The hook
On a remote 2,100-metre summit, a little-known king built himself a tomb guarded by colossal seated statues of gods; earthquakes toppled their heads, which now sit on the ground staring out at the sunrise.
01Why it's worth it
In the 1st century BC, Antiochus I of Commagene, ruler of a small kingdom between the Greek and Persian worlds, had an artificial mountain of crushed rock piled on this peak as his tomb, flanked by rows of enormous seated statues of himself and a syncretic set of Greek-Persian gods. Over the centuries earthquakes knocked the heads off the bodies, and they now rest on the terraces below their seated forms, giant stone faces, two metres tall, gazing across the highlands, which is exactly the surreal, melancholy image the place is famous for. It is remote and takes effort to reach, and the summit is cold and exposed, but standing among the toppled heads as the sun rises or sets over eastern Anatolia is unforgettable. The tomb chamber itself has never been found inside the mound.
02How to experience it
Time your climb for sunrise or sunset, when low light rakes across the giant heads; both are traditions here, sunrise colder and quieter. Drive as high as the road goes, then walk the last steep stretch, and dress warmly even in summer. It is a long way from anywhere, so build it into an eastern Turkey trip.
From the locals
Eastern Turkey is treated as a separate country by the people who go there: "last year I was there and climbed Mt. Ararat, the tallest mountain in Turkey. Eastern Turkey feels like a completely different country than Istanbul — it was a really cool experience." Nemrut sits in that same east: far from the coastal circuit, thinly visited, and worth the distance for exactly that reason.