The great cone-shaped tumulus of gravel, with a row of statues and fallen stone heads along its foot in low golden lightHierothesion
Photo: Liselottediehl · CC BY-SA 4.0 (opens in a new tab) · Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab)
Monuments & temples · Adıyaman

Nemrut Dağ

UNESCO World HeritageCommagene (1st c. BC)24 km from Kahta

On a summit about 2,150 m high, King Antiochus I of Commagene raised his tomb mound between colossal statues of gods and of himself; their heads now sit on the ground. Sunrise here is the famous visit. World Heritage since 1987.

Plan the visitHow to get thereRead its tale

Plan your visit

Time to allow
About 2 hours, at sunrise or sunset

For a first visit at an easy pace.

Stay in
Kahta

24 km away as the crow flies, so allow more on the road.

On a trip
Where it began

Day 3 of 5.

Hours and tickets
Check before you go

Opening hours and prices change: see muze.gov.tr (opens in a new tab).

Times are our estimates. Distances are straight lines.

Where it is and how to get there

In the Taurus mountains of Adıyaman province, in south-east Türkiye, on a summit above 2,100 m that looks over the Euphrates valley and the plain. The ministry gives its address as Karadut village, on the approach from the south.

Where to base yourselfKâhta is the nearest town and Adıyaman the provincial town. Tours also run from Malatya.
By tour or carMost visitors go on a guided trip or drive. The summit is high, so people usually set out in the small hours to be there for sunrise.
On the wayArsameia and Perre, both on the ministry’s list of nearby sites, can be seen on the same trip, with the Karakuş tumulus and the Cendere bridge.
Kahta

Open in OpenStreetMap (opens in a new tab) · Directions to Nemrut Dağ (opens in a new tab)

The walk, with what you’re looking at

The sanctuary has three terraces round the great mound: east, north and west. Allow time to walk between them at altitude.

  1. East terrace

    The best preserved. Five seated gods about 8 to 10 m tall stand in a row: the king himself, the goddess Commagene, Zeus, Apollo and Herakles. Lions and eagles guard the ends. The heads lie on the ground in front.

  2. North terrace

    A ceremonial road that links the east and west terraces, lined with stone slabs and bases for portraits of the king’s ancestors.

  3. West terrace

    A twin of the east, with a relief of the king shaking hands with a god. A slab with a lion and stars gives the date 7 July 62 BC.

  4. The tumulus

    The huge mound above the terraces, piled from broken stone, about 50 m high. It is thought to cover the king’s tomb, but no burial chamber has been found.

the tale of

Nemrut Dağ

A king who made himself a god. Antiochus I of Commagene built his tomb on a summit and lined it with colossal statues, half Greek and half Persian, and the heads have lain on the ground ever since.

Hellenistic and Roman, 330 BC–AD 330 →

  1. Before 62 BC
    A small kingdom between empires

    Commagene, once part of the Seleucid empire, lies on the borderland between Rome, Parthia and Armenia. For stretches it rules itself.

  2. About 70 BC
    Antiochus becomes king

    Antiochus I rules for some 40 years. He claims ancestors from both Persia and Macedon, and calls himself “Theos”, a god.

  3. 62 BC
    A tomb among the gods

    On the summit he builds a tomb-sanctuary: a mound of crushed stone, with terraces of colossal statues of himself and gods who are half Greek and half Persian. A relief of stars gives the date 7 July 62 BC.

  4. About 31 BC
    The king dies

    No tomb chamber has ever been found, though the inscriptions say the king lies here.

  5. Later
    The heads come off

    The statues’ heads are separated from their bodies and set on the ground. The damage to the noses looks deliberate, but nobody knows when it happened.

  6. 1881
    Found again

    A German engineer, surveying routes for the Ottomans, finds the site, which had been forgotten.

  7. 1987
    World Heritage

    Mount Nemrut is put on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Photographs

6 photographs from Wikimedia Commons, each with its author and licence.

Close view of colossal stone heads on the ground: an eagle’s head with a hooked beak beside the head of a god in a tall cap

Photo: Ernesto~itwiki · CC BY-SA 3.0 (opens in a new tab) · Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab)

A row of seated statues in rough stone on the terrace, with a large bearded head resting on the ground in front

Photo: Nur Çağlar · CC BY-SA 4.0 (opens in a new tab) · Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab)

A weathered stone lion’s head among piled rubble, with a broken eagle’s head beside it and a flight of steps behind

Photo: Կարեն Թոխաթյան · CC BY-SA 4.0 (opens in a new tab) · Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab)

The smooth conical top of the tumulus rising above a bare, golden mountainside under a clear sky

Photo: Acar54 · CC BY-SA 4.0 (opens in a new tab) · Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab)

A visitor stands on stone blocks at dawn, looking down a winding road across ridges and distant mountains

Photo: Liselottediehl · CC BY-SA 4.0 (opens in a new tab) · Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab)

Good to know

  • Dress warmly, even in summer: the summit is cold at sunrise.
  • The mountain road is usually open in the warm months only. Snow can close it in winter, so ask before you set out.
  • The ministry says times at the site change with the hours of sunrise and sunset: see its page on muze.gov.tr.

From here

Also nearby

  • 18 km
    Karakuş Tumulus

    Tumulus, Commagene

  • 26 km
    Arsameia

    Royal sanctuary, Commagene

  • museum
    Adıyaman Museum

    Commagene finds

Location precise · Source (opens in a new tab)