8.

No2,2014
BULLETIN OF THE GEORGIAN NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES , vols. 8, no. 2, 2014

Operation of Bishapur Anahita Temple- Without Any

Ceiling
Mehrdad Javidinejad
*

Department of Architecture, Faculty Member, Islamic Azad University Central Tehran Branch,Iran

ABSTRACT- According to this research, Bishapur Anhit temple had windows, and contrary to the
assertions of the excavator of the temple who states that it had been open and without any ceiling, the whole
or at least half of the temple had had a ceiling and it seems that it had had a flat roof and the timbers of the
arch had been being put on the bull shaped sculptures. It seems that probably the name of the two fire
temples called Sheberkhashin and Gavsar Gumbaz, which had been mentioned by the very first Muslim
authors, are in fact, the name of the two large buildings of the Bishapour city, respectively called building A
and building B. It has been deduced that at the beginning of the Sassanid era, the two elements of water and
fire were being worshipped adjacently (like Sorkh Kotal) or in adjacent buildings (like buildings A and B).
Beside this element, the corridor (circumambulation corridor),which surrounds the hall or the main court of
Anahita temple, is not merely functioning as the divider of the sacred places from the unclean; probably, the
corridor used to emphasize that the building was a private one and was to divide the private buildings from
the public ones. Subsequently, due to the more common usage of the construction of Chrtghi or the
buildings with a cruciform plan, running from the fourth century onwards, the corridor loses its religious
function and mostly turns into a ceremonial place. Regarding the function of the Anahita Temple, it can be
stated that just on certain days of the year the water used to flow in its ducts. This building was dependent on
the two elements of fire and water and the celebrations associated with these two. Due to the proximity of the
Deity of Tir to Anahita and based on other certain documents, it can be mentioned that one of the grand
celebrations that used to take place every year was the Tirgn celebration. 2014 Bull. Georg. Natl.Acad. Sci.

Key words: Bishpour, Anhit Temple, Gvsar Gumbaz, corridor, Tirgn celebration

In the first half century of Sassanid era, in other words in the reign of Ardeshir and Shapur the first, some events
occurred which led to
major changes in the religious, economic and social structure of Iran.
One of the most important religious buildings of this era was a temple known as Anahita temple of Bishapour. It
located in Pars province of Iran. Roman Ghirshman made a brief excavation there between 1935 and 1941 1, and
managed to provide a proper but not complete map of it. Sarfarz made excavation in this temple between1968 to
19742 and unveiled the southern half of the temple which had been covered by detritus. Sarfaraz believes that this
temple had been an open one, with no ceiling and had been made to worship Anahita Deity. (Sarfaraz,1970: 9). The
final report of the excavation of Sarfaraz has not been published yet and the only accurate and worthy description
today is the study done by Mohsen Mansuri Fard with the assistance of Mr. Mohammad Mehryr3.
This paper is to give answers to some questions such as what the function of Building A of Bishapour (Anahita
temple) is and why half of the building was made underground? Why were the water ducts made and what were
1

-Ghirshman,1956: 3-6
-Mehryar , 1999 : 13
- Mansouri Fard , 2007: 615-561.

2
3

2014 Bull. Georg. Natl. Acad. Sci.

Operation of Bishapur Anahita Temple

475

their functions? What was the purpose of the adjacency of this building to Building B (Audience Hall) and whether
they have any link? Were there a certain place to worship fire in this place and why was the name Azar (Athur)
Anhit been used in the inscriptions of Kabe-Zartosht?
The method of this study was studying in the library, together with visiting or doing a survey on the monument. On
the whole, the effort has been made to give a brief description of each and every architectural elements of the
building and to interpret the elements to come into a thorough deduction of the function of the building by a
meticulous study of the architectural elements of it and by relying on the present documents.
1 Bishapur City: Bishapur city consists of two districts, royal district is situated in the East and a public one in
the West. The public district of the city was made based on a Hippodamic plan (crossing and parallel streets) with
the dimension of 12 km4 and with the direction of northeast - southwest on the southern shore of Shapur river. In
the East or the North East of the city, the Imperial district is located with the dimension of 400 500 m and the
large royal buildings are located there. Building A (Anahita temple), Building B (Palace A or the Audience Hall),
Mosaic
Ivan,
palace
B
(Valerian
Palace),
etc.
Are
all
located
in
this
district.
2 - A Brief Description of the Structure of Building A (Anahita Temple)
Building A of Bishapur is in the northwest side of Building B (The Audience Hall) and is located in the royal
district of the city. This building is directed to the northwest - southeast and its square plan is with the dimensions of
1414
m.
The entrance of the building is through a staircase on the southeastern side. The bull shaped sculptures are on the top
of the Northwest side. The four sides of the building are surrounded by four corridors in which water ducts can be
seen. This building is 14.metrs high and almost half of it is dug into the ground. The Interior and exterior of the
walls of the temple were constructed using huge masonry dressed stones linked by dovetail joint.
The Hall or the Central Courtyard: The cubical central space of the inside contains a wall with the height of 10.7
m to below of the bull shaped sculptures. In the middle of the courtyard, there is a large sunken cube with the depth
of 27 cm and with the dimension of 8 8 m, that had been a pool and water ducts were linked to it in three directions
(Mansuri Fard , 2007: 586).
Windows: Morier two visits of Bishapour in 1809 and 1811. In his design of the temple four bull shaped
sculptures can be seen. Underneath the third and the fourth bull shaped sculptures on the northwest side of the
building, a window is drawn.
Around AD 1841, Coste and Flandin5 of visited Bishapour and drew a design of the building of Anahita
Temple;(see: pic1) in this design, the real image of the building window is apparent and drawn to scale but at the
time that these two travelers were visiting the building, one of the bull shaped sculptures had fallen and most of the
window had been destroyed (see: pic2).
Window blocks: a few stones had been found around the building which are arc-shaped and two pieces of them
have been considered as window stones.
Corridors : Four corridors with a serving function have surrounded the central space of the temple. The southeast
corridor is the link to the other three corridors and is narrower than the other three and it contains stairs which pass
through the middle of it.
The three corridors of the other side, unlike the corridor of the entrance (southwest) side, are wide and linked to the
water utilities of the central waterfront (Basin). The average width of the corridors in all the points is approximately
143 cm . The northeast and northwest corridors of the three mentioned corridors had been specifically used for water
entry and the southwest corridor had been exclusively utilized for the exit of water. (Mansouri Fard, 2007: 599).
Fire Altar: Ghirshman publishes the image of a fire altar and says that: " It had been found in a building of the
Islamic era near a temple and it seems to belong to that temple." (Ghirshman, 1962: 150).
Antiquity of Anahita Temple
As a whole, there are two points of views regarding the antiquity of Anahita temple.
A) .Some scholars6 believe that Anahita temple was built after AD 260. Anahita temple was built after the war with
Valerian and the captivity and resettlement of a large numbers of troops and Roman architects in Bishapour. They
suppose that using dressed stones7 in the building can be associated with the settlement of the Roman captives after
AD 260.

4
5

- Sarfaraz, 1976 : 3-2

-Flandin,E and Coste,P. 1840-41

-Sarfarz believes that Bishapour was built in AD 266.(Sarfaraz,1969:178).

