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Ahmadi Vastani S. (2025). Evaluation of Evidence Attributed to Sassanid Fire Temples and Fire Pits in Mazandaran Province. Athar. 45(107), 41-71. doi:10.22034/45.107.2
URL: http://athar.richt.ir/article-2-1619-en.html

Abstract
In the Sassanid period, with the officialization of Zoroastrianism, fire temples appeared in the society as an obvious manifestation of religious rituals and customs. Since fire is a sacred element for Zoroastrians, it requires special conditions to maintain it, for this purpose, buildings called fire temple (four vaulted) have been built. Due to its special strategic location, Mazandaran province is one of the regions of Iran that prevented the Arabs from penetrating this region until the first two centuries of Islam. For this reason, Muslim historians and geographers have been silent about this region, and this caused our information about the monuments The religious people of this region are very few. The purpose of this research is to investigate the remaining works in Mazandaran, which according to historical texts were fire temples in the Sassanid period and then changed their use in the Islamic period, and also to introduce the fire temples that were discovered after archaeological excavations in this area; Therefore, along with documentary studies, field method has been used to record, record and explain the current state of the works and based on the descriptive-analytical method to recognize the works. The results of the research show that the works attributed to the fire temple in Mazandaran, which are mentioned as fire temple in historical texts, have no connection with the fire temple in terms of the type of plan and the date of construction, but a number of fire temples and the foundation of the fire temple were discovered in this area, which are with the places mentioned in the history texts. The mentioned are completely different in terms of geographical location and they are not mentioned in any historical source.
Keywords: Mazandaran, Sasanian, Zoroastrian, Fire Temple, Fire Pit.

Introduction
Mazandaran province is considered one of the most important and influential provinces in the developments of the historical and Islamic periods. In the political divisions of the Sassanid provinces, the position of Parshavgar can be determined to some extent through archaeological evidence and written sources of the Islamic period. Therefore, the current province of Mazandaran was part of the Parshavgar province of the Sassanid period. Geographers have not mentioned any fire temple or fire pit in their descriptions of the northern region that was related to the Sassanid period or before this period. The lack of access of Muslims to Tabaristan in the first two centuries of the Hijri and the neglect of Iranian culture by historians of the early Islamic period are the main reasons for the lack of information about the status of Zoroastrianism in this region. In later periods, many foreign and Iranian tourists and researchers presented different points of view before visiting the buildings attributed to the fire temple in Mazandaran. Some have introduced these buildings as fire temples and pre-Islamic temples and Zoroastrian and Mehrist temples, and others consider them to be tombs of the Islamic period. These buildings are located in the geographical area from east to west of Mazandaran. Undoubtedly, fire temples and fire pits are of special value in religious archaeological research of the Sassanid period. The main purpose of this research is to examine the buildings in Mazandaran province that are mentioned in historical sources as fire temples and fire pits of the Sassanid period, and to introduce the fire temples discovered from archaeological excavations. Since no specific research has been conducted in this regard so far, it is very necessary to examine these buildings and their use. The most important question in this research is that; Are the exact locations of the buildings mentioned in historical texts as the Sassanid fire temple in Tabarestan the same as the current buildings in Mazandaran province that are referred to today as the fire temple or the site of the Sassanid fire temple? Initial investigation has revealed that the buildings bear no resemblance to the fire temple, and it is likely that a mistake was made in locating the fire temples related to Mazandaran mentioned in historical texts.

Discussion
Buildings and places located in Mazandaran province (Map 2) that are referred to as fire temples in historical texts included:1. Kosan Fire Temple (Behshahr city): Kosan Fire Temple is one of the countless fire temples of Sassanid period mentioned in historical texts. Remains of this fire temple are located 4 km west of Behshahr city and in the northwestern heights of Asyabsar village. The length and width of this building is 8.40×8.40 m. (Table 1-1). 2-Sari Fire Temple (Sari Grand Mosque): Sari Grand Mosque is the first mosque founded by Muslims in Mazandaran. Current building of the mosque belongs to the Qajar period. This mosque is located in Sari, Chenarban neighborhood, inside Nargisiyeh Bazaar (Table 1-2). 3-Amol Fire Temple (Shams Al-Rasool): This building, having special architectural features, is one of the buildings dating back to the eighth and ninth centuries AH, and the tomb of Seyyid Shams al-Rasoul; compared to other towers of this period, it has a larger area. The building is made of bricks and plaster and consists of a rectangular body with a conical dome. The upper parts are decorated by Muqarnas. (Table 1-3).4- Tashkun Fire Temple: This site is located near Tashkun village, Khorramabad district of Tonekabon city (Table 1-4).There is no evidence in this site showing that there was a fire temple in this place. 5- Savadkuh Fire pit: The rock attributed to the Fire pit is located at the east of Firoozkooh to Sari road, near Shirgah city. The rock is in the form of an irregular polygon and is made of conglomerate, which has been severely damaged by human and environmental factors (Table 1-5). 6- Fire Tape Kolah Arfa Deh: In the archaeological excavation of the Kala Hill (mosque Sar) in the village of Arfa Deh Savadkouh, the remains of a building with a plan similar to the four-arched arches of the Sassanid period were discovered(Table 1-6). 7- Turang Tepe Fire Temple, Gorgan: This fire temple was built in the seventh layer of Turang Tepe and on the ruins of the fortress (Table 1-7) 8- Fire Temple of the Great Wall of Gorgan: During the excavation of the Great Wall of Gorgan in the Qara Deeb Workshop, the remains of a four-bay building with an area of ​​188 square meters were discovered. (Table 1-8), 9- The base of the hearth of the Kaka cemetery in Gonbad-e-Kavos: The base of the hearth discovered in this area has spoon-shaped decorations in an inverted manner, one under the other, and was placed on a plaster board measuring 80.10 centimeters (Table 1-9).

Conclusion
Considering the research conducted on the identity of the buildings referred to as fire temples or fire pits by historians of the Islamic era in the Mazandaran region, the following conclusions can be reached: The exact location of the Kohsan Fire Temple is not clearly known, and other buildings such as the Jame Mosque of Sari, the Shams Al-Rasoul Tomb of Amol, and the Tashkun Fire Temple were not related to the fire temples and were related to the Islamic period in terms of plan and materials. Regarding the stone piece that is located next to the Firuzkooh road in the Savadkooh area, and some researchers have considered it to be a fire pit from the Sassanid period, it should be said: Based on the investigation, the material of this stone is Kanglu Mara and no traces indicating that this stone is a fire pit have been observed on its surface. All the buildings that historians have named as fire temples or fire pits in Mazandaran have artistic, historical, and architectural value and are mentioned as urban monuments. However, these buildings have no connection with fire temples or fire pits, and the original location of the buildings that are mentioned in historical texts as fire temples is not exactly known in which part of this region they were located.
Although the fire temples mentioned in historical texts are not known, following scientific archaeological excavations, in recent years, remains of fire temples and fire pit bases from the Sassanid period have been discovered in the Mazandaran region and Golestan province (which was part of Mazandaran province in the past decades), including; 1. The fire temple of Tepe Kola Arfa Deh located in Savadkuh County (Mazandaran Province), 2. The fire temple discovered from Turang Tepe Gorgan, 3. The Qara Deeb workshop (Gorgan defensive wall), 4. The plaster fire pit base discovered from the Kaka cemetery of Gonbad Kavus. It should be noted that the fire temples identified during archaeological excavations are not mentioned in historical texts and their geographical location is completely different from the buildings mentioned under the title of fire temples.