New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-09-04
LIGHT ON RUINED SHRINE
ashes of Persian Temple Inspire
Nee YORKER to Make Discovery.
written for Tribune by Professor A. v Williams
jackson. Columbia University


,re the words that rang daily from the lips of
lac Magian priests nearly three thousand years
ago, as they chanted the praise OF fire and glori-
fed their god Ahura Mazda, in psalms from the
Avesta of Zoroaster, the prophet of ancient
Iran. The Arab conquest OF Persia, however, IN
the seventh century of our era, and the suhse-
quent Mahometan rule stamped out the old
faith and introduced the newer creed OF Islam.
The hymn silenced the fire was Quenched,
and only the dying note of the psalm fingered
on the lips Of the band Of ou.lawed men wrong
ly called Ghebers Qnfdels).
Herodotus says that the ancient Persans sac
riiced on the tops OF high mountains but that
they had no temples and 1T IS generally believed
that temples were first introduced into Persia
about the time of the AchRmenan King Artax-
erxes IOngmanus, B. c. 450. who is mentioned
in the Bible. It is true that the early Persians
did not have sanCtuaries which the Greeks would
call temples but they did have shTnes in which
to preserve the holy fire of their faith and they
were dedicated to some angel or divinity. The
ruins of one of these edifices crowns high hill
near Isfahan, known Kuh-i-Atash Kadah or
Atash Cab CMountain of the Fire Temple or
Altar of fire.. The caravan route to the city
passes beneath its base. and one day in April
Il year ago 1 assembled the height to examine thu
ruin and survey the fine view from the summit
After a steep climb I reached the top and
found there the remains of a small building con-
structed OF clay and OF immrnse sun-dried
bricks, with eight doors looking out toward ths
different quarters OF the horizon The shrine
itself is about fifteen feet high circular In form
and OF good proportions The domed roof has
fallen in and signs OF destruction and decay ars
visible everywhere No panels of stone longer
cover the columns. no marble wainscodng nor
colored tiles grace the walls. There is not
vestige of an inscription to determine to whom
# might have been dedicated The shabby walls
I found scrawled with modern Persian writing.
for the Orlentals, like some of their cousins In
the West. have fondness for inscribing their
names in prominent places. Some ashes could
be where the altar once had stood but
ruin and desolation relgned everywhere and
the hand OF destruction had been laid with equal
heaviness upon the crumbling halls and falling
chambers OF the temple buildings that adjoined
the shrine.
The question arose In my mind. Can we iden-
tify this temple or discover its name1 Some
travellers who have seen It state that Il dates
back to the time of Artaxerxes Irongimanus, and
repeat tradition that Darius I'LL the last of the
Ach8menian line watched from this shrine
crowned height the utter defeat OF his army in
the plain below by Alexander the Great. Such
traditions point to the antiquity OF the site at
least, but 1 am now able to add something more
Cennte 10 our knowledge or She sacred precinct
by quoting a passage which 1 discovered In the
Arabic author MaSudL Writing In A. d. 943
Masudi enumerates the names of seven temples
which originally devoted to the worship of
idols. zone of these" he adds, "is on the sum
NIT OF n mountain called Maras, or Mars near
lsfahan. When Zoroasters patron. King Gush-
tasp, adopted the religion OF the Magi he re-
moved the idols which were In the temple and
converted 1t into shrine of fire. 1t Is three
leagues from Isfahan and is still held In great
reverence by the Magt"
This is the temple I have described, and
MasudiS statement associates It directly with
the name Of King Gushtasp. Hystaspes who
hourished about B. C. GOO. Although the re-
by several centuries. the site of the temple is
carried back by this quotation to the time of
Vishtaspa and Zoroaster as founder of the
Magian faith. The name OF this hill or sanct-
uary. Marash. Maras Mars (Which strangely
though impossibly. resembles the Mars of my
thoiogy) have not been able to find in Zoroas-
trian literature the title of divinity or a
designation of fire, but the spelling in the text
may be corrupt NevertheleSn. ii Is something
TO have contributed to knowledge of the
Atash Cab Isfahan by drawing attention
to this passage. which vouches long ago for
the antiquity of the shrine which 1t names even
If we cannot be certain of the exact reading and
Interpretation of that name, and must content
ourselves for the moment with calling the tenn