Draycott Catherine M., Branting Scott, Lehner Joseph W., Özarslan Yasemin (Eds.). From Midas to Cyrus and Other Stories: Papers on Iron Age Anatolia in Honour of Geoffrey and Françoise Summers

British Institute of Ankara, 2023. — 304 p. — (British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara Monograph 57).From Midas to Cyrus and Other Stories brings together prominent scholars to collaboratively celebrate two important figures and to address the murky period between ca 700 BC, when the semi-legendary King Midas of Phrygia died, and ca 550 BC, when the Persian King Cyrus the Great brought Anatolia into the new Achaemenid Persian Empire. This is a period dominated by narratives of the rise of the Mermnad Lydian Kingdom; the demise of the Urartian Kingdom and of ‘Neo-Hittite’-type culture and polities; and the invasion of Cimmerians, Scythians and Medes.
The discoveries of Geoffrey and Françoise Summers at the massive walled city on Kerkenes Dağı have changed the cultural history and texture of Anatolia during this period, opening insights into the spread of Phrygian culture and language and inviting further discussion of how the period is framed. From Midas to Cyrus honours their accomplishments by addressing the events of that period from various angles and in various regions, urging further synthesis of the dynamics affecting the Mediterranean, Near East and Anatolia toward the production of revised, more nuanced narratives.