Dokhtar Castle

Dokhtar Castle (دژ دختر) is a castle built by Ardashir I in present-day Fars province, in 209 AD. It is located on a mountain slope near the route connecting the cities of Firoozabad and Kavar. It is one of the eight designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites of the Sassanid Archaeological Landscape of Fars Region, inscribed in 2018. The name of the castle implies it was dedicated to the Goddess Anahita, to whom the term "Dokhtar” (Maiden) refers.

The castle was constructed by Ardashir I before his pivotal triumph over the final Parthian monarch in the year 224 A.D. It was built on a high bluff some 150 meters above the Tangab River and roadway running south from Fars, commanding the principal gateway to the plain of Firoozabad from central Fars. The site was likely chosen since it controls the main access point to the city of Firoozabad which was founded by Ardashir I around the same time. Due to its challenging accessibility, Dokhtar Castle appeared in the travel accounts of the 19th century but remained unvisited until the 1920s.

Dokhtar Castle consists of a sequence of outer defenses encircling a solidly constructed inner fortification with semi-circular bastions. There are simple rubble stonewalls along the steep northern and southern precipices with occasional fort structures on specially protruding outcrops, altogether forming a spacious outer fortification. It spans 125 by 35 meters and is made of different materials including cobblestones, mineral rocks, clay, earthen bricks and white gypsum plaster. A kind of casemate wall with long, narrow, barrel-vaulted rooms, probably used as barracks for the soldiers and reinforced by rounded, protruding bastions, runs along the cliff.

The castle’s main gate, leading to a rectangular gate room on the lower level, is located in a protected corner at the very edge of the cliff on the south. 

The Castle follows the steep slope of the mountain’s crest and consists of three terraces. The lower terrace is occupied by a long vaulted hallway that contained areas for new arrivals and guards, as well as by a flight of stairs that led to the lower courtyard with a cistern in its southwest corner. Opposite the entrance is a hall with an exceptionally wide gate and lateral podiums above vaulted niches, and at the back there is an elevated bench with five semicircular seats with armrests behind a pedestal with decorated corners. A door opens on the right hand beside this hall into a square winding stair tower, which connects the three terraces of the palace. 

On the intermediate terrace, large, barrel vaulted halls, some with lateral low benches, others with podiums accessible by stairs, and one with cooking facilities, surround a courtyard on three sides. 

The upper terrace is where the large domed hall stands and traces of ceremonial furnishings are preserved. It was buttressed by very thick walls on all sides, presumably to ensure its stability. The domed hall was entered through a monumental veranda measuring 23 by 14 meters. It is surrounded on the three sides by oblong, rectangular halls with curved outer walls, thus forming the circular, donjon-like construction. The corners between the side halls are filled by triangular rooms.

The castle’s water supply was ensured through two rectangular water shafts, about 20 meters deep, which were cut downward from these outworks and were connected by horizontal tunnels with the river, which at that time flowed about 3 meters higher than today.  To the north, a rectangular shaft was cut down at the outermost point of the rampart, likely connecting to a tunnel that joined the shaft to the riverbed. A similar structure is found on the southern side.

The importance of Dokhtar Castle declined after Ardeshir had become the king of all Persia and interior fighting had ended. It seemed to have regained importance at the end of the Sasanian empire, when the last Great King, Yazdegerd III, tried to organize resistance against invading Arabs in his home province of Fars. Currently access to the Castle is via a 308-step staircase. 

The 1,800-year-old castle has lost some four meters of its original height over the last century. In 2005 a series of explosions at a gypsum mine in the vicinity of the Sasanian fortress destroyed a major part of the historical edifice. Experts warn if urgent measures are not taken to enforce it, it may soon collapse.