Ankara museum

We spent the morning in the Ankara museum. Its quite a small museum in a beautiful 15th c ottoman Palace and, like all the museums we've been to here, is well thought out and presented. It contains a lot of the artifacts from the places we visited before, along with a wealth of Hittite material from sites we will visit tomorrow.

After that, a drive to the site of Gordion, a phrygian city at its heights in about 800 BC. The city is named for king Gordius, and surrounded by huge tumuli, one of which the King's. His son was king Midas, of the turning everything to gold fame. In addition, its the city where Alexander the great cut the famous knot defending the city using his sword.

The Gordius tumulus is open to the public we went in saw the huge wooden burial chamber in side, made of whole cypress trees,,! The local museum, also small but beautifully presented , contains all of the grave goods, but his body which was found in place during the excavation in now missing. Also, there is a pebble mosaic, from the 9th c BC, said to be the oldest ever found.Read more