- Dressed stone blocks were used very limited in the early Sassanid buildings such as Takht Neshin (Tarbal) in Firuzabad, Bishapour Temple, and Paykuli, and late
Sassanid architects had made use of dressed stones for walling the buildings such as Kangavar and Takht-e- Soleiman (Azarnoush, 2001:277).
7

Bull. Georg. Natl. Acad. Sci., vols 8, no. 2, 2014

476

Mehrdad Javidinejad

B) Another group of researchers believe that Anahita temple was built before the war of Shaper I with Valerian, also
even before writing the inscription of Abarsam, the mayor of Bishapour, on the double columns of Bishapour city.
According to this point of view, some reports (such as Ibn Qotaybeh ) have pointed out that even in time of
Ardashir I, in Mesopotamia and Syria battles, large number of captured Romans were used in the construction
process. (Oates, 1968:74-75). Lionel Bier believes that Anahita building could be older than the time of Shapur I
(Callieri, 2007:507).
Ghirshman supposes that the construction of Bishapour had started in the early reign of Shapur in AD 244 and he
gives no precise idea about the construction date of the temple. However, he believes that Anahita temple (Building
A) was being constructed simultaneously at the time that the Audience hall (Building B) was being made
(Ghirshman.1971:36).
Previous Research of Anahita Temple:
Descriptive reports about Bishapour can be divided into three categories:
A) The Eastern Authors: the most accurate observations were recorded by Maghdasi 8, Istakhri 9and Ibn-e Hawqal10
in the 10th century AD. From the 11th century AD, this city was not thriving any more and it turned in to a sparsely
populated rural area and was almost deserted. After the 12th century, authors' reports were altered and combined
with mythic narratives. The most famous of these resources are Ibn Balkhi's Farsnameh 11 , Mostofi12 and Haji Mirza
Hassan Shirazi (Forsatoddoleh) in Farsnameh book.
B) The Western Travelers: the first Western traveler who visited Bishapour and gave an illustrated report of it was
called Morier13. His two visits of the place were in 1809 and 1811. In his design of the temple four bull shaped
sculptures can be seen (Morier, 1812:375).Nearly 30 years later, two French travelers named Flandin and Coste
visited Bishapour and drew a detailed design of the building to scale. In their design, three bull shaped sculptures
and a window below them can be seen. The window is 1 m wide and has a curved arc.
C) Archaeological Reports: The first researchers who described Bishapour city and its works were Herzfeld and
Sare who introduced the city very well and mentioned the names of all travelers who had visited there (Sare and
Herzfeld, 1910:213) .The first archeological survey in Bishapour was done by Tamara Talbot Rice in 1931. This
survey led to the provision of topography of Bishapour city and finding the location of its works. He had drawn a
simple plan of Anahita temple with two bull shaped sculptures on top of the northeast wall (Rice, 1935: 17).
The first scientific archaeological excavation in Bishapour and Anahita temple was done by Georges Salles from
1934; later, Ghirshman joined Salles team and was officially in charge of the excavation from 1938 to 1941 (see:pic
3). She had written that the temple excavations were being done from 1935 to 1940 and in 1940 the process of
excavating the Temple (Anahita) was over (Ghirshman, 1956:3-6).
Ghirshman stopped the excavation in Bishapour in 1941 and went to Kabul to see Joseph Hackin. There, they place
the works obtained from the excavations in the House of committee and surround it with walls. But after leaving the
House, the villagers rushed to the place and left it destroyed and looted. Many of the obtained mosaics and even the
beautiful pieces of dressed stones obtained from the Fire Temple [Building A] or Palace B [Valerian Palace] were
smashed or taken for the construction of one the Ghashghi nomad's Khans' house. (Ghirshman,1971: 6). However,
until 1941, the time that the House was looted, merely the space around the building, double columns of Bishapour,
a small part of palace A, the fire temple [Anahita Temple] and palace B [Valerian palace] were excavated "
(Ghirshman,1971:4- 6).
The second phase of archaeological operation of Bishapour was done from 1968 to 1974 and was led by Ali Akbar
Sarfaraz (Mehryar, 1999: 13). During the excavations of Safaraz, Anahita temple was thoroughly excavated.
Among the researches done on Bishapour, Lionel Bier survey on Palace B (Valerian palace) can be mentioned (see:
pic.4 and 5).
Conclusion
In this study, the results have been presented in a question and answer format. The first question is: Whether the
building A of Bishapour (Anahita temple) has any roof or not? In response to this question, it has to be stated that
based on the reports of the authors and excavators, we can come to the conclusion that the building known as
8

Maghdasi , 1361 : 372-3/ Ghirshman,1956:16-9.

