were borrowed from Zoroastrianism by Judaism, Christianity and Islam (BOYCE, 1979).

Fig. 162 – These two Achaemenian fire altars at the necropolis of Naqsh-i-Rustam near Persepolis (Iran) represent a distinct type of tetradic architecture, which occurs in a wide area where the prophet Zarathustra was followed. Nearby this place are rock reliefs and the large cruciform tombs of Xerxes I, Darius I and II, dating between 550 and 400 BC. Fire is a primary element and played an important role in the religious beliefs of the Zoroastrians. The mysterious tower of Kabeh-e Zarthusht (Cube of Zoroaster), which is part of the complex, was also constructed for the light of the sacred fire.

The Imperial Academy of Science in Saint Petersburg decided in 1880 to develop a program of archaeological excavationsin the same way as the English and French archaeologists were working in the Near East and Iran. Nikolai Marr (1865 – 1934), born in the Georgian town of Kutaisi from a Scottish father and a Georgian mother, went to the Armenian city of Ani during the summer of 1892 and made a promising start. The second expedition was a year later. They found a wall, protecting the old city. Arà ZARIAN gave – in an undated internet article (in English and Italian) – an exploratory survey and classification of the Armenian medieval architecture.

The second phase of the excavations at Ani took place between 1904 and 1917, and it was during the eighth expedition in 1909 that a fire temple was discovered (fig. 163). The four columned structure,