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At the junction of the East and West
civilisations, Nemrut Dagi (Mount Nemrut) is one of the
most astounding sites in Turkey: A collection of
colossal statues on a remote mountain 2150m high,
adorning the temple and tomb of King Antiochus. Unknown
until 1881 when an Ottoman geologist discovered these 10
metre-high stone heads, archaeological work began in
1953 to uncover their history. |
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Nemrut Dağı has since been a significant attraction, with
thousands coming at sunrise and sunset to see the stones in the
best possible light. It has been designated a World Cultural
Heritage site by UNESCO, and is one of the most important
National Parks in the country. In addition to the statues, the
entire site includes art from the Commagene civilisation, the
Eskikale (Old Castle), Yenikale (New Castle), Karakus Hill and
Cendere Bridge. Most people use the nearby towns of Malatya,
Kahta or Adıyaman as a base, and the road to the summit is only
open from mid-April to mid-October because of heavy snow the
rest of the year.
History
Lying between the Seleucid and the Parthian Empires from 250 BC,
this area has had a strategic location, and has benefited from a
rich and fertile land, and a succession of independent thinking
rulers. Breaking away from the Seleucid Empire, Mithridates I
Callinicus founded the independent Commagene Kingdom in 109 BC,
and set up his capital in Arsameia. He was the son of a prince,
and claims ancestry with Alexander the Great and Darius the
Great, King of Persia.
The Commagene Kingdom was a powerful one, priding itself on
having religions, culture and traditions of the Greek and
Persian cultures blended into one. He died in 64 BC, and was
succeeded by his son Antiochus I Epiphanes, who showed his
ability early on as a statesman by declaring a non-aggression
treaty with the Romans.
After a financially and politically successful start to his
rule, Antiochus deemed himself worthy of god-like status, and
ordered the building of a temple and funerary mound in his
honour. Its size and location was a reflection of his ego and
thoughts of his immortality, and he declared that when he died
his spirit would join the god Zeus in heaven.
But the huge statues of Antiochus and the gods are
all that remain of his reign, as his short-lived rule
ended in 38 BC after he sided with the Parthians and
fell out with the Romans, who later deposed him. The
Commagene Kingdom was then taken over by the Romans.
Antiochus and his statues were all but forgotten for
centuries until Karl |
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Puchstein, a German engineer, stumbled across them whilst
surveying the site in 1881.
Two years later he returned with Karl Humann for a closer
inspection, but is was not until 1953 that a team of American
archaeologists returned and did a thorough survey. Since then,
the site has been one of the most popular attractions in Turkey,
despite its remote location
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Climate
For visitors hiking to the top of Nemrut Dagi, the top of the
mountain gets very cold at sunrise and sunset, even in summer.
The higher land is snow covered for nearly half the year.
Otherwise, the summer daytime temperatures of the plains is
extremely hot and dry reaching over 30 degrees, with winters
cold and wet and plummeting well below freezing point. |
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