1 . the article in http://www.sacredsites.com/middle_east/turkey/nemrutdagi.htm

Rising 2150 meters from the Anti-Taurus mountains in south central Turkey stands the archaeological site of Nemrut Dagi (pronounced NEHM-root dah-uh). Thought to be the burial tumulus and Hierotheseion ('Holy Seat) of the 1st century BC Commagene king, Antiochus I Epiphanes, the site is as awe inspiring as it is enigmatic.

The unique mountain top shrine was unknown to all but local herders until its discovery in1881 by a geologist in the employ of the Ottoman government. Archaeological excavations in 1953 by the American School of Oriental Research have conducted precise surveys of the site and instituted a preservation program but have provided little insight into the either the methods of construction or ancient use of the strange rock hill and its temples.

History records that the kingdom of Commagene was situated on the border of the Seleucid Empire (which followed the empire of Alexander the Great in Anatolia) and the Parthian Empire. In 80 BC, with the Seleucid Empire weakening, the governor of Commagene declared his kingdom's independence. Soon thereafter, a Roman ally named Mithridates I Callinicus proclaimed himself king, set up his capital at Arsameia, and began the short-lived Commagene dynasty. Mithridates died in 64 BC and was succeeded by his son Antiochus I Epiphanes who ruled for 26 years. Commagene was thereafter ruled from Rome or by puppet kings until 72 AD when it was fully incorporated in the Roman Empire.

During the reign of Antiochus, the naturally occurring mountain top of Nemrut Dagi was extensively contoured, capped with a soaring conical peak, and graced with two temple compounds and many beautiful stone sculptures. The conical tumulus rises 50 meters above the temples, is 150 meters in diameter and is composed of countless thousand fist-sized pieces of white limestone. Archaeologists, assuming the tumulus enshrines the burial remains of Antiochus, have tunneled into the great cone of rocks but found nothing to substantiate their assumptions. The purpose of this massive undertaking remains a mystery.

The tumulus is bounded on the east, west and north by three courts, each hewn from the living rock. The east court contains a large terrace, five colossal statues, a pyramidal fire altar and the remains of several walls. Rock sculptures adorning the eastern walls depict the Persian and Macedonian ancestors of Antiochus. The statues, reaching a height of 8 - 10 meters each, incorporate several deities, following the principle of syncretism. The five statues represent:

Apollo - Mithra - Helios - Hermes

Tyche, or the fertility goddess of the Commagene's

Zeus - Oromasdes (Ahuramazda)

Antiochus

Herakles - Artagnes - Ares

The row of statues on the western terrace depict the same deities and there are also reliefs showing King Antiochus shaking hands with Apollo-Mithra-Hermes, with Zeus-Oromasdes, and with Herakles-Ares-Artagnes. The heads of all the statues on both the eastern and western terraces have fallen to the ground, most probably as a result of the earthquakes that plague the region.

Among the carved stones on the western terrace, one known as the 'Lion of Commagene' bears significant astronomical information. Nineteen stars may be seen in the background of the relief and on the lion's body, a crescent moon is shown on the lion's neck, and above the lion's back are three planets named as Mars, Mercury and Jupiter. This relief has been interpreted (by archaeoastronomers using the Skyglobe computer program) to indicate a date of July 6th on either 61 or 62 BC. Different opinions exist as to the significance of this date. Professor Otto Neugebauer of Brown University believes it is date when Antiochus was set on the throne by the Roman general Pompey, while Adrian Gilbert (writing in Signs in the Sky) sees it as an esoteric coronation of Antiochus as head of secret Persian/Anatolian brotherhood.

 

 

 

 

3. article in http://www.world66.com/asia/middleeast/turkey/nemrutdagi

Nemrut Mountain is located South of Malatya (75km) or NE of Kahta (50km), Ad?yaman in SE Turkey.  The statues were found in 1881 by Kral Sester, a German  archeologist.  In 1987, Nemrut mountain was made a world heritage site by  Unesco and immediatly after the area was declared a national park by the Turkish Ministry of Forest.

At the cone shape summit of this 2,200m elevated mountain one can find statues mythical figures of Apollon, Zeus, Hercules and others. The statues stare at you silenty more than 2000 years.  More statues on the Western side  than the  East side. The altar is located on the east site. These statues were carved around 63 B.C during the reign of Antiochus-I, the emperor of  the Commagene King. Here you can wonder around the cone shape, a man made summit,  where Antiochus's tumules  was located which were hidded  under the man made limestone  dome. 

It is amazing to watch the sun sets and sun rises at the summit.  However, the sun rise is very cold, make sure that you have  thick  sleeping bags or blankets  from the hotel you stay in, even in the hot summer days.

Remember, you will  be watching the sun rise at 2,200m (7,000ft) elevated mountain. Actually, the best way is to stay (sleep) at the mountain  on the eastern site which I did in 1986 and watch the sun rise at 3am. The colors are more than beautiful!!!. 

The best way to travel the  area is by plane to Ad?yaman  and take a special tour to  Kahta and follow the road signs where you will pass the small tumulus of Karakus (belongs  to Antiochus's wife),  over looking to Nemrut Mountain (as seen on the picture),  the Cendere Bridge (over Kahta River), Eski Kahta Castle, Arsemia,  the towns of  Damlac?k, Narince and Karadut ( it has good  pansions after passing the town) and reach the Mountain. The good road ends  near the edge of the summit, however,  one  has to walk (or rent a mule) 1 km more, steep up hill, to reach the top where the statues are located.  While you are there make sure to make a loop around the summit and enjoy the view and see more stateus on the north side as well. There are lots of restaurants on the way (at Damlac?k and Karadut) and at the top, no need to carry food  or water with you. This is at least a 12 hours tour to enjoy.  You may swim in the Kahta River ( a branch of famous Euphrates River, under the Cendere Bridge (see the picture), during July and August during the  hot summer days.  

In the area, the weather  is always very hot, over 45C during the day time but very dry, between June-September  make sure to stay at the hotels which have  air-conditon rooms.  If they do not have it  stay at Karadut village pansions, at 1000m high, over looking to  Nemrut  Mountain where you do not need an air-condition.

I worked in the area (1985-1990)  as a petroleum geologist for ARCO International Oil and Gas Company and did lots of field work and mapping the geology every corner of the area and visited all the villages and towns A.. to Z.  When  you go to  Nemrut,  you will pass in front of the two  oil fields discoved by ARCO  that I had worked, one is rigth after  the town of Damlac?k on your rigth called "Cendere Oil Field" and the other one is very  near  Karadut Village, called "Ozan Sungurlu Oil Field", both of them are still  pumping oil.

The article in http://www.adiyamanli.org/mt_nemrut.htm

Nemrut Dag (Mt Nemrud) is a mountain measuring 2,150meters in height. It is located near the village of Karadut in Kahta county in the province of Adiyaman.   Kings of the Kommagene dynasty from 80 B.C. to 72 A.D ruled Adiyaman and its vicinity. This kingdom, whose capital was Samosata (now called Samsat), was founded around 80 B.C. by Mithridates 1, father of Antiochos 1. The kingdom's independence came to an end with its defeat by Roman legions in the last of the Kommagene wars and it became part of the Roman province of Syria. At its height, Kommagene extended from the Toros (Taurus) mountains on the north to the Firat (Euphrates) river on the east and southeast, to present-day Gaziantep on the south, and to the county of Pazarcik in Kahramanmaras on the west.The magnificent ruins on the summit of Mt Nemrud are not those of an inhabited site however. They are instead the famous tumulus (burial mound) and hierotheseion (a word that is derived from Greek and refers to the sacred burial precinct of the royal family, and whose use is known only in Kommagene) of King Antiochos I of Kommagene, who ruled from 69 to 36 B.C. In a cult inscription, King Antiochos declares that he had the site built for the ages and generations that were to follow him "as a debt of thanks to the gods and to his deified ancestors for their manifest assistance". The king also declares that his aim was to provide for the people an "ex- ample of the piety that the gods commanded be shown towards the gods and towards ancestors.  "Professor K. Dorner has traced the genealogy of Antiochos 1, who was himself born of a Persian father and a Seleucid-Macedonian mother. His findings indicate that Antiochos I of Commagene claimed descent, through his father Mithridates, from Dareios (Darius) 1 (522-486 B.C.) and, through his mother Laodike, from Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.)   Mt Nemrud is located 100 kms from Adiyaman. No reference is made to it in ancient sources. Karl Sester, a German road engineer, rediscovered it in modern times in 1881. An expedition to Mt Nemrud was organized in 1882-83 by Karl Humann and Otto Puchstein, who published their findings in a book entitled Reisen in Kleinasien und Nordsyrien (Berlin 1890). Osman Hamdi Bey and Osgan Effendi also investigated the site in 1883 and their findings were published in a book entitled Le Tumulus de Nemroud Dagh (Istanbul 1883). F. Karl Dorner and Rudolf Naumann mounted an expedition to Mt Nemrud in 1938. Dorner returned to the site after 1951 and began working there with the US  researcher Teresa Goell. In 1984, a Turkish-German team led by Professor Dorner successfully carried out restoration work at the site.  Excavation and restoration work has been continuing since 1989 under the direction of Sencer Sahin. In 1989, Nemrut Dag and its environs were declared a national park. The tumulus on the summit of Mt Nemrud measures 50 meters high and covers an area 150 meters in diameter. It is formed from stones the size of a fist and is bounded on the east, west, and north by terraced courts carved out of the native rock. The eastern court was the center of the sacred precinct and is the most important group of sculptural and architectural works. It is surrounded on the west by colossal statues, on the east by a fire altar in the shape of a stepped pyramid, and on the north and south by low walls of orthostats (upright stone slabs) standing on a long, narrow base. 

