
The Karakuş Tumulus (also Karakush) is a funerary monument—a
hierothesion—for Queen
Isias and Princesses
Antiochis and Aka I of
Commagene
Commagene () was an ancient Greco-Iranian kingdom ruled by a Hellenized branch of the Orontid dynasty, Orontids, a dynasty of Iranian peoples, Iranian origin, that had ruled over the Satrapy of Armenia. The kingdom was located in and around the ...
, built by
Mithridates II of Commagene
Mithridates II Antiochus Epiphanes Philorhomaeus Philhellen Monocrites (, died 20 BC), also known as Mithridates II of Commagene, was a king of Commagene in the 1st century BC.
Of Iranian; ; ; ; ; ; and Greek descent, he was one of the sons of ...
in 30–20 BCE, near the modern village of
Çukurtaş in
Kâhta District
Kâhta District is a district of Adıyaman Province of Turkey. Its seat is the town Kâhta.[İl ...]
,
Adıyaman Province
Adıyaman Province (, ) is a Provinces of Turkey, province in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. The capital is Adıyaman. Its area is 7,337 km2, and its population is 635,169 (2022). The province is considered part of Turkish Kurdi ...
,
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
.
''KarakuÅŸ'' means "black bird". The monument received this name because there is a column topped by an eagle.
It is located from
Kâhta
Kâhta (; , ) is a city in Adıyaman Province of Turkey. It is the seat of Kâhta District.[İ ...]
, Turkey. The tumulus is surrounded by groups of three
Doric column
The Doric order is one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of t ...
s, each about high. The columns are topped with steles, reliefs and statues of a bull, lion and eagle. An inscription indicates the presence of a royal tomb that housed three women.
The monument has Greek honorific inscriptions on the external faces of the two drums of the central column of the northeast. Skipping a couple of phrases where restoration has been doubtful, the inscription reads:
This is the hierothesion acred site or foundationof Isias, whom the great King Mithridates (she being his own mother) … deemed worthy of this final hour. And … Antiochis lies herein, the king’s sister by the same mother, the most beautiful of women, whose life was short but her honours long-enduring. Both of these, as you see, preside here, and with them a daughter’s daughter, the daughter of Antiochis, Aka. A memorial of life with each other and of the king’s honour.
Sometime after the Kingdom of Commagene was annexed in 72 CE by the Roman emperor
Vespasian
Vespasian (; ; 17 November AD 9 – 23 June 79) was Roman emperor from 69 to 79. The last emperor to reign in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for 27 years. His fiscal reforms and consolida ...
, the vault of the tomb was looted.
The main excavations on the site were carried out by
Friedrich Karl Dörner
Friedrich Karl Dörner (born 28 February 1911 in Gelsenkirchen; died 10 March 1992) was a German classicist, classics, epigrapher and archeology, Classical Archeologist.
Born in 1911 as son of the mining office Karl Dörner and his wife Klara in G ...
of the
University of Münster
The University of Münster (, until 2023 , WWU) is a public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany.
With more than 43,000 students and over 120 fields of study in 15 departments, it is Germany's ...
. The column collapsed in the
2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake
3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious and cultural significance in many societies ...
.
Notes
Bibliography
* T.A. Sinclair, ''Eastern Turkey: An Architectural & Archaeological Survey'' 4''
59*
External links
Columns of Karakus Tümülüs – Çukurtas Köyü (Adiyaman Province, East Turkey)
{{coord, 37.8694, 38.5880, format=dms, type:landmark_region:TR, display=title
Commagene
Mausoleums in Turkey
Buildings and structures completed in the 1st century BC
Buildings and structures in Adıyaman Province
Hellenistic architecture
Buildings and structures destroyed by the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake