The Zoroastrian Sanctuary of Ādur Gušnasp (Takht-e Solayman) in the Light of New Archaeological Excavations

Kutar Lecture Series

All welcome. The lecture is followed by a reception and refreshments.

In this lecture Yousef Moradi will present the story how he discovered large quantities of Sasanian clay bullae at Takht-e Solayman and elaborate on the iconography, style, and the symbolic significance of selected seal impressions in the multicultural, multiethnic and multireligious society of Sasanian Iran.

He will also discuss the religious significance of the Fire of Ādur Gušnasp, one of the three most sacred fires of Sasanian Iran (224–651 CE), and how the Zoroastrian sanctuary of Ādur Gušnasp was first transformed into a Mongolian summer royal residence and then into a town inhabited by commoners. The significance and probable location of the other two great Sasanian fire temples (Ādur Farnbag and Ādur Burzen Mihr) will also be explored together with their architectural remains.

Dr Yousef Moradi has worked at the Iranian Center for Archeological Research (ICAR) for many years and conducted the excavations at Takht-e Solaymen under their auspices. He was Marie Sklodowska Curie Researcher (2019–2022) in the Department of Religions and Philosophies at SOAS and has recently been in receipt of research funding from the Soudavar Foundation, the Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe and Mehraban Zartoshty Fund for Zoroastrian Studies, and the Barakat Trust. He is about to take up an AHRC Research Fellowship as SOAS (2023–2028). Yousef holds a PhD in Archaeology from the Free University of Berlin (2016) and an MA in Archaeology from the University of Tehran (2000), where he worked with the celebrated archaeologist Professor Massoud Azarnoush.

Yousef takes an interest in the archaeology of the Ancient Near and Middle East and Central Asia in the Sasanian and early Islamic periods, in Zoroastrian Studies, in sigillography, and in urban and landscape archaeology. He has conducted several seasons of fieldwork at a number of Parthian, Sasanian and early Islamic archaeological sites in Iran including the World Heritage site of Takht-e Solayman.