According to Phrygian legend, the farmer Gordias was appointed King by the gods. In tribute to them he tied up his ox-cart outside the temple as a reminder to all not to forget the nobility of humble origins. As time passed into centuries another legend grew around the bound cart.

According to the oracle of Gordian, only the rightful ‘King of Asia’ could unravel the ‘Gordian Knot’ that tied the cart up. In the winter of 333 B.C., an army of mercenaries led by a young man called Alexander came to Gordian. As had many before him, Alexander rose to the undefeated 400-year challenge, but instead of trying to untie it with his hands Alexander took his sword and slashed the knot in two…that Alexander became ‘Alexander The Great’.

Dionysus, in gratitude for saving Silenius’ life, asked what King Midas wanted in return. After some consideration Midas asked that everything he touched should turn to gold. Granted with his wish Midas amused himself by touching everything around him, watching it turn to gold. However, his gift soon manifested itself as a burden when he found that even the food he touched turned to gold. Dying of hunger he asked his daughter to feed him, but in the process she too turned to gold. Consumed with grief Midas pleaded that the gift, turned curse, be lifted. Dionysus instructed Midas that if he washed in the Paktolos River that flowed through the kingdom, he would be cured. Midas did as he was told, but in cleansing himself of the spell the King caused the Paktolos river to become laden with precious metal.

Phrygia's wealth of gold and silver was due to the Paktolos River, which also ran through the neighboring city-state of Lydia. The Paktolos, still flowing in Anatolia today, was laden with a naturally occurring precious metal called electrum: an alloy of gold and silver. Enriching the economies of both Phrygia and Lydia, the Paktolos River’s bounty of precious metals ensured that the two regions became the most coveted areas of Anatolia and the known civilized world.

  “…Paktolos glad to gratify Dionysus murmured as he  poured the gold sowing water upon  the
purple sand, and the gilded fish went swimming in wealthy sounding where the rich ore lay deep.”
– From Nonnos Dionysiaca Greek Epic 500 A.D.