September 5, 1996

Hana and Craig bought a postcard. Nothing unusual in that; everyone buys postcards. But not everyone sets out on a 500 kilometer trip to locate the exact same view. John and I took one look at the postcard (giant heads of Zeus, Apollo, Heracles, Tyche and Antiochus perched at the peak of Mt. Nimrod) and we saddled up to join their quest.

King Antioches was the man responsible for this marvel of craftsmanship. During his rule from 64 BC to 32 BC he ordered an army of slaves to build a monument for him in commemoration of his own glory and that of the gods. Two temples were erected, one facing the rising sun, the other facing the setting sun with a pyramid of small rocks (The Tumulus of Antiochus) between them. The statues were originally 26 to 30 feet high but, decapitated by centuries of natural forces, their gigantic heads are now set upright on the ground around the tumulus.

Arriving at Mt. Nimrod was as thrilling as we had anticipated. The giant stone heads were scattered on two terraces and following their gazes we could look out over kilometers of other mountains made of red and yellow rock and feel the glory these gods must have felt living so high in the clouds. But although being there was exciting, the real adventure was in the four days spent traveling across winding roads through wind, dust and rain getting there; the conversations we had over apple tea with the Turks and the Kurds; the people we met at the markets; the waves and the smiles from the children. These are the things that make traveling exciting; that leave us with the stores to tell.