Istakhri provides us with some partial information about the situation of Bishapour city in the10th century. He says that it has four gates with Sassanid names ( Dar-e
Hormozd , Dar-e Mehr, Dar-e Bahram and Dar-e Shahr [ Shahrivar ]and it has a single hill with bumps that looks like a towers or a dome(Istakhri,1989:132). He also
names two significant fire temples of Bishapour city , called Sheberkhashin and Gombaz Gavsar at the gates of Shapur (Ibn Hawqal has recorded it as Bashrkheshin ,
refer to : Ibn Hawqal,1966:34).
10
Ibn Hawqal, 1966: 34/ Ghirshman,1956:15.
11
- Refer to Ibn Balkhi , 1983 /Ghirshman,1956:19 .
12
- Refer to Mostofi , 1977 / Ghirshman,1956:19.
13
-Morier, 1812:375.
9

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Operation of Bishapur Anahita Temple

477

Bishapour Anahita temple had a complete window with four bull shaped sculptures on top of the northwest side of
the wall at the time of Morier's14 visit; about 30 years later, the time that Flandin and Coste 15 visited the temple, one
of the bull shaped sculptures had fallen and part of the window had been destroyed, but as it can be seen in the
pictures of these two artists, the arc of the window was utterly visible. Almost 80 years later, when Rice 16 was doing
a research on the city, just two bull shaped sculptures were remained in their place. In the initial reports of
Ghirshman, regarding the window, nothing was pointed out.
Apparently, at the beginning of Ghirshman excavation, the arc of the window had collapsed and just the lower frame
of the window was remained. Sarfaraz excavation is the continuance of Ghirshman's. Once again without
considering the window, in this process, some repair was done in the building that led to the partial faintness of the
window traces. In the accurate report and study of Mansouri Fard 17 and Mohammad Mehryar, some traces relevant
to the stones of the window and its arc were found near the building and some traces of the frame stone of the lower
body was also found in its place and in what we call Wall at present. According to the identified documents
regarding the existence of a window in the building, it is proven that the building which had a window could not be
open or roof less. Therefore, The whole Anahita temple or at least half of it had been roofed and since the upper
surface of the bull shaped sculptures is flat and on the sides of it there are pieces of mortar, it can be stated that the
roof of the temple had been probably flat and had been roofed by timbers that used to cover the bull shaped.
The Statues of bull on top of the wall where the timbers of the roof where placed on it, had been used since the
Achaemenid period at Perspolis, until post Achaemenid and during the Parthian period the head of the bull shaped
sticking to the wall of the entrance door of the Great Temple of Hatra. (Ward-Perkins, 1965, plate: LV, a).
The other question is regarding the function of the building, whether this building was a temple? If the building was
a temple it was made to worship which Deity? Whats the importance of the corridor in this building? Richard.
N.Frye believes that building A was a bathroom or it had been made following the Roman style Mithraeum (Frye,
1972).The first excavator of Anahita temple, R.Ghirshman, emphasizes in his initial report that building A was a
Fire Temple, but in his last notes, the time that his library studies were being completed and he was writing the
books: Bishapour18 and Iran: Parths et Sasanides19, he had changed his mind and believed that building A was
probably dedicated to Anahita, the Deity of water and fertility, whose worship was accompanied by worshiping the
fire (Ghirshman, 1962: 149). In the late Parthian and early Sassanid, worshiping fire and worshiping water used to
be accompanied. There are several evidences regarding this issue. The first , There is a Fire Temple called Azar
Anhit20 that it mentioned in the inscriptions of Kabe Zartosht and in the early Islamic sources such as Tabari and
others, according this sources ,religious buildings of early Sassanid were introduced with the name of Azar Anahita
can represent the semantic resolution of Anahita and Azar Anahita. Second, in Sorkh Kotal temple an inscription has
been found that refers to the fire worship accompanied by worshiping the running water (Rosenfeild,1967: 158).
Based on this evidence, in Sorkh Kotal, worshiping fire and water was dependent on the existence of both of these
two elements. On the other hand, other evidences indicate that at least since the early Sassanid until the MidSassanid wherever there was a Fire Temple, a water temple or an Anahita temple used to be constructed adjacently.
It seems that contrary to Sorkh Kotal where worshipping both fire and water was done in one place, in Iran and in its
western regions, worshipping fire and water was done in separate but adjacent places. For instance, in Haji Abad,
Azarnoush has introduced room 114 Haji Abad as Anahita temple and room 104, which has a cruciform plan, as the
Fire Temple (Azarnoush, 1994:91). Furthermore, He believes that the 4th and 5th structures of Al-Ma'arid IV (late
Sassanid) have
the function of Anahita temple and the Fire Temple. (Azarnoush,1994 :91).
On the other hand, the researchers following Ghirshman, have been looking for a fire Temple adjacent to a water
temple or Anahita temple in the Sassanid buildings. At present, the researchers have introduced places called fire
temple and Anahita temple adjacent to each other in at least six places named Haji Abad, Takht-e Soleiman,
Bandian, Al-Ma'arid , Delverzine , and Bishapour. For instance, regarding Takht-e-Soleiman complex, at first,
Vonder Osten considers Room B as the Anahita temple 21 but later introduces it as the Fire Temple 22. Subsequently,

