Relief of Antiochus I and Heracles at Arsameia

A stone relief from Arsameia (Nemrut, Western Armenia) showing King Antiochus I of Commagene (reigned 70 – c. 38 BC) shaking hands with Heracles. The king wears a belted tunic and a cloak and carries a dagger; Heracles holds his club and the skin of the Nemean lion.

Antiochus I belonged to the Armenian Yervanduni (Orontid) dynasty. After the peace treaty with Rome concluded at Artashat in 66 BC, Armenian Kamakh (Commagene) became an independent kingdom, with Antiochus as its king. He was crowned with an Armenian crown handed to him by the “King of Kings” Tigranes II the Great himself.

In 62 BC, by his order, a tomb and a sanctuary surrounded by 8–9-metre statues of Armenian pagan gods were built on Mount Nemrut (2,143 m). The central part of the tomb is a mound of small stones almost 50 m high, with a radius of about 150 m.