Islamic Art Research Papers

Amulets, Magic, and Talismans

by Liana Saif

2017, Blackwell's Companion to Islamic Art and Architecture

‘TGURE 21.3. Authors’ reproduction of magical alphabet of Qalfatrios from Ancient Alphabets and hieroglyphic haracters attributed to Ibn Wahshiyya. Source: Ibn Wahshiyya 1806: 33, 35.

Ficure 21.6 Brass seal with 3 x 3 magic square, c. nineteenth century. 27.0 x 2.5 cm. Each of the numbers has had 39 added to it, totaling 1185. In the abjad system this makes up the invocation ya ism al-A‘zam (O greatest name [of God]). Source: Courtesy, Trustees of The British Museum 1893,0215.3.

Ficure 21.9 Talismanic shirt with Qur’anic inscriptions, the phrase “There is no youth except ‘Ali, no sword but Dhu'l Faqar,” groups of letters and numbers, and depictions of the sanctuaries of Mecca and Medina. Probably Deccan sixteenth-seventeenth centuries. Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art (TXT 0471)). Source: © Nour Foundation. Courtesy of the Khalili Family Trust. human and animal forms. A subgroup always has representations of a scorpion, a snake (or serpent), an animal that is probably intended to be a dog (though some have called it a lion), and two intertwined pre-Mongol dragons — imagery reminiscent of the design on ninth—tenth-century Iranian amulets. This subgroup has been designated by some scholars as “poison cups,” though in fact poisons and animal bites are only some of the many uses inscribed on the outside of the dish (Canaan 1936; Savage-Smith 1997: 72-105; 2003).

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Islamicate Occultism: New Perspectives, ed. Matthew Melvin-Koushki and Noah Gardiner (2017)

by Matthew Melvin-Koushki and

Special double issue of Arabica, 64/3-4 (2017), 287-693

https://brill.com/view/journals/arab/64/3-4/arab.64.issue-3-4.xml

Associations of the twenty-eight lunar mansions*®

The list of court munaggims and other individuals who present taqwims to Sultan Bayezid from 909/1503 to 918/1512.

gubart hand of the Koranic text to create a garment whose overall program appears as a single piece of amuletically enhanced armor. Amplified through the presence of the entire text of the Koran, this is a talisman which is made to cover the whole body. Whether that covering was intended to be literal is yet unknown, given the rigid and fragile nature of the textile. Significant questions still remain as to the purpose of and audience for the creation of these objects. As the above foray into a deep analysis of a single object has demonstrated, Islamic talismanic shirts are best studied between the boundaries of book arts, textile arts, amulets, and armor. Designating these objects as talismanic solely through the presence of Koranic text on their surfaces fails to take into full consideration the visual cues which recall the form of the human body, and thus the primary object that they are encoded to protect. thus the primary object that they are encoded to protect.

al-Istimatis, the planetary ruhaniyyat are given names which also appear in the Gaya as shown in the table below.®° Despite the personal names and prescribed invocations found in the texts mentioned so far, the ruhdniyyat must be perceived as tools that impel vo- litional forces to facilitate natural The ruhaniyyat are vital agents of t Universal Soul. These must remain processes for the benefit of the operator. he celestial world as multiplications of the distinct from those (supernatural) beings, referred to as jinn and devils, who be seen, [and who] breed and die’; belief in these “fiery” creatures.© belong “to a mysterious world that cannot the author adds that Islamic law sanctions

From Ibn Arab’s Futahat: three examples of prophetic and lettrist correspondences

From Sams al-ma‘arif: three examples of correspondences for the seven characters

Identification of the Twenty-eight Lunar Mansions

a While it is true that in the Ottoman textual culture the names Sinan and Yusuf were often used interchangeably for individuals named as Sinan al-Din Yusuf, it is more likely that these Sinan and Yusuf b. ‘Umar al-Sa‘ati are two different individuals, maybe even brothers as the sons of a certain ‘Umar who is referred to in the register sometimes as muwaqqit, sometimes as mwaddin, and sometimes as munaggim. For example, in the relevant entries from the month of du |-higga in the year 916/March 151, Sinan’s name is recorded as the one given 500 aspers on the 25th of that month for the taqwim he presented whereas Yusuf apparently received his customary 500 aspers on the 29th.

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Theorizing Cross-Cultural Interaction among the Ancient and Early Medieval Mediterranean, Near East and Asia edited by Matthew P. Canepa

by Matthew Canepa

SCHOLARSHIP ON THE VISUAL CULTURES of ancient and early medieval Eurasia has recently benefited from art history’s renewed interest in questions that transcend political and cultural boundaries.1 Issues of cross-cultural interaction,... more

sentations of contemporary people of their time. They are not portraits in the sense of being individualized representations of a person’s physical appearance; but, like portraits, they function as images of actual individuals, living or dead. To the extent that they convey the identity of the individual, they do so through visual conven- tions that are used to identify categories of people. Some of these categories are relatively intuitive (for example, the distinction between men and women), while others are probably more culturally and historically specific (as with categories of ethnic identity). Similarly, they should not be construed as unproblematic repre- sentations of individual dress practices. The correspondences between identity and dress that are visible in these images are conventional ones. Thus these images can help us recognize a range of categories used to construct and represent identity, but they should not be taken as the measure of what the people represented actually wore in daily life. Male (right) and female (left) worshippers in Xianbei-style dress, from a small niche inYungang Cave 9. Northern Wei, before 500 CE. Drawing by the author

exceptions are identifiable by their high, round, flat-topped hats with descending earflaps, made of stiffened gauze, the so called longguan or “cage hats” worn over a smaller cap (Fig. 11). Worshippers from the north wall of Cave 285 at Dunhuang. Western Wei, 538 cE. After Dunhuang Institute of Cultural Relics, Zhongguo shiku: Dunhuang Mogao ku, 1: plate 123, left The worshippers in Cave 285 are unusual for pre-Tang Dunhuang in that some of their names and dedication texts have survived. Four separate dedications are found on the north wall, dated to the years 538-39. All four are conventionalized texts in which patrons lament the dearth of Buddhist virtue and dedicate the merit from their image-making to the growth of the dharma, the rebirth of their deceased relatives, and the well-being of their families and themselves. The names of the patrons indicate that they were organized into family groups led by monastic advi- sors. To the extent that the individual relationships can be established, these groups appear to have been led by a husband and wife (the first layman and laywoman in each group of worshippers), together with their younger siblings and/or children. The 538 dedication is by members of the Yin (/2) family,*> while the two inscrip- tions from 539 are by members of the Hua (77) family.”° (The fourth, whose date is obliterated, is by a monk with the dharma-name Huizun, accompanied by the nun Huisheng. Their family affiliations are untraceable.) A family of officials named Yin who served under the Northern Wei in the late fifth and early sixth centuries was said to originate in Guzang, not far from Dunhuang;” so the members of the Yin family in Cave 285 may be members of a related local lineage. By contrast, Hua does not appear as a surname in the official histories of the period,” so it may not be possible to learn much more about this family. _ eee se ¥ ze ee Z The worshippers in Cave 285 are unusual for pre-Tang Dunhuang in that some Note the three male figures at bottom right in Chinese-style attire, the only such examples in the cave.

