The Cube of Zoroaster

Posted by Ardeshir Tayebi (Tehran, Iran) on 3 April 2007 in Lifestyle & Culture.

Naghsh-e Rostam is one of the most important and beautiful archeological sites of the immortal land of Pars, ad has preserved the monuments of three preiods: The Elamite (2000 to 600 B.C.), Achaemenid (550-330 B.C.), and the Sasanian (A.D. 224-651).

the "Cube of Zoroaster", is a 5th century BCE Achaemenid-era edifice at Naqsh-e Rustam, an archaeological site just northwest of Persepolis, Iran.

The structure, which is a copy of a sister building at Pasargadae, was built either by Darius I (r. 521-486 BCE) when he moved to Persepolis, or by Artaxerxes II (r. 404–358 BCE) or Artaxerxes III (r. 358–338 BCE). In Frye's opinion "the intention was the same [as that of its sister building], that is, to build a safety box for the paraphernalia of rule in the vicinity of Persepolis as had been done at Pasargadae."

From a reference to fire altars in a Sassanid-era inscription on the building it has been inferred that the structure was once a fire altar, or perhaps as an eternal-flame memorial to the emperors whose tombs are located a few meters away. This is however highly unlikely since the lack of cross-ventilation would have soon choked the flame, and in any case, the author of the inscription is unlikely to have known the purpose of the building seven centuries after its construction.

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