TEHRAN -- A large Ilkhanid era bathhouse and a number of Sassanid and Ilkhanid coins have been discovered at the Sassanid site of Takht-e Soleiman in West Azarbaijan Province, the Persian service of CHN reported on Monday.

The discoveries were made during the ongoing excavations of the artisans’ district of the Ilkhanid section of the site.

“The public bathhouse has sections for men and women as well as cloakrooms,” the director of the archaeological team working at the site said.

“The discoveries also proved the theory that the site had experienced two historic periods after the reign of Mongolian ruler Abagha Khan,” Yusef Moradi added.

Previous studies indicate that Takht-e Soleiman had been converted into a township comprised of a bazaar, a mosque, and housing units after the Ilkhanids devastated the royal monuments of the site. Abagha Khan, Hulegu's successor, expelled people from the township, but they returned after his death in 1282.

“Thus, there is another stratum beneath Abagha Khan’s palace, which was destroyed as a result of an earthquake,” Moradi explained. Commenting on the newly discovered coins, he said, “It is hard to estimate the exact number of the coins, because the objects were in bad condition and have been seriously oxidized. Maybe some are only a piece of iron. Thus, we need to carry out more studies in the laboratory to determine the precise number of the coins.”

Located 45 kilometers northeast of the city of Takab, Takht-e Soleiman used to be a fire temple called Azargoshasb in the Sassanid era, when the temple was at its apogee.

Azargoshasb was one of the three main fire temples built around the lake located in the region, on the order of Khosrow Anushirvan, who ruled the Sassanid Empire from 531 to 579 CE. Associated with Jesus’s childhood in Christian legends, the lake is called “Chichast” in the Avesta, the Zoroastrian holy book.

The Takht-e Soleiman ruins complex is also attributed to the Prophet Solomon. It was registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2003.