aposition occurs. The existing images do not suggest that it does. ae “Worshipping scene” (lifo tu) with male and female worshippers, from the front (south) wall of Shuiyusi cave temple, Northern Qi, ca. 571 CE. Photograph by the author Similarly, Binglingsi is known for several groups of female worshipper figures found on the wall of Cave 169, which is dated by inscription to the year 420 in the Western Qin period,* but as at Maijishan, corresponding male figures are no longer visible (if they ever existed). One group of female worshippers from Cave 169 appear in clearly Chinese-style dress, but another group have long attracted attention for their ethnically ambiguous attire. Dorothy Wong presents a compari- son of the two groups in which she suggests that the short coat over a long skirt worn by the second group is “consistently associated with nomadic women,’ and yet these coats are much shorter than the tunics worn by women in Xianbei-style dress, while they also have the wrap closure and full sleeves which are usually asso- ciated with Chinese-style dress.” The dress of these worshippers looks as though it might be related to women’s attire seen in tombs of the Koguryo kingdom, on the northern part of the Korean peninsula, dating largely from the fourth to sev- enth centuries.** Annette Juliano describes the Binglingsi figures as Korean on the basis of this sort of similarity.° In any event, they do not appear to be wearing Xianbei-style dress and thus do not lend themselves to comparison with examples like Dunhuang Cave 285.

Individual worshipper figures, with at right a male worshipper in Chinese-style dress with servants in Xianbei-style dress, from the east wall of Shuiyusi cave temple, Northern Qi, ca. 571 CE. Photograph by the author Shuiyusi is a central-pillar cave with five main niches (on the front and sides of the central pillar, and on the two side walls) containing figures of Buddhas and bodhisattvas. Worshippers appear on the front wall of the cave, flanking the door in two groups which extend around the corner of the chamber to the side walls. Most of the worshippers are arranged in five registers of individual figures (Fig. 12), while a small number are set apart in a pair of more complex compositions typically described as “veneration scenes” or lifo tu (#&(##leil ) (Fig. 13). Most of the figures are uninscribed, but the few that have inscriptions include both laymen and laywomen, thus enabling us to identify the visual distinctions between male and female figures in the cave. Men and women are also distinguished by different types of headgear, as well as occasionally by masculine accoutrements such as a sword and sword-belt.

By contrast, the combination of mid-length, round-collared, belted tunic with close-fitting sleeves, worn over trousers and boots, was sufficiently common for early Tang men that a painting of a Chinese couple from the late seventh century, found in the Sogdian city of Panjikent, shows the male half of the couple in just this attire (along with the soft black headcloth worn by Tang men).” That this form of dress should be used to indicate Chinese identity to a Sogdian viewer indicates the extent to which it had been normalized as a form of Chinese dress. Similarly, the figural art of the Sui and Tang implies that what we see occasionally in the sixth century became a regular visual convention in the seventh, and that what appears to be Central Asian or Xianbei-style dress in the Northern Dynasties is to be read as ordinary male dress in the art of the Sui and Tang. av Male worshippers from the north wall of Dunhuang Cave 62, Sui dynasty (589-618 cE). After Dunhuang Institute of Cultural Relics, Zhongguo shiku: Dunhuang Mogao ku, 2: plate 127

By the Tang dynasty the round-collared tunic, trousers and boots are a common form of male dress in all forms of art (although the Chinese-style robe continues to appear on some images of court officials), while women wear any number of variations on the theme of the long, full-skirted robe, with wide or narrow sleeves depending on the period. It is not the case that women’s attire was not influenced by Central Asian styles; indeed, many Tang women’s fashions were described as explicitly Central Asian.® But these were new introductions travelling along the Silk Road, and they do not resemble the dress of nomadic women from a century earlier; rather, Tang women emulated the contemporary women of Central Asia in their dress. A few examples: At Dunhuang first of all, the Sui and Tang worshipper figures continue to show women in long, full-skirted robes, though waistlines, jackets, and sleeves change over the decades with the vagaries of fashion (Fig. 15). Men are con- sistently shown in a round-collared tunic, trousers or leggings and boots (Fig. 16). Tomb mural paintings of the early Tang show the same male dress (Fig. 17).

nary men’s dress of the time. Shen Congwen describes images of this type as “Tang women in Central Asian dress,” but I would argue that only in cases where this form of dress is combined with more exotic details (such as the serving girl from the Wei Xiang tomb who wears a fur-lined hat of Central Asian shape) should we assume that these women were dressing as Central Asians. In this they share a pictorial logic with the Sogdian funerary materials discussed above. The ordinary version of this kind of Tang dress is no more Central Asian when worn by girls than it is when worn by men.

they passed, and the circumstances, such as trade, war, or diplomatic largesse, that led to their fate buried in the tombs of the medieval elite in China.

teristics obscure both the constitutive nature of identity and the creativity inherent in the process of exchange.° Excellent studies by historians such as Rong Xinjiang offer insightful remarks

parisons to the other examples where relevant. The earliest of these stone funerary furnishings, belonging to Li Dan, is the only known example of a coffin containing a Sogdian occupant. It is also the simplest in iconography, with conventional Chi- nese representations of the four directional animals: dragon, tiger, phoenix, and the “black warrior” (xuanwu 2%) found on the four sides, and celestial representa- tions, stars and the mythical deities Fu Xi and Nu Wa on the lid. The phoenix sits above a rendering of a doorway on the front or head end of the coffin, a trope seen on coffins of the early sixth century in Luoyang and earlier. This panel includes an additional motif underneath the doorway, however: a fire altar, the only motif that alludes to Zoroastrianism. Imagery on Kang Ye’s couch is also incised, with twelve scenes lining the inner surface of the four slabs that surround the back and sides of the open platform. Kang’s couch is also filled with what appears to be conven- tionally Chinese iconography: scenes of a main male figure (likely Kang) shown in landscape settings with attendants, or seated at leisure under architectural struc- tures. These scenes will be described in more detail below. An Jia’s couch is similarly decorated, but here twelve scenes show a variegated cast of Central Asian characters with long hair and large noses (Fig. 7). And while figures dressed in flowing robes common to north China appear near a Chinese-style palace in one scene, other scenes show a diverse array of figures hunting, banqueting, or encamped in domed yurts and diversely styled structures that are not native to China. Incised stone coffin, tomb of Li Dan (d. 564), Xian, Shaanxi. After Guojia wenwu ju, 2005 Zhongguo zhongyao kaogu faxian, 125

A more sequential arrangement of scenes is found carved in low relief on three ides of Wirkak’s sarcophagus. Beginning on the west wall and continuing to the 1orth and east walls, ten scenes appear to chart Wirkak’s life from his youth, hunt- ng and traveling amidst caravans and attendants, to his passage over the Cinwad yridge and ascension into the afterlife (see Fig. 13). Several scenes, including one yn the west wall that appears out of this sequence, contain deities or figures whose dentities are still unknown. The front fagade has a massive doorway flanked by wo guardian figures in high relief. The right and left edges of this front facade are livided into three tiers that roughly mirror each other: at the top, a cluster of musi- ‘ians play Central Asian instruments (e.g., the pipa), in the middle, two figures lank a large carved window with slats, and, at the bottom, a fire altar tended by _ half-man, half-bird magus or priest-bird. Additional figural and animal details lecorate the base of this sarcophagus

the lintel of the doorway leading into An Jia’s tomb (Fig. 9). The altars are in some instances tended by a half-human, half-animal “magus” or “priest-bird” whose mouth is concealed by a paddm (mouth cover) so its breath will not pollute the sacred fire (see Fig. 12). But while An Jia, Wirkak, and Yu Hong’s funerary structures include additional Central Asian and Zoroastrian iconography, the fire altar incised on Li Dan’s coffin and a similar-looking motif on Kang Ye’s couch are the only ref- erences to Zoroastrianism in their tombs. No priest-bird tends the altar in these representations, and other features incised on the structures mute the allusion to Zoroastrianism. We will return to these two examples below.

of mourning and the imagined post-mortem journey of the soul they draw more specific links to Zoroastrian practices. The first scene, on the Miho couch, depict: a priest who wears a paddm and tends a fire (Fig. 12). Four of nine figures behinc him kneel and hold knives up to their faces; others meditate below in a landscapé¢ alcove of sorts. Several scholars have discussed this composition, identifying it a: a Zoroastrian funeral ceremony, following the exposure of the corpse to be con- sumed by animals and linking the presence of a dog to the sagdid rite, in which the glance of the dog is believed to drive away evil or defiled spirits. Frantz Grenet note: that despite the fact that the practice of face cutting is condemned in Zoroastriar texts it is frequently depicted on Central Asian ossuaries. This detail is further cor: roborated by murals such as those at Panjikent.3? The second scene, which span: two panels on the east wall of Wirkak’s sarcophagus, presents a host of figures anc animals crossing the Cinwad Bridge over hell (Fig. 13), identified by the heads o1 monsters capping the pillars of the bridge and among torrential waves below. Othe! details of the scene depicted here, two dogs and flames found at the lower righ’ edge, are interpreted as guardians of the bridge and the fires that aid the soul tc cross it. Grenet and others have identified the two larger figures at the front of the party on the upper left of the scene as Wirkak and his wife, and the rocks above them, which divide the human realm from the deities above, as the “mountain ove which the soul ascends.” VAG hace weawae opbhnlawe Kea writer 4enawnnsomhwr clawtoetawne Bex atawa

ings. In Valentina Raspopova’s reading of the Miho couch, renderings of costume and posture are described as “mistakes” compared to earlier prototypes. Observa- tions of subtle misunderstandings, compositional compromises, or substitutions of more familiar artistic conventions— characterized as “distortions” by some scholars — tell us that the tomb structures were likely produced by local artisans drawing from diverse sources, and demonstrate how a conventional motif with one meaning can be transformed within a new, and sometimes jarring, context. For instance, seemingly harmless rocky settings, commonly used to position figures in a landscape, apparently evoke “wild distant lands where heroic adventures are possible and dangerous animals lie.”? While it may be the case that an artisan was unfamiliar with the specific attributes of a deity or other iconography requested by a patron, to describe a single motif as a “distortion” does not explain what the iconography meant in its newfound context, assembled with pictorial tropes of the local Chinese.** If we relinquish the notion that artistic and cultural systems are closed, and resist evaluating imagery against paradigms in distant regions, then these “mistakes” will stand on their own as the actively constructed innovations of Sogdian immigrants in a newfound cultural context.

AME LOPES Clee OL Nails 5 COUCH UT dt dostils d CULIOUS SHUt LO LEPre- senting a new type of foreigner, one associated not with geography but with a lower social status. Figures of a kind described by archaeologists as foreigners, hu ren (iF A.) are not representations of Kang but of groomsmen and servants who appear in only three of ten scenes: the two with the ox-drawn cart and riderless horse and the scene between them (Fig. 16). In this central scene, a large figure sits on an elevated curtained platform (in front of decorated panels much like the stone slabs on which they are depicted) with a traditional Chinese-style hip and gable roof. Because he is the largest and only figure represented frontally in all of the compositions, scholars have drawn the reasonable conclusion that this is Kang Ye. The other eight figures in the scene are all Central Asian men: a pair of wine-bearing attendants to each side, and a group of four more kneeling below bearing more food and wine. The use of foreign groomsmen seen in the two flanking scenes is not unprecedented in Chinese representations, but in the earlier Northern Wei stone coffin tradition. from which the imagery of Kang’s funeral couch is adapted, groomsmen are not distinguished by such clear foreign physiognomic features as a large nose and large eyes, but dressed like other Chinese attendants. This element of the decoration on Kang’s couch appears to be an updated late sixth-century feature.

pictorial conventions adopted by aspiring late fifth-century Northern Wei officials. who appropriated Chinese tropes in order to lend them authority in the eyes of their newly conquered subjects. A century later in murals that decorate the fout walls of Xu’s chamber, husband and wife are shown seated on a platform (Fig 19), surrounded by attendants and musicians and an expanded repertoire of fig- ures. An ox-drawn cart and horse, the same pairing found on the stone furniture. extend the composition to the flanking walls. The core imagery remains the same but fashionable dress has changed with the times. Female musicians wear newly styled headgear and robes with the pearl-roundel patterns then popular on Cen- tral Asian textiles. Men’s trousers and caps appear to be updated nomadic garb. But what is missing from the narrative of change framed by the imagery in these two tombs is that in the decades between them inhabitants of north China fought viciously over whether to continue the Chinese traditions initiated in the late fifth- century reforms or to renounce them for something else. At opposing ends of the conflict were Xianbei nobles at Luoyang who had adopted Chinese traditions and commanders stationed in northern garrisons who retained nomadic customs. This conflict has been viewed as emblematic of the divide between Sinicizing and nomadic trends, but the loss of high status, privilege, and advancement for military families and other factors fueled the hostilities between the two regions. Garrison rebellions erupted in 523 and culminated in the slaughter of the royal family in 528 CE (the “Heyin massacre” ).” Within the Central Plains region occupied bv the Eastern Wei and Northern Oi Couple seated on a dais, north wall of stone funerary chamber, Zhijiabao, late fifth century (line drawing of painted stone). After Wenwu (2001), no.7, fig. 6

