Walking further round the tumulus, you reach the West Terrace, the most sacred place on the mountain. From this terrace, you look out on the edge of the plain of Mesopotamia, the cradle of our civilization. The sun, the moon and all stars of the zodiac rise on your left, reaching their zenith directly in front of you, and descending to your right.

The West Terrace was not accessible to the common people. The processional way, which led the nobles to this terrace, ended at the open place on the north side of the terrace. Here was the entrance to this terrace.

The entrance was guarded by a monstrous lion with three heads. Walking down, you will find the monster fallen, face down.

The statues on this terrace are the same as those on the East Terrace, but greatly surpass them in beauty. The statues are also in a less exalted position than those of the East Terrace which look down on the people from their raised platforms.

The fallen heads of the statues have been set in front of them. The resemblance between the head of Antiochos and the god Apollo is striking. Apollo was the only god to whom Antiochos assigned his own priest to celebrate his rites. What made this god so special?

Apollo/Mithras is a combination of the Greek sun god, Apollo, and the Persian god, Mithras. About 1,400 B.C. the god Mithras is mentioned for the first time in a treaty of the Hitites. Further, he is mentioned in the Indian Vedas as a friend of the humans. He is the mediator between the Gods and the humans. In the Vedas we can read: "Mithras ! The mortal. This honourable and friendly Mithras is born as a wise ruling King." Mithras means literally Ally.

Each god bestowed a gift to the people of Kommagene. One of the gifts considered to be from Mithras was petroleum, for which people are searching nowadays in this region.

The Roman soldiers were so impressed by Mithras, that he became their favourite god. The legions propagated his worship throughout the whole of the ancient world. Finally, Mithras was even worshipped in England in underground sanctuaries. Without Christ, people would probably still worship Mithras.

Opposite the statues you see a long row of pedestals, on which stood the steles of the Greek ancestors of Antiochos. At a right angle to this row stood another row of steles, depicting his Persian ancestors. From these steles the ones of Darius and Xerxes are well preserved. In front of each stele is a small altar. Inscriptions have been found on two of those altars. They have, for a large part, been chiselled away. These inscriptions date from earlier times.

The following scheme is a survey of the Greek and Persian ancestors who have been depicted. Because there is not much left of the steles, this survey is assumed to be most likely. Standing in front of the row of steles, you could see originally from left to right:

Much attention was given by Antiochos that everyone would be aware that he was related to the dynasty of the King of Kings, Darius I, by the marriage of princess Rhodogune to his ancestor Orontes. The father of Rhodogune was the Persian king, Artaxerxes. In 401 B.C. he defeated his younger brother, who tried to throw him from his throne. Because of the help Artaxerxes received from his military commander, Orontes, he gave his daughter in marriage to him.

The same ancestors have been depicted in the same sequence on the East Terrace. The necessary sandstone to carve the steles from the East Terrace, has been taken from two quarries at the foot of the mountain.

The steles form a great contrast to the massive forms of the rest of the complex. The soft sandstone from which they are made, appears anything but "imperishable", like Antiochos called it in the inscriptions. This material was suitable for i.e. Samosata but not for the harsh climate on top of the mountain.

Next to the statues are five large steles. They are equal to those from the lower platform of the East Terrace. On four of them King Mithradates I Kallinikos welcomes the gods. From left to right you see the Goddess of Kommagene, next Apollo, then Zeus and finally Herakles. Their name is carved at the back of the stele. Archaeologists have found that those names have been carved over an earlier text.

To honour the god he greets, the king wears on his tiara the stylised leafs of the plant dedicated to that god. For the Goddess of Kommagene the king wears the leaves of a pomegranate, for Apollo, laurel leaves, for Zeus oak leaves and for Herakles, vine leaves. Next to the stele of Herakles, you see the fifth stele, known as the Lion Horoscope.

Just like the row of 5 statues from Antiochos, the row of 5 steles of Mithradates, is flanked on both sides by an eagle and a lion.