Nemrut or Nemrud (Turkish – Nemrut Dağı) is a 2,134 m (7,001 ft) high mountain in the southeastern area of Turkey. It is known for the vast statues of the 1st century BC tomb on its summit.

The mountain is located 40 km (25 miles) north of Kahta, near “Adıyaman” provience. In 62 BC, King “Antiochus I Theos” of Commagene built huge statues (8–9 m/26–30 ft high) of himself, two lions, two eagles and various Greek, Armenian and Persian gods, on the mountain top. The gods he built where, Hercules-Vahagn, Zeus-Aramazd, Tyche, and Apollo-Mithras. These statues had each god inscribed on them. Now days, the heads of the statues are now scattered throughout the site. And the pattern of damage to the heads, mainly to the noises, suggests that they were deliberately damaged. This is due to a belief in ‘iconoclasm’.
The site also preserves huge stone slabs with ‘bas-relief figures’ that where thought to have formed a large frieze. These slabs show the ancestors of ‘Antiochus’ which included both ‘Macedonians’ and ‘Persians’.

The ‘Tumulus’ at the site, which is 49 m (161 ft) tall and 152 m (499 ft) in diameter, the same statues and ancestors found throughout the site can also be found here.
The statues have Greek facial features and Persian clothing and hairstyling. The western terrace contains a very large slab with a lion. The lion is showing the arrangement of the stars and planets, Jupiter, Mercury and Mars. On the 7 July 62 BC, the estimated time when construction began on these monuments. The eastern portion is very well preserved having been composed of several layers of rock. There is evidence of a walled passageway linking the eastern and western terraces. These where from a path below at the foot of Mount Nemrut, and the possible uses for this site might have included:- Religious ceremonies and festivals, because of the astronomical and religious nature of the monument.

The term “hierothesion” is known by the arrangement of these statues.

Flights to Turkey

mt.nemrut