to be consistent in their intent-to show how the wagon served to designate the
first king of Phrygia-but differ on the name of the individual. Justin was evidently
using the Greek preference for an eponymous founder and so named this founder
Gordios, a name associated with Midas and Phrygia long before Alexander's visit. By
using the name of the city for its founder, Justin's version stresses again the connection
of the wagon and the prophecy to Gordion. Arrian also gave Gordios a prominent role
in the legend, but reserved to Midas the dedication of the wagon. We have seen that
Midas was a genuinely Anatolian name, one borne by a famous king of Phrygia, and
may well have been attached to the wagon. The original founder of the Phrygian dynasty
probably had a Phrygian (i.e., Balkan) name, which was either not preserved or was
submerged into the fame of the historical Midas. We noted too that, just as Herodotos
called Gordios and Midas Phrygians, he and several other Greek writers of the fifth
and fourth centuries also connected these two names with Macedonia, a point that was

very likely known to Alexander and his entourage.

BothArrian and Justinseem tobe coordinatingtwo factors-a genuinelyPhrygian
legendof a founder,and the information
of theGreek historianswho knewof this legend
only throughMacedonian Alexander. Inmany ways theversionof the legendpreserved
by Justin seems to provide information
more in harmonywith Phrygian tradition-a
somewhat surprisingconclusion, for we saw earlier that Justin's frameworkfor the
story, namely that the fame of the oracle and the wagon was so great that this alone
drewAlexander toGordion, is themost implausibleone given by our fourAlexander
sources.Arrian's elaborationson the legendcome close enough to thePhrygian tradi
tion to show thathe or his sourceknew of theoriginal story.His setting for the story,
a chance incident which occurred during Alexander's march across Anatolia, and his
divergences from Justin serve primarily to stress the relevanceof the story toAlex
ander, emphasizingZeus Basileus andhis eagle, the connectionwith Alexander's own
seer, and a putative ancestor of the Macedonian royal family. Alexander was, after
all, the first person to test this reputedlyage-old prophecy.Many other conquerors

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.253 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 01:58:02 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
270 CLASSICAL
ANTIQUITY Volume 3/ No. 2/ October 1984

hadmarched throughGordion-the Kimmerians, theLydians underAlyattes,77 and

the Persians underCyrus.78There is no indicationthatany one of them showed the
slightest interestin theprophecyof a politicallyunimportantpeople like thePhrygians,
until Alexander and his followers learned of the legend of Midas and the Gordian knot.

APPENDIX

The previousdiscussionof thewagon ofMidas andGordios leavesaside theques

tion of the knot itself. A close scrutiny of our sources sheds no light on this problem,
and its meaning is probably not recoverable.
In fact, Arrian and Justin both present the tale of the first king of Phrygia as a
storywithin a story,one that,while explainingwhy thePhrygians regardedthewagon
as sacred, never even mentions why such a knot was tied to the wagon or why its unloos
ing would portend the future ruler of Asia.79 Several modern scholars have tried to
see a military significance in the story, suggesting thatcorrectly unloosing the knot
would designate an individual's mastery as a charioteer and a leader in battle.80 This
seems very unlikely, in part because there is no evidence to suggest that skill in chariot
warfare played any role inPhrygianmilitary encounters,81and evenmore so because
Arrian, Plutarch, and Justin specifically describe the vehicle as a farmer's wagon, a
utilitarianvehicle designed for transportation,not fighting.82Another possible inter
pretation for the symbolism of the knot may lie in the implication that a wagon was
itself a symbol of kingship in Anatolia. A legend attached to the Lydian royal house
records that once when the Lydians were in distress and in need of a king, they were
told to look for a slave who made wagons.83 This suggests that a wagon could form
the means of recognizing a future king. Thus if the Gordion wagon was an object of
religious significance, unloosing its knotmay have established the legitimacyof the
next king of Phrygia and bestowed the blessing of Kybele and Zeus on him. It may

77. Herodotos 1.74. The smaller occupation at Gordion, known as the Kiiquk Huyik, was evidently
built in the first half of the sixth century B.C. as a Lydian garrison: R. S.
Young, "Making History at Gordion,"
Archaeology 6 (1953) 159-166, and "The Gordion Campaign of 1957," AJA 62 (1958) 140-141.
78. The destruction of the Kiiiuk Huiyik in the middle of the sixth century was apparently the result
of a battle between the Lydians and the Persians, part of Cyrus' campaign against Sardis: Young, Archaeology
(supran.77) 164-166.
79. This questionwas accuratelypinpointedby Frei 114, although it has only rarelybeen discussed
by other scholarswriting on thisproblem. Schubert(supran.4) 1 suggested thattheoriginal legend indicated
that the Phrygian kingdom would stand only as long as the knot remained untied. See supra n. 10 for another
suggested interpretation,that the knot representedthe navel of theworld.
80. Schmidt (supran.4) 32, Schachermeyr 191, Frei 119 and n.37.
81. The very few depictions of soldiers and weapons known from Gordion show a warrior mounted
on horseback: see FATG 47, figs. 7, 8.
82. Frei 120 noted that the wagon in the legend was a four-wheeled ox cart, but felt that this resulted
from a confusion with a royal military chariot.
83. Herakleides Pontikos (Miller, FHG II p. 216 fr. 11; Jacoby, Commentary on FGrHist 90 F 44,
p. 245) recorded a legend inwhich the Lydians, suffering hard times, were told to look for a king and found
him working as a slave making wagons. This was the later Ardys I. Nicholas of Damascus (FGrHist 90
F 44) recorded a more fanciful legend, inwhich
Ardys was driven into exile to escape the wrath of his brother's
wife and supportedhimself working as a cartwright.

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.253 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 01:58:02 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
ROLLER:
Midas and theGordian Knot 271

also be that the gulf between early Gordion and the fourth-century B.C. city was so
wide thatwagon, palace, and legendwere only dimly understood remembrancesof
the time of Phrygia's former greatness. The Phrygian contemporariesof Alexander
may have been in no better position to unravel this problem than are we.84

University of California, Davis

REFERENCES AND ABBREVIATIONS

In additionto theabbreviationsgiven inAJA 82 (1978) 5-10, the followingworks

have been cited in shortened form:
Bosworth,Commentary A. B. Bosworth,A HistoricalCommentaryonArrian 'sHistory
of Alexander I (Oxford 1980).
FATG From Athens to Gordion, University Museum Papers 1, ed. K. De Vries
(Philadelphia1980).
FlorAnat FlorilegiumAnatolicum.Melanges offerts a EmmanuelLaroche, ed. E.
Masson and Cl. Brixhe (Paris 1979).
Fredericksmeyer E. A. Fredricksmeyer, "Alexander, Midas, and the Oracle at
Gordium," CP 56 (1961) 160-168.
Frei P. Frei, "DerWagon von Gordion," MusHelv 29 (1972) 110-123.
Gutschmid A. von Gutschmid, "Gordios," Kleine Schriften III (Leipzig 1892)
457-472.
Korte G. and A. Korte, Gordion, Ergebnisse der Ausgrabung im Jahre 1900, JdI

Erganzungsheft5 (Berlin 1904).

Kraft K. Kraft, Der 'rationale'Alexander, FrankfurterAlthistorische Studien 5
(Kallminz 1971) 84-92.
Mederer E. Mederer, Die AlexanderLegendenbei den iltestenAlexanderhistorikern
(Stuttgart1936) 9-14.
Pearson L. Pearson, TheLostHistories ofAlexander theGreat,AmericanPhilological
AssociationMonograph 20 (London 1960).
Schachermeyr F. Schachermeyr,Alexander der Grosse (Vienna 1973).
Tarn W. W. Tarn, Alexander the Great II. Sources and Studies (Cambridge 1948).

84. I would like to thank Erich S. Gruen and the anonymous readers of the University of California
Press for several helpful suggestions and comments.

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.253 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 01:58:02 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions