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Did King Midas really exist? — Sensational discovery in Turkey!
American archaeologists have hit upon the trail of a mysterious civilization. This culture most likely led to the downfall of a country whose ruler was King Midas.
It’s an Indiana Jones-like story. When researchers from the University of Chicago were exploring the area around an ancient mound at the Türkmen-Karahöyük archaeological site in central Turkey, near Konya, in 2019, a local farmer showed them a peculiar stone. He had found it nearby while dredging an irrigation canal. The stone seemed unique because it was covered with strange marks.
Scientists quickly concluded that they were dealing with a stele covered with so-called Luwian hieroglyphs. That is, with writing introduced and used by the Hittites from about the 14th to the 8th century BC. The inscription celebrated an unknown king named Hartapu, who defeated another ruler in war: Midas.
This name, in turn, was well known to American researchers….
The myth of King Midas
The name Midas was borne by the rulers of the kingdom of Phrygia to the west of the Hittite state. The most famous of these was King Midas, mentioned in Greek mythology. He was regarded as a wealthy but not very wise man. He succeeded Gordias, the creator of the famous knot that could not be…
