Gordion
UNESCO World Heritage Site (Gordion, 2023); Phrygian Capital, With A Burial Tumulus Containing The Oldest Standing Wooden Building In The World · Polatli, Ankara
Gordion was the Phrygian capital, and two stories attach to it that everyone half knows. Alexander came here in 333 BC and was shown a knot that an oracle said would be untied only by the future ruler of Asia, and dealt with it in the way the phrase now describes. And the kings of Phrygia were called Midas, one of whom acquired the legend about gold. What is here is better than either story. The Great Tumulus is a mound fifty-three metres high and three hundred across, and a tunnel driven into it in the 1950s takes you to a juniper and pine burial chamber built around 740 BC that is still standing - the oldest standing wooden building in the world, with the roof beams where the carpenters left them. A man of about sixty-five was buried in it with bronze cauldrons and inlaid furniture, and whether he was Midas or Midas's father is still argued. UNESCO inscribed the site in 2023, which most guidebooks predate.
Yassihoyuk Koyu, Gordion Oren Yeri, Polatli, Polatli, Ankara, Turkiye
Open daily with longer summer hours and an earlier winter close. The Great Tumulus tunnel and burial chamber have closed for conservation at times and access should be confirmed rather than assumed. The site museum and the citadel mound keep the same hours. There is no useful public transport from Ankara.