FIRE TEMPLE. 
563 
may be seen in the drawing I made on the spot. The hope 
of hidden treasure, no doubt prompted the violation. Small 
blocks of marble, arranged at certain distances, project a short 
way from the exterior face, where the entrance is. On the sur¬ 
face of the three remaining sides, are two lines of small false 
windows, each of an entire piece of dark-grey marble. I could 
not find any trace of writing, either within or without the temple ; 
but the state of the interior of the chamber supplied the place 
of an inscription, in proclaiming the ancient use of the edifice. 
There was no aperture in the room but the door, to admit light 
or air, and the walls were perfectly black with smoke. 
That it formerly held the sacred fire of the Magi, there can be 
no doubt; but I would venture to suggest, that it was not as a 
temple, where the rites of the religion, of which it was a part, 
were performed, but as a kind of sacristy, a repository for the 
preservation of the element during the suspension of the great 
solemnities. The confined dimensions of the building within, 
and its closeness, sufficiently prove that few priests could move, 
or long breathe in it; the walls witness the constant flame that 
has been there ; and hence, as there was no space for sacrifices, 
or indeed rites of any kind, we can only suppose that here, a 
duly relieved watch of one or two Magi tended the preservation 
of the everlasting fire night and day ; and, from its unextin- 
guishable fountain, supplied the priests for their diurnal sacrifices 
in the temples, or on the high places. The building at Mourg- 
aub, which answers in appearance to the one I am describing, 
from its proximity to the immense marble platform on the rock, 
on which I suppose the kings were inaugurated, and the great 
public sacrifices made, corroborates these opinions. That the 
fire was not kept perpetually in the temple where the religious 
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