The Minar was a staged, tower-like structure built in the center of the

Sasanian The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranians"), was an Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, the length of the Sasanian dynasty's reign ...

circular city of Gōr (modern Firuzabad, Iran). Several theories have been proposed for its purpose. Only the core of the structure remains today.

Description and history

The structure is known as ''Minar'' (, literally "pillar") or ''Minaret'' () in

New Persian New Persian (), also known as Modern Persian () is the current stage of the Persian language spoken since the 8th to 9th centuries until now in Greater Iran and surroundings. It is conventionally divided into three stages: Early New Persian (8th ...

, while the medieval

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

-language Islamic sources referred to the structure as ''Terbal'' ( ''Ṭirbāl''). Similar structures, i.e., staged tower with an outside ramp, have been recorded by ancient historians, including a tower mentioned by

Ammianus Marcellinus Ammianus Marcellinus, occasionally anglicized as Ammian ( Greek: Αμμιανός Μαρκελλίνος; born , died 400), was a Greek and Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from antiquit ...

at the Nahar Malka (near the Sasanian capital

Ctesiphon Ctesiphon ( ; , ''Tyspwn'' or ''Tysfwn''; ; , ; Thomas A. Carlson et al., “Ctesiphon — ܩܛܝܣܦܘܢ ” in The Syriac Gazetteer last modified July 28, 2014, http://syriaca.org/place/58.) was an ancient city in modern Iraq, on the eastern ba ...

; he compared it to the

Lighthouse of Alexandria The Lighthouse of Alexandria, sometimes called the Pharos of Alexandria, was a lighthouse built by the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (280–247 BC). It has been estimated to have been at least ...

), several towers at Pirisabora ( al-Anbar) mentioned by

Zosimus Zosimus, Zosimos, Zosima or Zosimas may refer to: People * * Rufus and Zosimus (died 107), Christian saints * Zosimus (martyr) (died 110), Christian martyr who was executed in Umbria, Italy * Zosimos of Panopolis, also known as ''Zosimus Alch ...

, and the

Borsippa Borsippa (Sumerian language, Sumerian: BAD.SI.(A).AB.BAKI or Birs Nimrud, having been identified with Nimrod) is an archeological site in Babylon Governorate, Iraq, built on both sides of a lake about southwest of Babylon on the east bank of th ...

tower near

Babylon Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...

. These in turn may have been based on the

ziggurat A ziggurat (; Cuneiform: 𒅆𒂍𒉪, Akkadian: ', D-stem of ' 'to protrude, to build high', cognate with other Semitic languages like Hebrew ''zaqar'' (זָקַר) 'protrude'), ( Persian: Chogha Zanbilچغازنجبیل) is a type of massive ...

s of the ancient

Near East The Near East () is a transcontinental region around the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The term was invented in the 20th ...

Ardashir I Ardashir I (), also known as Ardashir the Unifier (180–242 AD), was the founder of the Sasanian Empire, the last empire of ancient Iran. He was also Ardashir V of the Kings of Persis, until he founded the new empire. After defeating the last Par ...

's new city of Gor had a

circular plan Several ancient cities of Mesopotamia and Greater Persia, Persia are known to have had a circular plan. List of circular cities See also * Iranian architecture#City design References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Circular cities Lists of cities City pla ...

with the official buildings located at the centre of an inner circle in radius. The tower-like structure of Terbal was located at the very centre of this circle. Together with Takht-e Neshin, these are the only structures of the city that are made of

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

-mortar-

masonry Masonry is the craft of building a structure with brick, stone, or similar material, including mortar plastering which are often laid in, bound, and pasted together by mortar (masonry), mortar. The term ''masonry'' can also refer to the buildin ...

. According to '' Iranica'', these two structures may have been confused in medieval Islamic sources, and it is unclear that the names ''Aywān kiyākhurra'' () (

Istakhri Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Farisi al-Istakhri () (also ''Estakhri'', , i.e. from the Iranian city of Istakhr, b. – d. 346 AH/AD 957) was a 10th-century travel author and Islamic geographer who wrote valuable accounts in Arabic of ...

