69

"Midas' Bed" and a RoyalPhrygian Funeral

Elizabeth SimpsonMetropolitan Museum of ArtNew York, New York

In 195~ Tu:mulus MM at G.ordion) Turke~ was excavated by The University Museum ofthe UnIversIty of PennsylvanIa) under the direction of Rodney S. Young. On opening theroyal chambe1j r.oungfound the bu:ried king lying on the deteriorated remains of what hetook to be a massIve wooden bed) Wtth headboard) footboard) planks) rails) and four cornerposts: ~examination of.the.(~bed!J~as yielded.a ~ew interpretation of this piece offurniture)provid!ng dues to tke dts.posltton of ItSparts Wtth,n the chamber and suggesting a recon-structwn of the burial ntes conducted for the king.

IntroductionThe site of Gordion in central Turkey (FIG. 1) was

excavated by The University Museum of the Universityof Pennsylvania between 1950 and 1973, under the di-rection of Rodney S. Young. Gordion was the capital ofthe ancient kingdom of Phrygia, ruled at the height of itspower in the late 8th century B.C. by Midas,l the city'smost celebrated king. To the NE of the ancient city moundlies the largest tumulus at Gordion, today standing 53 mhigh, with a diameter of nearly 300 m (FIG. 2). The burialbeneath this mound dates to the late 8th century B.C.

Although the tomb's occupant could not be identifiedwith certainty, the excavators called the mound TumulusMM-for Midas Mound-thinking that the monumentaltumulus might have covered the burial of Gordion's mostpowerful ruler, King Midas, himself.

Excavation of the TombTumulus MM was excavated in 1957. By drilling a series

of holes into the earth of the tumulus (1955-1956),Young was able to locate the tomb chamber far beneaththe mound's surface. The excavators cut a trench into theside of the mound at the sw, digging straight in towardthe tomb chamber. After about 70 m, a tunnel was begun.The tunnel continued another 67.7 m, when digging wasabruptly halted by a wall of worked stone blocks. Beyondthese stone blocks was rubble fill, then a wall of huge logs,more rubble, and finally the finished wooden wall of thetomb chamber (Young 1981: 83-95). A hole was cut inthe tomb wall, and the excavators looked in, finding them-selves at the feet of the buried king (FIG. 3).!. For a discussion of the historical and legendary aspects of King

Midas, see Roller (1983, 1984).

The remains of the body, dressed in a bronze-studdedleather outfit, lay on a mass of textiles-a heavy purplishfabric that seemed to be felt, and, beneath this, a finer,yellow-brown woven cloth in many layers (Young 1981:101, 190; Simpson 1985: 3). The textiles covered thevery deteriorated remains of a piece of wooden furniturethat Young thought was a four-poster bed (Young 1981:187-190). The piece Young thought was the bed'sheadboard2 had fallen outwards (FIG. 4), covering a three-legged wooden table which had itself collapsed onto thetomb floor. A cloth bag of bronze fibulas once placed onthe table had fallen and broken open, spilling its contents.Beyond the headboard, in the NE comer of the tomb,were the remains of three pieces of furniture-stools andpossibly a chair or couch (FIG. 5; Young 1981: pI. 43B).

To the south were seven more three-legged tables,which had collapsed under the weight of the many bronzebowls that had been placed upon them (Young 1981: pIs.48B, 49A-B). Against the tomb's south wall were threelarge bronze cauldrons on iron stands (Young 1981: pI.46A-B). Lying near the west wall were 10 large bronzejugs and 9 bronze and leather belt-like objects (Young1981: pIs. 47B-C, 48A). These objects had once hungfrom nails on the wall, as had many of the bronze vesselsfound in the tomb (Young 1981: 100).

Leaning against the east wall were two inlaid woodenobjects that the excavator called screens (Young 1981:color pI. IT, pI. 44A-B). To the south of the screens wasan ornate, inlaid wooden table, which had been piled with

2. I will use Young's terms headboard, footboard, planks, comerblocks, posts, and rails without quotation marks throughout my text. Inthe figure captions, these terms have been enclosed in quotation markswhere appropriate in order to avoid misunderstandings.

70 ((MidasJ Bed)) anda Royal Phrygian Funeral/Simpson

Figure 1. Map of Anatolia, with sites mentioned in the text.

bronze vessels, some contauung the remains of food(Young 1981: pl. 45A-B; Simpson 1983; Simpson andPayton 1986: 40-46). This table, with its four handlesand tray-shaped top, was a portable banquet table, usedfor carrying and serving food (Simpson 1985: 77-78) .The screens had originally stood upright, supported by

straight back legs. Each screen had a carved top piece,incorporating three round, open circles (Simpson 1985:pIs. 50, 61, figs. 21, 27). The excavators thought thesescreens might be elaborate ceremonial throne-backs, infront of which a monarch might sit (Young 1974: 13;Mellink 1981: 264-265), but they have now been shownto have had a more practical use: the screens were in factserving stands, whose top circles held small bronze caul­drons (Simpson and Payton 1986: 46). Ladles were usedwith these cauldrons, probably to portion food or drinkinto the many bronze bowls found in the tomb. Ten smallcauldrons (Young 1981: pls, 58, 59A-C) and two ladles(Young 1981: pl. 64A-B) were found near the screens,as well as two bronze situlas (Young 1981: color pIs. 111­IV, pIs. 62C--F, 63), which may have been used to fill thesmall cauldrons from the three larger cauldrons foundalong the south wall (Young 1958: 227, 230).

