Mount Nemrut Archaeological Site

High above Kahta in Adıyaman province, the slopes of Mount Nemrut carry some of the most striking monuments in Turkey. The site rises more than 2,100 metres and spreads across eastern, western and northern terraces. King Antiochos I of Commagene had well-preserved limestone statues, eight to ten metres tall, set up here to honour his gods and ancestors, and the site joined the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1987.

Commagene was an independent kingdom founded by Mithradates I and reached its peak under Antiochos I (62-32 BC), until war with Rome ended its independence in AD 72. Antiochos, of Persian descent on his father's side and Greek on his mother's, mixed both worlds in the monument: Hellenistic and Persian styles blend in the statues, which is why they are often described as a bridge between East and West. After the kingdom vanished, the summit lay quiet for about two thousand years until Osman Hamdi Bey visited in 1883.

The eastern terrace is the sacred centre, where kings and gods sit in rows on thrones of about ten metres, faces turned to the rising sun. Both terraces also have lions and eagles, and the western terrace has a lion horoscope.