), ''Gunbad-i Kīrmān'' (or ''Gīrmān''; ) and ''Īrān Garda/Girda'' () ( Ibn al-Balkhi) mentioned in these sources refer to which structure. Terbal was a square structure with more than high and spiral in design. It was the core of a stair-tower, and was compared by

Ibn Hawqal Muḥammad Abū’l-Qāsim Ibn Ḥawqal (), also known as Abū al-Qāsim b. ʻAlī Ibn Ḥawqal al-Naṣībī, born in Nisibis, Al-Jazira (caliphal province), Upper Mesopotamia; was a 10th-century Arab Muslim writer, geographer, and chronic ...

to a similar edifice at

Balkh Balkh is a town in the Balkh Province of Afghanistan. It is located approximately to the northwest of the provincial capital city Mazar-i-Sharif and approximately to the south of the Amu Darya and the Afghanistan–Uzbekistan border. In 2021 ...

(a reference to a Buddhist

stupa In Buddhism, a stupa (, ) is a domed hemispherical structure containing several types of sacred relics, including images, statues, metals, and '' śarīra''—the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns. It is used as a place of pilgrimage and m ...

, or possibly a

). With the width of the destroyed stairs and outer walls added, its actual width is estimated to be about . The remaining structure is hollow, according to the

Qajar The Guarded Domains of Iran, alternatively the Sublime State of Iran and commonly called Qajar Iran, Qajar Persia or the Qajar Empire, was the Iranian state under the rule of the Qajar dynasty, which was of Turkic origin,Cyrus Ghani. ''Iran an ...

period writer Forsat-od-Dowleh Shirazi.

Ernst Herzfeld Ernst Emil Herzfeld (23 July 1879 – 20 January 1948) was a German archaeologist and Iranologist. Life Herzfeld was born in Celle, Province of Hanover. He studied architecture in Munich and Berlin, while also taking classes in Assyriology, a ...

(1907) had described it as a tower of a square ground plan with a spiral outer ramp. According to Dieulafoy (in his ''L'Art Antique de la Perse''), who had examined the structure, it was "composed above the platform, of four stages ... Each stage is square and recedes from the preceding one by a space equal to of the base". File:Ateshgah Firouzabad by Eugène Flandin.jpg, alt=Black and white drawing of the Minar, Drawing by

Eugène Flandin Jean-Baptiste Eugène Napoléon Flandin (15 August 1809 in Naples – 29 September 1889 in Tours), French orientalist, painter, archaeologist, and politician. Flandin's archeological drawings and some of his military paintings are valued mor ...

, who called the structure "the Fire temple (''Ateshgah'') of Firuzabad" File:Firouz-abad (Fīrūzābād). Vue de la tour (NYPL b12482496-1542746).jpg, alt=Black and white drawing of the Minar with two schematic drawings above left and above Drawing by Pascal Coste, which contains further details File:Media, Babylon and Persia - including a study of the Zend-Avesta or religion of Zoroaster, from the fall of Nineveh to the Persian war (1889) (14778753704).jpg, A drawing of the Minar with traces of the outer stairs apparent

Purpose

Among Western orientalists and travellers, the structure was first observed by

and Pascal Coste, who noted its uniqueness in

Iranian architecture Iranian architecture or Persian architecture (, ''Me'māri e Irāni'') is the architecture of Iran and parts of the rest of West Asia, the Caucasus and Central Asia. Its history dates back to at least 5,000 BC with characteristic examples distr ...

. Prior to

studies of the structure, Terbal was mistakenly thought to be a descendant of the

, while some thought it is a

fire temple A fire temple (; ) is a place of worship for Zoroastrians. In Zoroastrian doctrine, ''atar'' and '' aban'' (fire and water) are agents of ritual purity. Clean, white "ash for the purification ceremonies sregarded as the basis of ritual lif ...

, with the Holy Fire (''

Atar Atar, Ahtra, Atash, Azar () or ''Dāštāɣni'',, s.v. ''agni-.'' is the Zoroastrian concept of holy fire, sometimes described in abstract terms as "burning and unburning fire" or "visible and invisible fire" (Mirza, 1987:389). It is conside ...

'') being put at its top to avoid contamination with dust. It is hypothesised that the structure may have been part of a government building and symbolised the divine and centralist kingship introduced by Ardashir I. It may have had practical military and civil uses as well, as the tower provided visual contact with some fortifications in the area, and/or may have been used as an

observation tower An observation tower is a tower used to view events from a long distance and to create a full 360 degree range of vision to conduct long distance observations. Observation towers are usually at least tall and are made from stone, iron, and woo ...

to survey activities during the implementation of the planned scheme of the new city of Gor and the plain. In fact, this grand scheme was centred in Terbal and continued the concentric and radiant pattern of the town, with traces of canals, paths, walls and field borders found up to 10 km distant from this central tower. According to a newer study, the structure, as also described in medieval sources, may have functioned as a

water tower A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system, distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towe ...