The king's bed was one of the most intriguing piecesof furniture in the tomb. It had totally collapsed, but inspite of its damaged condition, Young believed he under­stood its form. He reports in his field book:

Figure 2. Tumulus MM, Gordion, from the sw, showing the trench cut into the mound in 1957.

Journal ofField Archaeology/Vol. 17) 1990 71

Figure 3. View into the Tumulus MM chamber from the cut in the tomb wall, showing theremains of the king lying on his "bed."

Figure 4. The "headboard" of the king's "bed," fallen outwards to the east.

Our door enters the tomb chamber at the foot of the bed,between the corner blocks on which it stood. By putting downa plank below the door and between the end blocks we cangain access to the chamber; but first we have to remove theend of the bed, between the blocks. This consists of a longwooden block-the footboard, as it turns out-which is fairlyfirm on its right end, fallen and rotted at its left . . . Thefootboard would appear to have fallen inward, i.e. toward the

east: probably it originally stood upright close against the westwall ... (Young 1957: 78-79).3

3. Wherever possible, I have noted Young's published works. I havealso found it necessary, however, to use information from Young's ex-cavation field book (Young 1957), because the manuscript for his finalreport (Young 1981) was in a preliminary state at the time of his deathin 1974. The final publication was prepared posthumously by an editorial

72 ((Midas'Bed)) and a Royal Phrygian Funeral/Simpson

Figure 5. Plan of the Tumulus MM chamber drawn by D. H. Cox. The excavators cut through thetomb wall near the ''foot" of the king's "bed,» at the north of the western wall of the chamber. Theobjects are shown lying on the tomb's wooden floor; there were no doors or windows in the chamber'swooden walls.

o ·10 1M·

Journal ofFieldArchaeologylVol. 17) 1990 73

Figure 6. sw comer block against the west wall of the tomb chamber. The modem plank wasput down by the excavatorsbelow their cut in the wall for entrance into the tomb. Bronze jugsand a belt fragment can be seen in the foreground and at the left.

The cut made by the excavators in the tomb wall was atthe northern end of the west wall, some distance from thefeet of the skeleton. Just below the cut in the wall was thedeteriorated footboard. Before Young took up the foot­board, Dorothy Cox made sketches, later to be incorpo­rated in her final plan of the Tumulus MM chamber (FIG.

5). On Cox's plan, the footboard is drawn as though ithad fallen outward, to the west."

To the north and south of the footboard were the twocom er blocks on which Young had assumed the footboardhad been supported. The NW comer block had been placedin the NW comer of the chamber, and the sw block againstthe west wall (FIGS. 5,6) . The remains of the king lay inthe center of the bed. Young's account continues:

We take up the footboard; it rests on an iron bar turned downat one end, which probably served as a sort of clamp to holddown the long planks of the bed platform and keep themtogether; we note a succession of nail holes evenly spaced atabout 16 cm apart in their upper faces. The space under themis hollow and we lift them, finding and clearing the floor ofthe tomb chamber. We put down a block and a plank and sogain access to the room (Young 1957: 80-81) .

committee, without the benefit of any final thoughts or revisions byYoung. Because Young's field book is unpublished, I have quoted allpassages that have direct bearing on my arguments.

4. On Cox's plan (FIG. 5), the rounded, upper edge of the footboardis shown lying near the tomb's west wall; if the headboard had fallen tothe east, the rounded edge should appear somewhere near the feet ofthe king.

Young entered the tomb and proceeded to take up thebed, describing its constituent parts. The board at the east(FIG. 4), which had fallen out onto the collapsed woodentable, was called the headboard, its lower edge "cut aslant"(Young 1957: 179). The headboard, like the footboard,had the remains of an iron bar on its surface. Youngsupposed that the bar had been socketed into the twocomer blocks that lay to either side of the fallen head­board, supporting it from below (Young 1981: 187). Thiscorroded iron bar can be seen in Figure 4, just beyondthe remains of several layers of textiles that appear to havebeen draped between the circular cutouts at the sides ofthe headboard.

Young noticed what he thought were the ends of thebed planks at the east: "At the east end the planks havenot fallen and we see empty space about 20 cm deepbeneath them between the comer blocks at the head ofthe bed" (Young 1957: 179-180). Although the bedplanks had "gone to pieces in a big way" (Young 1957:188), Young thought he recognized seven planks, the twooutermost boards represented by sparse, deteriorated re­mains on the tomb floor. Cox theorized that the platformproper had been made from five central planks and thattwo thinner, outer boards had stood on their edges, sup­porting the sides of the platform between the comerblocks. This solution was proposed since there was noother visible means of support for the outer edges of thebed platform (Young 1957: 187; Young 1981: 187).

