TURKEY-JOURNALIST Tülay Çetinkaya Saraçoğlu:Nimrod, the throne of the gods
The firsts in human history continue with the ancient secrets of Anatolian lands…
SOURCE: https://haber.dk/tanrilarin-tahti-nemrut/31567
After the most ancient structures made by human hands such as Göbeklitepe, Karahantepe, Boncuklutepe, the oldest known star map in the world is also located in Anatolia.
I continue my articles on places to be discovered in Turkey’s culture, history and faith tourism with Mount Nemrut, also known as the ‘Throne of the Gods’ in the Kahta district of Adıyaman.
It is known as the place where the Babylonian ruler Nimrod, who was also known for his cruelty in his quest to become God and achieve immortality and the legend of throwing Prophet Abraham into the fire at Balıklı Göl, also known as Halil-ür Rahman, could not become immortal after his 400-year life and was buried, as his name means.
The extinct volcano Nemrut, known as Commagene in ancient times, with its giant statues and the Antiochus tumulus, which looks like another mountain has been placed on top of the mountain, was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1987 and is also protected by the Mount Nemrut National Park, which was established in 1988.
These gigantic statues built by Artiochos are full of mysteries, like the Egyptian pyramids, since they were built at a height of 2134 meters under today’s conditions and a separate mountain tumulus was built on the mountain.
In addition to the construction of these sculptures, which are examples of mathematics, engineering and architecture, it is also the first known star map of the world, engraved on a lion in relief, which is an example of information in astrology.
Of course, this star map is not the only star map found in the world.
For example, a star map/sky disk found in Germany has a diameter of approximately 32 cm, is dated to 1600 BC using the objects it was found with, and is located in Nebra, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, and has been on display at the Landesmuseum für Vorgeschich since 2008.
Another similar Inca star map was found in Peru, with the Orion star drawn as the location. I may share it later under the title of my Peru trip.
The connection between the horoscope on the lion statue found in the world’s first known site, Nemrut, and the star Sirius, just like Göbeklipete, is still a matter of debate.
This lion figure is 175 cm high, 240 cm wide and 47-48 cm thick.
The statue has the projection of three stars, each consisting of 16 rays, Mars, Mercury and Jupiter, and a crescent, the symbol of the new moon, around its neck.
The position of these planets, whose alignment with 19 radiating stars only occurs once every 25,000 years and lasts only 17 minutes, gives us the year, month, day and even hour.
According to the alignment of the star map, the date given is July 14, 109 BC, at 19.37.
This has been identified by different scientists and researchers.
There are different guesses about what this date indicates, but it is nothing more than a guess. This is one of the unending mysteries of Nemrut waiting to be solved.
Unfortunately, just like the human statue in Göbeklitepe was stolen at night, dark hands seem to be at work in Nemrut as well.
The restoration work that started in 2003 was given to a foreign company and unfortunately, by a sad coincidence, due to the wrong processes used in these restoration works, the lion statue was taken to a container there in a damaged state, and since it does not have a glass surface, it is not visible whether it is there or not. Visitors can only access the previously taken pictures and drawings.
Another mystery of Nemrut is King Antiochus, who declared his godhood by having these statues built and placing himself next to the gods in the first palace. Antiochus had a dream, which was to declare his godhood with a new belief. With this belief, he wanted to unite the known god symbols with the earth and the sky, the east and the west within his own new belief ideology.
In the statues he had made, Antiochus declared his own belief system by placing himself first and side by side with the statues of Zeus, Apollo, Artagnes and Commaene, known as the gods of Persian and Greek mythology, representing the sky as an eagle, the earth as a lion and the union of the east and west.
Today, the statues have been damaged by natural conditions, their heads, which are more than two meters tall, are scattered around the area, separated from their bodies, and the bodies are more than ten meters high.
It is also described in the 200-line inscriptions, some of which are unreadable due to natural erosion, carved into the rocks on the eastern and western sides of the mountain he chose as his tomb. The tomb tumulus looks like a new mountain was placed on Mount Nemrut by human hands.
It is rumored that there are tunnels opening to this tumulus, which was created by placing small pieces of stone on top of each other in this place where conditions are almost impossible at an altitude of 2134 meters, and that it hides a great secret underneath. However, the complex system used in the construction technique of the 50-meter-high tumulus, these stones, each the size of an orange, slid down from above and filled the opened area immediately, and the work was stopped with negative results.
Antiochus’ curse was that after his own death, people would come and visit the statues and worship him. Right behind the statues, the king added a 327-line will and a curse for those who would visit Mount Nemrut.
“…whoever visits this place in the future and who violates, harms or attempts to change the true meaning of this sacred order or the monument of mercy confirmed by the immortal will, may not only himself but also his lineage, my deceased ancestors and all the gods suffer until he fully suffers his punishment…”
Eroded by time and earthquakes, Nemrut still stands in all its glory and awaits your visit.
I would like to once again offer my condolences to all those who lost their loved ones in the tragic earthquake on February 6, 2023.
After the earthquake, I reached out to the beautiful people I met there one by one by phone and shared their pain. I would also like to thank them for their hospitality.
To Kadriye, who gave me her phone number with whom I traveled on the minibus, saying “If you can’t catch the minibus back to Urfa in the evening, come be my guest”, to the owner and staff of the Sofra restaurant in Kahta, where I got off Nemrut at 23:00 at night, who shared their staff meal with me because they had no more food to serve for the customers, to my compatriot İrfan Çetinkaya, the owner of the Kommagene Hotel, and the hotel staff, to all the beautiful people of those lands, I wish them a speedy recovery, may they never experience such pain again. See you soon.
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