Anahita Temple - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Anahita Temple is the name of one of two archaeological sites in Iran popularly thought to have been attributed to the ancient deity Anahita

Anahita

Anahita is the Old Persian form of the name of an Iranian goddess and appears in complete and earlier form as ' ; the Avestan language name of an Indo-Iranian cosmological figure venerated as the divinity of 'the Waters' and hence associated with fertility, healing and wisdom...

. The larger and more widely known of the two is located at Kangāvar in Kermanshah Province

Kermanshah Province

Kermanshah Province is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. The province was known from 1969 to 1986 as Kermanshahan and from 1986 to 1995 as Bakhtaran.-Counties:...

. The other is located at Bishapur

Bishapur

thumb|Irano-Roman floor mosaic detail from the palace of [[Shapur I]] at BishapurBishapur is an ancient city situated south of modern Faliyan, Iran on the ancient road between Persis and Elam. The road linked the Sassanid capitals Istakhr and Ctesiphon...

.

The remains at Kangavar reveal an edifice that is Hellenistic in character, and yet display Persian architectural designs. The plinth

Plinth

In architecture, a plinth is the base or platform upon which a column, pedestal, statue, monument or structure rests. Gottfried Semper's The Four Elements of Architecture posited that the plinth, the hearth, the roof, and the wall make up all of architectural theory. The plinth usually rests...

's enormous dimensions for example, which measure just over 200m on a side, and its megalithic foundations, which echo Achaemenid stone platforms, "constitute Persian elements". This is thought to be corroborated by the "two lateral stairways that ascend the massive stone platform recalling Achaemenid traditions", particularly that of the Apadana Palace at Persepolis.

Another Iranian construction with Hellenistic characteristics is the Khurra mausoleum in Markazi Province

Markazi Province

Markazi Province is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. The word markazi means central in Persian. Markazi lies in western Iran. Its capital is Arak. Its population is estimated at 1.35 million...

Dispute on identity

Dispute exists among scholars on the correct identity of the main structure at the site. The Encyclopædia Iranica
Encyclopædia Iranica
Encyclopædia Iranica is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times...

in this regard concludes:

"Until detailed further excavations are carried out, no definite judgments may be declared on the function of Kangavar platform"

Excavation first began in 1968, by which time the "large structure with its great Ionic columns

Ionic order

The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...

set on a high stone platform" had been associated with a comment by Isidore of Charax

Isidore of Charax

Isidorus Characenus , commonly translated Isidore of Charax, was a geographer of the 1st century BC/1st century AD about whom nothing is known but his name and that he wrote at least one work....

, that refers to a "temple of Artemis" (Parthian Stations 6). References to Artemis in Iran are generally interpreted to be references to Anahita

Anahita

, and thus Isidore's "temple of Artemis" came to be understood as a reference to a temple of Anahita.

Consequently, it has been commonly believed that the site was a "columnar temple dedicated to Anahit

Anahita

." Karim Pirnia

Karim Pirnia

Mohammad Karim Pirnia was a prominent architectural historian and architect.Born in Naeen, Iran, he studied at what came to be Tehran University School of Fine Arts....

, one of the proponents of this theory, believes that the construction belongs to the Parthian style of Iranian architecture

Parthian style (Iranian architecture)

The "Parthian style" is a style of historical Iranian architecture.This style of architecture includes designs from the Seleucid, Parthian, and Sassanid eras, reaching its apex of development by the Sassanid period....

which underwent renovations in the Sassanid period. Warwick Ball

Warwick Ball

Warwick Ball is an Australian born Near Eastern archeologist.In the past 30 years, Ball has mainly excavated in Jordan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan.Ball was formerly director of excavations at The British School of Archaeology in Iraq....

considers the structure "one of the greatest works of Parthian architecture" which has an "eastern Roman Temple form", with the architectural emphasis being on the temenos

Temenos

Temenos is a piece of land cut off and assigned as an official domain, especially to kings and chiefs, or a piece of land marked off from common uses and dedicated to a god, a sanctuary, holy grove or holy precinct: The Pythian race-course is called a temenos, the sacred valley of the Nile is the ...

. As with Arthur Upham Pope (1965, 1971), Ball (2001) also agrees that the temple architecturally "recalls Achaemenid traditions". These and a number of other scholars continue to examine the site as being possibly attributed to the deity Anahita

Anahita

.

In 1981, a report by an excavator of the site, Massoud Azarnoush

Massoud Azarnoush

Massoud Azarnoush was an Iranian archaeologist.He was born in Kermanshah. He received his MA from the department of archaeology at University of Tehran in 1972 and his PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1985...

however contended that the construction "did not have the necessary characteristics that could identify it as a temple". Ali Akbar Sarfaraz, former head of the archaeology team of the Tehran University, shares this opinion. The popular theory held by this group is that the ruin is of a "late Sasanian palace."

Finally, a third group contends that the site was originally constructed in the Achaemenid period, and underwent several phases of construction. Of this group, one can mention archeologist S. Kambakhsh Fard.

Dispute on date of construction

Originally, 200 BCE was proposed as the date of the site's construction. "Under the Parthia

Parthia

Parthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire....

ns any observable western influence can just as well be a survival from the Hellenistic period, which is why the monument at Kangāvar was once acceptably dated as early Parthian while recent investigations proved it to be late Sasanian."

In this regard, Warwick Ball however states:

"Earlier studies favored a Seleucid date, with some suggesting an Achaemenid date for the platform. A date in the Parthian period has since been more generally favoured on stylistic grounds, but recent excavations found evidence for major Sassanian construction. However the colonnaded temenos

Temenos

is different in almost every respect to Sassanian architecture. Probably, the temple

Temple

A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...

underwent numerous major reconstruction periods, with perhaps a 2nd century AD date for the colonnaded temenos, and major Sassanian reconstruction of the sanctuary building inside."

Anahita Temple at Bishapur

The Temple of Anahita at Bishapur

Bishapur

, "was probably built by Roman prisoners, is well masoned of ashlar blocked walls, and with trapezoid shaped doorways."

External links

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Dispute on identity

Dispute on date of construction

Anahita Temple at Bishapur

Further reading

External links