Anatolian Civilizations and Historical Sites - TEDA

ANATOLIAN CIVILIZATIONS:10x19 antik kentler 8/1/11 10:52 AM Sayfa
Nemrud
“The day of my birth will be a day of feasting and rejoicing, a
holiday to be celebrated every month and every year. On these
days, the high priest shall robe himself in the robes of Persia,
granted him by my royal personage and by the laws, in honor
of the gods, my ancestors and myself. To each of us shall he light
much incense, make sacrifice where it is fitting and lay out
sacred banquet with the finest dishes and wines. Here the
people of my nation shall gather and celebrate this banquet in
our honor”.
This is the text of an inscription belonging to King Antiochos
Epiphanes I of Commagene, who erected the 50 m. high grave and
the sacred court on the summit of Mt. Nemrud, on a plateau 150 m.
wide. The mountain is itself 2150 m. high and 105 km. from
Ad›yaman. Antiochos I (62-32 BC) was the most renown monarch of
the land of Commagene, which encompassed the region of
Ad›yaman, Kahramanmarafl and Gaziantep. In 72 BC, Commagene
was taken under Roman hegemony, but three years later, the
Roman commander Lucullus allowed the prince of Commagene,
Mithridates I Kallinikos, to bear the title of king. The monarchs of
Commagene, like the Persian, Macedonian, Hellenistic monarchs,
were regarded as gods and were worshipped as such and they
ordered sacrifices performed in their own honor. Mithridates I and
Antiochos I, son of Laodike, built magnificent tumuli in their own
names at the summit of Mt. Nemrud and had their own statues
placed among those of the gods on the sacred court, ordering their
people to celebrate their birth with feasts and sacrifice every month
and year.
The sacred place, covered with enormous statues, at an altitude of
2150 m., was first discovered by the German Marshall H. von Moltke.
In 1953, the site was excavated by Professor Theresa Goell and
continued by Professor Friedrich Karl Dörner at the city of
Arsameia for Münster University in Germany. The Commagene
Dynasty, claiming common ancestry with the Persians on one hand
and Alexander the Great on the other, came to an end in 72 AD,
Heads of gods, west terrace of Mountain Nemrud.
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