Reconstructing the Roman-period town at Gordion

In 25 BC the Roman Emperor Augustus (27 BC-AD 14) annexed a large swath of central Turkey to create the Roman province of Galatia. To facilitate the administration of this new territory, three cities were founded at the largest Galatian tribal centers, Ancyra, Tavium, and Pessinus (modern Ankara, Büyüknefes, and Ballihisar, respectively). Although Gordion had a legendary reputation by Roman times, it was not chosen to become a major center, having long since declined from its position of regional dominance. Indeed, the geographer Strabo (ca. 64 BC-ca. AD 21) describes the former Phrygian capital as having been reduced in his day to a mere village, if slightly larger than those around it (Strabo 12.5.3). Gordion had become one of many small communities along the Ancyra-Pessinus highway amid the Galatian highlands.