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Document Details : Title: Phrygia and the West Subtitle: From Phrygian Migration to Macedonian Identity Formation Author(s): KOTSONAS, Antonis Journal: Ancient Near Eastern Studies Volume: 61 Date: 2024 Pages: 499-521 DOI: 10.2143/ANES.61.0.3294043 Abstract : The alleged Phrygian migration from the southern Balkans to Anatolia has received extensive attention in the literature, and has dominated the discussion of Phrygia and the West. Supporters of the historicity of this migration typically follow ancient Greek historical narratives, but they also draw from archaeological and linguistic evidence from Anatolia and the north Aegean. My study revisits the ancient narratives which form the cornerstone of the migration theory, with particular emphasis on the traditions which localise king Midas and the early Phrygians to the land later occupied by the Macedonians. I side with the scholars who have questioned the historicity of these traditions and have situated them in the context of discourses on ethnicity and identity. Also, I argue that the formation of these traditions should be placed in the historical context of the Persian expansion into Europe and its immediate aftermath. As the Persian army marched through – and withdrew from – the north Aegean, different ethnic groups and their leaders, but especially the Macedonian rulers, found ample opportunity to promote political ambition and territorial expansion by forging, negotiating, and manipulating identity and Otherness. |
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