Zoroastrian Burial Ritual; Dakhme, the Hills of Silence

In Zoroastrianism, not only fire but also the four basic elements (fire, air, earth, water) are sacred. This is why the dead are first placed on a platform on a high hill (towers of silence - تپه خاموشان) and not in the ground. The human body must not pollute the soil either. After various scavengers, especially vultures, have cleaned the body, the bones are taken by the clergy and buried in the well in the center of these towers of silence. We can trace this cult of the vulture and the human corpse back to much older times. The oldest traces of the human association of death with the vulture can be found in the north of the fertile crescent (Mesopotamia), in the southeast of Turkey. Çatalhöyük and Göbeklitepe, two of the most important excavations in the history of world archaeology. We find the most intense and obvious examples of this cult in Çatalhöyük, but the oldest in Göbeklitepe. These places, which are also the “apple of the eyes” of my countrymen, have such a cultural connection with Zoroastrianism that goes back thousands of years.

The images show a Zoroastrian fireground with its fifteen hundred year old fire, one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in history (the old city of Yazd) and the hills of silence where Zoroastrians practiced their death rituals.

In summary, the cult of Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Iran, Egypt and the Mediterranean must be considered in their entirety, and it must not be forgotten that Iranian culture is a fundamental element of Anatolian culture.

In sum, on this day (Shab-i yelda, December 21) when Hormuz triumphs over Ehrimen, that is, when light-goodness triumphs over darkness-evil, as expected in Zoroastrianism, each individual should struggle with the darkness and evil within himself, defeat it and reach the light and goodness within himself; wishing you reach it

Also note: It was this combative philosophical understanding of Zoroastrianism that attracted the famous philosopher Nietzsche, one of the great madmen of mankind, and made him want to go all the way to Iran and eventually learn about Zoroastrianism and write his famous book “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”.