If we separate the imagery from these fascinating stone structures into distinc’ cultural strands and view them as embodying the tension between distinct tradi: tions, we may overlook the process of exchange and innovation taking place. W may also miss the self-image that An was constructing through this assemblag of disparate elements in relation to the plurality of cultural repertoires available to him and his descendants during the late sixth century. Rather than identi. fying him as the inheritor of one “coherent” culture or another, we may see him instead as exposed to an increasingly diverse set of cultural variables. An’s identity as a merchant or intermediary between diverse groups is highlighted by this rela- tional aspect. Adopting this view of identity and of these funerary furnishings a: produced relationally, from a network of artistic forms, acknowledges the recon: figuration of traditions in late sixth-century north China as an act of originality It further reveals An’s role as a facilitator between the disparate groups with whic he had contact rather than as a member of one group or another. It is a vision tha allows us to see individuals occupying a space situated in the colliding networks o! late sixth-century north China, affiliating with multiple cultural spheres, and moré accurately portrays their place in a space between. Audience and encampment scenes, An Jia couch (line drawing of carved and painted stone). After Shaanxi sheng kaogu yanjiusuo, Xi'an Bei Zhou An Jia mu, fig. 24 and pl. 57

in an “ideologically correct” position: defeated or submitting. After his invasion of the Roman east and successful checking of two Roman counterinvasions, Sapar | (r. 241-72 CE) carved a number of rock reliefs celebrating these achievements. These reliefs did more than merely record events: his last rock relief at BiSapur (II) also directs yet another potent attack at the Romans, manipulating their identities and thus that of the entire Roman empire (Fig. 2). The central equestrian figure of Sapur dominates the scene. He tramples the prone figure of one Roman emperor and with his right hand clasps the wrists of another, the Emperor Valerian, while yet another figure, Philip the Arab, performs the act of ritual submission before him (adoratio/proskynésis).* Figures representing other subject peoples and allies fill out the remaining registers of the rock relief, putting the submission of the Romans into a global pictorial context. Though Valerian’s son, Gallienus, continued ruling a troubled yet independent Roman empire, disavowing his father after defeat, the image of Valerian at BiSaptr constructs the entire Roman empire as tributary to the Sasanian king —an assertion which Sapar echoes in his inscriptions at Naq¥e Rostam.** The privileged audience for this image, like the others at the site, were most likely confined to the Sasanian priestly and aristocratic hierarchy, and its pri- mary function was to define, elevate and fix Sapir’s identity in the minds of his court as truly $ahdn Sah in a global sense— Lord of the Aiyra and non-Airya alike.” Meanwhile the inscription’s Greek translation, consonant with the Near Eastern convention of trilingual inscriptions using the languages of conquered empires. ensured that Saptir’s message could be intelligible to privileged visiting or captured Romans as well. Detail of the central panel of the monumental rock relief of Sapir I at Bisapir, Iran (Bisapir, relief II), after 261. Photograph by the author

ures in Iranian costumes with northern, German barbarians. While images of foreign kings did not occupy such a constant and central place as they did in Roman and Persian triumphal architecture, they were still an impor- tant component of early Tang tombs. These tombs were envisioned as walled cit- ies with underground palaces, provisioned above ground with temples, altars, and staff to venerate the deceased emperor.” Rivaling the size of the actual palaces in Chang’an, they were as much affirmations and images of the Tang dynasty’s con- ception of their empire’s place in the world as monuments to individual emperors. With the imperial bodies at the symbolic center, the tomb monuments displayed courtiers and guards as well as foreign emissaries and subject kings, all conforming to an ideal vision of the Tang world.*° The grandest of the imperial mausoleums, that of the Emperor Taizong (r. 626—49), with a perimeter extending 60 kilome- ters, integrated images of foreigners in multiple positions determined according to their relative importance to the Chinese imperial center. Fourteen statues of for- eign kings, identified by name, flanked the path to the north of the altar inside the north gate.” In the tomb of Taizong’s sixth son, Li Xian (653-84), murals of foreign emissaries lined the passage that led to the central tomb chamber.® At the Qian- ling Mausoleum, the tomb of Gaozong (d. 683) and Wu Zetian (d. 705), sixty-one monumental stone statues of foreign emissaries cluster at the ritually appropri- ate place. Just like envoys visiting court, they wait outside the monument’s inner wall, which symbolically corresponds to the gatehouse to the actual imperial city.* Among these are two statues of the Sasanian royal family, including the eldest son of Yazdgerd III (r. 632-37), the last Sasanian king, whose inscription describes him as “Peroz, King of Persia, Grand General of the Right Courageous Guard and Com- mander-in-chief of Persia.”

Polo players. Tomb of Li Xian, ca. 706. Qian County, Shaanxi province, China. The John C. and Susan L. Huntington Archive of Buddhist and Related Art, The Ohio State University

Mosaic of Justinian I, detail of the tablion showing pearl roundel and bird textile patterns, ca. 548. San Vitale presbytery, Ravenna. Photograph by the author

that were developing across Eurasia. This was no doubt the purpose of the circular textile motifs that decorated the tablion on Justinian I’s imperial chlamys in the San Vitale mosaic and those of Theodora’s retinue, or the clothing of Kosrow II and his courtiers at Taq-e Bostan, or of Persian dignitaries and Sogdian noblemen portrayed in frescos at the palace of the king of Samarkand or in aristocratic houses at Panjikent (Figs. 8-10). During the period under study, the popularity of Clas- sical visual culture in Eurasia precipitously declined, with Sasanian court culture quickly filling the void both in the Mediterranean, Central Asia, and China, and remaining influential long after the fall of the Sasanian dynasty.’ From the point of view of China, much of this “Persian” material was produced and imported by the Sogdians. It is interesting to contemplate which —if any — culture the con- sumers attributed to the material or the motifs, or whether, like the many other luxury items imported in the early Tang dynasty, they were simply understood as “Persian” no matter whether of Roman, Persian, or Sogdian origin.”°

the peoples of the Caucasus. The Lakhmid and Ghassanid rulers, for example, were integrated into both court hierarchies, and appropriated diverse aspects of their court cultures.’ Even if they did not exert direct control, their expanded knowl- edge of the world and drive for totalizing coherence tempted the courts to incorpo- rate distant states into a single hierarchy. The Roman and Sasasian courts sought to exert influence culturally as well as militarily in such realms as the Aksumite king- dom of Ethiopia or in Yemen, even as these Red Sea rivals cultivated independent traditions and pursued independent policies."* The Sasanians and Chinese courts expended resources to gain influence in the succeeding Kidarite, Hephthalite, and Goktiirk steppe empires, and counted them as subordinate “barbarians” despite their often worrying military power. Mural from the western wall of the ‘Hall of the Ambassadors,” detail showing pearl roundel, bird, and énmurw textile motifs. Royal palace n Sogdian Samarkand (Afrasiab). -hotograph by the author

Sea of Azov (Fig. 1). The expedition of 1981 targeted a group of four mounds on a plateau above the right bank of the Chynhul River, a few hundred meters upstream from its confluence with the Molochna. This group of kurgans was slated for exca- vation and removal in a salvage archaeology project in order to make way for a planned program of large-scale agricultural irrigation.* Kurgan 5, the largest of the group, was dubbed the “Chynhul Kurgan” (or “Chingul Kurgan” in Russian) by the excavators. Early nineteenth-century Russian maps of the region, however, label the river as “Chungul,” more faithfully preserving its probable Turkic name, “Congiil.’’ The name has the meaning of “marshy ground” or “quagmire” in Otto- man Turkish, probably in reference to the wetlands abutting its confluence with the Tokmak River to form the Molochna.* The name also reflects the fact that the area lay within Turkic nomadic territory well into the modern era. Reverting to the earlier name, then, we will henceforth refer to the mound as the Chungul Kurgan.

