PHRYGIA, frij'i-h (Lat., from Gk. .4>pir) (a). A country in Asia Al inor, the extent and boun daries of which varied very much at different pe riods of ancient history. t )thrinally, the boun daries toward the east were the river pal's and the territory about !conjoin, which WAS the last Phrygian city; toward the south, it touched the Taurus and the Pisidian Mountains: on the north. it reached the Hellespont and Propontis; on the west, it seems to have included the Troas and Alysia, and may hay(' held suzerainty over Lydia and Ca ria. Later invaders from l'hraee, who occupied Ilithynia and Alysia, cut this re !"ion into two parts: Little Phrygia. a somewhat indefinite region south of the Hellespont. and Greater Phrygia, which alone preserved the na tional character. This was bounded on the north by Bithynia and Paphlagonia, on the east by Pisi dia Lyeaonia, on the south by Cappadocia, and on the west by the maritime countries of Mvsia, Lydia, and Caria. The boundaries were further tilled by the Gallic invasion of the third centun u.e. (See GALATIA.) Perg: me conquests added part of t-emthern Ifithynia, including the important city of Herylamm, under the name of Iffirvgia Epictetus. The !Ionian provincial ad ministration divided I'lu•ygia, attaching the northeastern part to the Province of Galatia and the western portion to the Province of Asia. Phrygia was iut general a high and somewhat barren plateau, though its pa*tures supported immense flocks of sheep, noted for the fineness of their wool. as indeed they still are. The most fertile part was the valley of 1ln• Sang:u•ius, hut the most beautiful and populous district. was the southwestern, at the base of the Taurus, where the Meander and other streams hell their rise, and here were the chief cities, Synnada, Apannea, Colossw, Landicea, white farther• to the east was Antioeh. The mountains and streams
yielded gold; Phrygian marble was anciently celebrated. and the cultivation of the vine ap pears to have been extensively carried on.
The Phrygians were certainly an Indo-Euro pean race, and seem to have entered Asia Minor from Thrace, pushing into the interior from the Tread along the valley of the Sangaritts, and making themselves masters of the whole table land, and probably extending their sway over the Asiatic tribes on the coast. We bear of a race of powerful kings alternately bearing the name of Gordius and Midas, and in the mountains near the headwaters of the Sangarius are the great rot-k-cut tombs or fm ides which were associated with these rulers. The invasions of the Chime Hans (e.675 n.c.) seem to have broken their a henceforth they played no part in history. hut fell first under the rule of the grow ing Lydian kingdom. then under Persia, Mace don, and Rome. They seem to have been a peaceful rustic people, devoted to agri culture and cattle-raising. Their religion was an ecstatic nature worship in which the Great Mother of the Gods. Rhea or Cybele, and a male deity. Sabazins, played a great part. The orgias tic rites and wild music seem to have exer eked considerable influence upon the Greeks and Romans, and we timid their deities transplanted to the Western world. Consult: Ramsay, Histori cal l;mgruphy Minor (London. 1890), and especially his Meemplete work, Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia (Oxford, 1895-97),