14

-Morier, 1812:375
- Flandin and Coste, 1840-1941
- Rice, 1935:17
17
- Mansouri Fard,2007: 561-615
18
- Ghirshman, 1956.
19
-Ghirshman,1962.
20
- In the rows 23 and 24 of Kabe Zartosht inscription, it is written that "... for the remission of mind, a fire, known as Azar is set (Akbarzadeh and Tavoosi, 2006:
45/Huys, 1999). Also, in another inscriptions in Sarmashhad written by Kertir, it is mentioned that "... he commanded me to go to the Istakhr, to the fire temple of
Anahid-Ardeshir " (Akbarzadeh and Tavoosi, 2006: 45/Huys,1999). Also, the name of one of the Shapur's daughters is also Azar Anahita which had been
mentioned in Kabe Zartosht inscriptions.
21
- Naumann,1961:60
22
- Naumann,1977:51
15
16

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478

Mehrdad Javidinejad

Sarfaraz attributes room E 23 of Takht-e Soleiman complex and following him, Azarnoush attributes PB, the column
containing Hall of Takht-e-Soleiman complex, to Anahita temple(Azarnoush,1987: 391-402). Recently, many
researchers like Azarnoush24 and D.Huff25 believe that Building A of Bishapour was the Anahita temple and
Building B (Audience Hall) was the fire temple. Another example is the space A of Bandian Dargaz in Khorasan
that the excavator of the building, Mahdi Rahbar, introduces it as the gathering place of Fire Temple D pilgrims
(Rahbar,1998:240). But due to some reasons, such as the fact that Hall A had columns and the stucco ornaments of
the hall shows a woman who is pouring water, Azarnoush calls this space the Anahita temple (Azarnoush, 1987:812). It should be added that Room 114 of Haji Abad in Fars is a square shaped one containing stucco ornaments, and
on its niches, the sculpture of some standing veiled women having normal figures were placed. (Azarnoush,
1987:81-2). This group of scholars considers the existence of several elements such as an overall corridor, cruciform
plan and finding a Fire Altar in the vicinity of it, as the reason of this attribution. The author admits some of the
mentioned reasons. However, he believes that although building B (known as the Audience Hall) of Bishapour had a
cruciform plan and a corridor surrounding it and even a Fire Altar had been found in, but its large dimensions and
impressive stucco ornaments imply that It seems the building had been a palace temple. In other words, in one part
of the building the sacred fire was being worshiped and the rest of the building space was being used for official and
royal services. Some of the recent evidences indicate that, it can be stated that some recent evidence indicates that
the corridor has its origins in the Iron Age of Central Asia area. It identified a corridor In the fire temple of
Djarkutan in Bactria , late second millennium BC. (Alison et al,2007: 447). But the exact sequence and evolution of
it have not been achieved. Some researchers have found its sequence in Iran and believe that the main sources of the
corridor are "Techar Palace, and Hadish of Persepolis and say that these closed spaces which look like rooms around
the main hall of the building, can make the building either exclusive or sacred(Colledge,1977:63/
Stronach,1985:612). In the next centuries, Helenistic period, these surrounding rooms in exclusive or religious
