Work carefully
With his pickaxe, he made a stone!
Undercut the fragile layer
So that he does not fall on you.
After all, it happens so -
Everything is going well, And then suddenly an avalanche
Collapses on his head.
(Poetic transcriptions of poems by Alkey, F. Antonov)
Ancient civilization. In our cycle of acquaintance with ancient culture, five materials have already appeared: “Croatian Apoxyomenus from under the water. Ancient Civilization "," Homer's Poems as a Historical Source. Ancient civilization”,“Gold for war, the fourth wonder of the world and Ephesian marble”,“Ancient ceramics and weapons”and“Minoan Pompeii”: a mysterious city on a mysterious island. Many have asked when there will be a sequel. Here it is!
The topic arose spontaneously, only because the border with Turkey was finally opened, and my daughter and her son-in-law went to rest there. None of us likes to rest the way many Russians rested (albeit out of necessity) this year, that is, in Sochi, in Anapa and in the Crimea, in cramped and crowded conditions, swimming half in the sea, half in urine, none of us likes. For me and my wife this year, a trip was planned either with living in Gdansk to explore Malbork, Torun and other Polish cities, or away from the heat - by ferry to the northern countries. And then I write, I write about the Vikings, and I have not been to one of their museums … But it did not grow together. But she has grown together, and this in the sense of obtaining interesting information is practically the same thing. She is also a candidate of sciences, associate professor, author of many scientific articles and a number of books, including those granted by the Russian Humanitarian Science Foundation. So this time, the trip was planned to a place where there is a lot of ancient and interesting things: to the area of ancient Lycia, where there are many tombs. The town where they stayed is called Oludeniz. It is also the most famous beach in Turkey.
It's cozy and not very hot there. They rented a car and set off, slightly "fried" on the beach, to various interesting places. And the places there really turned out to be very interesting, because these are the lands of ancient Phrygia and the Lydian kingdom, the very one ruled by the legendary Croesus. And today we will tell you about them, as well as the weapons of the Phrygian horsemen and unusual bas-reliefs on which horsemen with clubs in their hands are depicted …
Let's start with Phrygia, since it appeared first on the territory of Asia Minor, immediately after the collapse of the great Hittite state, and occupied almost the entire territory of modern Turkey. But where did the Phrygians come from? Herodotus wrote that from Macedonia during the Trojan War, but there is an opinion that this happened much earlier, and the Phrygians themselves played an important role in the collapse of the Hittite kingdom. Could they belong to the "Sea Peoples"? Of course, but it is not possible to find out for sure. The Phrygians are mentioned in Assyrian, Urartian and Hebrew sources under the name "flies", but this, again, is not entirely accurate, but presumably.
The capital of the kingdom was the city of Gordion, derived from the name of King Gordius. According to an ancient legend, the kingdom of the brigs (hence the Phrigs, Phrygians) was left without a ruler, and they turned to the oracle: who should be chosen as king. And the oracle replied that the king will be the one who first meets him on the road on the way to the temple of Zeus, and this person must necessarily sit on a cart. And such a person did meet the messengers, he turned out to be a simple peasant Gordiy, who had only two oxen. Having become the king of Phrygia, he placed his cart in the center of her capital, thanks to which he gained power, and entangled her yoke with the most complex knot, tied from dogwood bast. According to legend, the person who could untangle this Gordian knot was to become the ruler of all Asia. And as we well know, Alexander the Great, who found himself in Gordion in 334 BC. e., did not get involved with this difficult matter, but simply cut it!
The wealth of Phrygia was provided by gold mines and alluvial gold, which was washed at the mouth of the Pactolus River, which flowed in the lands of Lycia. The Phrygian kingdom reached its highest power under King Midas, the very one who turned everything he touched into gold, and in addition had donkey ears. By the way, he got rid of his gift by swimming in the Pactol River, in which he washed off the magic spell, which is why it became gold-bearing.