74 "Midas' Bed" and a RoyalPhrygianFuneral/Simpson

Figure 7. The king's "bed," looking north, showing the strips of dark wood exposed when thesouthern "planks" of the "bed platform" were removed by the excavators. In the right fore­ground is the SE comer block; the NE comer block is at the right against the tomb wall. Be­tween the two comer blocks are the remains of textiles on the fallen "headboard."

The four corner blocks were solid 'blocks of wood,nearly square (50 x 48 ern) and 33 cm high (Young 1981:189). In their top surfaces were shallow circular cuttings25 cm in diameter. Near the two east corner blocks, Youngnoted the remains of posts of black wood." He theorizedthat the posts had fit into the circular cuttings in the topsof the corner blocks. Since the diameter of the posts wasnot more than 10 em, however, Young thought that theyhad been secured in the much larger cuttings by means ofround collars of soft wood, which had served to supportthem. The longest post was preserved to a length of 60cm (Young 1981: 189). These corner posts are clearlyindicated on Cox's tomb plan, Figure 5, especially at theeast, where two regular posts with squared ends appearjust to the east of the corner blocks." The posts are not aseasy to locate in photographs taken at the time of exca­vation, however, although the SE post should probably beidentified with the rather rough piece of wood lying near

5. Young (1981: 189) remarks that pieces of black wood, round insection and 10 em in diameter, were found on or near the top cuttingsin all four comer blocks, but in his excavation account (Young 1957:178) he notes the remains of posts near only the NE and SE comerblocks.

6. Young noted that the remains of the post near the NE comer block"has fallen toward the west and dribbles down the west face of the blockand over the bed to some little distance" (Young 1957: 178). Cox, onthe other hand, has drawn what seems to be the NE comer post lyingto the east of the NE comer block on her tomb plan (FIG. 5).

the headboard in the left foreground of Figure 4. 7

As the excavation of the bed proceeded, the wood ofthe southernmost planks was removed, and two long stripsofdark wood were found beneath them, lying on the floor(FIG. 7). Between and to both sides of these dark stripswere the very fragmentary remains of three light-coloredstrips of wood (not clearly visible in the photograph).Young saw that these five strips went together, forming,as he put it, "sandwiches of five layers of alternated lightand dark wood," 2 cm thick and 7.5 em wide (Young1981: 189).8 These strips were fastened together withnails or pegs, now missing, but indicated by the holesthrough which they passed (Young 1981: 189). Near thisfive-layered piece, jutting out at an angle, was anothershorter five-layered piece. It had fit into the longer pieceat a notch 28 cm from its squared east end.? but it hadcome loose from the longer piece, which appears pulledto the west. The longer piece was preserved to a lengthof 123 em, at which point it had broken and disintegrated.

7. Cox (FIG. 5) has clearlydrawn the posts to look much more finishedthan the remains of the wood indicate.

8. Each of the five strips was 1.5 cm wide, so the width of thecomposite piece was 7.5 cm.

9. The width of the notch is given as 7.5 cm (Young 1981: 189),but this is an error. It is clear from the excavation photographs (FIG. 7)and Young's field notes that the notch was "square" (Young 1957: 189)and would therefore have had to be 1.5 em wide, the same width as thestrip of dark wood (Simpson 1985: 49).

Journal ofFieldA rchaeologylVol. 1'0 1990 75

Figure 8. The wood strips on the floor of the Tumulus MM chamber after all the "bed planks"have been removed.

As the northern bed planks were removed, another longcomposite piece was uncovered, preserved to a length of135 em, with two shorter pieces fitting into notchesspaced along its length (FIG. 8). Here, the short pieceswere still in place, allowing Young to describe the waythe short and long pieces fit together. From Young's de­scription, the joinery could be reconstructed (FIG. 9;

Young 1981: 189, fig. 113).The placement of the northern pieces gave rise to

Young's supposition that there were originally three shortpieces that joined the long piece. Assuming that the ar­rangement had been symmetrical, he was able to place themissing short piece and to estimate the total length of thelong piece, which he calculated as 1.985 m (Young 1981:189) .10 This was roughly the distance between the eastand west corner blocks: the pieces would have fit neatlybetween the two blocks on the floor. This supportedYoung's reconstruction of the assembled pieces. Youngbelieved that these composite pieces were upright rails,socketed into the bed platform, although he noticed noevidence ofcuttings in the badly deteriorated wood of theplanks.'!

10. This calculation is incorrect, as it is based on the incorrectly-givenwidth of the notches (7.5 em instead of 1.5 em) in the long strips.Correctly calculated, the total length would have been 1.805 m.

