THE LOST WEALTH OF THE KINGS OF MIDAS 841 



servative to say that 2,000 years ago the 

 population of the plain of Axylon must 

 have been at least five times as great as 

 now. With such a population, and with 

 towns of such large size, a semi-nomadic 

 life like that of the present day would 

 be impossible. 



The former prosperity of Asia Minor 

 is admirably illustrated by the tombs, 

 castles, and other monuments found 

 among the Phrygian Mountains, west of 

 the plain of Axylon. Here lies a pleas- 

 ant region, wooded with fine pines which 

 cover breezy ranges of hills and sur- 

 round fertile valleys. Rain is more 

 abundant than in the plain of the Axy- 

 lon and the population is correspondingly 

 denser and more prosperous. The in- 

 habitants are of exactly the same race 

 as those of the Axylon, and they profess 

 the same religion and are subject to the 

 same government, but their mode of life 

 is dififerent. Nomadism is unknown, for 

 the good reason that it is not necessary, 

 because as a rule the crops are good, and 

 even in bad years there are no such com- 

 plete failures as in the plain farther east. 

 Nevertheless the Phrygian Mountains 

 are not a rich region, and often the crops 

 are so scanty that distress ensues, for 

 here, too, the long summer is rainless. 



THE I^ABI^ED WEALTH OE ASIA MINOR IN 

 THE PAST 



About 2,600 years ago Phrygia was 

 the home of a dynasty of kings who 

 went by the name of Midas. The fame 

 of their wealth spread far westward to 

 the Greeks on the coast of Asia Minor, 

 and so to Greece itself. We do not 

 know how rich they actually were, or 

 how prosperous their country was, but 

 we can judge somewhat from the ruins 

 which they have left behind. The most 

 famous is the so-called Tomb of Midas, 

 a perpendicular surface of rock 55 feet 

 high and 50 feet wide, covered with 

 ornaments in a complicated rectangular 

 pattern of crosses, meanders, squares, 

 and other devices, surrounded by a long 

 Phrygian inscription. Its appearance is 

 shown in the illustrations. It is unknown 

 whether it was the Midas mentioned in 

 this inscription or some other of his 



dynasty whose wealth gave rise to the 

 famous tradition, but it is evident that a 

 people who could build such monuments 

 must have been not only prosperous and 

 wealthy, but somewhat highly civilized. 

 Scores of other monuments and well- 

 wrought tombs are scattered through the 

 country. 



Great castles were built to protect the 

 towns, and the great ''Royal Road" to 

 Persia passed this way. So abundant 

 was labor and so prodigal the kings that 

 when a rampart was planned for the 

 castle of Pishmish, facing the Midas 

 tomb a mile or more to the east, the 

 whole top of a huge isolated rock was 

 cut away, forming a platform around the 

 edge of which was left a wall of living 

 rock. Today the site of the city of 

 Midas is occupied by a village of poor 

 but industrious Circassians, who bewail 

 the fact that they were ever persuaded 

 to leave their homes in the Caucasus for 

 a region where they continually suffer 

 from poverty. 



THE CAUSES OF THE POVERTY OF TODAY 



To go back now to the cause of the 

 present poverty and nomadism of the 

 plateau of Asia Minor. In the first place,. 

 the people of the Axylon and other re- 

 gions are not nomads by choice, but by 

 necessity. They regret that they cannot 

 cultivate mor? land. The damp areas 

 which aroused the scorn of the Greek 

 wagoner are untilled for the good reason 

 that they are so saline that crops will not 

 grow. I examined the matter with care. 

 In several cases I found rich men who- 

 have recently tried to use the streams for 

 irrigation. In each case there has been 

 a good growth the first year, but in the 

 succeeding seasons rapid deterioration 

 has set in. The little trees, which start 

 out bravely, pine away and die ; the vege- 

 tables, which grew vigorously the first 

 year, are sickly the second, and fail 

 utterly in later years. It is possible that 

 modern methods might redeem the land, 

 but no methods used in the East could 

 do so. 



Again, in the higher parts of the plain, 

 where there is no trouble from salt, there 



