In 62 BC, the king of Commagene Antiochus I Theos from the Armenian Orontid dynasty built a tomb-sanctuary on the top of Mount Nemrut and surrounded it with huge 8-9 meters tall statues.
The center of the tomb is represented by a mound of small stones 49.8 meters high and 150 meters wide at the base. Under the mound is the coffin of Antiochus I Theos of Commagene (69—38 BC) himself.
The edges of the rocky summit on which the tomb is located were transformed into large terraces. Two of them are decorated with five majestic seated statues. In the middle is the figure of Zeus. To its one side is the statue of Antiochus, and to the other is a statue that embodied Commagene. On the edges are the statues of Apollo and Hercules.
In 1882 and 1883, this tomb was investigated by German archaeologists Otto Puchstein and Karl Human. In 1987, the archaeological sites at the top of the mountain were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Monuments of Mount Nemrut appear in one of the episodes of the 2011 film “Samsara.”
NEMRUT: THE GREAT SANCTUARY OF THE SUN-KING
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