14e July 109 B.C. at 7:35 pm

The 14th of July is mentioned in the inscriptions as the day of the coronation. This particular day was chartered and chosen long before as being the right day for the coronation of Mithradates. That day the King and his court assembled on top of the Nemrud. If you had been a noble of Kommagene, you could have seen how Mithradates ans his father King Samos II were standing at the West Terrace and watched the sunset.

In the rapidly fading sunlight, they saw the fine silver crescent of the moon and immediately above it, the bright shining of the star Regulus. Regulus, the star of the king, shining above the moon, the land of Kommagene. Is there a more beautiful symbol?

Also you could see Jupiter, Mercury and finally Mars, the red planet. On the nights before, everyone in Kommagene had followed their path through the heavens. The people had watched how the planets passed the royal star Regulus.

One after another, Jupiter on June 18, Mars June 21 and Mercury on July 6, they passed Regulus from above. It seemed to the Kommagenians as if the gods came to visit their new king.

Before the last gleam of sunlight had died away, it was time for the moon to set. Followed by Regulus, the moon sank behind the Taurus range. Only the gods stayed in the sky and watched when Samos gave his son the Diadem. This was the end of the ceremony. Kommagene had a new king, Mithradates I Kallinikos, a child of the gods, a blessing to his people!

To commemorate his coronation, Mithradates had sculptured the Lion Horoscope and the four slabs, on which he welcomes the gods. The five slabs are flanked on both sides by an eagle and a lion.

Antiochos, the son of King Mithradates, constructed the statues of the gods identical to the slabs of his father. These statues are Apollo, the Goddess of Kommagene, Zeus and Herakles. He flanked the five colossi also with an eagle and a lion. They are only much bigger as those of his father. As Antiochos said : "I was determined to leave behind all the sanctuaries of my ancestors bigger and more beautiful". And so he did.