It is also known about the Phrygians that they were engaged in arable farming, bred cattle and horses, which is why they had first-class cavalry for that time, using which they successfully fought Assyria and Urartu. But … the invasion of the Cimmerians became disastrous for their country. The Roman historian Strabo wrote that the Cimmerians plundered the country for more than twenty years, which means that there was something to plunder. In any case, the tomb of King Midas has survived to this day. By the way, the Greeks were jealous of the Phrygians and their riches and … wrote about them various poems that dishonor them. They wrote that the Phrygians were slaves at heart, unable to stand up for themselves. In the comedies of the Greeks, Phrygian slaves are constantly encountered, and the famous slave Aesop is also from Phrygia!
Perhaps this is due to the fact that the Greeks knew about the death of the Phrygian kingdom, and besides, they were unaccustomed and unpleasant to the very appearance of the Phrygians, who, unlike the Greeks, wore wide trousers, similar to wide trousers, a high felt cap-cap, which was made of sheep's wool, and a long tunic was put on the body - and all this is bright in the oriental way, embroidered with colored patterns, not at all the same as among the Greeks.
The main thing that came down to us through the darkness of centuries from the elements of Phrygian culture is the famous Phrygian cap, which became one of the symbols of the Great French Revolution, although, most likely, it was the Cimmerians who brought it with them, dressed like the Scythians and wearing characteristic leather caps or headwear.
Then, among the regions that were part of Phrygia, thanks to the gold deposits, Lydia stood out and became a rich and independent state. There was even a saying about her king Croesus: rich as Croesus. Under him, and this was already the middle of the VI century BC. BC, Phrygia received the status of an autonomous region, but was completely subordinate to Lydia. Well, Lydia herself was later under the rule of the Persian state, then belonged to Macedonia, the Seleucids, then the Galatians, the Pergamon kingdom, Mithridates of Pontus and Rome.
Not far from the city of Fethiye, there are many interesting places related to the history of antiquity. For example, the city of Patar.
But this city was relatively small. And yet it had such an impressive theater!
In addition to gold, zinc was mined here, valuable saffron was grown, horses were bred, and, of course, they were engaged in winemaking and butter making.
Having a lot of horses and gold, the Lydian rulers naturally also had a good army: cavalry from local aristocrats and hired infantry from the Greek cities of Asia Minor. Like Phrygia, Lydia suffered from another invasion of the Cimmerians, but managed to recover from it and significantly expand its territory, so that she began to occupy almost the entire Asia Minor region of the Phrygian kingdom. The Cimmerians managed to be expelled, and an era of prosperity began for Lydia, associated with the reign of King Croesus (562-547 BC). He conquered the Greek cities in Asia Minor and forced them to pay tribute to Lydia. However, the end of both Croesus himself and his state was sad. In 546 BC. NS. The kingdom of Lydia was conquered by the Persian king Cyrus. Since then, as noted above, it was under the rule of the Persians, Macedonians, Syrians and Romans.
Nevertheless, Lydia played a big role in the Ancient World. It was the Lydians who began to mint the first coin from electron, and then from silver and gold, and both Greeks and Persians willingly used these coins.
But we, however, since we are on the "Military Review", should, of course, be interested in the warriors of Phrygia and Lydia and, above all, their famous horsemen.
It is interesting that V. Vuksik and Z. Grbazik, authors of the book "History of the Combat Elite of 650 BC", based on a large amount of studied archaeological material, made a wonderful drawing - a reconstruction of a Phrygian equestrian warrior of the 5th century BC. He wears a helmet in the form of a Phrygian cap, a shield-pelta, which, by the way, the Greeks themselves just borrowed from the Phrygians, in his hand a double-edged battle ax. The rider's armor is a scaly cuirass, tied at the sides with straps, but with shoulder pads similar to those used on the Greek thorax.
But what is interesting is that stone bas-reliefs depicting horsemen with clubs in their hands are exhibited in the archaeological museum of the city of Fethiye. Perhaps these are the burial stones that adorned the graves of the deceased, whom they represent. However, something is clearly not quite right here … Of course, a heavy wooden club may well be a weapon of a rider, especially if his opponents are infantrymen with short swords. But still, this is a rather strange weapon for a cavalryman. Therefore, you need to refer to the explanatory inscription. Turks are detailed people, all signatures in their museums are bilingual, the second is usually in English.
