One of the three 'Great Flames' of the Achaemenid Empire was extinguished during the reign of Alexander the Great to honour the death of his close friend Hephaestion in 324 BC.According to ancient literary accounts the fire of the sanctuary never went out before an ancient war fought between Apollonia and the Illyrians. Placed around the lower Vjosë/Aoos river near ancient Apollonia and present-day Selenica, Albania, the area was occupied by Illyrians since before archaic colonial times, and the site was likely already a place of worship because of its peculiar physical properties. Eternal fire at Nymphaion sanctuary in southern Illyria.In China, it has at times been common to establish an eternally lit lamp as a visible aspect of ancestor veneration it is set in front of a spirit tablet on the family's ancestral altar. The flame, maintained in Oklahoma, was carried back to the last seat of the Cherokee government at Red Clay State Park in south-eastern Tennessee, to the Museum of the Cherokee Indian in Cherokee, North Carolina, and to the Cherokee Nation Tribal Complex in Talequah, Oklahoma.

At that time, embers from the last great council fire were carried west to the nation's new home in the Oklahoma Territory. The Cherokee Nation maintained a fire at the seat of government until ousted by the Indian Removal Act in 1830. In traditional Christian denominations, such as Catholicism and Lutheranism, a chancel lamp continuously burns as an indication of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

After World War II, such flames gained further meaning, as a reminder of the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust. Modern Judaism continues a similar tradition by having a sanctuary lamp, the ner tamid, always lit above the ark in the synagogue. The eternal flame was a component of the Jewish religious rituals performed in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple in Jerusalem, where a commandment required a fire to burn continuously upon the Outer Altar. Period sources indicate that three 'great fires' existed in the Achaemenid era of Persian history, which are collectively considered the earliest reference to the practice of creating ever-burning community fires. In ancient Iran the atar was tended by a dedicated priest and represented the concept of 'divine sparks' or Amesha Spenta, as understood in Zoroastrianism. The eternal fire is a long-standing tradition in many cultures and religions. Matthew's German Evangelical Lutheran Church

Religious and cultural significance A chancel lamp hangs above the altar of St. Human-created eternal flames most often commemorate a person or event of national significance, serve as a symbol of an enduring nature such as a religious belief, or a reminder of commitment to a common goal, such as diplomacy. In ancient times, eternal flames were fueled by wood or olive oil modern examples usually use a piped supply of propane or natural gas. Most eternal flames are ignited and tended intentionally, but some are natural phenomena caused by natural gas leaks, peat fires and coal seam fires, all of which can be initially ignited by lightning, piezoelectricity or human activity, some of which have burned for hundreds or thousands of years. Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin eternal flame memorializing losses during World War II.Īn eternal flame is a flame, lamp or torch that burns for an indefinite time.

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