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Atash Gah, Old Fire Temple of Esfahan

On the West side of Esfahan, about eight kilometers from the city (on Esfahan-Najaf Abad Road), on the right there is a single stratified hill of sedimentary stone, which is about 105 meters higher than the access road level. (The level of the road is 1610 meters above sea level, which is about 50 meters higher than the center of Esfahan). That is why, from the top of this three hectares area hill, one can look at a pleasant panoramic view of the green plain of Esfahan. This hill geologically dates back to about eighty million years ago (Cretaceous Period). A part of the writer's poems (M.SH) expresses:
Atash Gah, the hill of orange fire,
On the top of which, eyes admire,
In the heart, nothing but ancient ages,
On its top nothing, except green pages.

Atash Gah, Old Fire Temple of Esfahan

According to the fieldwork of an American Archeological Reca 1967 AD. it was found that the site was very safe as an invincible castle. surrounded by two successive, thick, high-rise guard walls, with a considerable distance from one another. To appreciate the magnitude of the turn structure, it is better to around the hill to its northeastern view to see a long, mudbrick wall on its top, with a length of 107.5 meters. Besides, it was clarified that the whole area of the hill was covered by a five-story, huge building which the fifth, and the fourth stories still remain, apart from the crown of the hill. The background color of the hill is orange, and on some parts, there is some hand-made removal of the stone layers, for the settlement of its structures. The building materials are mud bricks, with an average dimension of 38 by 38 by 9, all in centimeters. In some areas, the thickness of the walls exceeds four meters. Between the layers of the sundried bricks, some reeds from the river banks remained which were initially used to prevent the humidity from seepage upward and also functioned as reinforcing elements for the walls. In the majority of original references, it was introduced as a Sassanid building, but based on the radiocarbon tests on pieces of straw in the mud-brick, it dates back to the sixth century B.C.

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Atash Gah, Old Fire Temple of Esfahan

According to Herodot, the Greek Historian, Iranians preferred to worship in nature than in the fire temples so he assumed that a large complex, like Pasargad (6th century B.C.), had only a small firepot. On the other hand, by reference to the history book of 'Al Alagh-ol-Nafiseh' (903 A.D.), written by Ibne Rosteh Esfahani, it was stated that the Atash Gah was originally used as a castle. Another reference called; 'Seni Molok-ol-Arz Val Anbia' states; it was a fire temple called; Shre Ardeshir built by Key Ardeshir who founded three fire temples in one day during the mythological era. So, this can also be a testimony for this site as an ancient fire temple, where still there are the surviving of its cylindrical firepot with eight openings on the top hill.

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About its denomination to Marbin castle, two hypotheses are proposed here. One is related to the word Mehre, which means the sun, hints at the place where one can see the sun better, the other relates to the word Mar, which means snake, signifies the view of the river bed from the top hill, crawling on its serpentine course as if a serpent creeping on the ground.