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[[File: Berthelemy_Gordian_Knot.jpg|300px|thumbnail|left| Modern Interpretation of Alexander Cutting the Gordian Knot by Jean-Simon Berthélemy (1743-1811)]]__NOTOC__
In 334 BC, Alexander III of Macedon, better known as Alexander “the Great,” began his epic conquest of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. It would take Alexander and his army more than four years to conquer the Persians, and almost from the start of the campaign the fighting was tough. When Alexander led his army from Europe across the Hellespont, he was immediately faced with the difficult prospect of having to conquer Anatolia/Asia Minor, which was home to the ancient Lydians, Phrygians, and a number of other peoples who had grown accustomed to Achaemenid rule. Alexander knew that once he conquered the ancient city of Gordium, it was an open road south to the Levant and then into Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Arrian then related how Alexander visited the acropolis to see the legendary wagon of Midas and the Gordian Knot. After stating that one legend detailed how the first king of Phrygia, which turned out to be Midas, would arrive in the city on a wagon, Arrian then wrote about the Gordian Knot.
<blockquote>“There was also another traditional belief about the wagon: according to this, the man who undid the knot which fixed its yoke was destined to be the lord of Asia. The cord was made from the bark of the cornel tree, and so cunningly was the knot tied that no one could see where it began or where it ended. For Alexander, then, how to undo it was indeed a puzzle, though he was none the less unwilling to leave it as it was, as his failure might possibly lead to public disturbances. Accounts of what followed differ: some say that Alexander cut the knot with a stroke of his sword and exclaimed, ‘I have undone it!’, but Aristobulus thinks that he took out the pin – a sort of wooden peg which was driven right through the shaft of the wagon and held the knot together – and thus pulled the yoke away from the shaft. I do not myself presume to dogmatize on this subject. In any case, when he and his attendants left the place where the wagon stood, the general feeling was that the oracle about the untying of the knot had been fulfilled. Moreover, that very night there was lightning and thunder – a further sign from heaven; so Alexander, on the strength of all this, offered sacrifice the following day to the gods who had sent the from heaven and proclaimed the Loosing of the Knot. " <ref> Arrian, Book II, 3</ref><blockquote/>
It is difficult to say how much of the story of the Gordian Knot is myth and how much is factual. It could very well be that most, or all, of the story is in fact apocryphal, having been told in later years when the romantic tales of Alexander began to circulate throughout the Near East and Europe. Even if the story of the Gordian Knot is completely fiction, it does not diminish the symbolic importance of Gordium – the Macedonians and others believed that whomever held Gordium held the keys to conquering Asia.
===Conclusion===
Alexander the Great is legendary for winning several impressive battles on his way to conquering the Near East. Perhaps one of the most important cities he conquered was the Phrygian capital of Gordium. Located on the Persian Royal Road, Gordium was a militarily strategic center that housed a large garrison and it was also an economic hub. Gordium also represented the gateway from Asia Minor into the Near East – if you could take and hold Gordium, your path to victory in the Near East was all that much easier. But as important as Gordium was strategically, it was probably more important symbolically. According to legend, the first person to untie the Gordian Knot would become the ruler of Asia. How Alexander the Great accomplished that feat is a source of debate, but the fact that Alexander became the ruler of the Near East cannot be denied.
===References===
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[[Category: Near East History]] [[Category: Ancient Greek History]] [[Category: Military History]] [[Category: Ancient History]] [[Category: Hellenistic Period]] [[Category: Alexander the Great]] [[Category:Wikis]]
