21 Photos to Inspire You to Visit Nemrut Mountain
In the heart of southeastern Turkey in the Eastern Taurus Mountains one peak stands higher than all others: Nemrut Dağı (or, mountain). The size of the statues combined with the remote and elevated location makes this site very impressive. However, the beauty of the surrounding Taurus Mountains far surpasses the allure of the surviving monuments.
Antiochus I (69-34 BC) found this mountain impressive and thus built for himself a tomb and a temple atop the peak. The kingdom of Commagene was ruled by Antiochus I after the breakup of Alexander the Great’s Empire. The monument shows Antiochus I as descending from Darius on his father’s side and Alexander on his mother’s side. While this lineage may be legendary it does show the convergence of the East and the West. The statues themselves show a mix of the East and the West by depicting both Hellenistic gods and Persian gods.
Nemrut Mountain is a Unesco World Heritage Site and ost of my historical information came from their website here.
To our friends in the West, keep looking East!
Photography By: Hannah Greer and Serena Swords
Leslie Connors
Leslie is a co-founder of West2East. Originally from Tennessee, Leslie has called Turkey home for the past eight years. To read more about her, click here.