In the first century BC, King Antiochus of Commagene built a shrine on Mount Nemrut featuring rows of giant enthroned gods. Including himself, naturally.
Sadly, later visitors did not approve. The gods were decapitated and their heads are now arranged in a neat line in front of the thrones.
When or why the decapitations occurred is entirely unknown. But the decapitated remains make for a striking sight.
Despite everything, King Antiochus got his wish: travelers still come from far and wide to Mount Nemrut to gaze on his countenance in wonder!
Practicalities:
Mount Nemrut is around a three hour drive from the nearest major city (Şanliurfa).
The summit is at 7200′. We drove almost all the way to the top and then climbed up a couple of hundred steps to the shrine.
In winter the mountain is covered with snow and the top parts of the road are inaccessible, generally into March and sometimes into early April. Some people hike up anyway, but it sounds like quite an adventure.
There are two terraces, each with a row of decapitated gods. The East terrace has the best preserved thrones, the West terrace the best preserved heads.
I was out at the Göbeklitepe neolithic site in SE Turkey today. It has a set of monumental structures using stone monoliths, dating from roughly 9500 to 8000 BC. Yikes. That’s totally ridiculously old. It makes Stonehenge look modern. It probably pre-dates agriculture, which causes reputable archaeologists’ brains to explode.
There are an estimated twenty stone circles, of which four have been excavated, each consisting of an outer circle of tee-shaped monolithic pillars and a pair of taller central monoliths. The largest circle I saw dates from about 9000 BC and has an outer circle of 3 meter pillars and two central monoliths about 5 meters tall.
There are many carved designs, often of foxes, boars or birds. There is a striking 3-D carving of a lion on one pillar.
The site seems to have been deliberately buried before being abandoned, which explains why so much ancient material has survived so well. Archaeologists are in hog heaven, interpreting, re-interpreting, controverting and disputing. Were the structures temples? Was this a cult center? Why were circles abandoned and new ones added? Was this also a pre-urban (!?) settlement? Were there ancient astronauts? Stay tuned!
I also visited the neighboring site of Karahantepe. This is from the same culture, but has at least one stone circle carved directly from bedrock. And a carved projecting human head. Various statues that have been found here are in the Şanlıurfa museum (currently closed due to flooding, alas).
This was my first visit to the Hagia Sophia since it was converted from a Museum back back into a Mosque in July 2020. It turns out the conversion wasn’t merely some kind of symbolic gesture, but a full conversion to a normal working mosque. (But tourists, both Muslim and others, are still very welcome.)
Like any other mosque, you take your shoes off before entering the now carpeted interior. Both men and women are allowed on the main floor, but the side areas are reserved for women.
One piece of good news is that the restoration scaffolding which had cluttered up the interior for decades is finally gone. So it’s possible to fully appreciate the vast, uncluttered, interior space under the great dome. It must have been truly awe inspiring to walk into this immense space in the 6th century, when it was both the greatest Church in Christendom and the largest enclosed space in the world.
The main church axis is slightly misaligned with the direction to Mecca, by roughly 15 degrees. As a result, in the Ottoman era the mihrab was placed off-center in the apse and as part of the new conversion the carpet design contains discreet alignment lines to help the faithful point themselves correctly. (At the moment there are also temporary stickers to mark out social distancing during prayer.)
Fortunately, the Omphalion, the coronation spot of the Emperors, has been left uncarpeted and is protected by guard ropes. So innocent tourists don’t have to worry about accidentally standing on it and committing High Treason. (Although it’s a while since anyone has actually been executed for this. Not even richly deserving small children.)
The Mary and Child mosaic over the apse seems to have been problematic. So, perhaps to avoid any impression that the faithful are praying “to” it, it has been carefully obscured with drapes. You can still see all of it if you move from side to side, but apparently it is sufficiently masked to satisfy religious sensibilities. (Other religious mosaics on the ground floor have been left undisturbed.)
Right now the upper galleries, which contain some fine mosaics, are closed off for restoration. I hope they reopen soon.
Ah, Antioch, Queen of the East! The famed Western terminus of the Silk Road! The greatest city of Roman Syria! I’ve wanted to visit it for many years.
Alas, the modern city of Antakya (aka Hatay) is a pleasant provincial Turkish city, but with only glimmers of its great past. I kept a wary eye open for Patriarchs, but none of the five modern contenders for the title of Patriarch of Antioch and All the East actually deigns to live in the modern city.
I managed to persuade a taxi driver to take me to the old City Walls. It turned out that he had no idea what I was talking about, but we stopped and got directions and all was well. They are on a ridge to the East of the city, but you can’t approach them directly. You need to circle around to the back of the ridge and come in from the East: first head roughly 5 km NE along Antakya Reyhanli Yolu (E91), then about 6 km south, towards Kuruyer, then back about 1km NW. Look for the signs saying “Antakya Kalesi”. We eventually found an old ruined tower and neighbouring sections of wall, set just outside the top of one of the jagged hill ridges surrounding Antioch. This is presumably part of Justinian’s wall, perhaps part of the keep? A little bit beyond the walls there is a small cafe and viewpoint, with a good view over the city.
Back in the city I toddled around the fine Archaeological Museum. This has a variety of good pieces, including a very fine 3rd c. AD sarcophagus and some 13th c. bc Hittite entry lions, amidst much else. But the highpoint is an amazingly large collection of 2nd to 5th c. AD mosaics. They are all somewhat damaged, but some are of very high quality. The general aim is Western-style “photo realism”, which is fine by me. I am amazed at how well they can sketch a human face with only a few fragments of stone
a href=”http://thewanderingscot.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/IMG_9492.jpg”>
After visiting the local Tourist Information stand and (rather to my surprise) getting a bunch of helpful English brochures and a map, I strolled over to the Habib-I Neccar Mosque. This site started as a Roman Temple, was converted to a church, became a Mosque in 636 with the first Arab conquest, became a Church in the Byzantine reconquest, became a Mosque again in the Arab reconquest, became a Church again after the Crusader conquest, and then ended up as a Mosque after another Islamic reconquest. Needless to say the building is not the original, it has been through a number of restorations and rebuilds, notably in 1268 and 1857.
On the NE outskirts of the city is the Cave Church of St Peter. This is supposedly one of the very earliest Christian churches, founded by Peter himself. The modern cave has been heavily restored of course, with a 19th c. cut stone facade.
