to erect statues, temples, or altars;[165] Strabo that they erect neither statues nor altars, but, considering the heaven as Jupiter, sacrifice on a high place. Strabo goes on, however, to state that they have large shrines called Pyraetheia, in the middle of which the Magi, entering daily into the shrine, maintain an inextinguished fire.[166] Trustworthy architectural data for such buildings we do not possess, and as Dr. Andrae has observed, the rectangular chamber at Hatra is unlike any other temple known to us, either in the East or in the West.[167] In the outer court of the palace he found a ruin which he calls tentatively an âteshgâh (fire altar).[168] It is a block of masonry almost square which stood 10 to 12 metres high and has traces of a stair that may either have wound round three sides of the tower, or have zigzagged up the face on one side only. He compares it with the tower some 28 metres high at Djûr, near Firûzâbâd, which was published by M. Dieulafoy[169]. The Djûr tower may date from the time of Ardeshîr Bâbagân, A.D. 227-240. Here, too, there was a stair, which must have wound three times round the tower in order to attain the platform at the summit. M. Dieulafoy was struck by the resemblances that existed between the tower at Djûr, the ziggurat at Khorsâbâd, and the minarets at Sâmarrâ and at Cairo.[170] A ramp winding round the ziggurat to the summit of the pyramid is described by Herodotus, but has not yet been assured by excavation, and even the existence of pyramids with platforms at various heights among the ruins hitherto examined is doubtful.[171] The whole question of fire altar and fire temple is therefore very obscure. The towers at Djûr and at Hatra may have been sacrificial altars, and Strabo bears witness to the fact that the Persians sacrificed in a high place; but I find it difficult to believe that they can have been intended for an inextinguished fire. To keep a fire alight in so exposed a spot would have taxed the ingenuity of the Magi beyond endurance. The shrines in which the perpetual fire burnt must have afforded better shelter, but what shape they assumed we do not know. No help can be expected from this quarter, and the problem presented by Chehâr Qapû must be considered on its merits. It is slightly cleared by a recognition of the fact.