From macedonia to anatolia.
Manolis Manoledakis
Some commentS on the PhrygianS and their migration
Introduction It is with great pleasure that I dedicate this text to my teacher Stella Drougou, to whom, like many other students and colleagues, I owe so much. The topic I have chosen has to do with two different geographical regions and the link between them: on the one hand Macedonia, a land about which Professor Drougou has taught me much, and on the other Anatolia, or the great land mass to the south of the Black Sea, my work on which is also closely associated with Stella Drougou, since the postgraduate programme in Black Sea Studies at my university was a project we started together.
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This discovery was made by Christos Tzitzilis, a scholar to whom I am also immensely indebted, not least for the long discussions from which springs much of what is said here.
The link between these two regions dates back to the very dawn of history. And the people that – perhaps among other contributing factors – is responsible for that link is none other than the Phrygians, who having migrated from Macedonia to Anatolia remained the dominant culture there for many centuries. Much has been written about this people, their origins, the route they followed into Asia Minor, and the probable timeline and causes of this migration. Just recently, however, a new linguistic discovery1 has added a further dimension to the Phrygian question. Incited by this discovery, I will endeavour in this paper to address some of the basic issues relating to the Phrygians. Obviously, no extensive treatment of the subject can be attempted in the space available to us here. Moreover, much of what I will be saying is not offered as solid conclusion, but does raise valid questions. In any case, I hope that it will be enough to kindle a new round of discussion on the matter.
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