Michael Shenkar E-mail: mikes01@mscc.huji.ac.il M.A. thesis topic: Religious Architecture and the Cult in Iran and Central Asia in the Hellenistic Period Advisors: Prof. Joseph Patrich, The Institute of Archaeology; Prof. (emeritus) Shaul Shaked, Department of Religion Studies

Abstract:

My research aims to analyze the religious architecture in Hellenistic Iran and Central Asia while trying to understand which cults were practiced in these regions from the Macedonian conquest (330-327 BCE) to the fall of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom (circa 120 BCE). I will examine the remains of the religious compounds in the territories which belonged to the Iranian cultural sphere of the Ahaemenid Empire, conquered by Alexander the Great and later ruled by Seleucid, Greco-Bactrian and Parthian kings. During the Greek and Parthian political rule in these territories, two main religious systems were present en masse, Greek Olympian polytheism and Zoroastrianism (Mazdayasnism). The exact nature, characteristics and pantheon of the latter in this period is still unclear and much disputed. The situation is even more complicated by the fact, that we do not possess a full and trustworthy picture regarding the cults and religious practices in Iran and Central Asia in the Ahaemenid period.

Structures in Iran and Central Asia that are interpreted as temples were found in Nisa, Aï Khanoum, Dil'berjin, Takht-i Sangin, Kangavar, Persepolis, Kuh-i Khwaja, Masjid-i Soleiman, Bard-e Neshandeh. Sites outside the initial borders of Iran and Central Asia that are important for this study include Dura-Europos, Failaka, Jabel-Khalid. These structures demonstrate unexpected parallels with local architectural traditions rather than being built according to Greek standards and ideas. However, in some cases, clear evidence for the presence of the Greek cults and the worship of Greek gods was uncovered in these temples. I intend to put the religious architecture in context of what is currently known from historical, numismatic, epigraphic and other archaeological sources, and to try to evaluate what cults were practiced in the regions of Iran and Central Asia in the Hellenistic period.

Publications