Nemrutland

Sunday we drove on to explore a bit of the valley west of Nemrut Dagi, the ruins of the Commagene capital of Arsameia, the 2nd century Roman Cendere Bridge, and the Karakus tumulus. From there we drove on, past Narince, where a major surprise awaited us.

Little remains of the Commagene capital at Arsemaia; they allied themselves 
with the Parthians and not the Romans; big mistake; here, a stele at the city 
entrance, high on a hill

What does remain is fairly great, however: this relief where 
the  Commagene king (Antiochus?) is shaking hands with the

patron god of Heracles; one sees this image elsewhere in the 
period, and it is frightfully close to some sort of divine right 
of kings idea

And this incredible stele about the founding of the city

Late bloomer

Remains of a Hellenistic city

Ditto

And, a few miles around the bend, the 2nd century Roman bridge over the 
Cendere River, a tributary of the Euphrates

Columns on the bridge

Karakus tumulus, across the valley from Nemrut Dagi; here the female royalty 
of the Commagenes were buried; the Romans plundered it for bridge-building 
materials

Eagle column at Karakus

Other columns, Commagene

Reservoir of the Euphrates

So after seeing all these wonderful sites, we were driving along, making good time, 
but dropping down to the level of the reservoir, when we suddenly found ourselves 
in line to get on the ferry; in this part of Turkey, with the various dams and 
reservoirs and hydro-electric projects, lots of roads have been replaced by ferries; 
upon examination, I determined this ferry was too small and that the seamanship

was dubious (they off-loaded and loaded without ever tying up); we decided to 
back-track 50 miles and stay on dry terra firma

Which took us back through Adiyaman (Ithink) and this interesting view of Turkish 
rug cleaning