Atashgah
The Atashgah of Isfahan is a
Sassanid-era archaeological complex
located on a hill of the same name about
eight kilometers west of city center of
Isfahan,
Iran.The hill, which rises about 210
meters above the surrounding plain, was
previously called Maras or Marabin after
a village near there, and it is by that
name that the site is referred to by
Arab historians.
One part of the
complex, on the southern flank of the
hill , are the remains of a citadel of
about twenty buildings (or rooms within
buildings), many of which—particularly
those in the lower half of cluster—are
however only evident as foundation
traces. Several buildings in the cluster
have a classic char taq "four
arch" floor-plan, characteristic of
Zoroastrian fire-temples of the 3rd
century onwards and that are the actual
atashgahs that housed sacred
fires. Other buildings include what may
have been storage rooms and living
quarters for priests and affluent
pilgrims. A tentative identification of
the purpose of the ruins was first made
in 1937 by Andre Godard, but it was not
until until 1960, when architect Maxine
Siroux made the first drawings, that the
site could be properly studied. Godard's
identifications were subsequently
confirmed by Klaus Schippman in 1971.
