Fire Temples, Pre‐Islamic Religions

Abstract

Abstract An ever‐burning sacred fire and the cults of its veneration and maintenance have always held an essential position in the Zoroastrian religion and its rituals. However, less is known about the consecrated building or fire temple in which the ever‐burning fire was kept from the early stages of the religion. It seems that the temple cult of fire and the building of fire temples developed at the latest from the mid part of the Achaemenian period (fourth century bce ) onward and has continued up to the present day. Fire temples remained the most prevalent religious architectural structure for housing holy fires and for the performance of the holiest Zoroastrian rituals during the Parthian and Sasanian periods, most prominently in the form of the Chahar‐Taq, i.e. the four‐arched domed square chambers.