, in such a way that water from nearby elevated sources would flow through tubes and Terbal's hollow core towards its dome, and from there it would be flowed to another tube to flow elsewhere in the town. It is argued that it was not the only purpose of the structure, but it was also part of a temple of

Anahita Anahita is the Old Persian form of the name of an Iranian goddess and appears in complete and earlier form as ('), the Avestan name of an Indo-Iranian cosmological figure venerated as the divinity of "the Waters" ( Aban) and hence associat ...

, the divinity of the Waters (''

aban Apas (, ) is the Avestan language term for "the waters", which, in its innumerable aggregate states, is represented by the Apas, the hypostases of the waters. ''Āb'' (plural ''Ābān'') is the Middle Persian-language form. Introduction "To t ...

'').

Influence

It is thought that the Terbal was the architectural predecessor of the unique

minaret A minaret is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generally used to project the Muslim call to prayer (''adhan'') from a muezzin, but they also served as landmarks and symbols of Islam's presence. They can h ...

(known as the ''malwiya'') of

Great Mosque of Samarra The Great Mosque of Samarra is a mosque from the 9th century CE located in Samarra, Iraq. The mosque was commissioned in 848 and completed in 851 by the Abbasid caliph Al-Mutawakkil who reigned (in Samarra) from 847 until 861. At the time of con ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

, which was built in the

Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 C ...

period. The minaret itself inspired that of the

Mosque of Ibn Tulun The Mosque of Ibn Tulun () is a historic mosque in Cairo, Egypt. Built between 876 and 879 by its namesake, Ahmad ibn Tulun, it is the oldest well-preserved mosque in Egypt. Its design was inspired by the 9th-century mosques of Samarra in Iraq, th ...

in Cairo, Egypt, and recently

Philip Johnson Philip Cortelyou Johnson (July 8, 1906 – January 25, 2005) was an American architect who designed modern and postmodern architecture. Among his best-known designs are his modernist Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut; the postmodern 550 ...

's design for the 1976 Chapel of Thanksgiving at

Thanks-Giving Square Thanks-Giving Square is a private park and public facility anchoring the Thanksgiving Commercial Center district of downtown Dallas, Texas, United States. Dedicated in 1976, the complex consists of three components: a landscaped garden and non-de ...

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

. File:Samara spiralovity minaret rijen1973.jpg, Minaret (the ''malwiya'') of

, Iraq File:Spiral minaret at Abu Dulaf.jpg, Minaret of

Abu Dulaf Mosque Abu Dulaf Mosque () is an ancient historic mosque located approximately north of Samarra in the Saladin Governorate, Iraq. The mosque was commissioned by the 10th Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutawakkil in 859. The archeological mosque, along with the Gr ...

, also in Samarra, Iraq File:Kairo Ibn Tulun Moschee BW 7.jpg, Minaret of the

, Egypt, inspired by the ''malwiya'' File:Dallas Chapel of Thanksgiving 2008 a.jpg, Chapel of Thanksgiving at

in Dallas, Texas, built in 1976, inspired by the ''malwiya'' File:Postmodern mosque in Tehran.jpg, Post-modern mosque with a spiral minaret near

Enghelab Sport Complex The Enghelab Sport Complex (), previously known as the Imperial Country Club () is a sport complex in Tehran, Iran. The complex was opened in 1958 under the rule of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah Shāh (; ) is a royal title meaning " ...

in Tehran, Iran

References

External links

«طربال»
in

Dehkhoda Dictionary The ''Dehkhoda Dictionary'' or ''Dehkhoda Lexicon'' ( or ) is the largest comprehensive Persian encyclopedic dictionary ever published, comprising 200 volumes. It is published by the Tehran University Press (UTP) under the supervision of the ...

(in Persian) {{Towers in Iran Towers in Iran Observation towers Minarets in Iran Fire temples in Iran Buildings and structures on the Iran National Heritage List Ardashir I Anahita Water towers Reservoirs in Iran Gor (Sasanian city) Sasanian architecture