Phrygia · 750-690 BC

Phrygia and King Midas: a real king behind the legend

Everyone knows the king whose touch turned things to gold. Fewer know that Midas really ruled in central Anatolia around 700 BC, that Assyrian records mention him, and that his capital Gordion holds a giant burial mound. Students separate legend from evidence.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
10–13
On the map
3 steps, 740 BC to 700 BC
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

Everyone knows the king whose touch turned things to gold. Fewer know that Midas really ruled in central Anatolia around 700 BC, that Assyrian records mention him, and that his capital Gordion holds a giant burial mound. Students separate legend from evidence.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Locate Gordion and the kingdom of Phrygia in central Anatolia.
  • Tell the difference between the Midas of Greek legend and the Midas of Assyrian records and archaeology.
  • Explain who the Cimmerians were and why they ended Phrygia's golden age around 700 BC.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

740 BC

The kingdom on the plateau

Open the map in 740 BC. The map shows the Phrygians covering much of Anatolia. Turn on the Cities layer: no big city shows, but Gordion lay on the Sangarius river, about 80 km southwest of modern Ankara. Zoom in to find the spot.

Open this view on the map
b

720 BC

Neighbors east and west

Zoom out in 720 BC. To the east lay Assyria, whose king Sargon II wrote about "Mita of Mushki", almost certainly Midas. To the west lay the Greek cities and Lydia. Which neighbor would Midas fear, and which would he trade with?

Open this view on the map
c

700 BC

Riders from the steppe

Around 700 BC, Cimmerian horsemen from north of the Black Sea swept into Anatolia and sacked Gordion. Find the Cimmerians on the map in 700 BC, then trace their likely route down through the Caucasus into Anatolia.

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Greek stories say Midas turned everything he touched into gold and had donkey's ears. Assyrian records say he fought and then made peace with Sargon II. Which source would you trust for what, and why?
  2. The "Midas Mound" at Gordion is 53 m high and holds a wooden tomb chamber with bronze bowls and furniture, but no gold. What might that tell us?
  3. Phrygia left no written histories of its own. How do historians piece a kingdom together from Greek legends, Assyrian letters and a few inscriptions?
  4. Nomad horsemen like the Cimmerians could defeat settled kingdoms but rarely ruled them for long. Why?
  5. The Gordian knot at Gordion was said to promise rule over Asia to whoever untied it. Alexander cut it in 333 BC. Why do places collect legends like this?
4

Game round

9 min

Play one round as Alexander the Great, who passed through Gordion in 333 BC and, the story goes, cut the Gordian knot. Discuss: was cutting the knot cheating, or exactly the kind of thinking a ruler needs?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.