Gods of Nemrut Dag	Volume 55 Number 6, November/December 2002
by Jarrett A. Lobell

Giant stone deities, "kin" of an ancient king, litter a remote Turkish mountaintop.

A massive head of an eagle watches over the mountaintop along with (left to right) the Greco-Persian sky god Zeus-Oromasdes, Apollo-Mithras, the goddess Commagene-Tyche, King Antiochus I, Herakles-Artaganes, and, in the distance, a guardian lion. (H.Kece/©Atlas Geographic) [LARGER IMAGE]

Travel to one of the ancient world's most glorious (and least known) monuments, the sacred sanctuary of Antiochus I of Commagene. Antiochus I ruled over the small and vulnerable kingdom of Commagene from 69 to 40 B.C. and was notable not only for his spectacular lineage, but also for his cultural and relgious reforms. Combining both Persian and Hellenistic influences, Antiochus created a monument high on a Turkish moutaintop that has been long-studied but is rarely visited.

Jarrett A. Lobell is production manager and photography editor for ARCHAEOLOGY.

© 2002 by the Archaeological Institute of America archive.archaeology.org/0211/abstracts/nemrut.html