Phrygia: Phrygia was a region of Anatolia whose people spoke Phrygian, an I-E language. Its main cities included Ancyra (founded by "golden touch" Midas) and Gordium (founded by Midas' father Gordius of Gordian Knot fame). Phrygia included the Troad, whose main city was Troy. The Phrygians are believed to have been "Sea People." Phrygia probably gained prominence only after the 8th century B.C.
During the Hellenistic period, the area was settled by Galatians and renamed Galatia.
Mysia: Mysia was a region on the northwest coast of Asia Minor, whose main cities were Cyzicus and Teuthrania (Pergamon), located on the river Caicus and founded by Teuthras. Mt. Olympus was located in Mysia. In the Trojan War, the Greek fleet landed at Mysia, mistaking it for Troy. Inscriptions from the area are in Phrygian.
Lydia: Lydia was a region of Asia Minor between Mysia and Caria named for Lydus, the son of Attis. Hercules served Omphale queen of Lydia as a slave. Sardis, on the river of Patroclus, was the main Lydian city. It was King Croesus' capital city. Lydia dominated western Anatolia from 690 to 546 B.C. There were three Lydian dynasties: Atyads, Heraclids (descendants of Hercules, whom Herodotus says founded the state), and the Mermnads. Their language was of I-E origins and may created coins.
Caria: Caria was a mountainous coastal area of southwest Asia Minor that was bordered by Lydia and Lycia. Its most famous city was Miletus, (originally Anactoria), which was an important Ionian city until it became Persian. Miletus was son of Apollo. Caria became part of the Lydian kingdom in the 6th century B.C. Carian kings, including Mausolus (his widow -- Artemisia -- built the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, one of 7 wonders of the ancient world) continued to rule Caria even after it became subject to Persia. Many Carians supported the Ionian Greeks against Darius, although an earlier Queen Artemisia supported Xerxes.
Lycia: Lycia was in southern Asia Minor and was inhabited by the Milyans and Solymi. Cretans led by Sarpedon, son of Zeus and Europa, lived in Lycia and were called Termilae. Sarpedon co-ruled with Lycus of Athens, brother of Aegeus. Lycia was named after him. Lycia and Cilicia alone of the Asia Minor countries, were not conquered by Croesus, but Lycia was conquered by the Persians under Cyrus the Great.
Cilicia: Cilicia, in southeastern Asia Minor, with Syria to the east, was named for Cilix, son of Agenor of Sidon, and brother of Cadmus and Europa. The main cities of Cilicia were Tarsus, Seleucia, and Issus. During the Persian period (6-4th C. B.C.), Cilicia remained independent, paying tribute to Persia, or a Persian satrapy. Most of Cilicia became part of the Seleucid Empire after Alexander the Great. [Battle at Issus 333 B.C.]
Pontus and Bithynia: Before Alexander, Pontus was ruled as part of a Persian satrapy, but gained prominence under Mithridates I Ctistes. Its most important king was Mithridates VI, bane of the late Republican Romans. Bithynia was in northwestern Asia Minor, by the Marmara and Black Seas. Hittites may have lived there. Later inhabitants were Thracians and perhaps, Amazons. It was taken by Croesus and became Persian. It was also a Roman province.
Anatolia:
Anatolia is now the portion of Turkey that is in Asia. Asia Minor is the Latin name for Anatolia. The Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea are on its borders. Colchis, where the mythical Medea came from, was east of the Black Sea near this region. Important legendary and historic figures from the area include the goddess Cybele, the kings Tantalus, Midas, Gordius, Croesus, Cyrus, and Mithridates, and the literary figures Homer and Aesop.
Anatolia is now the portion of Turkey that is in Asia. Asia Minor is the Latin name for Anatolia. The Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea are on its borders. Colchis, where the mythical Medea came from, was east of the Black Sea near this region. Important legendary and historic figures from the area include the goddess Cybele, the kings Tantalus, Midas, Gordius, Croesus, Cyrus, and Mithridates, and the literary figures Homer and Aesop.
Map of Asia Minor
Sources: Geographia: Asia and Africa
Ancient Anatolia
The Ancient Anatolia site lists the following ancient sources on Anatolia:
- Ammianus Marcellinus History 4th C. A.D.
- Appian Roman History 2nd C. A.D.
- Arrian Anabasis Alexandri 2nd C. A.D.
- Athenaeus Deipnosophists 2-3rd C. A.D.
- Aurelius Marcus Meditations 2nd C. A.D.
- Cassius Dio Roman History 3rd C. A.D.
- Cato the Elder Origines 2nd C. B.C.
- Cicero Verrine Orations 1st C. B.C.
- Diodorus World History 1st C. B.C.
- Homer Iliad, Odyssey 8th C. B.C.
- Herodotus History 5th C. B.C.
- Xenophon Anabasis, Hellenica, Cyrus Paideia 5th C. B.C.
- Livy Ab Urbe Condita 1st C. B.C.
- Ovid Metamorphoses 1st C. B.C.
- Pausanias Description of Greece 2nd C. A.D.
- Pliny the Elder Natural History 1st C. A.D.
- Plutarch Parallel Lives 1st C. A.D.
- Polybius History 2nd C. B.C.
- Procopios Peri Ctismaton 6th C. A.D.
- Ptolemy Geography 2nd C. A.D.
- Suetonius The Twelve Caesars 2nd C. A.D.
- Scylax Geographi Graeci Minores 6th C. B.C.
- Strabo Geography 1st C. B.C.
- Tacitus Annals 2nd C. A.D.
- Thucydides History 5th C. B.C.
- Vitrivius De Architectura 1st C. B.C.
