Phrygia

After the collapse of the Hittite Empire at the beginning of the 12th century BC. the political vacuum in central/western Anatolia was filled by a wave of Indo-European migrants from south-east Europe including the Phrygians, who established the kingdom of Phrygia with its capital at Gordium.

Oft-used names for their kings were Gordius, Tantalus and Midas, which have passed into Greek Mythology.

Phrygia seems to have been able to co-exist with whichever was the dominant power of Mesopotamia at the time (Hurrian, Urartu, Assyria for example). However, the invasion of Anatolia in the late 8th century BC to early 7th century BC by the Cimmerians was to prove fatal, and Phrygia would become subject to its former western neighbour Lydia after the latter had recovered.

The name continued in intermittant use until the collapse of the Byzantine Empire.