Pictures and Images of Midas City, Yazilikaya, Phrygian monuments, tombs and cisterns, Yazilikaya Valley, Eskisehir, Turkey. Photos by photographer Paul E Williams. Ancient Midas City is located just west of the Yazilikaya village in the Han district of Eskisehir, in the southern part of the Yazilikaya Valley. It is founded on the rocky Yazilikaya plateau. The citadel measures about 650 m long and 320 m wide and rises about 60-70 m above the valley floor. The most famous monument of Midas city is the Midas Monument. This is the largest Phrygian rock cut facade monument, measuring 17m x 16.5m. It represents the front of a Phrygian megaron type building with a low pitched roof. It is known locally as yazilikaya , which means “written rock”, because of the Paleo-Phrygian inscriptions carved above the rock above the roof outline, down the right side and in the niche. The upper inscription dedicates the monument to King Midas, and so it is also known as the “Midas Monument”. The niche probably contained an image of the Phrygian Mother Goddess, and the word. It is thought that in the Phrygian Period the city was surrounded by walls. Today, there is no trace of any wall structure, but shapes were cut like stairs at certain points of the natural rock faces surrounding the city prove there had been some additional defence system or built fortification. The main entrance of the city is in the east. The road that rises to the main rock here is known as the King's Road (Procession road) . Along the road there are figures carved on the rocks. The most important rock monuments on the Midas plateau are monumental altars, vaulted rock tunnels, rock-cut stairways, and cisterns. In the rock faces surrounding the citadel are many rock-cut chamber tombs, cult facades, stepped altars and niches. The rock cut cult monuments at Midas City and in the Yazilikaya Valley reflect the deep respect and devotion that the Phrygians felt for the Mother Goddess Matar Kubileya. Although these monuments' architectural conception, consisting of facades, altars, and niches, differ from each other, all of them are outdoor temples devoted to the cult of the Mother Goddess Matar Kubileya. Midas City, with its unique monumental rock structures, is a very important cultural treasure and has been nominated for addition to UNESCO's list of World Cultural and Natural Heritage. It must be preserved by us for future generations.

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Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazılıkaya,_Eskişehir
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