Midas City

Overview

Out in the highlands between Eskişehir and Afyonkarahisar, a cliff of soft golden stone rises above a tiny village. On its face, however, someone carved the tall front of a temple, covered in a maze of geometric lines. So this is Midas City, the old heart of Phrygia, where an inscription in the Phrygian alphabet still names King Midas. With a guide, join our Afyon tour.

The Story of Midas City

To begin with, the place has many names. For example, locals call it Yazılıkaya, the Inscribed Rock, and the village is now a neighborhood of the Han district, in Eskişehir Province. Scholars, on the other hand, call it Midas City, after the king named on its great monument. On the plateau above the cliffs, in turn, lie the remains of a Phrygian settlement.

A king in the inscription

Above the facade, a line in Old Phrygian records a dedication by a man called Ates, son of Arkias, to Midas. In it, the king also receives two titles, lavagtas and vanax, which probably mean leader of the people and ruler. The monument itself dates to the first half of the 6th century BC. With a guide, our Phrygian Valley tour joins it with the lion tombs in one day.

Midas of Phrygia

Most likely, this Midas ruled from Gordion, the Phrygian capital to the east. Later, the Greeks turned him into the king of the golden touch. For the real Phrygians, by contrast, he seems to have been a ruler honored long after he died.

What to See at Midas City

The Midas Monument

First, stand in front of the cliff. Overall, the relief takes the form of a temple front with a pediment, and its surface is covered with a geometric pattern. Most likely, it imitates the painted clay tiles that once faced Phrygian buildings.

Next, look at the niche at the bottom. On its walls, for instance, visitors once scratched the word MATAR, Mother, the name of the Phrygian mother goddess known to the Greeks as Cybele. So the niche probably held her statue.

The Unfinished and Hyacinth monuments

Then walk along the cliffs. There, you will also find two more carved facades. Today, scholars call them the Unfinished Monument and the Hyacinth Monument.

Rock chambers and pinnacles

Last of all, wander around the village. Over time, wind and rain have shaped the soft stone into pinnacles and hollows, and many of them hold chambers cut by hand.

Tips for visiting Midas City

Where the Phrygian Way Ends

The Midas Monument faces east, and it rises 17 m (56 feet) high and 16.5 m (54 feet) wide. Also, three Phrygian inscriptions run across it. Today, scholars see the whole cliff as a large open-air cult complex dedicated to the Mother Goddess Matar, so the monument was a place of worship rather than a grave.

Then there is the trail. The Phrygian Way is a marked trekking route of 506 km (314 miles), planned for walkers and cyclists. It has three starting points, at Gordion near Polatlı, at Seydiler in Afyonkarahisar and at Yenice Farm in Kütahya, and all three trails meet here at Yazılıkaya. A small volunteer team finished the route in 2013. So spring and autumn are the best seasons to walk it, and springs along the way give water all year.

How to Visit Midas City

In practical terms, Yazılıkaya lies in the Han district, south of Eskişehir and its old quarter of Odunpazarı, south of Seyitgazi and its Seyyid Battal Gazi Complex, which our Seyitgazi tour visits from Eskişehir, and north of Afyonkarahisar. Hikers arrive here on foot too, because all three routes of the Phrygian Way end at Midas City.

Afterward, continue south through the lion tombs and cave villages of the Phrygian Valley to the Afyon Grand Mosque, or west to the temple of Zeus at Aizanoi. Finally, for the other side of the Midas story, visit the great royal tomb at Gordion.