Bishapur

The inner square

Bishapur: important Sasanian city in Iran, founded by king Shapur I, and built by Roman POWs.

History	Castle	City	Palace	"Temple"	Cave
Relief I	Relief II	Relief III	Relief IV	Relief V	Relief VI

"Temple"

The building that is known as the Temple of Anahita, is in fact an unidentified structure, deeper than the other rooms of the palace. The structure, with its pleasant, harmonious dimensions, can only be reached by descending a long stairs.

Ancient-Warfare.com, the online home of Ancient Warfare magazine

The water conduit in the shrine of Anahita. Photo Erik de Jong.

Access to the water conduit

It is a building without parallel. Once you've descended the stairs, you will find yourself on a small square, surrounded by high walls. The square must have been a pool, surrounded by sidewalks. The doors in the walls give access to a corridor that surrounded the square, and which in turn gave access to the place where the aqueduct reached this square building.

On top of two of the walls, there used to be triangle-shaped structure that looks as if it supported a roof. In fact, the sanctuary was open, and the triangle-shaped structures supported large bull imposts. (One of these can now be seen in the Western Mosaic Hall of the Palace.)

The big question is, of course, what this unique structure is. It is usually called the "Temple of Anahita", and perhaps this is correct. However, I am not betraying a great archaeological secret if I explain that when archaeologists find something they cannot understand, they usually call it religious. Identifying a mysterious square building as a temple, is just one example. Because the ancient architect created something with water, the obvious deity is Anahita.

However, if we give up the idea that this was a sanctuary, there is little that connects it to goddess of waters. We simply do not know what it is.


Bull's head from the "temple", now in the Western Mosaic Hall of the Palace	The "temple" of Bishapur	Imitation Achaemenid style lintel from the "temple"

The "temple" of Bishapur	Photo Mahin Bahrami (©*)	"Temple" from the outside

History	Castle	City	Palace	"Temple"	Cave
Relief I	Relief II	Relief III	Relief IV	Relief V	Relief VI