On the road between Geghard and Yerevan, Garni is the site of a temple to the Roman god Mithras. In the first century AD, Nero sent money and slaves to build the temple, as a tribute to the Armenian King Tiridates for his support in fighting off the Parthians. During the centuries following the conversion of the kings of Armenia to Christianity, the temple served as a royal summer palace. Repeated earthquakes have destroyed most of the original structure, but the temple’s vertiginous position, dominating the valley from a plateau 300m (984ft) above the Azat River, is breathtakingly beautiful. A ruined ninth-century church stands near the restored temple, and a Roman bathhouse has recently been excavated, revealing a well-preserved mosaic floor. It stands, as it did two millennia earlier, adorned by two dozen ionic columns.