Page:From Constantinople to the home of Omar Khayyam.djvu/119

 dence from the exalted religion of Zoroaster ('die erhabene Lehre Zerduscht's '), whereas it was really only Indian.^

In November, 1858, the noted French writer Alexandre Dumas visited the temple. Throughout his description he assumes that the sanctuary was a fane of the Zoroastrian fire- worshipers ; and he refers to its ministrants as ' Parsis,' is clear from his description of the ritual, which he himself calls 'une messe hindoue,' together with his allusion to the frequent recurrence of the divine name ' Brahma ' in the chant, the employment of cymbals, and the use of prostrations in the service, that the worship was simply Hindu.^
 * Guebres,' and ' Madjous,' or descendants of the Magi. But it

Petzholdt (1863-1864) gives an almost equally detailed de- scription of the sanctuary and the ' Hocus-pocus ' ceremonies that were performed, but has nothing to show that there was anything Zoroastrian in their nature.^

About the same time as Petzholdt, the Englishman Ussher visited the temple, on Sept. 19, 1863 (or 1864?), calling it ' Atesh Dja,' the Arabic pronunciation of the Parsi name Atash Grdh.* His diary notes were not originally prepared for publication, and he disclaims for his volume any pretence to special scientific acumen ; but while he supposes that the pilgrims to the temple were 'devotees from among the fire worshipers of Persia and India ' (p. 207), and even though he mentions Zoroaster and the god Ormazd, his testimony, like that of his predecessors, to the effect that the steps of the little altar in the priest's cell were 'covered with brass and bronze images ' (p. 208), bears on the face of it the evidence

1 See Bodenstedt, Die Volker des dien in den Jahren 1863 und 1864, 1- Kaukasus, pp. 137-139, 2 ed. Frank- 207-210, Leipzig, 1866.

fort on Main, 1849 (preface dated * Ussher, A Journey from London

Lago di Como, 1 Nov. 1847). to Persepolis, pp. 206-207, London,

2 Dumas (p6re), Impressions de 1865. It may be added that a not voyage: le Gaucase, 2. 25-30, Paris, very accurate small woodcut of the 1880. temple is found in Bickuell's Hafiz,

8 Petzholdt, Der Kaukasus, 8tu- p. 337, London, 1875.

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