page_title: Ka'ba-ye Zartosht
section_title: Application
hierarchical_section_title: Ka'ba-ye Zartosht / Application
caption_attribution_description: فارسی: بنای کعبه‌ی زرتشت
context_page_description: Ka'ba-ye Zartosht is the name of a stone quadrangular and stepped structure in the Naqsh-e Rustam compound beside Zangiabad village in Marvdasht county in Fars, Iran. The Naqsh-e Rustam compound incorporates memorials of the Elamites, the Achaemenids and the Sassanians in itself in addition to the mentioned structure.
  The Ka'ba-ye Zartosht is 46 metres from the mountain, situated exactly opposite Darius II's mausoleum. It is rectangular and has only one entrance door. The material of the structure is white limestone. It is about 12 metres high, or 14.12 metres if including the triple stairs, and each side of its base is about 7.30 metres long. Its entrance door leads to the chamber inside via a thirty-stair stone stairway. The stone pieces are rectangular and are simply placed on top of each other, without the use of mortar; the sizes of the stones varies from 0.48 by 2.10 by 2.90 metres to 0.56 by 1.08 by 1.10 metres, and they are connected to each other by dovetail joints. The structure was built in the Achaemenid era and there is no information of the name of the structure in that era.
context_section_description: The application of the Ka'ba-ye Zartosht structure has always been controversial between archaeologists and researchers and various views and interpretations have been stated about its application; but what makes its interpretation even more difficult, is the existence of a similar structure in Pasargadae, which makes one evaluate every probability with its circumstances too and consider a similar interpretation for both. Some archaeologists have believed the structure to be a mausoleum; and some others like Roman Ghirshman and Schmidt have said that Ka'ba-ye Zartosht was a fire temple in which the holy fire was placed and it was used during religious ceremonies. Another group including Henry Rawlinson and Walter Henning believe that the structure was the treasury and the place for keeping religious documents and Avesta. A small group believes the structure to be the temple of Anahita and believes that the goddess's statue was kept in Ka'ba-ye Zartosht. Heleen Sancisi Weerdenburg believes the building to be a structure constructed by Darius I for coronation; and Shapur Shahbazi believes that Ka'ba-ye Zartosht was an Achaemenid mausoleum that was used as a site for the treasury of religious documents in the Sasanian era.
  Erich Friedrich Schmidt says about the importance of the structure:
  The outstanding effort that was necessary for creating this architectural masterpiece, was only used for building a single and dark chamber. Besides, the fact that they did or could close the only entrance door of a structure with a heavy and two-panel door, makes it clear that its content should be kept safe from robbery and pollution.
caption: Ka'ba-ye Zartosht from above the Mountain of Mercy
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