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Yazd |
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| Unless otherwise indicated, pictures on this page © Marco Prins and Jona Lendering. Photos can be downloaded and used for non-commercial purposes, but you have to acknowledge Livius. | ||
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This picture shows the fire temple of modern Yazd. Here, the Zoroastrians venerate the sacred and eternal fire. The winged figure in the upper façade is the visual aspect of the supreme god Ahuramazda, whose nature was disclosed by the prophet Zarathustra. | |
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The holy fire itself, which has been burning in the temple of Yazd for at least seven centuries. | |
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Until it was forbidden in 1970, one of the customs of the Zoroastrians was that they exposed their dead to the birds in "towers of silence" (Dakhmeh). The custom (but not the towers) is described by the Greek author Herodotus of Halicarnassus, and also by Onesicritus, who says that the dead were exposed in "areas surrounded by walls". |
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There are two towers of silence near Yazd. This is the road to the highest tower. | |
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The final stairs. | |
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And the terrace at the top, where the dead were exposed. | |
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And this is the lower tower. For many centuries, these buildings were repaired and rebuilt. It is impossible to state when they were constructed. And even if we were able to establish this date, it does not prove when these places were used for the first time, because it is possible that people were exposed on hilltops unmarked by man-made constructions. | |
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What we do know, however, is that the towers of silence are mentioned in the late Sasanian age, and that the Greek researcher Herodotus of Halicarnassus wrote in the fifth century BCE that the bodies of the Magians (who were not necessarily Zoroastrians) were exposed. | |
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The lower tower, seen from the higher one. It is easy to see that there are several types of brickwork. | |
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In these buildings, the bodies of the dead were prepared. | |
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