The ancient remains of Nemrut Moutain, partaking in “UNESCO Culture Heritage List” as the 8th wonder of the world, was reported by BBC. In addition to it’s giant statues, the heaven like landscape view of Nemrut was mentioned in the news.
As the 8th wonder of the world, Nemrut have giant statues (that can be up to 10 meters) and long inscriptions. Thousands of tourists from all over the world come to see the magnificent historical remains and wonderful landscape view (it’s sunrise and sunfall) of Nemrut.
BBC reported Nemrut, a historical place that was included in UNESCO World Heritage List in 1987, as news. It was reported by Joseph Flaherty with the title of “ Nemrut: From Gods and Kings to Stones”. In the news, Flaherty mentioned the statues, graves, inscriptions and architectural remains of Nemrut.
In order to give a historical background about Nemrut, Flaherty mentioned Commagene Kingdom and a Commagenian King named Antiochos Theos. In 62 B.C, King Antiochos Theos made his own grave in Nemrut; in addition to many statues of Greek and Persian gods.
King Antiochos ruled a small kingdom named Commagene in the 1st century B.C, where todays Adıyaman is. In 34 B.C, Antiochos died and he was buried under a huge stone mound in Nemrut. According the historical evidences, he wanted to be buried on a(n) high, isolated and divine place. The reason was that he wanted to be with gods and goddesses during his eternal rest. The grave was found by German archaeologists in 1881. Archaeologists believe that the king rests under the stone mound, but they still couldn’t reach the grave of the king.
Nemrut Mountain was a cultural and religious synthesis place. We can see existence of different cultures, such as Persian and Greek, from its historical remains. Its hybridity is caused by its geographical and location. After the death of Alexander the Great, his empire divided into many small and big kingdoms. Commagene can be included in one of those kingdoms. At it’s west side there was Roman Emprie, while at its east there was Parthian Empire. It was inevitable for Commagene to be influenced by these world’s giant powers.
