TEHRAN - The ancient Temple of Anahita in the city of Kangavar, western Kermanshah province, has attracted more than five thousand tourists since March 19, Morteza Geravand, the director of the ancient site, said on Tuesday.

The figure shows an increase of 86 percent compared to the same period in the Iranian calendar year 1398 (March 2019-March 2020) when the coronavirus pandemic had not hit the country, IRIB quoted Geravand as saying.

The ancient site was inscribed on the National Cultural Heritage List in 1931.

Anahita, also known as Anaitis, and Anahit, was an ancient Iranian goddess of royalty, water, and fertility; she is particularly associated with the last.

Possibly of Mesopotamian origin, her cult was made prominent by Artaxerxes II, and statues and temples were set up in her honor throughout the Persian empire.

A common cult of the various peoples of the empire at that time, it persisted in Asia Minor long afterward. In the Avesta she is called Ardvi Sura Anahita (“Damp, Strong, Untainted”); this seems to be an amalgam of two originally separate deities, according to Britannica.

Kermanshah embraces a variety of awe-inspiring historical sites, of which Bisotun and Taq-e Bostan are both on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

MG