Takht-e Soleymān

Listen first. Beneath the wind that crosses this high plateau, you may hear water moving. It runs quietly over stone, in shallow channels cut into the ground. Look down at your feet. The pale, crusted rock under your shoes is not ordinary bedrock. It was laid down by water, layer upon layer, over a very long time. You are standing on a hill that the spring itself built.

This is Takht-e Soleymān, in northwestern Iran. The name means the Throne of Solomon. The name is much younger than the ruins around you. For many centuries before that name existed, this place was one of the holiest sites of the ancient Persian world. People came here to tend a sacred fire. They also came to stand beside the lake at its centre, which is the reason everything else exists.

Walk toward the middle of the site and the lake opens in front of you. It sits inside a natural basin, almost round, and the water is often a deep, clear blue-green. A spring feeds it from far below the surface. The water carries a heavy load of dissolved minerals. When it overflows and spills outward, those minerals settle and harden into stone. Over thousands of years, this slow process raised the whole mound you are standing on.

That is the first surprise of this place. The lake does not sit in a valley. It sits on top of a hill, and the hill is made by the lake. Ancient visitors could not explain how water rose up here and never ran dry. To them it must have seemed like a direct gift from the divine. Many scholars believe this strange spring is why people chose to build a sanctuary here.

The great builders of this site were the Sasanians. They were the last Persian dynasty before the arrival of Islam, and they ruled a vast empire from the third century to the seventh. Their state religion was Zoroastrianism, an ancient faith that honours fire and water as pure and sacred elements. Here, both elements came together in one place. A flowing spring and an eternal flame stood side by side on the same hill.

The sanctuary held a fire known as Adur Gushnasp. It was one of the three most important sacred fires of the Sasanian empire. Each of the great fires was linked to a different group in society. This one was associated with the warriors and with the kings themselves. According to tradition, a new Sasanian ruler would travel here to honour the flame after taking the throne. It was a royal place, not only a religious one.

As you move through the ruins, look for the remains of the fire temple near the lake. The walls are built largely of stone and fired brick. Picture these rooms closed and dim, with a flame burning in a protected inner chamber. Priests kept it alive day and night. The fire was never meant to go out. Around it stood halls, courtyards and rooms for the people who served the sanctuary.

Now turn and look outward, toward the edge of the site. A massive oval wall surrounds the whole complex. It is lined with rounded towers set at regular intervals. In places the wall still stands quite high, and you can see its thickness where sections have broken away. There were gateways through it, and one main entrance still lines up with the lake. The wall was both protection and a statement of power.

That protection was not always enough. In the early seventh century, during long wars between Persia and the Byzantine Empire, a Byzantine army under the emperor Heraclius reached this region. The sanctuary was attacked and damaged. Not long afterward, the Sasanian empire itself fell to the Arab armies. The sacred fire faded from history. For a time, the hill was left to the wind and the spring.

Then came a second life. In the thirteenth century, the Mongols ruled Iran under a dynasty known as the Ilkhanids. One of their rulers chose this old sanctuary for a summer palace. The site is cool and green in the warm months, and the lake made a perfect centrepiece. The new builders reused the Sasanian ruins and added their own halls and pavilions around the water.

Here is a detail many visitors miss. The Ilkhanid palace was decorated with fine glazed tiles. Some carried a shimmering metallic shine called lustre. Some showed animals, plants and even scenes from Persian poetry. Many of these tiles are now in museums far from here. So when you look at these brown and grey walls, try to imagine them bright with turquoise, cobalt and gold, catching the mountain light.

The name Throne of Solomon also belongs to this later world. In Islamic legend, King Solomon commanded spirits and wonders. Locals say Solomon held demons in the lake, or in a hollow mountain nearby. That mountain is real. A few kilometres to the west stands a tall, hollow cone called Zendan-e Soleymān, the Prison of Solomon. It was formed by an older spring that built its rock walls the same way, until it ran dry.

Before you leave, stand at the lake's edge once more. Watch the surface for small movements where the spring pushes up from below. Follow the narrow channels as they carry water away across the pale stone. Kings, priests, soldiers and Mongol courtiers all stood near where you are standing now. They all heard this same quiet sound. As you walk back toward the gate, listen for it fading behind you.