Ancient city of Gordium

Gordium was located at the intersection of ancient trade routes, where the Porsuk River flows into the Sakarya River.

The city original name is unknown. Gordium’s history of occupation extends back to the Early Bronze Age.

The site was discovered and identified in 1893 by the German scholar Alfred Korte, who in 1900 began excavations with his brother Gustav on the citadel.

Excavations there by American archeologists Dr Rodney S Young of Pennsylvania University from 1950 to 1974 revealed evidence of occupation from 6300 BC to about AD 189. Gordium, meaning ‘the place of Gordius’ and it original name was unknown.

The architectural and artefactual remains of the Late Bronze Age settlement make clear that the city in this period belong to the Hittite empire. The city remained under Hittite rule until their empire collapsed about 1200 BC.

Control of Anatolia passed to the Phrygians, who made Gordium their capital.

The Phrygian city of Gordium fell into Cimmerian in 687 and then no one at all lived there for around 150 years.

As Alexander the Great marched into Anatolia in the mid-fourth century BC, he is said to have been enticed by the promise of the fabled Gordian knot, which had stood in Cybele’s temple since the time of Midas.

It was finally incorporated into the Roman Empire in 85 BC.
Ancient city of Gordium