CHAMANIM. in the Jewish antiquities, is the Hebrew name for that which the Greeks call Pyraea or Pyrateia; and St Jerom in Leviticus has translated Simulacra, in Isaiah, delubra. These chamanim were, according to Rabbi Solomon, idols exposed to the sun upon the tops of houses. Abenczoa says they were portable chapels or temples made in the form of chariots, in honour of the sun. What the Greeks call Pyraea, were temples consecrated to the sun and fire, wherein a perpetual fire was kept up. They were built upon eminences; and were large inclosures without covering, where the sun was worshipped. The Guebres, or worshippers of fire, in Persia and the East Indies, have still these Pyraea. The word chamanim is derived from Chaman, which signifies to warm, or burn.