1.25 meters deep. Examination of the skeleton by a paleopathologist indicated that the deceased was a tall and muscular male of about 55—60 years of age.” Based on the arrangement of the burial goods in the wooden coffin, the body must have been placed in the coffin before being lowered into the pit. The grave goods were packed tight around the body, including a suite of arms and armor, multiple sets of clothing, two silver cups, and ornaments in gold and silver (Fig. 4). After the cover- ing of the coffin, ritual offerings of mutton were added to the pit, as well as ceramic vessels: amphorae for wine or possibly kumiss (fermented mare’s milk), and a bot- tle and albarello most likely containing aromatic or pharmacological substances. OES ie ce ie ee. ee ane ee SM SR Me TE. EE Meee: eT ee! Oe) CE: (CER ean AE aan aes e Plan of burial pit showing deceased and grave goods. Drawing Y. Rassamakin and T. Y. Hoshko

Burial caftan in situ, detail showing embroidery on torso. Photograph V.I. Klochko folded up in a bundle under the armor at his side (Fig. 6). Still another set of gar- ments was folded near the warrior’s feet (Fig. 7). Of the last, we have only the silver- gilt appliqués that were once sewn onto the collar and waist of the light under-tunic, and remains of the heavy silk-and-gold fabric ribbon that once trimmed the hem of a caftan.

The front of the burial caftan and its sleeves are decorated with bands of fig ural embroidery. A band of indigo-dyed silk samite 12 centimeters wide runs fron the collar to the waist of the caftan and serves as the ground for the embroidere« decoration of silk, gold, and pearls. This band was interrupted at the waist by a1 inset panel of metallic ribbon in the “candelabra” pattern mentioned above, as wel as by the waistband of basket-weave-patterned metallic twill. The embroiderie resumed below the waist and continued as far as the hem of the skirt. Further pan els of embroidery, measuring 24 by 24 centimeters, ornamented the sleeves near thi shoulders, and narrower bands of 6 by 24 centimeters width decorated the cuffs The embroidered decoration of all these pieces consists of roundels, about 4 centi meters in diameter, with human faces depicted in the center (Fig. 10). The silk face: are surrounded by a background of couched gold thread, in turn surrounded br elaborate braids of twisted gold thread with pearl stringing. The braids and pearl are shaped into interlaced strapwork knots between the roundels, which appear it a band down the front of the garment and in other bands on the sleeves and at th: cuffs. In the interstices of these knots are raised, silver-gilt plaques in two shapes squares measuring 2 millimeters across and half-arch forms measuring 2 by 6 mil limeters. The latter shape had to be manufactured in complementary pairs, left-fac ing and right-facing, a fact which strongly suggests that they were made expressl1 for employment in this embroidered decor. Each plaque is in turn surrounded br pearl stringing. The estimated total count of pearls on the garment is over 35,00 pearls of just over a millimeter diameter each (Fig. 11).2” The form of the embroidered decoration on the burial caftan agrees well witl

robe (Fig. 12). Like later forms of the loros, the embroidered band is permanently attached to the underlying garment, and includes discrete patches at the shoulders and cuffs coordinated to the decoration of the vertical element.* It also maintains the typical division of the design into square compartments. On the other hand, no part of the excavated garment seems to correspond to the free-hanging portion that should pass over the left arm from behind the back. Furthermore, we have no other depiction of an imperial loros with figural embroidery.” The closest one may come to such a Joros with embroidered faces in surviving Byzantine iconography is the depiction of Saint Kyriaké (literally, “Saint Sunday” ) in imperial dress, wearing a loros decorated with personifications of the other days of the week. The corre- spondence to Byzantine imperial dress, then, is close, but not absolute.

buckles tends to confirm the supposed date of burial in the early part of the thir- teenth century. The simple, outer buckle has provided the thorniest issues in terms of its dating. The specialized monograph on Western medieval belt buckles by Ilse Fingerlin in fact re-dates the similar Saint Elizabeth belt to the mid-thirteenth cen- tury on the basis of the earliest depictions of buckles of this type in sculpture, which date to circa 1240.*° Not only should logic dictate that the manufacture of actual objects precede their representation in other media, but one may in fact posit a delay of about two decades between the rise of a new fashion and its first depiction in art.” Furthermore, as a rule, medieval fashions originate at the elite level in pre- cious material and are subsequently imitated in media of lesser value, rather than the other way around.* The fact that all three buckles are of heavy silver, and that one of the three is linked by its form to a relic of a sainted royal, again confirms the elite rank of the burial and argues for a date early in the thirteenth century.

ornamented wings ( Fig. 15), possibly forming part of the back of the caftan to which it was attached. Embroidery of sacred figures on liturgical veils and priestly vest- ments is attested in Byzantium from the twelfth century.” We also have at least one piece of evidence for the use of sacred images on Byzantine court costume.® A fresco of the emperor of the Byzantine principality of Trebizond, Manuel I Megas Kom- nenos (r. 1238-63), showed him wearing a garment with a large medallion image of Saint Eugenios on the chest. Now lost, the fresco was recorded in descriptions and in a drawing of the nineteenth century (Fig. 16).°* So, just as the caftan on the body of the deceased can be paralleled with the Byzantine Joros, the caftan with the large archangel can also be connected with Byzantine traditions of court dress. Both caftans, moreover, are constructed of silk samite, the complex, compound weave widely found among documented Byzantine textiles exported to the West in the Middle Ages.® At first glance, then, one might take the caftans for imports or direct imitations of Byzantine court dress of the late twelfth or early thirteenth century. Archangel and donor embroideries from caftan fragment under armor. Photograph D. V. Klochko

Burial caftan, detail showing pleating at waist of skirt. Photograph D. V. Klochko

angel at whose feet he stands, contrary to iconographic norms. The accompanying inscription in Slavonic characters is too fragmentary to be readily deciphered.® The panel of embroidery is framed on both sides by narrow ribbons bearing a series of hemispherical, silver-gilt bosses. When this ribbon was lifted from the edge of the embroidery, it was discovered that the embroidery had been cut right across the hands of the donor figure as well as through a letter of the inscription (Fig. 22). Close examination revealed that the ornamental panel of vegetal ornament below the archangel’s footstool was executed on a lighter-weight fabric than that support- ing the embroidery of the figures. This textile was doubled-over to match the gauge of the much heavier silk underlying the archangel embroidery. The joining of the two different weights of silk fabric — on the reverse by a carefully executed, turned- under seam — would have taken place at the time of the original execution of the embroidery. Based on the orientation of the donor figure, there must have been a further figure or figures in the center of the original embroidered panel, toward whom the donor’s gaze was directed. Most likely, the composition took the form of a deesis, in which the image of Christ would have been flanked by one or more pairs of intercessors, such as the holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel.* The physi- cal examination of the edge of the embroidery made clear, then, that these were not integral parts of a robe of state but rather reused fragments, probably from an ecclesiastical embroidery such as an altar cloth. Detail of figure 10 showing inverted heads in embroidered “loros” band. Photograph D. V. Klochko

