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( Phrygia)
In antiquity, Phrygia (Greek F????a) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now modern-day Turkey. The Phrygians (Phruges or Phryges) initially lived in the Southern Balkans; according to Herodotus, under the name of Bryges(/Briges), changing it to Phruges after their final migration to Anatolia, via the Hellespont. During the floruit of the city-state of Troy, a part of the Bryges emigrated to Anatolia as Trojan allies or under the protection of Troy.[citation needed] The Trojan language did not survive; consequently, its exact relationship to the Phrygian language and the affinity of Phrygian society to that of Troy remain open questions. Similarly, the date of migration and the relationship of the Phrygians to the Hittite empire are unknown. They are, however, often considered part of a "Thraco-Phrygian" group. A conventional date of c. 1200 BC often is used, at the very end of the empire. It is certain that Phrygia was constituted on Hittite land, and yet not at the very center of Hittite power in the big bend of the Halys River, where Ankara now is. Subsequently the state of Phrygia arose in the 8th century BC with its capital at Gordium. During this period, the Phrygians extended eastward and encroached upon the kingdom of Urartu, the descendants of the Hurrians, a former rival of the Hittites. Meanwhile the Phrygian kingdom was overwhelmed by Iranian Cimmerian invaders c. 690 BC, then briefly conquered by its neighbor Lydia, before it passed successively into the Persian Empire of Cyrus and the empire of Alexander and his successors, was taken by the Attalids of Pergamon, and eventually became part of the Roman Empire. The Phrygian language survived until about the 6th century AD,[citation needed] when it finally gave way to Greek.
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