Interactions in the Thracian-Phrygian Cultural Zone

Abstract

Recent progress in Phrygian studies changed the traditional view on the Thracian-Phrygian kinship and the Phrygian migration from Europe to Asia Minor. The archaeological investigations of the Propontis area, the linguistic
studies of the so-called Western Phrygian inscriptions, as well as the careful analysis of the Greek literary sources, support the consideration of a Thracian-Phrygian cultural zone.
The earliest Greek written texts refer to Phrygia as a coastal land, and the Hellespontine zone is outlined as an important contact zone. Phrygian presence is attested in the Northwestern Asia Minor still in the time of the
Persian rule, while the Phrygian funerary rite resembles more and more the Thracian burials. The closest parallels can be found in the 6th century B.C.
Phrygian tumuli. Interactions can be followed later as well. The Hellenistic domed tombs which appeared in Mysia, Bithynia and Phrygia cannot be simply assigned to the Celtic invasion.
Cultural interactions can be defined on the linguistic level as well, considering onomastic and epigraphic data. The analysis of the Greek literary texts about king Midas suggests that this legendary figure arose from the Thracian-Phrygian zone. The parallels already drawn between the Thracian and Phrygian cult practices also reveal important traits in the cultural interactions.
The most active part of the Thracian-Phrygian cultural zone would comprise, besides the Propontis area, the Troad and later Bithynia (the Byzantion cbora). The zone of interactions was however, much larger.