Mount Nif, , (elevation: ) is a mountain in the district of

Kemalpaşa Kemalpaşa is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of İzmir Province, Turkey. Its area is 681 km2, and its population is 114,250 (2022). Kemalpaşa town is from the historical and traditional center of İzmir, (Konak, İzmir, Ko ...

, towering over the district center (formerly also called Nif), located immediately to the east of the city of

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

, in western

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 ...

. It was one of the nineteen mountains which carried the name Olympus in ancient times. Mount Nif's mass is a protrusion in western direction of Bozdağlar

mountain chain A mountain chain is a row of high mountain summits, a linear sequence of interconnected or related mountains,Whittow, John (1984). ''Dictionary of Physical Geography''. London: Penguin, p 87. . or a contiguous ridge of mountains within a larger mo ...

, which separates the valleys of the rivers Gediz and Küçük Menderes, two principal flows of the region, and of which the Mount Bozdağ (

Mount Tmolus Mount Tmolus (Ancient Greek: Τμῶλος, modern Bozdağ; highest point: 2,157 m), named after Tmolus, King of Lydia, is in "a mountain range on the south of Sardis, forming the watershed between the basins of the Hermus in the north and the ...

in antiquity), with its elevation exceeding , constitutes the highest peak, as well as being the highest point for the same region of the provinces of İzmir-

Aydın Aydın ( ''EYE-din''; ; formerly named ''Güzelhisar; Greek: Τράλλεις)'' is a city in and the seat of Aydın Province in Turkey's Aegean Region. The city is located at the heart of the lower valley of Büyük Menderes River (ancient ...

Manisa Manisa () is a city in Turkey's Aegean Region and the administrative seat of Manisa Province, lying approximately 40 km northeast of the major city of İzmir. The city forms the urban part of the districts Şehzadeler and Yunusemre, with ...

Uşak Uşak () is a city in the interior part of the Aegean Region of Turkey. It is the seat of Uşak Province and Uşak District.Torbalı Torbalı () is a municipality and district of İzmir Province, Turkey. Its area is 577 km2, and its population is 207,840 (2022). An ancient Ionian city, Metropolis, is found in the district. It was famous for its wines and religious sites, a ...

. Karabel Pass is famous for its Luvian warrior prince monument carved in rock and dated to late-13th century BC, inscribed in the name of

Tarkasnawa Tarkasnawa was ruler of the Kingdom of Mira, and one of the last independent kings of Arzawa, a Bronze Age confederation of kingdoms in western Anatolia. He was probably the son of King Alantalli, and a contemporary of the Hittite king Tudḫali ...

, a younger contemporary and an addressee of the

Hittite King The dating and sequence of Hittite kings is compiled by scholars from fragmentary records, supplemented by the finds in Ḫattuša and other administrative centers of cuneiform tablets and more than 3,500 seal impressions providing the names, tit ...

Tudhaliya IV. A new reading of its relief inscription, which had been known since the 19th century, was made in 1996 and published in 1998. The monument is called "Eti Baba" (''the Hittite father'') locally. A second pass to the north of Mount Nif separates it, or connects it, since it is still at some altitude, from

Mount Sipylus Mount Spil (), the ancient Mount Sipylus () (elevation ), is a mountain rich in legends and history in Manisa Province, Turkey, in what used to be the heartland of the Lydians and what is now Turkey's Aegean Region. Its summit towers over th ...

, at the locality called ''Belkahve''. Belkahve is the principal point of access from the east to İzmir metropolitan area and commands an impressive view of a large part of the city.

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

-İzmir highway, notably, is checked by its sinuous slopes. Mount Nif is sometimes cited as "Kemalpaşa Mountain" in reference to the district center, especially in Turkish sources. But the name "Mount Nif", deriving from " Nymphaion", the name of the region during the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

period when it was an important and imperial center especially at the time of the Nicaean Empire, is the more common appellation in Turkey as well. This is also the case for the principal stream that crosses the district area, the "River Nif" (''Nif Çayı''). The district center and the depending administrative area almost invariably go by the name of "Kemalpaşa", with the former name used very rarely nowadays and only colloquially.

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* * * {{Mountains of Turkey Nif Landforms of İzmir Province

See also

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