Nemrut Mountain (Adiyaman)

Antiochus' tomb is concealed somewhere inside the 50m/164ft high man-made burial mound, with its spectacular terraces on three sides (east, north and west). The 80m/260ft long north terrace, lined with (collapsed) columns, served as a place of assembly and arena for processions and other rituals.

On either side of the east terrace stand relieves of the King's ancestors, paternal (Persian) to the north, maternal (Seleucid) to the south, framing the colossal figures of the gods (heads standing on the ground) facing the main altar. These include, in addition to eagles and lions, the Greco-Persian mixed deities Zeus - Oromasdes, Hercules - Verethragna - Artagnes - Ares, Apollo - Mithras - Helios - Hermes and Kommagene - Tyche, as well as Antiochus I himself.

A similar arrangement is repeated on the west terrace, which is some 10m/33ft lower than the east. Here the heads of the colossal statues are better preserved and there are also more of them. The "Lion Horoscope" with its astral motifs symbolizes the deification of Antiochus I through the metamorphosis of king into star.

Samsat

The ruins of Samosata (3rd c), the old Kommagene capital on the Euphrates, now mostly lie submerged beneath the waters of the Atatürk Baraji (Dam) south-west of Kahta. Only when the level in the reservoir is low does the 45m/148ft high castle hill, which in 1990 was still being excavated, break the surface of the water. The site is reached from Adiyaman by driving east to Anil and then south along the new road to Yeni Samsat (about 65km/40 miles). From about 640 Samsat, like Adiyaman, was one of the frontier forts (thugur) constantly changing hands between Byzantium and the Arab and Turkoman invaders, sometimes under Christian occupation (e.g. 700, 860, 1098) and at other times Muslim (10th c. Emirate of Aleppo; 12th c. Seljucks).

Arsameia on the Nymphaios

Approximately 25km/15 miles north-east of Adiyaman, above the east bank of the Kahta Cayi (Nymphaios) opposite Yeni Kale castle near Eski Kahta (see below), 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 3rd c. B.C. by Arsames. In addition to the remains of steps and buildings on the summit plateau (mosaics from the 2nd c. B.C.), a number of relieves 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.