Conference by Samra Azarnouche, EPHE, Religious Sciences Section – PSL. UMR 8041 Center for Research on the Iranian World (CeRMI), at 6 PM, at Maison de l’Asie, 22 avenue du Président Wilson, 75016 PARIS.

Located a few kilometers from the border of Turkmenistan, in the heart of a green valley, the Sasanian site of Bandiyān is exceptional in several respects: its ideal geographical and strategic location, its fire temple in a good state of conservation, its epigraphic material designating the site as a “dastgird” (lordly or royal estate), and, above all, its stucco decorations depicting scenes of hunting, battle, worship, etc., of a quality rarely equaled in the rest of Sasanian Iran. The dating of the site – which must have been active until the 7th century – remains an object of uncertainty, as does the exact function of several of the rooms of Tepe A. This intervention initially offers a synthesis of our knowledge on this site, since the excavations carried out by Mehdi Rahbar, then new hypotheses will be exposed concerning the choice of the location of the domain, the articulation of spaces on the basis of Central Asian archaeological data, and finally the interpretation of a scene of Zoroastrian cult illustrating the preliminaries of a solemn sacrifice.