" Anahita Temple" ancient temple of goddess Anahita in Kangawar
Anahita Temple is an impressive masonry edifice located in Kangawar ( Kangavar or Kangevar ) at the distance of 96 km east from the Kurdish city of Kermashan ( Kirmashan , Krmashan or Kermanshah ) in eastern Kurdistan ( Persian occupied Kurdistan ). Anahita Temple was built in around 200 BC in honor of a Kurdish goddess of water, fertility, and beauty. This Kurdish female guardian angel of water Anahita is principally addressed in yasht 5 ( yasna 65 ) in Avesta (the Zoroastrian holy book).
She is been depicted in Taqi Bostan (east of Kurdistan), hasankeyf (north of Kurdistan), and also revered in the ancient inscription of paikuli near Khanaqin ( xanaqin) in southern Kurdistan. One of the early references to such a temple is by the Greek geographer Isidore of Charax who reports that in Kurdistan during Parthian reign, the greatest Metropolis of Media.
The temple is 230 m long and 210 m wide with columns of 3.54 m high. Large Pieces of stone are cut and shaped into blocks of rock and columns which reveal a Hellenistic character display on Kurdish architectural designs. The constriction method of the walls of the platform and staircases in Kangawar is similar to that of Qasri shirin ( another ancient Kurdish masonry) . A Kurdish cemetery of Parthians was excavated in the hillside east of the platform. Some of the burials contained coins from Phraates I ( 171 BC) and Orodes III ( 37 BC) placed under the skull.
Further readings:
1-Abasi,Jalil,Yasna , Hevin Printing center 2008,Hawler,Kurdistan.
2-Qanaa, Wria.. Gatha of Zoroaster,Mnara printing center,2006,Hawler,Kurdistan.
3-Hawrami,Comparison between Avesta and modern Kurdish Language, sardam publishing, 2005, Sulaimania , Kurdistan.
4-Khoshnaw, Farhad,Secrets of Mithraism,Mukriani publishing center, 2008,Dhok , Kurdistan.
5-Khoshhali, Behzad,Philology of Kurdish language and history of Kurdistan,Khani Printing, 2008,Dahok, Kurdistan..
6-Diakonoff,Media ( Medya),Minstery of Culture, 2008,Hawler,Kurdistan.
7-Gadani,Jalil,The same Nationality of Kurds and Medes ,Minstery of Culture, 2004,Sulaimania,Kurdistan..
7-Hossin. Mahamad.. Zoroaster and Zoroastrians. Tafsir, Hawler, Kurdistan. 2009.
9. Mukriani, Kurdistan, The era of Kurdish language and Iranian languages .Aras publishing center, 2008,Hawler,Kurdistan.
10- Izady, Mehrdad, The Kurds . Taylor & Francis, Inc, 1992, Washington, USA.