Note 675 — THE ADORATION OF FIRE

Among the Persians most of the temples were caverns in rocks, either formed by nature, or artificially produced. They had likewise Puratheia, or open temples, for the celebration of the rites of fire. I shall hereafter shew, that the religion, of which I have been treating, was derived from the sons of Chus: and in the antient province of Chusistan, called afterwards Persis, there are to be seen at this day many curious monuments of antiquity, which have a reference to that worship. The learned Hyde supposes them to have been either [675]palaces, or tombs. The chief building, which he has taken for a palace, is manifestly a Puratheion; one of those open edifices called by the Greeks Ὑπαιθρα. It is very like the temple at Lucorein in upper Egypt, and seems to be still entire. At a glance we may perceive, that it was never intended for an habitation. At a distance are some sacred grottos, hewn out of the rock; the same which he imagines to have been tombs. Many of the antients, as well as of the moderns, have been of the same opinion. In the front of these grottos are representations of various characters: and among others is figured, more than once, a princely personage, who is approaching the altar where the sacred fire is [676]burning. Above all is the Sun, and the figure of a Deity in a cloud, with sometimes a sacred bandage, at other times a serpent entwined round his middle, similar to the Cnuphis of Egypt. Hyde supposes the figure above to be the soul of the king, who stands before the altar: but it is certainly an emblem of the Deity, of which we have a second example in Le [677]Bruyn, copied from another part of these edifices. Hyde takes notice, that there were several repetitions of this history, and particularly of persons, solem et ignem in pariete delineatos intuentes: yet he forms his judgment from one specimen only. These curious samples of antient architecture are described by [678]Kæmpfer, [679]Mandesloe, [680]Chardin, and [681]Le Bruyn. They are likewise taken notice of by [682]Thevenot, and Herbert. In respect to the grottos I am persuaded, that they were temples, and not tombs. Nothing was more common among the Persians than to have their temples formed out of rocks. Mithras e [683]Petrâ was in a manner a proverb. Porphyry assures us, that the Deity had always a rock or cavern for his temple: that people, in all places, where the name of Mithras was known, paid their worship at a [684]cavern. Justin Martyr speaks to the same [685]purpose: and Lutatius Placidus mentions that this mode of worship began among the Persians, [686]Persæ in spelæis coli solem primi invenisse dicuntur. There is therefore no reason to think that these grottos were tombs; or that the Persians ever made use of such places for the sepulture of their kings. The tombs of [687]Cyrus, [688]Nitocris, and other oriental princes, were within the precincts of their cities: from whence, as well as from the devices upon the entablatures of these grottos, we may be assured that they were designed for temples. Le Bruyn indeed supposes them to have been places of burial; which is very natural for a person to imagine, who was not acquainted with the antient worship of the people. Thevenot also says, that he [689]went into the caverns, and saw several stone coffins. But this merely conjectural: for the things, to which he alludes, were not in the shape of coffins, and had undoubtedly been placed there as cisterns for water, which the Persians used in their nocturnal lustrations. This we may, in great measure, learn from his own words: for he says, that these reservoirs were square, and had a near resemblance to the basons of a fountain. The hills, where these grottos have been formed, are probably the same, which were of old famous for the strange echoes, and noises heard upon them. The circumstance is mentioned by Clemens Alexandrinus[690], who quotes it from the writers, who treated of the Persic history. It seems that there were some sacred hills in Persis, where, as people passed by, there were heard shouts, as of a multitude of people: also hymns and exultations, and other uncommon noises. These sounds undoubtedly proceeded from the priests at their midnight worship: whose voices at that season were reverberated by the mountains, and were accompanied with a reverential awe in those who heard them. The country below was called Χωρα των Μαγων, the region of the Magi.