Pessinus

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Pessinus was the city in Anatolia, the Asian part of Turkey on the upper course of the river Sakarya River (Sangarios), from which the mythological King Midas is said to have ruled a greater Phrygian realm. It certainly dated back to 700BC.

Pessinus, the present village Ballıhisar is situated at 13 km from Sivrihisar a small town on the road Ankara- Eskişehir at the junction with the road to Afyon-İzmir, at 120 km SW of Ankara.

[edit] Pessinus

Pessinus was the mythological kingdom of King Midas, the emperor who wished for everything that he touched be turned into gold, and was, in the myth, the founder of the temple of Cybele, Midas’s mother. Cybele is the mother of the Gods in the Phrygian tradition and her importance is the reason for the existence of Pessinus. Other than the mythological founding of Pessinus, it is known that the Tolistoagii, a tribal faction of the Celts, settled in the west around Pessinus and Gordium.

It was a major, hellenized city in the region of Galatia since the fourth century BC. The Seleucids lost it to Attalid Pergamon, which became part of the Roman Empire where it is was assigned to the provincia Galatia (later part of Pontus diocese). It was under control of the Seleucid and the Pergamon with their king Attalus and Attalus II around 150 BC.

Roman involvement in Pessinus came with the rule of the Pergamon. In 205 BC, the Roman Republic incorporated the Cult of the Great Mother (also known as Magna Mater or the Cult of Cybele). This incorporation of provincial religions was a reoccurring theme for the Romans. It marked their emphasis placed in religion and their expansive rule, as Pessinus was a temple-state and marked the eastern-most part of Asia Minor under Roman control. The Roman Senate brought the Cult of Cybele and its most important image, a large black stone, that is said to have fallen from the Goddess Cybele. The Cult was adopted by the Romans for the purpose of winning the Goddess’s favor in the 2nd Punic War. This was a common practice in Roman tradition and in this case, was done so to combat the infamous Hannibal’s deadly escapades in the Italian peninsula.

The statue was first placed in the Temple of Victory on the Palatine Hill, but in 191 BC a new sanctuary was built for the Goddess on the summit of the Palatine Hill, one of the most sacred places in Rome. Along with the black stone, a throne was brought to Rome. The throne was destroyed twice by fire in 111 BC and 3 AD, both times being restored, in the latter case by the emperor Augustus.

Roman culture emerged in Pessinus again around 45 AD, when the Emperor Claudius sold the temple-state to the Galatian tetrarch Brogitarus. This was a fundraising tactic used by the Roman emperors, starting with Julius Caesar around 45 BC.

Pessinus was reached by Christianity in the fifth century AD. After the Byzantines lost it to the Seljuk Turks, it became an inconspicuous mountain village at 900m height, gradually getting depopulated since it was fully protected. The temple was abandoned, although the emperor Flavius Claudius Iulianus (Julian the Apostate) made a pilgrimage there.^[1] In late 715 AD, the city of Pessinus was destroyed by the conquering Arabs along with the neighboring city Orkistos.

The last constructions from Antiquity were pulled down in the 19th century, but archeologists from the Ghent University, Belgium, have been digging there since 1967, and has found the ancient temple of Cybele and many other buildings, such as a theatre and bath houses.

The Kybele Archaeological Culture Center, located in Ballihisar Village of Eskişehir's Sivrihisar district, has on display artifacts dating to the Phrygian and Roman eras from the ancient city of Pessinus.

[edit] Notes

[edit] Sources and references

• Pessinus at www.archaeology.ugent.be
• Westermann Grosser Atlas zur Weltgeschichte
• De Standaard (Flemish newspaper, Dutch language) August 9, 2005
• Pauly-Wissowa
• Cambridge Ancient History, vols. VII, VIII, IX, XI, and XIII
• Ghent University website
• JSTOR