11. Young (1974: 4) mentions tenons at the lower ends of the short,vertical pieces of the rails; but no such tenons are mentioned in his fieldbook (Young 1957) or his final publication (Young 1981): therefore,Young's 1974 assertion must be considered an error. The excavationphotographs show no tenons on these pieces, nor are any apparent onthe remains of the pieces themselves.

Based on Young's description, Cox's preliminarysketches and final tomb plan, and the photographs takenat the time ofexcavation, the king's bed was reconstructedin drawings by the author for Young's posthumous pub­lication (FIG. 10; Young 1981: 188, fig. 112). Figure lOashows a side view of Young's bed, with the outer planksstanding on edge supporting the platform proper. Theslim corner posts rise from the cubical corner blocks. Theheadboard and footboard fit directly between the cornerposts and are indicated by dashed lines drawn on theseposts. The bed rails are socketed into the edges of theplatform. A top view of the bed (FIG. lOB), shows its fivecentral planks, headboard, footboard, and upright railsseen from above, with its four corner posts set into collarsof wood in the tops of the cubical comer blocks.

Looking at the bed from the east end (FIG. 10C),

Young's theory of its construction can be visualized. Theiron bar was socketed into the cubical corner blocks, sup­porting the central bed planks; and these planks in tum

Figure 9. Reconstruction of the joinery of the "bed rails.""I

o--

76 (~idas' Bed)) and a Royal Phrygian Funeral/Simpson

A

o 50,cmIeee ••

Figure 10. Reconstruction of the king's "bed, " according to Young'sdescription. A: side view; B: top view; C: end view from the east.

supported the headboard (Young 1981: 187). Youngthought that the king's bed, though it may have beenuncomfortable, was certainly grand enough for a monarchto sleep in: the bed was undoubtedly used by the kingwhile he was alive and then placed in the tomb for his useafter death (Young 1974: 4; Young 1981: 189).

A New Interpretation of the King's BedThe bed had now been reconstructed in drawings, but

many questions remained unanswered. Exactly how didthe iron bars support the headboard and footboard? Werethey in fact socketed into the comer blocks? If so, why

did no evidence of the cuttings survive? Did the iron barsalso support the planks of the platform? How were thetwo outer planks that extended beyond the iron bar sup-ported? Why was there a hollow space under the bottomedges of the fallen headboard and footboard? Did thefootboard fall in toward the east, as Young had suggested,or toward the west, as it appeared on Cox's tomb plan(FIG. s)? What was the nature of the four tall comer posts,and how did they fit into the cuttings in the tops of thecomer blocks? Cox's plan (FIG. s) showed four finished,post-like objects, but finished posts do not appear in thephotographs taken at the time of excavation. And, finally,how did the rails end up under the remains of the platformif they had originally been socketed into its upper edge?Young said, "On falling, [the rails] evidently went underthe edge of the bed after the supporting vertical plankshad fallen out, and [were] finally covered on the collapseof the bed itself" (Young 1957: 192-193). Young's ex-planation would entail the rails falling from the platform,moving in some distance under the platform's outer edges,and aligning themselves nearly parallel with one anotherbefore the bed's collapse. For inanimate objects, unfortu-nately, this solution will not suffice.

Regrettably, Young did not have the chance to workout the many problems left. unsolved at the time of his

Journal ofFieldArchaeologylVol. 17) 1990 77

Figure 11. The "headboard"-the east ledge-as seen from the side. This photograph, taken in1981, shows the ledge brought up to its proper position, supported at the right by a mud brickused as a prop.

death , and the king's bed was published according to hisoriginal description. The piece clearly warranted furtherstudy, and in 1981, as Young's volume was going to press,I went to Gordion to look for the bed.

The massive headboard was located and removed fromstorage. The iron bar rested on the face of the headboard,along with the chunks of textiles evident in the excavationphotographs. But the piece did not look the way I hadenvisioned it. Once the textiles were removed, a com­pletely unexpected shape emerged: the wood Youngthought had belonged to the ends of the planks of theplatform was actually part of the headboard itself (FIG.

1l).12 Furthermore, the iron bar had been secured to theheadboard's face by iron nails, and the bar certainly hadnot supported the headboard from below (FIG. 12) . Infact, the shape of the piece showed that it could not havebeen a vertical headboard at all. It could only have beena horizontal ledge, extending from the sloping surface ofa much larger object. The nature of this object soon be­came clear-the king had been buried in an uncoveredcoffin, cut from half a huge log, hollowed out, with ledgesextending at the east and west. A straight-on view of the

12. In Figure 11, my field photograph, the headboard is shown sup­ported at the right by a handy mud brick, used as a prop. Figures 11­16 were taken at Gordion in 1981 before the pieces were cleaned andconsolidated. The conservation of these pieces is now under way, andnew photographs will appear in a forthcoming publication.

sloping surface shows the concentric rings of the log (FIG.

