Parseh Journal of Archaeological Studies

fa کتیبه‌های پهلوی آتشکدۀ ویگل، شواهدی‌بر فروزان بودن آتشکدۀ ویگل در قرون نخستین اسلامی The Sassanian Pahlavi Inscriptions of Vigol Fire Temple; Evidences of the Burning Fire Temple of Vigol in the Early Islamic Centuries تخصصی باستان‌شناسی Special Archeology پژوهشي Research <div style="text-align: justify;">محوطۀ تاریخی ویگل و هراسکان در شهرستان آران و بیدگل در شمال استان اصفهان واقع‌شده است. مطالعات باستان‌شناسی فصل اول این محوطه منجر به شناسایی بخش چهارطاقی یک آتشکده و قسمتی از راهروی طواف آن گردید. فصل دوم کاوش آتشکده در جهت شناسایی سایر فضاها در اطراف بخش مرکزی آتشکده بود. مطالعات باستان‌شناسی مشخص ساخت از آنجا که این آتشکده در بافت شهری ساخته شده است، نسبت به آتشکده‌هایی که دور از محوطه‌های استقراری ساخته شده‌اند، اهمیت بیشتری دارد. به‌جز شواهد معماری، عناصر مذهبی و تزئینی گچی یافت‌شده در این آتشکده، شناسایی چند کتیبۀ پهلوی ساسانی برروی دیوارهای راهروی طواف شرقی آتشکده و کشف سفال‌نوشته‌های پهلوی (استروکا) بر اهمیت آن افزود. کتیبه‌های پهلوی برروی ازاره‌های گچی و دیوارهای با پوشش گل اُخری به خطی خوش نگاشته شده‌اند و متأسفانه به‌جز چند کتیبه بیشتر آن‌ها قابل‌خوانش نیست و نیازمند پژوهش گسترده‌ای است. گردآوری اطلاعات دربارۀ آتشکدۀ ویگل و کتیبه‌های پهلوی آن به‌شیوۀ میدانی صورت‌گرفته و روش پژوهش براساس مطالعات زبان‌شناسی و توصیفی-تحلیلی است. پرسش‌های اصلی پژوهش عبارتنداز: محتوای کتیبه‌های پهلوی چیست و چه مضامینی را شامل می‌شود؟ تاریخ تخمینی نگارش این کتیبه‌ها چه بازۀ زمانی را شامل می‌شود؟ با توجه به مطالعات زبان‌شناسی و باستان‌شناختی صورت‌پذیرفته، قرارگیری این کتیبه‌ها در داخل فضای آتشکده، مضامین کتیبه‌ها سویۀ مذهبی دارند و با توجه به نظر پژوهشگران حوزۀ زبان‌های باستانی این کتیبه‌ها احتمالاً در قرون اول و دوم هجری‌قمری نگاشته شده‌اند. با توجه به تاریخ‌گذاری کتیبه‌ها به‌نظر می‌رسد آتشکدۀ ویگل که از روزگار ساسانی حیات داشته، تا قرون اولیۀ هجری‌قمری فروزان و دارای اعتبار بوده و پس از آن با اشاعۀ دین اسلام به‌مرور این آتشکده دستخوش تغییرات ساختاری و هویتی شده و احتمالاً در قرن شش هجری‌قمری بر اثر رخ‌دادهای تاریخی برای همیشه متروک گردیده است. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;">Abstract The historical site of Vigol and Haraskan is located near Aran and Bidgol city in the north of Isfahan province. The archaeological studies of the first season of this site led to the identification of the central part of a fire temple and a small part of its circumambulation corridor. The second season of the archeological exploration in the fire temple was to identify other spaces around the central part of the fire temple. Archaeological studies revealed that since this fire temple was built in the urban context, it is more important than the fire temples that were built away from settlement areas. Beside architectural evidences, religious elements and decorative stucco relics found in this fire temple, the identification of several Sassanid Pahlavi inscriptions on the walls of the eastern circumambulation corridor of the fire temple and two Ostracons added to its importance. Pahlavi inscriptions founded on stucco plaster of the dado which are written in a beautiful handwriting. Unfortunately, except for a few inscriptions, most of them cannot be read and require extensive research. In this research data collection about Vigol fire temple and its Pahlavi inscriptions was done by field methods and linguistic and descriptive-analytical studies. The main questions of the research are: What is the content of Pahlavi inscriptions and what themes do they include? What period of time does the estimated date of writing these inscriptions include? Given to linguistic and archeological studies, the placement of these inscriptions inside the fire temple, the content and of them has religious themes, and according to their writing style, these inscriptions were probably written in the 7th and 8th centuries AD. According to the dating of the inscriptions, it seems that the fire temple of Vigol had a high reputation until the early Islamic centuries and was probably abandoned forever in the first of 9th AD century. Keywords: Vigol and Haraskan, Fire Temple,Sassanan Period, Islamic Period, Pahlavi Inscription. Introduction Vigol ancient site has located in near Aran and Bidgol County in central of Iran (fig1). That is a vast site which covers more than 120 hectares, is currently covered with a thick accumulation of flowing sand. Archaeological excavations in the year 2010 led to the discovery of Sasanian fire temples in the site of Vigol and Hraskan, and the identification of four arches and a part of the circumambulation corridor was done in the first season of the excavation (Javari & MontazerZohouri, 2022). The second season of excavation in Vigol fire temple began in May 2021, which was aimed at identifying other spaces around the central part of the fire temple. One of the most important evidences is the discovery of several Pahlavi inscriptions on one of dados and two walls which covered with ocher in the western corridor. These inscriptions, in addition to providing some religious statements, help us to identify the existence of the fire temple.In the procedure in the first stage, the found Pahlavi inscriptions were read, and along it, they were compared with archaeological and historical evidences. The number of inscriptions identified in this fire temple are six, but three of them are readable. Also, two pieces of written pottery (Ostracons) were also identified, which are still not readable due to high erosion. The second season of the excavation of the fire temple was dedicated to the four-arched doorways (char taqi) of the fire temple on the north, east and west sides(fig2). In the next step, the exploration focused on identifying the spaces of ambulatory corridors in the north, east, west, and south sides around the four arches of the fire temple. Archeological studies as well as historical evidence about the fire temples led to the recognition of several architectural phases in this religious building. The second phase of the architecture of this fire temple is related to the porticoes built in the east of the fire temple and the third architectural phase is related to the period of the change of use of this fire temple in the Islamic period, when some spaces of the fire temple, such as the northern and western gates and the gates in the eastern corridor, were blocked with mud brick walls. Inscriptions A total of six inscriptions have been found on the walls of the eastern ambulatory corridor in the southern part, of which three inscriptions have been read. Among the six identified inscriptions, two inscriptions are on the eastern wall, one of these two inscriptions is written on the northern dado and the other is written on the upper part of the southern wall on which has an ocher cover. Four other inscriptions were written on the western of the southern part of wall of the eastern circumambulation corridor in front of the inscriptions on the eastern wall which all due to erosion are not readable (Fig3). Inscription No. 1 located on the western wall is considered the clearest inscription in this collection, which is written on the stucco plaster of the wall with a legible and well-written script that is in five lines(Fig5). The text of the inscription was read by Professor Dieter Weber, a specialist in ancient languages, which is as follows: The text of the first inscription, according to the transliteration and reading of the inscription, has repeated and practiced writing the word “wrote” (nwb&scaron;ht), which can be fallowed this word in other Pahlavi inscriptions. A number of thin pieces of plaster of this dado of the eastern wall of the Eastern ambulatory Corridor, which contain Pahlavi letters, were identified during the excavation at the side of the floor of this corridor(Table1). These thin gypsum pieces are part of the dado of the wall and contain several connected words and part of a legible and sometimes indistinct letter, which are written on the plaster using black ink with a pen, just like the original upper inscription. In terms of the