Chahār Tāqi of Mileh Milegeh, A Fire-temple from the Sassanian Era

The newly found chahār tāqi of Mileh Milehgeh is one of the fire-temples of the Sassanian era that was built, like other fire-temples of that time, with pieces of rock and plaster. This chahār tāqi which is the remaining core of a larger building consists of four stone walls of different sizes surrounded by a round corridor. Inside this fire-temple there is a raised platform for setting up fire furnace (adusht) and a number of plaster and stone stands which are unique in their type. The survey of these items, i.e. the study of religious architecture of the Sassanian era, particularly Iranian fireplaces, will give us a new approach. The study of this fireplace and the fireplace at Shiān can resolve many existing obscurities and gaps about the religious architecture of the Sassanian era, particularly the rituals for commemorate the fire. In the Pahlavi (i.e. Middle Persian) texts, frequent references were made to Holy Fire which may indicate the significant role of Zoroastrian worshipping places in the Sassanian architecture. However, unfortunately our knowledge of Sassanian fireplaces, especially of chahār tāqis tends to be related to architectural styles rather than the significance and status, the rank of their fire, their custodianship and relations with the clergy, way of earning and costs of these worshipping places. In this paper, the researcher intends to describe the newly found chahār tāqi of Mileh Milehgeh, and raise a few points on the above topics.