13) .13

13. The Tumulus MM coffin, then, was very unlike the actual bedfound in Tumulus P in 1956 (Young 1981: 70 and 71, fig. 40). Theform of the "sarcophagus" from Tumulus K-III at Gordion is unclear,but its carved remains cannot be from a log coffin (Korte and Korte1904: 43-45, fig. 6). There was, however, at least one other log coffinexcavated at Gordion. Tumulus B contained a covered log coffin, datingfrom the second half of the 7th century B.C. The coffin may have beenmade from a single log, split in half, with both halves hollowed out toform the top and bottom (Young 1951: 14-15). The coffin is recon­structed with a flat bottom (Young 1951: 15), although since the bottomhad completely deteriorated, it could have been more rounded. Thecoffin had shallow ledges at both ends, and iron nails and strips of ironfound with the coffin may indicate that it was reinforced with ironbanding (Simpson 1985: 185-187). Two other Phrygian sites haveyielded the remains of what seem to be log coffins. The first is in thearea of the Atatiirk Mausoleum in Ankara: Tumulus 1 contained awooden burial chamber, with a section of half a log in the chamber's NE

corner. The excavators interpreted this piece as a bench or banquette(Bank), but the piece would seem instead to be part of the sloping endof a log coffin. The excavators note that the Bank had a kind of ledgethat fit over the top of the low wall of the wooden chamber: this mayhave been the east ledge of the coffin (Ozgii<; and Akok 1947: 60, figs.5, 10, 12, 13). The second site is in the area of Antalya, where recentexcavations near the village of Bayindir have uncovered rich Phrygiantombs . The burial in Tumulus D, excavated in 1987 and not yet fullypublished, included sumptuous grave gifts of silver and bronze that areclose in style to the objects from Tumulus MM at Gordion (Ozgen andOzgen 1988 : 31-49). Along the NE wall of the burial chamber, twoiron bars were recovered lying parallel to one another. Although littlewood remained, it is likely-based on the Tumulus MM evidence-thatthese iron bars were reinforcements at the ends of a log coffin. The

78 "Midas' Bed" and a Royal Phrygian Funeral/Simpson

Figure 12. The east ledge as seen from above, with the remains of the iron bar still attached bynails.

Figure 13. The east ledge viewed from what would have been the interior of the coffin. The concen­tric rings of the huge log from which the coffin was cut are visible in the photograph.

50cm

Figure 17. Schematic drawing of the east ledge of the coffin. Theledge is shown twice: first, in the position in which Young found it,collapsed outwards on the tomb floor; and second, raised to its posi-tion at the time of burial. The SE comer block is shown in outline.

they had reconstructed standing on their sides supportingthe edges of the bed platform.

The position of the coffin inside the tomb could nowbe understood. The coffin as placed in the chamber, seenfrom above, is reconstructed in Figure 18; the piecesYoung had believed were rails are indicated where theyhad lain on the tomb floor. A slat found on the slope ofthe east ledge beneath the textile layer is indicated on thedrawing just west of the iron bar. In Figure 19, the edgesof the comer blocks and pieces of the rails covered fromview by the coffin's body have been reconstructed indashed lines. The rails had been measured by Young, andseveral fragments were preserved in storage at Gordion.It was thus possible to reconstruct the rails to their originallength in a schematic drawing (FIG. 20).15

A side view of the coffin as placed in the tomb is shownin Figure 21. The edge of the south rail is visible on thetomb floor between the comer blocks. In Figure 22, thereconstructed cross-section of the coffin body has beenindicated in dashed lines. Also indicated are the shallowcuttings in the tops of the comer blocks, the slat foundon the slope of the east ledge, and holes through whichiron nails had passed.16

The coffin as placed in the tomb is shown from the east

15. Estimated length of the restored rails is 1.91 m. This is slightlylonger than Young's (corrected) estimated length of 1.805 m (see above,n. 10): the preserved fragments have yielded more exact measurements.The estimated height of the restored rails is 30 em.

16. Two rows of such holes are shown in both the east and westledges in Figure 22. The five nails securing the iron bar to the face ofthe east ledge are indicated below the bar. These nails are preserved:they had tube-shaped shafts with a diameter of about 1 em. On thelower surface of the east ledge, farther out toward its end, five more nailholes exist, although the nails themselves are no longer in the holes. Thissecond row of holes must indicate the presence of a second iron bandunderneath the ledge. The nail holes in the west ledge are reconstructedbased on those in the east ledge. There may have been iron bandingaround the body of the coffin itself (Simpson 1985: 176-178); it maybe possible to confirm this theory after the east ledge has been cleanedand consolidated.

Journal ofField Archaeology/Vol. 17) 1990 81

end in Figure 23. Figure 24 illustrates the same view, withthe cross-section of the coffin's body, nail holes, andcomer-block cuttings indicated in dashed lines. Also in-dicated by dashes are the pieces of the rails visible beyondthe comer blocks. The rails' positions on the floor, withrespect to the coffin's body, indicate that they could nothave fallen from, the coffin itself: they must have beenplaced deliberately on the tomb floor.17 When the wallsof the coffin fell out, they covered the pieces where theylay.

