Adur Farnbag Fire Temple (Karian)

🕰️When was it built?

In the Sasanian era Adur Farnbag counted as one of the three great fires of Iran and was linked with the Zoroastrian priests. The exact date of the surviving building is not clear. The site is about 42 kilometres south-west of Juyom, on the historic route between the port of Siraf and Darabgerd.

🏛️What was it built for?

This fire temple was where the sacred fire was kept and Zoroastrian rites were held, and it belonged to the priests. Traces of rooms and corridors remain in the spaces on top of the platform, and parts of them have collapsed.

👀What you will see

• The main plan of the building was a trapezoid, and its front sides were about five metres wide.
• The surviving walls are built of brick and mud.
• In the wall above the platform is a triangular opening, about three metres above the platform's surface.
• On the terrace of the fire temple are the remains of corridors and rooms, parts of which have fallen in.

💡Something interesting

Louis Vanden Berghe, the Belgian archaeologist, wrote in his book on the archaeology of ancient Iran that he had seen the ruins of Karian and took them to be the remains of Adur Farnbag, one of the three great fire temples of ancient Iran.

🎒Good to know before you go

• To see the details, look from beside the walls and the platform, and don't climb on the brick remains.