An Introduction to the Hypothesis of SOQĀYA of Rabʿ- e Rashidi

In the archaeological test soundings of 2007, spaces have been discovered in the southeast of Rab’-e Rashidi, which, although they have been described and introduced as the remnants of an Ilkhanid bath, but the use of that has not been confirmed yet. Therefore, these questions and hypotheses are raised about the structure discovered in the southeast corner of the Rab’-e Rashidi, what was the function of this structure? And its relative chronology goes back to which century? In the analysis and interpretation of the present research, two hypotheses of Gazargah (laundry) and Soqaya, confrontation, and then based on the hypothesis of Soqaye, the date of the 14th century is proposed for this structure. The methodological foundation of this research is based on history, i.e. the study of the al-Waqfiyya al-Rashidiyya and other early sources of the Ilkhanid period, as well as the comparative study of the common structure of bathes in the Islamic centuries, Soqaya and Gazargah; Therefore, after analyzing the technical, physical and architectural characteristics and space-making of the subject of the study, in the second step, while extracting information related to Rab’-e Rashidi buildings and especially the buildings related to the two hypotheses of Gazargah and Soqaya from the historical sources of Ilkhanids and especially the al-Waqfiyya al-Rashidiyya. This information is matched with the information obtained from the architectural stage. In the third step, the information extracted from the previous two stages, history and architecture, is matched with archaeological information to obtain the final result. The historical and architectural evidence based on the logic of abduction, considers the hypothesis of Soqaya of Rashidiyya more close to the realty; Then, according to the al-Waqfiyya al-Rashidiyya, the relative chronology of this structure reaches the Ilkhanid period and the first half of the 14th century AH.