From Persepolis to Naqsh-e Rostam: An Archaeological Survey on the Nature of Site's Element in the Story of “Atash Parast”

This is the retrieval of the other texts' presence and regenerating them in the narrative texts that enriches the process of reading as well as evaluation of any substantial work. On the other hand, assuming archaeology and its evidences as yet another textual source, the question arises that, how was the interplay between the narrative texts and archaeological evidences, as two influential and important texts, during their natural development process in Iranian society? Preliminary studies indicate that the issue had become increasingly apparent in the works of celebrated authors such as Sadegh Hedayat — due to their relatively extensive studies in different fields of historical geography, their historical approach, as well as their inherent propensity in discerning archaisms and “epochs” in their works. Furthermore, among his oeuvre, “Atash Parast” is the one that provides the ground for a comparative-intertextual reading, by establishing the connection between the narratives of the story and the most prominent elements of the Iranian archaeology. Accordingly, the present study explains the reasoning behind the relocation of the fabled place-in-question by comparing subsequent text (“Atash Parast”) with the former text (the travelogue of Eugène Flandin), using the principles of comparative and intertextual criticism to prove the hypothesis behind its intentional relocation from Persepolis to Naqsh-e Rostam. Moreover, the mentioned relocation has caused the elements of the original discourse to be separated from their context, placed in another context and provide more substantial archaeological ground for the intertextual reading of the work-in-question.