MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Semsur – Semsur (Adıyaman) has hosted many civilizations throughout history. It is also home to a great history lying on Mount Nemrut. The mountain, which is located at an altitude of 2150 meters in the city's Kahta district, is full of huge statues that are around eight to nine meters in height constructed for King Antiochus Theos of Commagene in 62 BC. In 1987, it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Being one of Turkey's largest national parks, the mountain is a destination for thousands of local and foreign tourists every year.

Mount Nemrut is famous for its sunrise and sunset view

Tourists, who want to see the statues on the top of the mountain, climb there at sunrise or sunset. The tourists wake up before sunrise and climb to the mountain to see the sunrise on the top. Before the excavation work of German and American archaeologists, the mountain had been subjected to destruction due to religious or political unrest in the course of history. After the discovery, the mountain, which contains ancient mysteries and a long history, has the answers to most questions dating back two thousand years.

Large statues on the mountain

Tourists, who have to climb stairs for 15-20 minutes to get to the summit of the mountain, see large statues on the top. The names and history of statues are written on the signs in front of them. The western terrace contains a large slab with a lion, showing an arrangement of stars and the planets Jupiter, Mercury, and Mars. The eastern portion is well preserved, being composed of several layers of rock, and a path following the base of the mountain is evidence of a walled passageway linking the eastern and western terraces. Mount Nemrut's large statues were made from limestone blocks.

Bridge between western and eastern civilizations

An independent kingdom was established by Mithradates I in the region, which was called Commagene in ancient times. The kingdom gained importance during the period of his son Antiochos I (62-32 BC). The kingdom's independence came to an end after the war against Rome was lost in 72 AD. The summit of Mount Nemrut is not a settlement; it is the tumulus and sacred areas of Antiochos. The tumulus is at a point overlooking the Euphrates River passages and plains. The tumulus, 50 meters high and 150 meters in diameter, where the king's bones or ashes were placed in the room carved into the bedrock, was protected by covering small rock fragments. Although it is stated in the inscriptions that the king's tomb is here, it has not been discovered yet. There are statues of Antiochos and gods and goddesses and lion and eagle sculptures on the east and west terraces. There is a unique lion horoscope on the west terrace. The sculptures were carved by blending Hellenistic, Persian art and the original art of the Commagene Country. For this reason, Mount Nemrut is called the bridge between western and eastern civilizations.

It waited for 2,000 years to be discovered

With the disappearance of the Commagene Kingdom from the stage of history, the works on Mount Nemrut were left alone for about two thousand years. In 1881, the German engineer Karl Sester, who was on duty in the region, came across the statues of Mount Nemrut and informed the German Consul in Izmir by mistaking the ruins of the Commagene Kingdom and the Greek inscriptions behind the pedestals on which the god statues were placed, thinking they were Assyrian ruins. Karl Sester made this mistake, excited to discover the giant sculptures. In 1882, Otto Puchstein and Karl Sester made a study in Nemrut. Osman Hamdi Bey, the Director of the Imperial Museum, came with a team in 1883 and worked in Nemrut. American archaeologists Theresa Goell and German Karl Doerner conducted excavations, research, and studies in Nemrut and its region after World War II.