dating of inscription number one and other inscriptions, according to Professor Weber, who studied this inscriptions, this writing style of Pahlavi script belongs to the late Pahlavi script, in other wise, to the early Islamic period, almost equal to 7th 8th centuries AD are relate. Inscription No.2, this inscription is written in one line, which probably reflects a religious theme(Fig 8 ). The text of the inscription says: “(donated) to &scaron;ād ruy baxt Āzarmugh”; in another sense, “it was charmingly presented to Āzarmugh”. This inscription is of special importance because it contains the name of a Zoroastrian priest of this region in the Islamic period, “Āzarmugh”. This evidence also tells about the existence of Zoroastrian religion in the early Islamic centuries in this region and the insistence of the residents of this area to preserve this religion. ‘L &scaron;’tlwdbht ’clmwk ō &scaron;adrōybaxt Āzarmōg Inscription number three, which is written in two lines, is still not possible to provide a consistent reading and translation due to erosion and lack of clarity(Fig 8 ). 1 KR’  MNW wlt’ý Y ZNH … l’d 2 BYN …… k’lyt …-b’k wl t’ý Y ZNH   The phonetic writing of this inscription is as follows. In this inscription, there are words that include some illegible words and some Huzvari&scaron;, which are as follows: (KR’) with the reading of “har”:(evry); (MNW) with the reading of “Ke, Ke&scaron;”:(which); (BYN) with the reading of  “andar”:(in,inner); and (ZNH) with the reading of “en”:(this). Conclusion The discovery of Pahlavi inscriptions in the fire temple of Vigol, in addition to the linguistic and grammar value in the field of linguistic studies and the Pahlavi lines of archaeological importance, is a great help for further understanding of the fire temple of Vigol as a fire temple with the rank of Adran, which is in the rank of local fire temples. The first important point is the place where these inscriptions were written in the fire temple, all of them were written in the eastern circumambulatory corridor in the southern part, on the stucco plaster of the dado  of the western wall and on the ocher cover of the upper part of the eastern wall. It seems that due to the location of the porticoes as places related to religious ceremonies in the east of the fire temple and the role of the Eastern circumambulatory corridor between the interior of the fire temple and the porticoes, this corridor has gained more importance and is a suitable place to insert religious inscriptions. In addition to including statements of religious nature and Zoroastrian tradition, the inscriptions help us in determining the historical and archaeological chronology of this fire temple. Based on the studies, according to the writing method and the type of pen, these inscriptions were written in the early Islamic centuries, which prove the religious persistence of the Zoroastrian community in the region until the early Islamic centuries on the other hand, the inclusion of the name “Azarmug” as a Zoroastrian cleric (Mubed) in the early Islamic centuries in central Iran is of particular importance.</div> ویگل و هراسکان, آتشکده, دورۀ ساسانی, دوران اسلامی, کتیبۀ پهلوی Vigol and Haraskan, Fire Temple,Sassanan Period, Islamic Period, Pahlavi Inscription 233 252 http://journal.richt.ir/mbp/browse.php?a_code=A-10-181-3&slc_lang=fa&sid=1 Majid Montazerzohouri مجید منتظرظهوری majidzohouri@ut.ac.ir No Assistant Professor, Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran. استادیار گروه باستان‌شناسی، دانشکدۀ ادبیات و علوم انسانی، دانشگاه تهران، تهران، ایران Mohsen Javeri محسن جاوری javeri@kashanu.ac.ir Yes Associate Professor, Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Architecture and Art, Kashan University, Kashan, Iran. دانشیار گروه باستان‌شناسی، دانشکدۀ معماری و هنر، دانشگاه کاشان، کاشان، ایران Dieter Weber دیتر وبر weberdieter7@t-online.de No Professor in the Institute of Iranian Studies, University of Berlin, Germany. استاد مؤسسۀ ایران‌شناسی دانشگاه برلین، آلمان