But what were these pieces, and why were they placedon the floor? How had the southern rail moved to thewest (FIG. 20)?What were the four corner blocks? Theirplacement was asymmetrical: the west corner blocks hadbeen placed right up against the west wall of the tomb(FIGS. 5,6, 18-22),but the comer blocks at the east weremoved in toward the coffin's body. Did the corner blockshold posts, as Young had supposed? How did all thesepieces go together?

The excavation photographs provided some of the an-swers. They showed that the comer blocks were not plain,block-like objects. The top, inner edge of each block hadbeen cut off at a slant. This is best seen in the in situphotograph showing the SE corner block near the falleneast ledge (FIG. 4). The angle of the cut has been recon-structed in Figures 23 and 24.18 The corner blocks' func-tion now became clear: the blocks were wedges, meant tobe placed against the coffin's rounded body to keep itfrom moving or rocking. Young's four vertical cornerposts (FIG. 10)could now be recognized as chunks of thecoffin's edges that had come loose on its collapse (FIG.

4).19The circular cuttings in the comer blocks, while stilldifficult to understand, definitely did not hold posts.

The wedge-shaped comer blocks finally led the way tothe coffin's complete reconstruction. If the blocks were tofulfill their function, the pieces as placed in the tomb didnot make sense. The west comer blocks had been placedagainst the wall of the tomb to either side of the westledge of the coffin (FIGS. 18-20).But here, there was noth-ing to support beneath the projecting west ledge (FIGS.

21-22):the west comer blocks as placed in the tomb werenot in the position for which they had been intended-against the rounded body of the coffin. This discovery was

17. This is especially clear in the end view (FIG. 24), where the rails·lie far under the curve of the coffin body.

18. The angle of the cutting in the comer blocks was reconstructedfrom excavation photographs and the remains of the blocks themselves.

19. The piece of fabric that seems to have been wrapped around thechunk of wood that Young supposed was the SE comer post (FIG. 4, leftforeground) must have been draped over the edge of the coffin when itwas first placed in the tomb.

82 (CMidaSBed)) and a Royal Phrygian Funeral/Simpson

o oFigure 18. Reconstruction of the king's coffin as placed in the tomb, seen from above.

o::/\\ll>

-::=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=::-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:----------_:.:.::.:::::::::. .)-------

oFigure 19. Reconstruction of the coffin as placed in the tomb; the edges of the comer blocks and piecesof the rails covered by the coffin's body have been drawn in dashed lines.

important-it showed that the coffin's separate pieces hadbeen placed in the tomb without regard to their originalposition or function. In other words, the coffin had beenassembled elsewhere, taken apart, and its pieces placed

separately on the floor of the chamber.The assembled coffin could now be reconstructed, based

on the shapes of its constituent pieces. The comer blockscould be moved in to support the coffin's rounded body,

Journal of Field Archaeology/Vol. 17, 1990 83

o50cm

oFigure 20. Schematic reconstruction of the coffin as placed in the tomb, top view, with the rails recon-structed to their original form and length.

50cm

Figure 21. Reconstructed side view of the coffin, looking north, as placed in the tomb.

50cm

Figure 22. Reconstructed side view of the coffin as placed in the tomb; the cross-section of the coffin'sbody, the comer-block cuttings, nail holes, and the slat on the slope below the east ledge are drawn indashed lines.

50cm

Figure 23. Reconstruction of the coffin as placed in the tomb, viewedfrom the east end.

Figure 24. Reconstruction of the coffin as placed in the tomb, fromthe east; the body's cross-section, the comer-block cuttings, nail holes,and rails are indicated by dashed lines.

84 (~idas' Bed)) and a Royal Phrygian Funeral/Simpson

Figure 25. Reconstruction of the coffin as assembled outside thetomb, seen from above.

~,--~,--,---,50 em

Figure 26. Reconstruction of the assembled coffin, seen from the eastend.

and their correct position could then be drawn (FIG. 25).20

A view from the east end shows how the comer blockwedges fit up against the coffin's sides (FIG. 26). The piecesYoung thought were rails were too delicate to have servedas handles or supports, and it seems that Young had in-terpreted them correctly: these were rails at the sides ofthe coffin (in FIG. 25, the thin rails can be seen from above;in FIG. 26, they are shown from the end). A side view(FIG. 27) shows what must have been their original ap-pearance.21

20. The correct position of the comer blocks was determined bymaking a clay model and physically moving the corner blocks in untilthey fully supported the coffin body.

