Page:From Constantinople to the home of Omar Khayyam.djvu/164

 80 OFF TO DERBENT

the ramparted hill, are remnants of what appears to be a ruined fire temple of Sasanian times, if I may judge from a certain similarity to the crumbling shrine at Takht-i Sulaiman in Persia, which is known to have been a sanctuary devoted to preserving the sacred flame, and which was destroyed by the Roman emperor Heraclius.^ The present square chamber, which is adapted in size to such a purpose, the vaulted dome that has half caved in, the situation at almost the highest point of the citadel, well calculated for keeping safe the venerated flame, and the surroundings as a whole, would match excellently with the identification I have suggested, and the ruins would convey the impression that the fire had been quenched by the bloody rain of wars. Out of regard for my Parsi friends in India and Persia I should have recited the Atash Nydyish^ or ' Litany to Fire,' from the Avesta,^ but I refrained, contenting myself with a climb still farther up to inspect the noble rounded parapet at the northeast corner of the citadel (a masterwork of heavy masonry) and with a glimpse down into the reservoir well of the fortress, which is so deep that a garrison might withstand a siege for years, so far as a dearth of water might be concerned.

The shadows lengthened as evening came on, and night fell — brightened for me by the sheen of some of the photographic plates that had been developed to record details of the visit — a long day spent, it seemed, successfully and in eager work. The results I hope to have further supplemented, as I have since then sent my guide once more to Derbent with careful instructions to fill in some missing memoranda and to search for still more material in the home of these ancient walls.

The dust of Alexander is no more ; the bones of Anushirvan, plucked by the vultures on the Towers of Silence in accordance with his faith, have become one with Mother Earth ; yet the work of the hands of these two giant builders will long remain to defy time and serve as a mute memorial of a mighty past.

1 See Jackson, Persia, pp. 141-142. Zoroastrian Litanies, p. 134, New a See Dhalla, The Nyaishes, or York, 1908.

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