Archaeology Magazine - November/December 2024 - 54

SPLENDID SUMMER PALACE
I
n the 1200s, the grandson of the ruler Genghis Khan
defeated the Abbasid Caliphate (a.d. 750-1258) and
gained control of lands in western and central Asia that
centuries before had belonged to the Sasanians. There, he
founded a Mongol dynasty called Ilkhanid, meaning the territory
of a lower status khan or king. The dynasty's second
leader, Ilkhan Abaqa (reigned 1265-1282), built his summer
iconography as well as tiles adorned with Persian poems,
stories, and designs. Excavations at Takht-e Soleyman led
by the German Archaeological Institute between 1959 and
1978 recovered thousands of objects, including fragments of
exquisite lustered and gold-coated tiles.
In 2023, Franke began leading a team of researchers from
Ornate tiles once adorned walls of the thirteenth-century Ilkhanid palace at Takht-e Soleyman.
palace atop the ruins of the Adur Gušnasp temple at the site
known as Takht-e Soleyman. " This is the only surviving
Ilkhanid secular palace, " says archaeologist Ute Franke of
the Free University of Berlin.
The palace blended styles of diverse Asian societies,
including dragon and phoenix motifs typical of Chinese
text that read " Adur " and " Gušnasp, " as well as text around the
circumference that Göbl and others have translated as " in the
house of Fire Gušnasp, the chief priest. " However, because the
text around the circumference is poorly preserved, some scholars
have questioned Göbl's reading.
Between 2002 and 2008, Moradi's team unearthed 824
additional bullae. Some were found in the same room as the
original artifacts, but most were dispersed throughout Ilkhanidera
structures, probably relocated from their original contexts
during construction. Moradi and Hintze are now studying
these bullae, which bear roughly 2,000 seal impressions. Six
of these include the text that Göbl interpreted as the seal of
Adur Gušnasp's chief priest. One such seal is particularly well
preserved and legible, demonstrating that Takht-e Soleyman
was, indeed, the Adur Gušnasp temple.
L
54
ike all sacred fires, Adur Gušnasp required staff including
priests, administrators, custodians, and guards to maintain
its temple. " These fires were perceived as living beings who
had to be tended to five times a day, " says Hintze. The temples
received endowments, usually on behalf of a deceased person,
to fund rituals performed annually on the anniversary of their
death. The endowments came in different forms, such as donations
of land, which could be cultivated to produce profitable
crops. Through such donations, fire temples became storehouses
of riches and played an important role in the Sasanian economy.
The Sasanian kings were among those who contributed
institutions in Germany, France, and Iran that is examining
the tiles and other artifacts
recovered from the Ilkhanid
palace. They are investigating
where and how the
tiles were made and exploring
the meanings behind
their designs. Along with
a reexamination of records
from the twentieth-century
excavations, analyzing the
artifacts will help scholars to
reimagine how the elaborate palace appeared and to better
understand its purpose. The researchers want to investigate
how the palace-which seems to have been rarely used-
functioned in an urban Persian society ruled by mostly
nomadic Mongol elites. " Why did they decorate the palace, "
asks Franke, " and for whom? " -B.A.
to the Adur Gušnasp temple. Islamic sources from the 1300s
recount that the early fifth-century a.d. king Bahram V visited
the temple before a military campaign against the Turks.
After his victory, he reportedly returned and donated spoils,
including the defeated Turkish king's ruby crown and harem.
The epic poem Shahnameh, or Book of Kings, written around
a.d. 1000, describes lavish treasures given to the temple by the
Sasanian king Khusrau I after his successful campaign against
the Byzantine Empire in the sixth century a.d. The poem also
says Khusrau II prayed at the temple for victory over a domestic
rival to the throne. After defeating his rival, the king spent a
week at the Adur Gušnasp temple reciting sacred texts and
donating jewelry and other precious items.
Evidence of the Sasanian kings' devotion to Adur Gušnasp
A gold coin minted during the reign of Ardashir I shows the
Sasanian king on the front and a sacred fire on the back.
ARCHAEOLOGY * November/December 2024

Archaeology Magazine - November/December 2024

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