Gordius and the Gordian Knot

Catalogue ID: 05-local-and-lesser/153-gordius-gordian-knot-arrian-plutarch

Cycle: Local and lesser — Phrygian foundation / Alexander omen

Version line: Arrianic / Plutarchan — peasant-king; wagon knot; Alexander’s cut or loosing

Sources: Arrian, *Anabasis* 2.3; Plutarch, *Alexander* 18; Justin 11.7; cf. Curtius 3.1.14–18

Source file: /workspace/greek-myth-catalogue/05-local-and-lesser/153-gordius-gordian-knot-arrian-plutarch.md

Characters

Alexander of Macedon — loosens or cuts the knot
Gordius — peasant who becomes Phrygian king; dedicates the wagon
Midas — son (in some strands co-founder or successor)
Phrygian people — elect the wagon-king

Places

Phrygian ploughland — Gordius’s origin
Troy — acropolis temple of the wagon

Themes

Narrative

An oracle told the Phrygians that a wagon would bring them a king. Gordius, a peasant ploughing, was hailed when an eagle settled on his yoke; at a meeting of the people he (or his son Midas, in some strands) was made king. Gordius dedicated the wagon in the acropolis temple of Gordium, its yoke bound by a knot of cornel bark so cunning that no ends showed. An accompanying oracle promised rule over Asia to whoever loosed the knot. When Alexander entered Gordium, he either drew out the yoke-pin and slid the knot off, or cut it with his sword—ancient authors disagree. Catalogue the Phrygian foundation and the knot as a local aetiology later bound to Alexander, apart from Midas’s gold.