caftans, however, mirrors the way decorative trimmings are indicated on Kipéak stone statues found in the Pontic steppe (balbal or bolvan; popularly known by their Russian name as kamennye baby). Although these statues are generally very weathered and lack fine detail, in many instances one can discern patterned bands of cloth trimming the opening of the caftan along the center line of the chest, as well as the waist, sides, and spine (Fig. 23). We cannot be sure of the exact nature of these bands, but the finds of woven silk and gold bands elsewhere in the region may indicate that they were prized among the Kip¢ak elite.” Gold trimmings in similar positions also appear on the costumes of Georgian rulers in their official portrai- ture. In frescoes of the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, the members of the Bagrationi dynasty depicted themselves sometimes in the long Byzantine tunic and loros, sometimes in caftans trimmed at the openings and hems with gold-woven bands.* It is worth noting, however, that the two styles, while they appear side by side in Georgian fresco painting, are never blended in a single portrait: the loros and the caftan are never worn together. The caftan from the Chungul Kurgan is, therefore, exceptional. Furthermore, the opening of the caftan, which is perfectly centered whenever indicated on the stone figures, is in the case of the burial caftan offset several centimeters to the left in order to accommodate the reused loros. a wo « ee Pe é ee = jas. ile ni ma - 2 = ae Kipéak statue, twelfth—thirteenth century. Stone. Kherson Regional Museum, Kherson. Drawing after Pletneva, Polovetskie kamennye izvaianiia, pl. 71, 12

hasty, even shoddy sewing. Perhaps the most astonishing discovery was the method of attachment of the skirt of the caftan with the embroidered archangel. The skirt, as has been mentioned, was meticulously gathered into hundreds of pleats each about 3 millimeters wide. The upper part was then attached to the torso of the caf- tan bya single line of sewing through the selvedge of the woven gold and silk ribbon trimming the waist (Fig. 24). Although our first impression was that these cos- tumes were adapted for life on horseback, the details of their construction present a very different picture. The wearer could hardly have mounted a horse, let alone ridden it, without the skirt ripping free of the body of the caftan. The likely conclu- sion, then, is that this garment, at least, was assembled for the express purpose of burial with the “prince.” Caftan under armor, detail showing attachment of pleated skirt to waist (obverse and reverse). Photograph Y. Rassamakin

silver siren buckle on an inner garment is contrary to sartorial logic. Rather, the unusual situation of the belts appears to reflect Turkic ritual practices involving supplication to higher-ranked individuals and to deities.°* In documents relating to the Tiirks and Mongols, the rite of supplication involved both the removal of the belt from the waist and its placement around the neck. Thus the Secret History of the Mongols describes both Genghis Khan’s worship of Burqan Qaldun through such a rite and, mutatis mutandis, his brother Qasar’s submission to Genghis Khan himself.” The open belts around the waist of the body from the Chungul Kurgan also help to make sense of the enormous round chain about the neck. Circular in form and made of electrum mesh, its dimensions are more than adequate for it to be regarded not as a necklace, but as a belt. Furthermore, the rings that clasp its ends together are soldered shut in what may be another ritual act of “sealing” the body in a state of supplication to Tangri and the gods of the afterlife. One can compare it to the very similar belt worn by a seated figure in a Seljuk relief from Konya.® The two belts of Western European manufacture, and a third perhaps of Anatolian origin, are here also redeployed in the service of Turkic religious rites. — a rs met

Armrest covered with a brocade textile, Tang dynasty, eighth century. Silk, length 78.2 cm. Shosoin Treasury, National Museum, Nara, Japan. Photograph © Shosoin Treasury, National Museum, Nara, Japan attitudes toward foreign places and peoples and the artistic forms that served as their surrogates.” This emphasis is dictated in part by the limited evidence doc- umenting the process of the feng huang’s movement to the west, which makes it impossible to arrive at any definitive explanations of the mechanics of its transfer- ence. But the approach is also motivated by an abiding interest in what adoption of the feng huang might reflect about Byzantine attitudes toward exotic eastern cul- tures. This essay operates from the premise that Byzantine viewers’ understanding of foreign works of art was embedded in (and can be deduced from) the ways that Byzantine patrons and designers chose to redeploy these models in their own artis- tic production.

In late antique and medieval Chinese culture, the feng huang was associated with the South and appears with other animals symbolizing the cardinal direc- tions.’ Along with the dragon and the deer, the feng huang emerged in the Han era (206 BCE—220 CE) as a protective animal. For this reason, it was depicted exten- sively on funerary monuments, a practice that continued into the Tang period.” During the Tang dynasty, however, important changes in artistic style took place. These transformations were stimulated in part by new models from western sources that moved eastward along the Silk Road during the seventh and the first half of the eighth century, when China endeavored to strengthen control over its Central Asian periphery in order to reinforce its northern borders against inva- sion.” At this time, the indigenous Chinese motif of the feng huang was gradually transferred from monumental — especially funerary — decoration to small-scale objects, some of which combined the Chinese bird motif with features adopted from western, especially Sasanian art.”

understood as a foreign motif. Han-era depictions of the standing feng huang show strong similarities to the type that appears in Tang, some Liao, and all Byzantine works of art, indicating that this motif possesses a distinctly Chinese, rather than foreign, origin.

Chinese historical records allude to diplomatic missions conducted between China and Byzantium, providing one possible means of direct cross-cultural artis- tic exchange, especially of luxury portable goods. These delegations would have been limited in number, however, with the majority dating to the seventh and eighth centuries, significantly prior to the period during which the Byzantine objects depicting the feng huang are thought to have been produced, in the tenth to eleventh centuries.” Still, Chinese sources record at least one later embassy from Byzantium, dated to 1081 during the Song dynasty, which maintains the possibil- ity of the exchange of works of art as diplomatic gifts in the middle Byzantine era. Additional embassies may have taken place in 1091, with the Song sending a delega- tion and gifts to the West, although the Chinese sources are unclear as to whether the destination, the land of “Fu-lin,” should be understood as Byzantium or some other medieval polity.”

Abstract THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD in China, here meaning the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Sui, and Tang (ca. 398-907 CE), is widely understood as one of the most cosmopolitan and multicultural in China’s history. Objects, people, and ideas flooded into China from Central and Western Asia, traveling along the network of trade routes known collectively as the Silk Road. Studying the movement of objects in this period can offer tremendous insight into the routes of cultural exchange and the change in the way objects were valued as they moved from one culture area to another. Byzantine and Sasanian coins (Fig. 1), for example, are not uncommon finds in Chinese tombs of the sixth and seventh centuries, and the extent to which they were valued is clear from the imitations and copies that are also found in the same tombs.’ These coins are found throughout medieval Central Asia and clearly moved eastward with merchant travelers along all the major trade routes. At the same time, the further these coins are found from their point of origin, the more likely they are to have been pierced, to enable them to be attached to clothing or jewelry, suggesting that they had lost at least some of their value as money and had instead become exotic ornaments. On the Changing Meanings of Ethnic Dress in Medieval China

is inscribed on the reverse with what appears to be a name in Sogdian script, and with a measure of the vessel’s weight in the Greek script used in Bactria during the Sasanian period. This object clearly belongs to the category of imported metalwork from Western and Central Asia, which was generally valued in medieval China, as seen in the finds of imported silver vessels in Chinese tombs and the imitation of these objects by Chinese craftsmen. However, the Sogdian and Bactrian inscrip- tions on the object testify to an intermediate stage in its life, such that the story it tells is not merely about a binary relationship between the Chinese and Eastern Roman empires.

nomadic attire of tunic and trousers became associated with a range of male activi- ties and occupations. Hence, it became a common form of male dress (in art, at least) by the turn of the seventh century. This process, by which a particular style of dress lost its earlier significance as a marker of ethnic identity, may also account in part for the shift from dress to physiognomy as a sign of ethnic otherness in the art of the Tang.

