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    Northernmost Zoroastrian Fire Temple

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    2ndmoon
    The document discusses the northernmost Zoroastrian fire temple in the world, located in Tbilisi, Georgia. It describes how Zoroastrianism had a strong influence in ancient Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. In July 2008, a team visited and studied the remains of this fire temple, called an ātašgāh, in Tbilisi. The ātašgāh was difficult to find as locals had no knowledge of it. The team eventually located it below a church, suggesting the temple was not destroyed but a church was later built beside it when both Zoroastrianism and Christianity coexisted in the region.

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    Northernmost Zoroastrian Fire Temple

    Uploaded by

    2ndmoon
    66 views4 pages
    The document discusses the northernmost Zoroastrian fire temple in the world, located in Tbilisi, Georgia. It describes how Zoroastrianism had a strong influence in ancient Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. In July 2008, a team visited and studied the remains of this fire temple, called an ātašgāh, in Tbilisi. The ātašgāh was difficult to find as locals had no knowledge of it. The team eventually located it below a church, suggesting the temple was not destroyed but a church was later built beside it when both Zoroastrianism and Christianity coexisted in the region.

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    The document discusses the northernmost Zoroastrian fire temple in the world, located in Tbilisi, Georgia. It describes how Zoroastrianism had a strong influence in ancient Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. In July 2008, a team visited and studied the remains of this fire temple, called an ātašgāh, in Tbilisi. The ātašgāh was difficult to find as locals had no knowledge of it. The team eventually located it below a church, suggesting the temple was not destroyed but a church was later built beside it when both Zoroastrianism and Christianity coexisted in the region.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    66 views4 pages

    Northernmost Zoroastrian Fire Temple

    Uploaded by

    2ndmoon
    The document discusses the northernmost Zoroastrian fire temple in the world, located in Tbilisi, Georgia. It describes how Zoroastrianism had a strong influence in ancient Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. In July 2008, a team visited and studied the remains of this fire temple, called an ātašgāh, in Tbilisi. The ātašgāh was difficult to find as locals had no knowledge of it. The team eventually located it below a church, suggesting the temple was not destroyed but a church was later built beside it when both Zoroastrianism and Christianity coexisted in the region.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
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    The Northernmost Zoroastrian FireTemple in the World

    Touraj Daryaee University of California, Irvine

    e-Sasanika 14 2008

    The Caucasus is a land of diverse population and beliefs. Today, Christians, Muslims, Jews, and Yazidis live in cities and villages in the valleys and gorges of the region. One religion that had a strong impact on ancient Armenia, Georgia, and the Republic of Azerbijan was Zoroastrianism. While the sources and views of Zoroastrianism are mainly from its homeland, Iran, Zoroastrianism also flourished in the Caucasus in conjunction with the local, native religions of the region. Kartveli or Georgia was converted to Christianity in the fourth century CE. The traditional date given for this momentous event in the history of Georgia is 337 CE. According to Christian sources, King Mirian (Mihran) converted from paganism, but a closer look at the sourcessuggeststhatthekingandthepeopleofancientGeorgiawereworshippersofOhrmazd (Ahura Mazda). Legend has it that at night the shepherds in the region used to call on Armazi (Ahura Mazda) for help, and that people used to offer sacrifices to their god Armazi at a locationneartheBridgeoftheMagi.

    Faadeofthetagh

    Ataboutthesametime,thecapitalofGeorgiawasmovedfromMtskhtatosome10kmfurther south to Tblisi by the national hero Vakhtang Gorgasali, who fought against the Sasanians. Vakhtangs statue is situated in front of the Metekhi Church near the Mtkvari River in Tblisi. Subsequently,theSasanianswereabletoretaketheregionandVakhtangwasmurderedin502 CE.2TheremainsofthenorthernmostZoroastrianfiretemplearelocatedinTblisi.InJuly2008, the Sasanika team of K. Abdi, H. Emrani and T. Daryaee along with A. Gramian, L. Kian and S. Jilanchi visited Georgia to photograph and study the northernmost Zoroastrian firetemple which is known as the tagh fireplace or firetemple. The location of the tagh was somewhat difficult to find and the locals in Tblisi did not have any knowledge about the building. The tagh was finally located below Kartlis Deda or Mother Georgia close to Kldisubniswhichmayhavebeenestablishedinplaceofthefiretemple.Thatis,the firetemple was not destroyed but rather a church was built next to it at a time when both Zoroastrianism andChristianityexistedsidebyside.Thetaghiswalledoffandcanonlybeaccessedthrough ahome.TheSasanikateamwasgivenpermissiontoenterthehouseandfromtheretoseethe remainsofthetagh.

    taghbelowKartlisDeda

    Floorofthetagh

    Laterwallsconstructedoverthetagh

    K.Abdi&T.Daryaeeatthetagh

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