A cosmopolitan village: the Hellenistic settlement at Gordion

Abstract

From 1950 to 1973, Dr. Rodney Young and a team from the University of Pennsylvania carried out extensive archaeological excavations at the site of Gordion in central Turkey. Their work revealed the modest houses of a sprawling and lively agricultural settlement that grew at the site in the wake of Alexander the Great's visit in 333 BCE. For nearly 150 years, the villagers enjoyed a surprisingly culturally rich life, given their remote and isolated location, but met an unfortunate end as the target of a Roman military campaign in 189 BCE. The architecture of the village has never been published or even studied to any extent, despite its having been excavated over half a century ago and despite Gordion's position as the largest excavated site with Hellenistic-period remains in central Anatolia. This dissertation is a first step in bringing Hellenistic Gordion to the archaeological community. An occupational chronology lays out the architectural history of the Citadel Mound from the Early Iron Age up to 333 BCE. A discussion of the Hellenistic stratigraphy explains the separation of the duration of the Hellenistic settlement into two phases. The evidence for the Hellenistic architecture is explained along with my methodology for collecting and using it to make new digital reconstructions of the plan of the settlement and the individual structures. A catalog provides the plans and physical descriptions of 15 of the largest and best preserved structures. An examination of the construction methods and materials highlights the architectural details of the structures while a study of the architectural space, features and material remains offers a discussion of household activities. The plans of the houses and of the Early and Middle Hellenistic villages, combined with the evidence of various household activities, lead to an examination of the culturally complex life of this previously unknown village in the Hellenistic East.