21. Since the wood of the coffin's body (Young's planks) was notsaved, it cannot be proven that the rails fit into the sides of the coffin asI have drawn them. Young noticed no mortises for his rails in the verydeteriorated wood of his outer bed planks. Nonetheless, considering

The. assembled coffin can be visualized in a perspectivedrawing (FIG. 28). The body of the coffin was originallyabout 3.25 m long, with a total width of about 1 m. Thehuge log of the coffin's body and the four comer-blockwedges were made of yew (Taxus baccata L.). The darkwood of the rails was also yew, and although too little ofthe light wood remained to be analyzed, the effect wascertainly striped. The slat found beneath the many layersof textiles near the east end of the coffin was made ofboxwood (Buxus sempervirens L.) (see FIGS. 17-20, 22; an-other such slat is reconstructed near the west end of thecoffin in FIG. 25).22 This slat may have formed part of aninternal wooden structure to support the linens and feltmattresses on which the king had lain.

That the coffin was assembled elsewhere before it wasplaced in the chamber indicates something about the cir-cumstances of the burial. The assembled coffin must havebeen used in a funerary ceremony outside the tomb, and

their form, decoration, and delicacy, it seems likely that these pieces werein fact rails and that they did fit into the coffin's edges. They could haveextended out from the coffin's sides, but I have chosen to draw them ina vertical position, where their striped patterning would be seen to besteffect and where they would not have conflicted with the corner blocks.

22. A wood species analysis of all the furniture from Gordion is beingconducted by Burhan Aytug of Istanbul University. The wood of thecoffin's body was first identified as cedar (Simpson 1985: 174 and 225,n. 351); three new samples have been identified as yew. Further analysismay be undertaken. Large yew trees (Taxus baccata L.) with heights upto 20 m and massive trunks grow today in several areas of central andwestern Turkey (Davis 1965: 76-77).

the king must have lain in state in his coffin. Onlookerswere present, and the projecting ledges and especially therails served to keep viewers at a distance from the king.But what kind of ceremony was this? Perhaps the contentsof the ~omb can help us reconstruct the burial rites.

The inlaid table, its tray-shaped top piled with bronzebowls, was a banquet table, used to carry and serve food.The inlaid serving stands held small, round-bottomedcauldrons from which food or drink was ladled. The eightplain tables also had tray-shaped tops-they must havebeen banquet tables, too. The large cauldrons along thesouth wall might once have held wine or perhaps a stew;inside these were pottery vessels containing the remainsof food. The 10 jugs along the west wall must have heldliquids, and 19 smaller jugs were used for pouring, too.There were 100 bronze handleless bowls among the 169bronze vessels found in the tomb.23 The contents of thechamber look like the remains of a grand feast. Was there

23. There was a plain bronze bowl found resting "near the NW comerpost of the bed," which Young records as being too corroded to save.It is uncatalogued but would have been the 170th bronze vessel fromthe tomb (Young 1981: 147, n. 74). This bowl is visible at the upperleft in Figure 8, against the tomb wall.

Figure 27. Side view of the assembled coffin.

Journal of Field ArchaeologylVol. 10 1990 85

a funerary banquet held in honor of the king?24Or werethe banquet furnishings placed in the tomb solely for theking's private use in the hereafter?

The contents of the tomb seem to support the idea ofa funerary banquet, and in fact banquets associated withburials are known throughout the ancient world. In Ana-tolia, evidence for sacrificial funerary meals seems to occuras early as the 3rd millennium B.C. in the tombs at AlacaHiiyiik, where the skeletal remains of animal heads andlegs have been found placed on the roofs of tombs.25Funerary texts of the Hittite empire speak of food offered

24. If the 100 bronze handleless bowls were used by guests at afunerary banquet and later contributed as grave offerings, was the bowlfound at the foot of the coffin placed there to be used by the king? Seeabove, n. 23. The bronze bowls may have been used to pour libations,after which the guests themselves could have drunk. Did libation pouringhave anything to do with the cuttings in the comer blocks? Did thesecuttings perhaps hold vessels to receive liquid offerings? Or did theyhold something else, such as incense, lamps, or flowers? Did they holdsupports for a canopy placed over the coffin for the ceremony but notput in the tomb?

25. Stuart Piggott discusses the evidence for funeral feasting at AlacaHiiyiik (Piggott 1962: 112-113) and other sites, including Hittite.Bog-azkay (Piggott 1962: 115).

Figure 28. Perspective view of the assembled coffin.

86 ('Midas' Bed)) and a Royal Phrygia1J Funeral/Simpson

to participants in burial rites.26 And in the Iliad, the Achai-ans feasted at the death of Patroklos, and the Trojans atthe burial of Hektor.27

In the absence of texts, we cannot know who was buriedwithin Tumulus MM or what rites accompanied this greatking's burial. But the reconstruction of the king's coffinallows us, unexpectedly, to envision his funerary cere-mony. Whether for Midas or one of his predecessors, thisking's funeral was the most imposing that ever occurredat Gordion. Hundreds-perhaps thousands-of peopletook part in the funeral ceremony and later in the buildingof the tumulus, which itself may have taken years to com-plete (Muscarella 1982: 9). The king lay in state in hismassive log coffin as guests passed by to pay their respects.And a lavish banquet may have taken place before theburial.