We read it and learn that in fact these are "steles of the vow", also called Kakasbos, which occupy an important place in the cultural wealth of Kibira - the northwestern region of Lycia. That is, if a person made some kind of promise to the gods, then he ordered such a bas-relief. On the pedestal of such a stele are written the reason for the promise, the name of the person who gave it, and the name of the god to whom the vow was made. But the most interesting thing is that the rider with the club is none other than … Hercules. He was revered in the area as the equestrian god Kakasbos!
I wanted to know more about these bas-reliefs, and I even found two master's theses on this topic. One in Quebec in French (!) And the thesis of Slee Kandas, who studied in Archeology and History of Art at Bilkent University in Ankara and defended it in September 2006. It was written in English. I read it and learned the following.
It turns out that this very Kakasbos was a local deity of the inhabitants of Northern Lycia, Western Pamphylia and Pisidia. On the reliefs, he was usually depicted as a figure on horseback, and he either lifts a large club or carries it on his shoulder. There are details that distinguish this god from other gods who were also associated with horses (for example, Poseidon, Apollo), in particular, this is his main attribute - a club. God is naked or dressed in a thin chiton or mantle, although there are also bas-reliefs where he is shown in armor. Some figures wear lorica, although it is rather difficult to see it due to erosion.
Some of the figures are depicted wearing helmets and military shoes. Interestingly, only the figures identified as Kakasbos were depicted wearing shells, while the other gods do not. Perhaps the image of a god dressed in armor was borrowed from Roman equestrian sculptures and was clearly identified with a male warrior.
Yes, but what does Hercules have to do with it? The fact is that the traditional image of Hercules in ancient visual arts presents us with a hero known for his strength and muscular appearance. Iconographically united with Hercules, Kakasbos was more likely to become visually memorable. Of course, the image of the hero's horse is also important. It should be emphasized here that, apart from the East, Anatolia, Asia Minor has never been a country of tall horses, and the same problem persisted in mainland Greece. And it is for this reason that the Greek cavalry never played a serious role in military affairs, at least until the arrival of the Macedonian kings on its lands. It is known that Philip II, dissatisfied with local horses, imported horses from Scythia, hoping in this way to improve their breed. Then Alexander the Great reorganized his cavalry, replenishing it with new horses from Thrace.
The club basically occupies two different positions: either it is in the hand and raised, or it lies on the shoulder of the deity. All the inscriptions on the steles belonging to the second group were dedicated to Hercules, so this type was associated only with him. Only one rider is dressed in garments that cover the entire body. Most of the other gods-riders, identified as Hercules, Kakasbos, are dressed in short-brimmed clothes such as a chiton, belted in different ways, with a cloak-chlamyd, fastened either on the chest or on the right shoulder. A shell with pterygs is sometimes found on Kakasbos and Hercules, and the squamata lorica is an armor used in the Roman Empire, a type of scaly shell on a fabric or leather base, with steel or bronze plates sewn onto it, fastened with wire or cord to each other in horizontal rows, appears three times. Several times it is accompanied by a helmet, but the most common type of footwear is Roman caligi, Roman military sandals made of leather with straps and leather soles.
As for the dating, the samples we know date from the II-III centuries, but numismatic and epigraphic evidence suggests that this cult existed in this area before.
This is how important it is, being in Turkey, not only to enjoy the sea, sun, and delicious food, but also to be interested in artifacts from local museums. There are chances to learn a lot of really interesting things!
P. S. By the way, the length of the beach in the same Patara is 21 km. And this is a wonderful place, but you can swim here only until eight o'clock in the evening. You can't later: Caretta Caretta turtles go out on land to lay their eggs. Special observers at night in the light of flashlights find their masonry on the tracks and mark them with a special fence. Turks take care of their nature.
