Archimagus

Archimagus was the sovereign pontiff of the Magi among the ancient Persians. He was the head of the whole religious system. He resided in the principal fire- temple, a building which was held in as great veneration by the Persians as the temple at Mecca by the Mohammedans, and to which every one of that sect thought himself obliged to make a pilgrimage once in his life. Zoroaster first settled the fire-temple at Balch, between the Persian frontiers and Hindustan, where he himself, as the archimagus, had his usual residence. But after the Mohammedans had overrun Persia in the 7th century, the archimagus was under the necessity of removing into Kerman, a province in Persia lying on the coast of the Southern Ocean towards. India. This temple of the arohimagus, as well as the other fire-temples, was endowed with large revenues in lands. When the archimagus approached the consecrated fire, he was washed from head to foot, perfumed, and dressed in a vestment white as snow. He bowed to the ground before the flaming altar, and then, assuming an erect posture, he offered up the appointed prayers with bitter sighs and groans. SEE RABMAG.