History and Epigraphy of North-East Phrygia

The project entitled "History and Epigraphy of North-East Phrygia" proposes to investigate the historical development of the Phrygian region situated north and cast of the ancient city of Dorylaion (modern Eskisehir), between the Tembris river (Porsuk Su) on the south and the Sangarios (Sakarya) on the north. The basis for this study would be provided by a regional epigraphic survey aimed at discovering and assessing unpublished documentary evidence (Greek and Latin inscriptions) and determening the whereabouts of the already published monuments. In addition to the field-work, the proposed project envisages a study of the monuments preserved in the museums of Eskisehir and Ankara. In antiquity, the area originally belonged to the Phrygian population group. Under the Attalid dynasty of Pergamon its western part belonged to the province of Phrygia Epiktetos. When the Gauls invaded Asia Minor and started settling in central Anatolia (from 278/7 BC to the end of the 260s), north-eastern Phrygia cis Halym provided a home for the Tolistobogii, the most prominent Galatian tribe during the Hellenistic period. Thereafter, the area of north-eastern Phrygia around Ancyra was given a new name - Galatia. After 25 BC and the creation of the imperial province of Galatia by Augustus, the border between the provinces of Asia and Galatia went through this region, Akkilaion being the easternmost city of Asia. North of the Sangarios lay the province of Bithynia. The chief form of settlernent in north-eastern Phrygia was the vitlage. The villages belonged either to city territories (Midaion, Akkilaion, Colonia Germa, Iuliopolis) or private and imperial estates. An important estate, originally owned by a family of Italian origin, appears in inscriptions as choria Konsidiana. It comprised the territory of seven villages (Heptakomia) and it was run by an Imperial slave oikonomos. Cereal agriculture, along with sheep-rearing and the cultivation of the vine, was the local population`s main means of livelihood. Sixty-three villages belonging to the ilce of Alpu, Beylikova and Mihaliccik are presently included in the planned survey. After an initial period of field-work it will be possible to make a decision regarding another seventeen villages situated in the region between the Sivrihisar Dagi and the Porsuk (the territory of Germa). The known monuments testify to the survival of Phrygian cultural and religious traditions late in the Roman Imperial Period, although the region was severed from Phrygia and attributed to the province of Galatia. The countryside literally swarmed with rural sanctuaries dedicated to Apollo, Askleplos, Dionysos, Helios, Hosios and Dikaios, Men, Meter, Zeus etc.