buildings altered into a corridor around cella or the central holy place." Here, it is believed that a corridor around the
central room indicates that it was special or exclusive but it cannot be said with certainty that the corridor
emphasizes the sanctity of the building because the corridor might have been the element that separates the
Andaroni ( interior space) from the Bironi(exterior space) and the existence of corridor emphasizes that the building
is private not public , Consequently if we suppose that the origin of the corridor in the buildings was Techar Palace
of Perspolis complex(Colledge, 1977:63 / Stronach, 1985:612), the point would be that in Achaemenid period the
corridor used to emphasize on the privatized of the building , but after the fall of the Achaemenid and in the
Hellenistic period, the existence of corridor represented the sacred of the central room and was considered as one of
the key elements of the religious buildings of that period. This paper has concluded that with the emergence of
Kartir (with some religious reformations) and subsequently the emergence of Atur Amharspandn in the reign of
Shapur II, some fundamental changes had taken place in Iran's religious buildings. In the reign of Shapur II and in
the subsequent periods, the construction of Chartghi functioning as the fire temple came into circulation. The
element of corridor, which was the basic and the key element of the religious buildings prior to the reign of Shapur
II, was either eliminated or used as a ceremonial (not religious) element. But it does not mean that all four sides of
the fire temple room or Chartghi were leading directly to the outdoors since still there were rooms or small spaces
(which sometimes could look like a corridor) surrounding the Fire Temple. For instance, you can regarded to the
plan of Mil Mele Gah26, Bandin27, Mele Haram28 , etc. Fire temples, which were made after the 4 th century AD
About this matter that what is should Anahita temple located adjacent to the Fire Temple? It should be mentioned
that after Shapur II, this approach could still be seen but with some differences. The Fire Temples were classified
into three categories having three different kinds of fire: Dadgh fire 29 (Home Fire), Aduran Fire (Local or
Municipal Fire), Bahrm Fire (State or Royal Fire)30. Here, water flow and worshiping the water were having
various forms. After the 4th century AD , similar to the early Sassanid buildings ( for example : Bishapour, Sorkh
Kotal) there was no need to build an exclusive temple containing various ducts. This actually depended on the
significance of fire; the more important the fire was (rating the Royal Fire), the more apparent was the need to water
flow. However, unlike the past, it was no longer needed to make an exclusive building adjacent to the Fire Temple
containing ducts. In this period (after the 4th century AD) building a Fire Temple adjacent to a spring or a lake was
23

-Sarfaraz,1968:91
- Azarnoush,1994:91
-D. Huff believes that building B was a fire temple and he mentions there was a deep niche in front of central room in where a fire temple flamed (Huff, 1993:5354,fig.31).
26
-Moradi,2009:179
27
- Rahbar,1998:240
28
-Kaim,2004:325
29
- Boyce,2001:110.
30
- Boyce,2001:64-5.
24
25

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Operation of Bishapur Anahita Temple

