Armeno-Phrygians

The Armeno-Phrygians are a hypothetical people of West Asia (specifically of Asia Minor and the Armenian Highlands) in History (in the Bronze Age and Bronze Age collapse and aftermath). They would be the common ancestors of both Phrygians and Proto-Armenians and modern Armenians.[1]

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Paleo-Balkan peoples and their respective languages in Eastern Europe and Anatolia between 5th and 1st century BC.

In turn, Armeno-Phrygians were descendants of the Graeco-Phrygians, common ancestors of Greeks, Ancient Macedonians, Phrygians and also of Armenians.[2]

There are two conflicting accounts of their origins.

• Ancient Greek scholars, such as Herodotus, believed that the Phrygians had originated as the Bryges of the Balkans, before migrating to western Anatolia and establishing the kingdom of Phyrgia. After the collapse of the kingdom in the late 7th century BC (following an invasion by Cimmerians), some of the Phrygians migrated eastward and settled in Armenia.
• Some modern scholars instead believe that a proto-Armeno-Phrygian population originated in eastern Anatolia and/or the Armenian Highlands, from where the Phrygians later migrated westward.[3]

A third account of Armenian origin (supported by another group of modern scholars), proposes that Phrygians, ancestors of Proto-Armenians, migrated eastward some centuries earlier than the collapse of the Kingdom of Phrygia (in the late 7th century BC), and they were already present in eastern Anatolia and in the lands that later formed Ancient Armenia, in the Armenian Highlands, since the end of the 2nd millennium BC, about the time of the Bronze Age collapse (at the end of the 13th century and the first half of 12th century) where they were known by the name of Mushki (Eastern Mushki) by the Assyrians and where they blended with local ancient populations.[4][5][6]

According to some scholars, there is evidence of language borrowings (Armenisms) from the Proto-Armenian language into Urartian and also into Kartvelian languages,[7] what would prove the presence of Proto-Armenians in the Armenian Highlands, in the lands of Ancient Armenia, since at least the end of the 2nd Millennium BC.

The name Mushki can also mean both Armenians and Phrygians. It was applied to different peoples by different sources and at different times. It can mean Phrygians, in Assyrian sources, as well as the Proto-Armenians.[8] A third and possibly original usage of Mushki refers to a people originally from the Caucasus region, who settled in Anatolia.