<P> According to Herodotus, the Phrygians were initially dwelling in the southern Balkans under the name of Bryges (Briges), changing it to Phruges after their final migration to Anatolia, via the Hellespont . Though the migration theory is still defended by many modern historians, most archaeologists have abandoned the migration hypothesis regarding the origin of the Phrygians due to a lack substantial archaeological evidence, with the migration theory resting only on the accounts of Herodotus and Xanthus . </P> <P> From tribal and village beginnings, the state of Phrygia arose in the eighth century BCE with its capital at Gordium . During this period, the Phrygians extended eastward and encroached upon the kingdom of Urartu, the descendants of the Hurrians, a former rival of the Hittites . Meanwhile, the Phrygian Kingdom was overwhelmed by Cimmerian invaders around 690 BCE, then briefly conquered by its neighbour Lydia, before it passed successively into the Persian Empire of Cyrus the Great and the empire of Alexander and his successors, was taken by the Attalids of Pergamon, and eventually became part of the Roman Empire . The last mention of the Phrygian language in literature dates to the fifth century CE and it was likely extinct by the seventh century . </P> <P> Indo - Iranian peoples are a grouping of ethnic groups consisting of the Indo - Aryan, Iranian, Dardic and Nuristani peoples; that is, speakers of Indo - Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo - European language family . </P> <P> The Proto - Indo - Iranians are commonly identified with the Sintashta culture and the subsequent Andronovo culture within the broader Andronovo horizon, and their homeland with an area of the Eurasian steppe that borders the Ural River on the west, the Tian Shan on the east . </P>

To what extent did the combination of technologies facilitate indo-european migrations