Nemrut Mountain - Turkey

Unesco's Scientific, Educational and Cultural Organization has recognized Turkey's Nemrut Mountain as a World Cultural Heritage in 1987.

Nemrut is a mountain of 2,134m above sea level, located near Adiyaman City, Southeast Turkey. In 62 BC, Commagene's King Antichous I built a shrine-tomb for himself, surrounded by many statues including his own statue, two lions, two great eagle. many Greek and Persian gods. But after being erected, the heads were broken from the body and scattered throughout the area. It is considered one of Hellenistic's most ambitious constructions, after the fall of the great Alexander empire.

King Antochous I built a tomb to show off his closeness to the angels. See yourself as a descendant of Persians and Greeks. His kingdom dominated the gains of trade between Syria and Persia. In many myths, the gods took the top of the mountain as their residence, so Antochous took the peak of Nemrut as the home of the great god statues (his own sculpture is also among them). .

Tomb area on the top of the mountain due to discrete blocks of rock, there are two lions and two elders standing in the East and West to protect. In addition, there are 9m high statues such as the statue of the god Heraclia, the god Zeus, the god Apollon, . and the statue of Antochous himself. All these statues have a sitting posture.

After centuries of wind and rain, the heads of the statues are separated from their bodies, rolling around in a strange way. The names of each god statue can be based on the inscription on the beer to confirm. The distinction of the gods carved into the cliffs can also be distinguished. On it, Antochous ancestors were engraved with Macedonian and Persian . In front of each god statue, there are altar used to burn incense.

Mysterious images, tinged with myths on a legendary sacred mountain make anyone feel as if they are lost in another world.

The tomb is 49m high, 152m glass axis, both sides of the grave are carved ancestral images (all the same), but the ancient tomb is located to the southeast, the carved image is better preserved. Although these carvings are not an intact piece of stone, but each of them is piled up, the preservation and preservation is still relatively good. The large head of the stone statue shows a strange mixture of the Greek face, the decoration and hairstyle of the Persians. The most obvious thing was that Antochous saw himself as gods

The flat area in the west still preserved intactly the shallow relief plate depicting him shaking hands with the gods Apolion, Zeus and Heraclia. Another stone relief has drawn a huge death figure that makes anyone happy to see. On this stone relief plate, it was clearly carved into the position of glass, glass and fire on July 7, 62 BC. In terms of the meaning of the above date, it has not been correctly understood, but it may have recorded the date and time of construction of this area.

The sacrificial part on the east side of the grave is still very well preserved. There is a sign that there is a path between two flat land in the East and West.

After several centuries of neglect, in 1881, a German monk rediscovered the monuments on Mount Nemrut. Although Antochous's tombs were still unearthed, people claimed that his grave was buried here. It is not important to find a relic, but through great sculptural statues that remain, they still preserve their arrogant, high-mannered attitude, consider themselves on par with his gods.

This legacy has shown the greatness of kings from thousands of years ago as well as the talent of the workers who carved these giant statues.

Nemrut Mountain was recognized by Unesco as a World Cultural Heritage by criteria (i), (iii), (iv)

Criterion (i); The tomb of Antichos I is an extremely unique artistic architecture of the ancient Greek period.

Criterion (iii): The stone statues and structures left on Mount Nemrut are the only proofs for the ancient Commagene kingdom civilization.

Criterion (iv): Not only are the aesthetic art works outstanding, this place is also associated with many myths and an important historical evidence of the world.