Evidence of the Mazdean Fire Temple in the Iranian World during the Arsacid Period.

The origin of the sanctuary/temple of fire, the main cult building of the religion that during the Sasanian period eventually became the true doctrine of the Iranian nation, constitutes one of the aspects of the civilisation of pre-Islamic Iran that it is wise to consider as still open. The link that has rightly been recognised between the Zoroastrian Church and the first ruler of the Sasanian dynasty, however, does not constitute proof of his alleged role as the creator of the first fire temple and the characteristic architectural typology known as chahartaq. This contribution, dedicated to a scholar whose contribution to the understanding of the religious architecture of the Iranian world has been important, aims to bring together the few but significant evidences of a fire cult that elements of a varied nature date to the Arsacid period, first and foremost the sanctuary on Kuh-e Khwaja, whose “cell” presents a planimetric scheme that appears to be that of a sort of proto-chahartaq without a dome. Precisely because of its importance, the complex on Kuh-e Khwaja requires a methodologically sound re-examination of all the elements of chronology in order to verify the possibility of a possible return of the attribution to the Arsacid period and in particular to the Indo-Parthian rulers rejected by the last contributions on the complex.