Guide
Gerger Castle, also known as Berber Castle, stands in the Gerger district of Adıyaman. It was built in the second century BC and still stands, set on a hard mountain of sheer rock, which is much of the reason it has lasted so long. Some accounts hold that it was first made in the Hittite period and that the castle as it stands was founded by Arsames, of the line of the Commagene kings.
The castle lies near the village of Oymaklı, also called Nefsi Gerger, south of the district centre, midway between Beybostan and Oymaklı. The mountain it sits on effectively serves the whole area as a water store: the streams and springs of the region rise from it.
The bridge leading to the entrance on the front of the castle has fallen, which makes getting inside difficult. At the entrance stands a mosque built by the Muslims who took the castle, and old writing and inscribed tablets are found in and around it.
The dungeon is also on the front side. Inscriptions cover its outer face, and they are known to have been written by the Commagenians and the Romans. Inside are roughly made seats, and in one part of the dungeon a tunnel begins. The tunnel narrows as it goes and the air runs out altogether, so researchers have never reached the end of it and what lies there has never been settled. The treasure said to be in the castle is claimed to lie at the end of this tunnel.
On top of the castle are fountains, water cisterns, shops and houses built by Arabs and by Muslim Turks, all of them now past use.
At the back of the castle are reliefs of King Samos, passages, and three windows whose purpose has never been explained. The three windows are cut high up on a sheer, flat face of hard rock, which makes them very hard to reach. They are level with one another and neatly rectangular, and they are thought to open into a room. The guess is that they were placed where nobody could reach them so that the room behind could not be entered during the Muslim raids, and it is claimed that they connect with the tunnel in the dungeon and that the treasure is there.
The castle is built of block stone in two parts, a lower and an upper castle, and a relief of King Samos is set in the western walls.