_ Cup, Byzantine, discovered in Dune yn the Island of Gotland, Sweden, enth or eleventh century. Silver, 1eight 6 cm, diameter at lip 10.6 -m. Historiska Museet, Stockholm, 5849:5. From Andersson, Mediaeval Drinking Bowls, pl.154 Ettinghausen identifies three primary modes to characterize the way that Greco- Roman artistic models were employed in Sasanian art.” The first mode, “transfer, is an act of unmediated copying. It involves “taking over of shapes or concepts a: they stand, without change or further development.”* The second mode, “adop- tion,” refers to “artistic forms [that are] transferred from one region to another anc remodeled according to novel principles,” which “differ so much from their origi: nal configurations that their true identities become obscured.» As noted above, | define “adoption” in more neutral terms as any act of cross-cultural transmission Still, I endorse Ettinghausen’s concept, characterizing it as “adaptation” in ordet to emphasize the active reworking that I understand to be at the core of his defini: tion. He qualifies the third and final mode as “integration,” “a form of interchange [in which] it is difficult to say which is the giver and which the receiver.”® Feldmar identifies a similar dynamic at work in her material, characterizing the phenom. enon as a process of hybridization that produced a “supra-regional,” internationa visual language, in which “specific channels of foreign inspiration cannot be clearl} traced.” This category is not applicable within Byzantine uses of the feng huang but does resonate well with other situations of cross-cultural artistic interaction ir the premodern world.

Adoption Analysis of the Feng Huang in Middle Byzantine Works of Art Returning to the Byzantine examples of the feng huang motif, these different types of adoption can now be exemplified. The first mode is relatively straightforward, and is effectively described by Ettinghausen’s term “transfer.” A transfer retains the character of its source and shows only the most limited adaptation to the adopt- ing culture’s formal and semantic traditions. Three of the six feng huang examples adhere exclusively to this description, and two of these objects are silver cups.“ One cup was discovered in a fourteenth-century hoard buried in Dune on the island of Gotland, Sweden (Figs. 94 and B).® The specific circumstances surrounding the object’s movement from Byzantium to Scandinavia are unknown, but by the ninth century, Scandinavia was connected with Silk Road and Mediterranean commer- cial routes via the Baltic sea and land and river passages to Constantinople. Trade between Byzantium and Scandinavia was particularly active in the tenth and elev- enth centuries. The so-called Varangian guards, Scandinavian mercenaries who served as elite soldiers for the emperor in Constantinople, may also have trans- ferred Byzantine works of art and coins to the North.® The other cup was uncov- ered in the Kama region of Plehanovo, Russia, but is now lost (Figs. 104 and B).” It may have also traveled from Byzantium along northern trade routes. Returning to the Byzantine examples of the feng huang motif, these different types

blank field, with no additional iconography to contextualize it. It is best under-

The context of its depiction, a decorative border in a book on horse care, raise: the question of the motivation for the selection of a foreign motif to adorn thi: particular object. The feng huang might have been considered appropriate for thi: handbook because of its association with the animal world, or perhaps its exoti character was thought to resonate with the secular information found in the manu. script.” Indeed, sections of the Hippiatrica address the use of pharmaceuticals ir horse care, and these medicines often employed spices, such as cinnamon, ginger and pepper, that came from exotic regions of the East.” It is, of course, also possibl. that the motifs were generic decorative forms intended to convey luxury and statu: ina broad sense.

said to gesture toward integration. Several birds in the medallions follow a Chinese model, including the one located in the second row from the top on the right (Fig. 14B ). As in the Hippiatrica headpiece, the birds on the ivory panel are disassociated from their original source, but here the reworking of floral, foliate, and bird motifs is more extensive.”* The tendril frames resemble late antique and Byzantine models, indicating assimilation of the feng huang within a Byzantine stylistic and composi- tional idiom.” Although the alterity of the bird is still evident, it has shed some of its original formal distinctions, showing progression toward stylistic integration. This transformation is not, however, limited to formal aspects. The bird is more than an ornamental motif; it participates in a decidedly symbolic program, dictated by the large, jeweled cross at the center.” While the silver cups, lead seal, and manuscript headpiece belong to the domain of secular art, the triptych is a Christian devotional object. The cross represents a sign of spiritual redemption in an otherworldly set- ting. The panoply of well-ordered exotic birds and floral motifs evokes the garden of paradise. Although the feng huang has lost some of the stylistic distinctions of the Chinese model, its exotic character is still discernible and desirable. Allusion to the animal’s distant origin may have been intended to express the wondrous diver- sity of the heavenly realm and its miraculous encompassing of the earth’s natural bounty, which includes animals from the farthest reaches of the earth.” Here the foreign motif serves a distinctly Christian program. As such, it has been appropri- ated and adapted formally, but expropriated semantically from its Chinese model. The cixth and final examnle of adontion is the mast comnley of all. A late tenth_—

huang birds, each positioned on one short end of the box (Figs. 154 and B).*° The birds closely resemble medieval Chinese models, observing the distinctive charac- teristics of the standing feng huang type. But while the precisely rendered birds are best characterized as stylistic transfers, the context of their depiction on the box suggests that a different semantic dynamic is at work. The front and back panels of the casket depict the royal hunt and the lid displays a scene of imperial adventus, or triumphal return to the capital city. These emphatically militaristic and victorious themes have prompted the suggestion that the Chinese bird operates here like a late antique Roman-—Byzantine phoenix, which, as noted above, was understood as a mythical animal of eastern origin that symbolized imperial renewal and political succession.” Yet the Chinese feng huang does not resemble the Roman—Byzantine phoenix in appearance, casting doubt on the notion that a Byzantine viewer would have equated the two birds (compare Figs. 2 and 158). If the designer of the Troyes Casket intended to emphasize continuity with the late antique iconographic motif and its meaning, presumably he would have used the familiar Roman—Byzantine form. An argument for semantic domestication of the feng huang does not suffi- ciently account for the stylistic alterity that the motif maintains in the Troyes Cas- ket. The decision to employ the decidedly exotic feng huang implies a different set of intentions and meanings. TT, 1 er . 1 e es ey ae , ie ro | . 1 ad vasket, Byzantine (Constantinople), enth or eleventh century. Dyed ivory, eight 13.4 cm, width 26.4 cm, depth 3 cm. Cathedral Treasury, Troyes, rance. © Trésor de la cathédrale de royes — Photograph Didier Vogel

Like the Hippiatrica headpiece, the Troyes Casket was a luxury object produced for imperial, or at least courtly, consumption. It would have likely circulated in a limited fashion, at the highest social levels. Similarly, the silver cups and ivory trip- tych would have been restricted in their production and subsequent social circula- tion because of the valuable materials from which they were fabricated.® Yet, like the lead seal, the non-imperial nature of the cups and triptych as well as their prac- tical functions might have predisposed them to be more easily disseminated than the manuscript or casket. End panel of figure 15a. © Trésor de la cathédrale de Troyes — Photograph Didier Vogel