479

considered sufficient and there was no longer needed to build an exclusive temple.
The next question is about what activities or rituals, and on which days of the year were being done in Bishapour
Anahita temple? According to the features of Building A of Bishapour, such as being half underground and
containing water flow , it can be stated that: This building was not being used the whole year, and in a special
ceremony water was let to flow in the ducts and was activated. These ceremonies depended on the two elements of
fire and water and the festivities associated with these two. The ceremonies associated with fire, at present, we know
about at least two great celebrations called Sadeh, but we do not know what other significant royal activities needed
celebrations to be held? It can probably be stated that whenever a blessed event occurred for the King, or king was
fighting a battle, it was needed to set fire and hold a celebration in the Temple. About festivities associated with
water, There were two celebrations that can be named Tirgn 31 and Abngn. Due to the significance of the deity of
Tir in early Sassanid, the author believes that one of the most important celebrations which was being held in
Anahita temple, was Tirgan celebration. The celebration was held on 13 Tir month of solar Persian, equals of 4 th
July with and the cultural residues of this celebration after the Islamic era, can be seen in Abrizn 32 celebration of
people of Isfahan.
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18. -Ghirshman, Roman. 1936.Chapour, Rapport preliminaire de la premiere champagne de fouilles (Automne 1935Printemps 1936) .Revue des Arts Asiatiques .Tome X.Numero: III . Paris.117-122.
19. -Ibn Balkhi.1983. Frsnmeh-e Ibn Balkhi(in Persian).ed. G. Le Strange and R. A. Nicholson. Press by Donyye
Ketab.Tehran.

31

- Tirgan celebration was considered as one of the major celebrations of ancient Iran, due to the fact that it was not only religious but also national and it also
contained a lot of beliefs about water, rain, and Iranian agricultural economy and it was held having a lot of customs and rituals and it is still being held by
Zoroastrians and Armenians of Iran . Teshtar is the rain star and the deity of water, abundance and blessing, and Apaoa is the land demon who had locked up the
water and prevents from what Teshtar intends to do; finally after a long and exciting battle, Teshtar and its troops are the winners and it starts raining from the sky "
(see:Boyce,1975:75-79).
32
- Regarding Abrizan celebration, it can be said that Abureihan Biruni translated it into Arabic and named it Afarijgan in his book called Asar-albaqieh. Gardizi
named it Isfahan Abrizgan in the book called Zeinolakhbar. Aboureihan mentions that the celebration was held on 30 th Bahman (February). But Ferdowsi wrote that it
was held in Farvardin (April). It is also stated that it had emerged in Piruz period. Abureihan Biruni says that after the drought, Piruz opened the treasury doors to the
public and went to Azar Khura Fire Temple in Fars to pray and ask for the rain to start. Ebadi discusses this issue broadly and reasons that 30th of Bahman that was
stated in the mentioned documents is equal to 13th Tir. ( Ebadi, 1974 : 583-590). He believes that what these documents meant by Bahman, was Deilami Varfan month
that is equal to 13th Khordad-13th Tir today. In other words, the late 30th Bahman is equal to the 30th Tir today, the day that based on Zoroastrian calendar, water was
created and on 13th Tir, Tirgan celebration was being held. ( Ebadi , 1974 : 583-590 ). Therefore, some links between Abrizan celebration and Tirgan celebration can
be considered.