The orthostats overlooking the court on the north were deco- rated with reliefs depicting the Persian ancestors of Antiochos while those on the south had reliefs depicting his Macedonian forbears. At the head of the list of deified ancestors there are two eminent names: that of Dareios 1, the founder of the Achaemenid dynasty on his father's side, and of Alexander the Great on his mother's.   The names of the persons depicted in the reliefs on the fronts of the orthostats were carved on the rear faces. In front of each relief there was an altar on which sacrifices could be performed.The well-preserved colossal statues overlooking the court on the east are made of blocks of limestone and measure eight to ten meters in height. The figures are shown in a sitting position. Inscriptions identify the statues (whose names are given in Greek and Persian on account of the syncretic amalgamation of the Greek and Persian religions) on the eastern terrace from left to right in the following order: Antiochos, the goddess Kommagene, Zeus-Oromasdes (the Graeco-Persian sky-god and supreme deity, and also the largest-sized statue), Apollo-Mithras, and Herakles-Artagnes. On either side of the divinities stood a guardian eagle and lion. The heads of all the deities have toppled over onto ground in the intervening centuries. Their finely worked facial features are striking examples of the idealized late Hellenistic style. The gods wear Persian headgear. The necks of Antiochos and the other gods are protected by lappets in the Persian fashion. The head of the goddess Kommagene is decorated with a crown of fruit. The sides of the pedestals overlooking the court and the tumulus are inscribed with the country's laws and commandments as well as with the king's birthday and de- tails of cult procedures, all written in the Greek script. The colossal statues on the western terrace are arranged in the same way as those on the east. Their heads also lie about on the ground but are better preserved. The statues were re-erected in their places in the course of work carried out in 1985 under the direction of F. K. D6rner. Owing to the different topographical features between the east and west terraces, the orthostats bearing the inscriptions and reliefs of the ancestors on the latter are arranged differently from those on the former. The slabs with the reliefs of the king's Persian ancestors are set along the southern edge of the western terrace while those of his Macedonian forbears are arranged opposite the monumental statues. In the western terrace, the reliefs showing Antiochos shaking hands with different divinities are very well preserved; of the slabs that depicted the same scenes on the east terrace, only a few fragments remain. The handshaking scenes that are to be seen on the west are as follows: Antiochos and the goddess Kommagene; Antiochos and Apollo-Mithras; Antiochos and Zeus-Oromasdes; Antiochos and Herakles-Artagnes.  The relief of the lion in the west court is of particular interest. The stone slab measures 1.75 meters in height and is 2.40 meters long. It shows a powerful lion walking to the right. Its body is decorated with nineteen stars and there is a crescent moon on the breast. From the three larger stars on the lion's back, sixteen rays emerge as opposed to the smaller stars, which have only eight rays each. These three larger stars are identified in writing as Jupiter, Mercury, and Mars. What we see here is a picture of the world's oldest horoscope. It was originally supposed that the horoscope referred to Antiochos’s birthdate but Professor Otto Neugebauer identifies it as the seventh of July in the year 62 or 61 B.C. This corresponds to the date on which Antiochos I was installed on the throne by the Roman general Pompey. According to Professor Dorner on the other hand, the event being represented is the establishment of the Nemrut Dag, monument. The north terrace took the form of a processional way that connected the terraces on the east and west. The colossal statues of an eagle on either side guard the entrance through the exact center of the wall forming the north terrace. According to inscriptions on the backs of the thrones on which the divinities are seated, King Antiochos 1 of Kommagene ordered that he be buried in this hierothseion. The excavations that have been carried out here have revealed that the tumulus was heaped up atop rocky hill. This makes it very likely that the king's bones (or ashes) were placed in a chamber cut into the rock an that the chamber was then covered over with the tumulus. Despite efforts however, the burial chamber itself has not yet been reached.