Cleveland Museum of Art

Arched Fibulae (1 of 2)

Date

725–675 BCE

Medium

bronze

Culture

Anatolia, Phrygia

Department

Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Dated to the time of King Midas, these fibulae may have been a matched pair. The type was popular and has been found throughout Anatolia and in Greece. In the 5th century BC the Greek historian Herodotus wrote that the Phrygian king Midas reigned in the late 8th century BC, and dedicated a throne to the oracle at Delphi. This is the earliest historical reference to the Phrygians, a name given them by the ancient Greeks. The passage in Herodotus, taken together with archaeological finds in the Ionian Greek city states and on the Greek mainland, shows that Phrygians and Greeks enjoyed close relations in the late 8th to early 7th century BC.

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