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20. -Ibn Hawqal.Ab al-Qsim Muhammad.1966 Srat al-ard. Introd. Et trad., avec index, par.J.H. Kramers et G. Wiet
.Leiden.
21. -Kaim,Barbara.2004.Ancient fire temples in the light of the discovery at Mele Hairam.Iranica Antiqva.Volumen
XXXIX.323-338.
22. -Keal,Edward J.1990 .BPR . In : Ehsan Yarshater . Encyclopedia Iranica.Volume IV. 287-289.
23. -Le strange,G.1930. The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate, Cambridge:at the University Press.
24. -Mansori-fard,Mohsen.2007. Mab-e Ab-e Bishpour (in Persian).in:Majmoe Maghlat-e Sevomin Kongereh Trikh
memri va Shahrszi Irn.Volume V.press by Mirs Farhangi Keshvar.561-515.
25. -Mehyar,Mohammad.1999. In: Simye shahr Bishpour dar Dorn-e Islmi(in Persian) .Majmoe Maghlat-e Dovomin
Kongereh Trikh memri va Shahrszi Iran (in Persian).Volume III.press by Mirs Farhangi Keshvar.11-69.
26. -Mordi,Yosef . 2009. Chahrtaghi Mil Mileh-gah, Atashkade-i az doore-ye Sassani (in Persian).Motlet-e
Bstnshensi.no:1.155-184.
27. -Morier,L.P. 1812 . A second Journey through Persia .Armaenia an Asia Minor to Constantinople between the years
1810 et 1816.London.
28. -Mostofi,Hamdolah.1977. Nozhat al-Qoloob (in Persian).press by Donya-ye Ketab.Tehran.
29. -Naumann,Von Rudolf. 1961.in: Hans Henning.Vonder Osten,Rudolf. Naumann. Takht-I-Suleiman.Vorlufiger Bericht
ber die Ausgrabungen 1959.Berlin,54-65.
30. -Nldeke,T.1892. Sketches from eastern history .Trans.J.S.Black.Edinburgh.
31. -Oates.D.1968. Studies in the Ancient History of Northern Iraq .Oxford .
32. -Rahbar,Mehdi.1998. Decouverte d un Moument d epoqe Sassanide Bandian,Dargaz(Nord Khorassan).Foulles 1994 et
1995 .Studia Iranica,Tome 27.fascicule 2.213-250.
33. -Rice,D.Talbot. 1935.The city of Shapur. Historical Note by Gerald Reitlinger .in: ARS islamica. Ann Arbor University
of Michigan Press. MCMXXXV.Vol.II.Part 2.174-188.
34. -Rosenfield,John M.1967. The dynastic arts of Kushans . University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles.
35. -Sarfaraz,Ali Akbar.1968. Takht-e Soleymn(in Persian). With associated M.Y.Kini. Press by Moasesseye Trikh va
Farhang-e Iran. Tabriz.
36. -Sarre,Friedrich.Herzfeld,Ernest.1910. Iranische Felsreliefs:Untersuchungen von Denkmalern aus alt-und
mittelpersischer Zeit,Verlegt Bei Ernest Wasmuth A.G.Berlin .
37. -Schippmann,Klaus. 1971 .Die iranischen Feuerbeiligtmer Berlin. De gruyter.
38. -Stronach,David. 1985 .On the evolution of the early Iranian fire temple.Acta Iranica. 25(Hommages et opera minora
.papers in honour of professor Mary Boyce).Leiden.605-27.
39. -Ward-Perkins,J.B.1965. The Roman west and the Parthian east, from the proceedings of the British Academy,Volume
LI London: Oxford University press Ely House,W.1 .

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Operation of Bishapur Anahita Temple

pic1:A view from northwest side of Anahita temple(After :Flandin,E and Coste,P. 1840-41)

pic2: A design of bull above northwest side of temple (After:Ghirshman,1936:119.fig.1)

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Mehrdad Javidinejad

482

pic3:Plan of temple Anahita, befor excavation of Sarfaraz (After:Azarnoush,1994:83.fig.5/Courtesy Prof.Lionel

Bier)

Pic4:Plan of Anahita temple after excavation(After:Dutz and Matheson,1997:56) 1-Shapuers Hall of

Audience(Builing B)
2-East Mosaic hall 3-West Mosaic hall 4-Private palace of Shapur 5-Additions to royal palace.

Bull. Georg. Natl. Acad. Sci., vols. 8, no. 2, 2014