Mount Nemrut – Home to Gods Beheaded

The Adiyaman Province of Turkey in the south east of the country is not wealthy – it is still classified as a developing rural region. Yet 25 miles from the small town of Kâhta the visitor discovers the remnants of once fabulous wealth. High on the summit of Mount Nemrut is a huge but little visited necropolis, home to the beheaded gods of the past. Image Credit Flickr User birasuegi Image Credit Flickr USer sly06 Sixty two years before the birth of Christ, King Antiochus I ordered a huge tomb come sanctuary to be built for himself. His place of burial was flanked by huge statues – one of himself but others of animals. Image Credit Flickr User DamianHR Image Credit Flickr User birasuegi There were also gods – a syncretism of Iranian, Armenian and Greek which testify to the cultural mix of the area two thousand years ago. Hercules is there, as is Zeus, Tyche and Apollo. Their names were inscribed upon them – those Greek ones we recognize from books and movies as well as their Iranian…