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Ka'ba-i Zartosht
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Ka'ba-i Zartosht (alt: Kaba-i Zardusht, Kaba-ye Zardosht), meaning the "Cube of Zoroaster", is a 5th century BCE Achaemenid-era edifice at Naqsh-e Rustam, an archaeological site just northwest of Persepolis, Iran.
The structure, which is a copy of a sister building at Pasargadae,[1] was built either by Darius I (r. 521-486 BCE) when he moved to Persepolis, or by Artaxerxes II (r. 404–358 BCE) or Artaxerxes III (r. 358–338 BCE). In Frye's opinion "the intention was the same [as that of its sister building], that is, to build a safety box for the paraphernalia of rule in the vicinity of Persepolis as had been done at Pasargadae."[1]
From a reference to fire altars in a Sassanid-era inscription on the building it has been inferred[2] that the structure was once a fire altar, or perhaps as an eternal-flame memorial to the emperors whose tombs are located a few meters away. This is however highly unlikely since the lack of cross-ventilation would have soon choked the flame,[3] and in any case, the author of the inscription is unlikely to have known the purpose of the building seven centuries after its construction.[4]
- Naqsh-e Rustam
- authors of inscriptions on the Ka'ba-i Zartosht:
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- Photographs of the Ka'ba-i Zartosht (in Persian)