After the ceremony was over, the funerary offeringswere lowered into the tomb, as the wooden chamber hadno doors (Young 1981: 94). Furniture was placed alongthe walls and in the center of the tomb. Food and drinkfor the king and vessels for his use were set on tables orhung on the walls. The coffin was disassembled in prep-aration for its placement in the tomb.

The king's body must first have been lifted from thecoffin. The rails and comer blocks were then removed,and the west corner blocks were lowered into the tomband placed against the west wall (FIG. 20). The rails werethen placed on the floor of the chamber, with their endsagainst the east faces of the west comer blocks. The eastcorner blocks were then set down at the ends of the rails.The huge coffin body was finally lowered down on ropes28

and pushed back against the tomb's west wall. The coffin'sbody must have been set down on the supports of the

26. The ceremonies that took place after the death of a Hittite kingor queen included several funerary meals for those who took part orwho came to mourn the dead. Food and drink were sacrificed to thegods, ancestors, and the soul of the dead, as well (Otten 1958: 13-17).For a brief general account, see Gurney 1954: 164-165.

27. The Achaians feasted before the cremation ofPatroklos took place(Iliad 23.29-56); the Trojans banqueted at Hektor's burial on the tenthday of his funerary rites (Iliad 24.660-667) and again within the palaceafter the barrow had been built over his tomb on the eleventh day (Iliad24.801-803). In late Geometric Greek art approximately contemporarywith the Tumulus MM burial, the prothesis is a common scene: thedeceased lies on a bier, covered with what seems to be a cloth or canopy,and mourners sit, kneel, stand, and perhaps file past (for many examples,see Ahlberg 1971). The ritual seems to have taken place out of doors(Boardman 1955: 55). In an unusual prothesis scene on a krater in theMetropolitan Museum of Art, offerings of birds, fish, and animals arebrought to the bier, perhaps for a funerary feast (Boardman 1966: 1-2); and there is archaeological evidence for cooked or burnt food atGeometric graves in Athens, Thera, and at other Greek sites (Boardman1966: 2, n. 10).

28. The ropes must have supported the coffin's body and also may

southernmost rail, dragging the rail westward as it waspushed toward the wall.29 The king was then lowered intohis coffin, the roof was constructed, and the mound la-boriously built over his tomb. These, then, must havebeen the circumstances of the Tumulus MM burial.

AcknowledgmentsI wish to thank Oscar White Muscarella and also Ozgen

Acar, Burhan Aytug, Massoud Azamoush, Sevim Bulu~,Rosalia Cancian, Keith DeVries, Robert Dyson, CrawfordGreenewalt, Prudence Harper, Ellen Kohler, Peter Kuni-holm, Mehmet~ik Kutkam, Mary Littauer, Machteld Mel-link, Daniel Olson, Karen Rubinson, Cynthia Shelmer-dine, Andrew Todd, Nazif Uygur, Karen Vellucci, andPeter Wells for their help and many valuable suggestionsabout "Midas' Bed." In R. S. Young's careful descriptions,measurements, recording, and photography lay the even-tual solution to the mystery. Figures 2-8 are reproducedcourtesy of the GordionExcavations, The University Mu-seum, University of Pennsylvania; Figure 5 is by DorothyH. Cox; Figures 1 and 9-28 are by the author. Figures17-28 were photographed by Independent Printing Co.,New York, under the supervision of Tony Novella.

have passed through the circular cutouts in the east and west ledges. Butwhether these cutouts were practical or not, they were also certainlydecorative, as attested by the many objects with ledges or handles thathave similar cutouts as part of their design (Young 1981: pJs. 11, 26G-F, 30A). Whether the textiles that appear to be draped below the ironbar on the east ledge (FIG. 4) had been fastened inside the cutouts inany way is not clear, but they do appear to have been attached to theeast ledge (and the west ledge?) in some decorative manner.

29. Perhaps the south rail was kicked to the north while the coffinwas being lowered into place. It could then easily have been carried tothe west when the coffin was pushed toward the west wall. The heavycoffin would certainly have been difficult to maneuver. Evidence of thiscan be seen in the NW, SW, and SE corner blocks jostled out of place andin the skewed position of both rails on the tomb floor (FIG. 20).

Elizabeth Simpson attended Smith College and then receivedaBA. in Mathematics and aMA. in Art History from theUniversity of Oregon. She received her PhD. in ClassicalAr-chaeologyfrom the University of Pennsylvania) where shefirstbegan to work on the publication of the artifacts excavated atGordion) Turkey. As a Research Associate at The UniversityMuseum of the University of Pennsylvania) she has directedthe project to stud:lJ conserve) and publish the wooden furniturefrom Gordion since 1981. She is also a Research Associate inthe Department ofAncient Near Eastern Art at the Metropol-itanMuseum ofArt) 82nd Street and Fifth Avenue) NewYork) NY 10028.

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