By Heidi Noroozy
Anahita temple in Kangavar, Iran (with graffiti on one column) |
Outside the city of Kangavar in western Iran, a brick
wall stretches along the Kermanshah-Hamadan highway. Behind it, tall columns of
pale stone rise into the cloudless sky, a sight as unexpected in the arid
landscape as the flowering bushes that line the road. These columns, along with
the crumbling staircases and rubble that lie at their feet, are all that remain
of an ancient temple to one of Persia’s greatest deities, Anahita.
In Persian mythology, Anahita was the goddess of
fertility, love (and, strangely, war) as well as all the waters of the world.
She also represented justice and wisdom, a quality that many cultures in
antiquity associated with water. The goddess is depicted as a voluptuous young
maiden with full breasts and a tiny waist. She wears a fur cloak embroidered in
gold, a crown of stars and beams of light, and she carries a flowering branch
(or sometimes a water jug). In her warrior role, she drives a chariot drawn by
four white horses that represent the wind, rain, clouds, and hail. Sometimes,
she is accompanied by her sacred animals, the dove and the peacock.
Worship of Anahita dates back to pre-Zoroastrian times.
She was a major deity in the pantheon of the Median civilization (728 to 550
BC), which preceded the Persian Empire founded by Cyrus the Great. The Medians,
and especially the Magi, their religious sects, referred to her as the Mother
Goddess. Not surprisingly, considering her high status among the Medians, the
Zoroastrians also incorporated her into their worship, even if she had to
accept a demotion from Mother Goddess to guardian angel (yazata). After
all, the Zoroastrians were monotheists and worshipped Ahura Mazda (who,
incidentally, they also inherited from the Medians) as their only god. The
Zoroastrians gave this goddess/angel the name Ardvi Sura Anahita, which means
“the High, the Powerful, the Immaculate.” She was believed to have lived among
the stars, the brightest of which is the planet Venus (which translates into
modern Farsi as “Naheed,” another version of Anahita).
As the Persian Empire expanded, Anahita’s cult spread to
other cultures, and she became associated with goddesses honored by the local
populations. When Cyrus I conquered Babylon in 539 BC, Anahita blended with
Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of war, fertility, and love. When the Greeks
conquered Persia several centuries later, leaving their own imprint on the
culture, they associated Anahita with Aphrodite, the goddess of love. In
Armenia, she was known as Anahit. And the Indian Parsees call her Anahid.
The Magis also made the transition from the Medians to
Zoroastrianism, although these religious cults lost much of their power. They
continued to promote the worship of Anahita by reading sacred texts dedicated
to her and drinking a beverage called haoma, made from a plant of the
same name, which is still used in Zoroastrian rituals today. Anahita’s special
day, celebrated with abundant feasts, was the tenth day after the new moon in
Avan, the eighth month of the Iranian calendar.
Anahita dish in the Cleveland Museum of Art |
Ardashir II (also known as Ataxerxes), who ruled Persia
from 405 to 358 BC, was devoted to Anahita. He had statues erected in her honor
in all his major cities and built a temple to the goddess/angel in Ecbatana
(present-day Hamadan, Iran). Although Alexander the Great laid waste to the
temple in 324 BC during his conquest of Persia, it wasn’t completely destroyed
until 2006, when local authorities had the site flattened to make way for a musalla,
an Islamic
prayer hall.
The Anahita Temple in Kangavar was probably built
sometime after the one in Ecbatana, during the Parthian era (246 BC to 224 AD),
although some archeologists attribute it to Ardashir. I visited the site
several years ago on a road trip from Kermanshah to Tehran. Although the temple
was discovered in the early 19th century and excavated 150 years
later, it felt as though little work had been done there in decades. Only a few
of the round columns stood upright, with most lying broken on the ground.
Crumbling staircases led nowhere, and boulders that once formed the temple’s
walls were half buried in the soil.
Our guide, well aware of the neglect, apologized
profusely for the state of the archeological treasures. He lamented the lack of
government funds and pointed out cracks in beams that had been caused not by
the ravages of time over millennia but by frost heaves during a recent winter.
His concern didn’t stop him from inviting me to touch the marble columns and
climb the staircases. After a moment’s hesitation, I couldn’t resist. How often
do you get this close to antiquity? Even at Persepolis, Iran’s most famous
archeological site, where visitors wander through the remains of ancient
palaces, they follow well marked tourist paths designed to protect the monument
from damage.
The same year that I visited Kangavar, the temple was
submitted to UNESCO for listing as a World Heritage Site. I hope these efforts
are successful—and soon—before Anahita’s temple becomes nothing more than a
legend, along with the goddess herself.
So fascinating, Heidi! I love these sorts of stories that intertwine history and mythology. And by the way, not sure if you remember the post I wrote in which historians believe Anahita (also called Haravati) is the same goddess the Hindus worship as Saraswati. (Hear the similarity in those names?). Saraswati, however, is considered the goddess of wisdom. Not war or fertility (that I know of). But there's a legendary ancient river was named in her honor: the Saraswati River, so maybe there's a connection between the water theme. Love the cross-connections!
ReplyDeleteSupriya, you are right i think they are quite related. Beautiful post and beautiful stories.
DeleteThanks Heidi!
ReplyDeleteI love mythology, too.
Thanks Beth and Supriya.
ReplyDeleteAnd Supriya, I remember the post you did about the Saraswati River. Now that you mention it, I came across the reference to the Indian goddess in my research on Anahita.