Kahta
General Information
District: Adiyaman, State: Southeastern Anatolia Region, Turkey
Area: 1490 km²
Languages Spoken: Turkish
Long Distance Code: (+90) 0416
Best Time to Visit: May to August
International Access: Gaziantep Oguzeli International Airport (GZT)
Description
Kâhta is a small town in attractive countryside at the foot of Nemrut Dagi and has a thriving business providing food, accommodation (and nowadays internet cafes) and transport (in the form of shared taxis or minibuses) to people visiting the mountain. Most businesses in the town are named after Zeus, Nimrod or other figures from mythology. The food found here includes grilled carp and trout. Despite a growing tourism industry, this area is still classified as a developing rural region. The winters are especially cold and hard in these mountains. People are poor, families of 6-7 children are common, school books are provided by the government, and winter school uniforms are expensive. Since the 1970s in the face of these conditions many families from Kâhta have migrated to the cities of western Turkey.Location
Kâhta is a large district of Adiyaman Province of Turkey. Kâhta is a small town in attractive countryside at the foot of Nemrut Dagi.Climate
The Anti-Taurus Mountains cut through Adıyaman from west to east, creating completely different climates in the northern and southern regions of the province. The mountainous north has dry, cool summers and wet, cold winters, while the south enjoys dry, w
Nemrut or Nemrud is a 2,134 m (7,001 ft) high mountain in southeastern Turkey, notable for the summit where a number of large statues are erected around what is assumed to be a royal tomb from the 1st century BCE.
Location and description
The mountain lies 40 km (25 mi) north of Kahta, near Adiyaman. in 62 BC, King Antiochus i Theos of Commagene built on the mountain top a tomb-sanctuary flanked by huge statues (8–9 m/26–30 ft high) of himself, two lions, two eagles and various Greek, Armenian, and iranian gods, such as Hercules-Vahagn, Zeus-Aramazd or Oromasdes (associated with the iranian god Ahura Mazda), Tyche, and Apollo-Mithras. These statues were once seated, with names of each god inscribed on them. The heads of the statues have at some stage been removed from their bodies, and they are now scattered throughout the site.
The pattern of damage to the heads (notably to noses) suggests that they were deliberately damaged because of belief in iconoclasm. The statues have not been restored to their original positions. The site also preserves stone slabs with bas-relief figures that are thought to have formed a large frieze. These slabs display the ancestors of Antiochus, who included both Greek and Persians.
The same statues and ancestors found throughout the site can also be found on the tumulus at the site, which is 49 m (161 ft) tall and 152 m (499 ft) in diameter. The statues appear to have Greek-style facial features, but Persian clothing and hairstyling.
The western terrace contains a large slab with a lion, showing the arrangement of stars and the planets Jupiter, Mercury and Mars on 7 July 62 BC. This may be an indication of when construction began on this monument. The eastern portion is well preserved, being composed of several layers of rock, and a path following the base of the mountain is evidence of a walled passageway linking the eastern and western terraces. Possible uses for this site is thought to have included religious ceremonies, due to the astronomical and religious nature of the monument.
The arrangement of such statues is known by the term hierothesion. Similar arrangements have been found at Arsameia on Nymphaios at the hierothesion of the father of Antiochus, Mithridates i Callinicus.
Ancient History
When the Seleucid Empire was defeated by the Romans in 189 BCE at the Battle of Magnesia it began to fall apart and new kingdoms were established on its territory by local authorities. Commagene being one of the Seleucid successor states occupied a land in between the Taurus mountains and the Euphrates. The state of Commagene had a wide range of cultures which left its leader from 62 BCE - 38 BCE Antiochus i to carry on a peculiar dynastic religious program, in which it included not only Greek and Persian deities but Antiochus and his family as well. This religious program was very possibly an attempt of Antiochus to unify his multiethnic kingdom and secure his dynasty''s authority.
Antiochus supported the cult as a propagator of happiness and salvation. Many of the monuments on Mount Nemrud are ruins of the imperial cult of Commagene. The most important area to the cult was the tomb of Antiochus i, in which was decorated with colossal statues made of limestone. Although the imperial cult did not last long after Antiochus, several of his successors had their own tombs built on Mount Nemrud. For around half of the year, Mount Nemrud lays covered in snow which in effect has increased its weathering which has in part caused the statues to fall in ruin.
Remarks: Visiting Nemrut in 1987, Mount Nemrut was made a World heritage site by UNESCO. Tourists typically visit Nemrut during June through August. The nearby town of Adiyaman is a popular place for car and bus trips to the site, and one can also travel from there by helicopter. There are also overnight tours running out of Malatya.
Location and description
The mountain lies 40 km (25 mi) north of Kahta, near Adiyaman. in 62 BC, King Antiochus i Theos of Commagene built on the mountain top a tomb-sanctuary flanked by huge statues (8–9 m/26–30 ft high) of himself, two lions, two eagles and various Greek, Armenian, and iranian gods, such as Hercules-Vahagn, Zeus-Aramazd or Oromasdes (associated with the iranian god Ahura Mazda), Tyche, and Apollo-Mithras. These statues were once seated, with names of each god inscribed on them. The heads of the statues have at some stage been removed from their bodies, and they are now scattered throughout the site.
