It is a satem language known mainly from place-names and the names of persons. Some inscriptions were found at Gordium the Phrygian capital and others are known from urns. The Phrygians seem to have been the immediate cause of the collapse of the Hittite state.

Their subsequent conflict with the Assyrians is recorded for the first time in the Assyrian annals around 1100 BCE when the Phrygians appear in the Mushki confederation. Phrygia itself was destroyed without warning by the Cimmerians in 700 BCE. Midas, the Phrygian king, is reputed to have killed himself on this occasion. His grave was probably the one unearthed at Gordium by the American expedition.