TheTemple of Anahita (Middle Persian:Ādur-Anāhīd) was an ancientfire temple inIstakhr dedicated to the worship of theIranian goddessAnahid.

The temple was probably founded by theAchaemenidking of kingsArtaxerxes II (r. 404 – 358 BC), who had shrines and statues of her constructed throughout his realm.[1] The temple was ransacked by theMacedonians duringAlexander the Great's conquests.^[2] At the start of the 3rd century AD, the temple was repaired and adorned by thePersianSasanian family, who acted as the hereditary caretakers of the temple;Sasan, the eponymous ancestor of the family, is the first attested member to serve as the warden of the temple.^[3] The guardianship of the temple was of high importance to the Sasanians.^[2]

Ardashir I (r. 224–242), who overthrew theParthian Empire and established theSasanian control over the country, reportedly sent the heads of his enemies in his early campaigns to the temple, which was later repeated byShapur II (r. 309–379), who had the heads ofChristians stringed there in 340.^[2] UnderBahram II, the crown lost much of its religious authority, with the Zoroastrian priestKartir receiving the guardianship of the Anahid temple.^[4][5]Narseh, who overthrew Bahram II's son and successorBahram III in 293, may have restored the temple to their family.^[6] By Shapur II's reign, however, the Sasanian hold over the temple was certainly restored.^[7]

The last Sasanian emperor of Iran,Yazdegerd III, was crowned in the Anahid temple in 632.^[8][2]

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• Shavarebi, Ehsan; Bavandpour, Sajad Amiri (2020)."A Note on the Temple of Anāhīd-Ardašīr at Estakhr and theMartyrdom of Abbot Baršebyā"(PDF).Dabir (7). University of California, Irvine: Samuel Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture.