Mount Nemrut

The dolmus drives over hills and makes many curves. It’s on his way to the village of Karadut quite high in the mountains. The minibus stops in front of the guest house where I walk straight in to book a room. Sheep are led over the road and the shy shepherd (which later turned out to be a woman) turns his head away to look back curiously later on.

It is now half past four and in about half an hour I will be picked up by the man I spoke to in Kahta. He’s in time and we drive out of the village and leave the last row of trees behind us. I hear the wind blowing like crazy and I realize how cold it can be here in the winter - the driver tells me that you can only come here in the summer because otherwise there is a gigantic pack of snow. The view is a wasteland of rocks and stones. No more and no less.

The road leads higher and higher and eventually after three-quarters of an hour it turns into a small parking lot with a sign. We are at 2150 meters altitude and I have to pay an entrance ticket myself (7.5 million); the driver is waiting for me here (I have not paid anything yet, so he will definitely wait for me). We have agreed about 2 hours waiting but I have no idea how much time I will spend here, of course.

History - Nemrut Dagi: 

Immediately I walk to the top of the hill where the wind blows very hard and my breath seem to stop. You can still see that two large bites have been taken from the original mountain and a small new (grave) mound has been created from rubble stones. I now see as I walk along the edge of a stone path where the wind has free play the first images that the mountain is so well known for.

In the 50 meter high burial mound in the shape of a pyramid, King Antiochus Theos was probably buried 40 BC. In front of the burial mound is a complex with colossal stone sculptures by King Antiochus himself, flanked by two lions, two eagles and several Greek, Armenian and Persian Gods, such as Zeus, Tyche and Mithras. Around the burial mound are the two meter high stone heads of the statues that have fallen off due to various earthquakes in the area. 

Wonderful to see but still I think of gnomes or point hats and even for a moment at the Klu-Klux-Clan. You can not come to close because everything is blocked off by a silly piece of rope that appears on all photos and films. They picked the statues of the eagle and the lion who are – supposedly – the strongest animals in the air and on land. It’s not so remarkable that this very impressive site is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Strange is that the site was only (re)discovered by a German in the 19th century when he was hired by the Ottomans to exploit trade routes. Only in 1953 the excavation of the site started. It is cold, there is a lot of wind but I did not want to miss this. What I am wondering is whether anyone ever tries to take a look in the burial mound as happened in Egypt at the pyramids there. I take another look around and decide then to walk back tot he minibus who drops me again at the hostel.