In an earlier blog (see: The
powerful goddess Anahita in Persia), I took a closer look at the goddess
Anahita originating in Central Asia and later worshiped throughout Persia to
the end of the Sassanid rule. A few centuries later, the Islam annihilated whatever
was left of the goddess’ rich legacy. Yet her spirit lived on thanks to the
Zoroastrian believers.
The city of Istakhr (also
spelled as Estakr) is to be found five kilometers north of Persepolis
but is rarely visited. It may well have been a suburb of the Achaemenid royal
residences of Persepolis.
Not much remains of this settlement and even less of the once so grand temple. As
early as the 4th century BC, Artaxerxes
II, erected a statue in honor of Anahita or Anaitis as the Greeks called
her, and placed it inside the temple among other goddesses.
Anahita’s best-known temples are those located of
Kangavar,
near ancient Ecbatana,
and at Bishapur.
But the most important sanctuary, however, stood here at Istakhr near Persepolis. Sadly, all that remains of this Temple of Anahita in Istakhr is one
uninspiring column with part of its double-headed bull capital. Many of the
Achaemenid columns were re-used in the construction of an early mosque that
probably replaced the Fire
Temple.
In its heyday, the Achaemenid city of Istakhr was an important starting point on the
ancient caravan route to the Indus Valley, which ran through the Southeastern Provinces
of Sistan and Kandahar.
According to the Arab sources mentioned
hereafter, the temple had been ravaged by the Macedonians. It is possible that
this happened when Alexander’s
soldiers rampaged through the city of Persepolis
(see: Fire
over Persepolis), but that still remains unclear.
During the
Parthian Empire (247 BC–224 AD), the sacred fire of the temple of Anahita
was kept burning.
The Sassanids, who
came to power in 224 AD, rebuilt Istakhr, apparently using much of Persepolis’
rubble. King Ardashir (224-242 AD), promoted the city as his first
capital till it was replaced by Ctesiphon. The
empire’s treasury, however, remained in Istakhr.
The temple survived
for centuries as “the house of Anahid’s fire” and it seems that most, if not
all the Sassanid kings were crowned at this temple.
In 640 AD, Istakhr was attacked by the Arabs. Shiraz was
founded in 684, and eventually replaced Istakhr, whose power was broken.
The Arab traveler, historian and geographer Al-Mas’udi, also known as the Herodotus of the Arabs, visited the temple of Istakhr in the 10th century AD.
He described it with the following words: ”It stood, …, at the foot of a mountain, where
the imprisoned wind made a noise like thunder, night and day’” … “ still
standing, “pillars, made from blocks of astonishing size, surmounted by curious
figures in stone representing horses and other animals, of gigantic shapes and
proportions" (text
copied from the Encyclopaedia
Iranica).
The city of Istakhr was last documented in numismatics with a dinar issued in 1063 AD. Over the course of time, the temple sank into oblivion.