The pattern of damage to the heads (notably to noses) suggests that they were deliberately damaged because of belief in iconoclasm. The statues have not been restored to their original positions. The site also preserves stone slabs with bas-relief figures that are thought to have formed a large frieze. These slabs display the ancestors of Antiochus, who included both Greek and Persians.
The same statues and ancestors found throughout the site can also be found on the tumulus at the site, which is 49 m (161 ft) tall and 152 m (499 ft) in diameter. The statues appear to have Greek-style facial features, but Persian clothing and hairstyling.
The western terrace contains a large slab with a lion, showing the arrangement of stars and the planets Jupiter, Mercury and Mars on 7 July 62 BC. This may be an indication of when construction began on this monument. The eastern portion is well preserved, being composed of several layers of rock, and a path following the base of the mountain is evidence of a walled passageway linking the eastern and western terraces. Possible uses for this site is thought to have included religious ceremonies, due to the astronomical and religious nature of the monument.
The arrangement of such statues is known by the term hierothesion. Similar arrangements have been found at Arsameia on Nymphaios at the hierothesion of the father of Antiochus, Mithridates i Callinicus.
Ancient History
When the Seleucid Empire was defeated by the Romans in 189 BCE at the Battle of Magnesia it began to fall apart and new kingdoms were established on its territory by local authorities. Commagene being one of the Seleucid successor states occupied a land in between the Taurus mountains and the Euphrates. The state of Commagene had a wide range of cultures which left its leader from 62 BCE - 38 BCE Antiochus i to carry on a peculiar dynastic religious program, in which it included not only Greek and Persian deities but Antiochus and his family as well. This religious program was very possibly an attempt of Antiochus to unify his multiethnic kingdom and secure his dynasty''s authority.
Antiochus supported the cult as a propagator of happiness and salvation. Many of the monuments on Mount Nemrud are ruins of the imperial cult of Commagene. The most important area to the cult was the tomb of Antiochus i, in which was decorated with colossal statues made of limestone. Although the imperial cult did not last long after Antiochus, several of his successors had their own tombs built on Mount Nemrud. For around half of the year, Mount Nemrud lays covered in snow which in effect has increased its weathering which has in part caused the statues to fall in ruin.
Remarks: Visiting Nemrut in 1987, Mount Nemrut was made a World heritage site by UNESCO. Tourists typically visit Nemrut during June through August. The nearby town of Adiyaman is a popular place for car and bus trips to the site, and one can also travel from there by helicopter. There are also overnight tours running out of Malatya.
The village of Kocahisar, 70km/43 miles north-east of Adiyaman, is a convenient spot from which to visit the Mameluke fortress of Yeni Kale, built on a narrow mountain spur high above a Seljuk bridge spanning the Kahta Cayi gorge. The complex was constructed on top of earlier foundations by Kara Sonkar (Governor of Aleppo, 1286), being altered and extended at the end of the 13th c. and in the mid 14th c. Water was brought up from the Kahta Cayi via a stepped passage-way and stored in a cistern. For the “express” delivery of messages carrier pigeons were used, notably during Sultan Kala’un’s decisive battle against the Mongols at Horns (1281).
Approximately 25km/15mi northeast of Adiyaman, above the east bank of the Kâhta Cayi (Nymphaios) opposite Yeni Kale castle near Eski Kâhta, is a cult and burial site known today as Eski Kale (Mithridates i Kallinikos) and the summer residence of the Kommagene rulers founded in the third century B.C. by Arsames. in addition to the remains of steps and buildings on the summit plateau (mosaics from the second century B.C.), a number of reliefs and rock chambers are passed on the approach.
Lower relief (ii): the god Mithras-Helios (a further part depicting Antiochus ii is missing); middle relief (i): (fragments) Mithridates and his son Antiochus i, antechamber (cult site of the god Mithras?) with, to the rear, a rock tunnel with fourteen steps leading to the burial chamber of Mithridates (?) ; upper relief (iii): Dexiosis relief of king (Mithridates or Antiochus i) with the demigod Hercules (extending his right hand), inscription by Antiochus i, steeply-stepped, blocked, rock tunnel (158m/518ft deep), purpose unknown.
Remarks: 12 km north of Kahta
Lower relief (ii): the god Mithras-Helios (a further part depicting Antiochus ii is missing); middle relief (i): (fragments) Mithridates and his son Antiochus i, antechamber (cult site of the god Mithras?) with, to the rear, a rock tunnel with fourteen steps leading to the burial chamber of Mithridates (?) ; upper relief (iii): Dexiosis relief of king (Mithridates or Antiochus i) with the demigod Hercules (extending his right hand), inscription by Antiochus i, steeply-stepped, blocked, rock tunnel (158m/518ft deep), purpose unknown.
Remarks: 12 km north of Kahta