Very few people have heard of the Commagene Kingdom,
and even less of Arsemia. Well, to be honest, I hadn’t either till I visited Mount Nemrud (see: Nemrud, as close as you can come to the gods) a few years ago.
Arsemia, once the
summer residence of the Commagene kings, is located sixty kilometers from Adiyaman. At the foot of this ancient
city, there is a magnificent relief representing Heracles (or maybe Artagnes, a Persian
deity whom the Greeks identified with Heracles) shaking
hands with King Mithridates of Commagene from around 50 BC, and next
to it is located the greatest Greek inscription of Anatolia. This sounds
interesting enough for anyone to make the detour to visit the place, I would
say.
There is a special path, once used for religious ceremonies that leads up
the mountain with a statue pointing towards the temple. About one hundred
meters farther stands what is called a Dexiosis
relief, i.e. the abovementioned handshake. Nearby are several rooms cut
from the rocky cliffs that were used for religious ceremonies. Further uphill
still, one discovers the large Greek inscription telling about the political
intentions and the religious beliefs of the Commagene Kingdom
and mentioning Arsemia as its capital. It also states that Mithridates, the father of King Antiochus
I, was buried here. Just beneath this
inscription is a stairway running 158 meters down into the depth of the rocks and
this once was the entrance to Arsemia which is now blocked. It
would be interesting to learn what future excavations may reveal. Above the
inscription, another path runs up the mountainside towards the remains of the Arsemia
Palace
and its mosaic floors.
It was King Antiochus I (Theos –
signifying his divinity - Dikaios Epiphanes Philoromaios Philhellen of
Commagene) who built the city in honor of this father, King Mithridates I Callinicus. Due to its location, it soon became
a military fortress, now to be found next to the modern town of Eski Kale
and still showing well preserved walls and parapets. Antiochus’ mother was nobody less than Laodike, daughter of the Seleucid King Antiochus VII Grypos who ruled Commagene from
around 69 to ca 31 BC.
About a mile outside Arsemia there are the remains of a
Roman bridge built in honor of Septimius Severus around 200 AD. Here I can pick up the link for I crossed this very bridge
on my way to Mount Nemrud. It
has been erected at the narrowest point of the River Cedere and it is said that
its 34 meters
clear span makes it the second largest extant arch bridge ever built by the
Romans.
There must be a second Arsemia on the Euphrates, at the
modern location of Gerger, where Antiochus I set up a similar religious
centre in honor of his father. Gee, there is still so much to discover and to see!
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