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Le Maroc médiéval Un empire de l'Afrique à l'Espagne

by Bulle Tuil Leonetti

Catalogue de l'exposition "Le Maroc médiéval. Un empire de l'Afrique à l'Espagne" organisée au musée du Louvre, hall Napoléon, du 17 octobre 2014 au 19 janvier 2015

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Treasures of the Aga Khan Museum: Arts of the Book and Calligraphy (Istanbul: AKTC - Sabanci Museum, 2010), 375 pp.

by Margaret Graves

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MITHRAIC SOCIETIES: FROM BROTHERHOOD IDEAL TO RELIGION'S ADVERSARY

by Abolala Soudavar

2014

Although by its title, this book seems to be about a specialized topic, the spread of Mithraic societies and its avatars, in time and geographical expanse, much enhances its relevancy. From Roman legionaries to chivalry orders, from... more

Fig. 1 - Modern rendering of the Hedernheim tauroctony panel (CIMRM 1083; see also Fig. 289). Inside the cave, the Tauroctony scene is mostly based on an Iranian tradition, but plastically rendered for a Roman audience. The images outside and above the cave (delimited by the thick red line) pertain to a more elaborate myth developed in the Greco-Roman world. Tauroctony: the bull-slaying image of Mithra at the center of the mithraeum

Fig. 2 - Rendering of a fictitious Mithraic sanctuary. Museumpark Orientalis, Groesbeek, The Netherlands (wiki)

Fig. 4 — The Borghese tauroctony scene, Louvre (Lens)

Fig. 5 - Map from Kuhrt 2007, II:804. For Mithraic studies, the net effect of all these negative considerations is disdain for any approach that tends to look for common ground between Eastern and Western Mithraic societies. But such disdain is not without cost. It deprives both sides of valuable—and complementary—information pertaining to secretive institutions whose members took an oath not to divulge their secrets. This information is disseminated in bits and pieces among various avatars of these societies, each providing a clue for the reconstruction of their common past. For instance, the names of two grade holders in Roman Mithraism. heliodromos (6™ grade) and perses (5™ grade), have remained a mystery. As we shall see, the meaning of their respective names, as well as functions, can only be explained by considering their Iranian counterparts. Conversely, the structure and names of the leadership of different Iranian Sufi congregations and guild organizations can only be understood if the latter are perceived as avatars of Mithraic societies, and if the ranks of their leaders are juxtaposed with those of Roman Mithraism (see chapter V).

Fig. 6 - Spread of mithraea in the Roman Empire (Cumont 1903)

With the firm belief that Cumont was wrong, his negationists readily slide into biased and flawed arguments based on an erroneous Zoroastrian depiction of Mithra. Before investigating the Mithraic phenomenon, in what follows I have chosen to criticize, by way of example, the approaches taken by two of the most prominent champions of the autochthonous Roman Mithraism theory, namely David Ulansey and Roger Beck.

Fig. 8 - Tintin ordering the sun to disappear and reappear (Hergé 1949, Temple du Soleil, 58) The idea that immediately struck me after I began reading Ulansey's book was that he had probably never read the adventures of Tintin in Inca territory. For there is a scene in which Tintin is tied up to a post and ready to be sacrificed, and remembering that an eclipse had been predicted, he lifts his head toward the sun and commands it to disappear at the precise moment the eclipse was to occur.**? When the sun went dark, and reappeared by the order of Tintin, the panic-stricken Incas prostrated themselves before the one whom they perceived as having sway over the Sun and the Heavens (Fig. 8). reappeared by the order of Tintin, the panic-stricken Incas prostrated themselves before Unlike Tintin, Ulansey's Stoics, who presumably developed the Perseus-Mithra myth, do not claim to be in possession of an astral power by which they could punish or reward their followers. They simply claimed the knowledge of a "secret" that happened a long time ago and had no intrinsic value, because an astral phenomenon, imperceptible to the eye and incomprehensible to the average person, was neither a sellable nor attractive argument. If they were to act as apostles or priests, inviting people to worship this new god, they needed to claim powers akin to those ascribed to Jesus of Nazareth,* which they didn't.

regulates their entangled universe, is used by Beck to highlight the inherent similarities of sun-cults. The sun-like orbit, which the officiating priests of the Chamulas follow in theit rituals, is juxtaposed with the pattern that regulated the order of astral stations in the mithraeum, in order to emphasize how this processional order was essential to the comprehension of the Star-Talk. Also, the similarities between the list of ingredients— incense, candles, fireworks, etc—used in the Chamulas rituals as well as the Mysteries are proposed as necessary paraphernalia to "sanctify the actions" of the male-dominated hierarchy of their respective ceremony-officers, who all "engage in a mimesis of the Sun," presumably by replicating the Sun's movement.*° Fig. 9 - The Chichicastenango cathedral, Guatemala.

Fig. 11 - Aya Sofia. Uncovered Byzantine mosaics Fig. 10 - Aya Sofia mihrab and Arabic inscriptions path to salvation. When the shaman looks to the right of the nave, he sees nine statuettes of saintly figures dressed in black and red that—for him—allude to the nine Mayan gods of the Underworld, and when he looks to the left he sees thirteen of them dressed in green and white, which recall the gods of the Heavens. A Christian who enters the cathedral, however, may see them as saints or bishops. Clearly, the "talk" that emanates from the statuettes depends on one's point of view. Some may perceive it as Mayan and others as Christian. Some, however, may see them as both.

Darius chose trusted parsas to quell the rebellions of strategic areas: Dadarshi to Bactria, Hydarnes to Media, and Vaumisa to Armenia.°'*

Fig. 250 - Astyages's crown on Mithra's head. Pasargadae What is suggested by the above is that the last of the Medes, i.e., Astyages, otherwise called Bivarasp, was vilified by subsequent chroniclers who nicknamed him Azhi- dahaga, or snake-man.°”° They also wiped out his ancestors and predecessors, by giving their regnal years to Azhi-dahaga, in order to credit him with one long reign of one thousand years. Such a hypothesis meshes perfectly with our suggestion about Zoroaster being chased from his fiefdom of Raga by Astyages. In the eyes of Zoroastrians, Astyages had committed a cardinal sin and merited eternal damnation. He was thus equated with the mythical monster Azhi-dahaga. But such a vilification is never made up out of thin air. The question is: where did the Zoroastrian priesthood get the idea to turn Astyages into a snake-man?

Fig. 15 — Reconstruction of Nemrud Dagh (web)

Fig. 17 - Crypta Balbi mithraeum reconstruction (Crypta Balbi) Fig. 16 - Order of the Golden Fleece gathering in 1470 From its very inception, the Order of the Golden Fleece purported to be the guardian of the Christian faith, with a chancellor who had to be an ecclesiastic by statute, and its main seat located at the Sainte Chapelle (Holy Chapel) of Dijon.* And yet, this very Christian order used pagan emblems, and pursued rituals that clearly emanated from a non-Christian origin. There was of course the very emblem of the Golden Fleece that suggested a pagan origin (see further below), but a closer look into the gatherings— called chapitres—of the Order reveals much more, since many of their symbols and practices replicated those of the Mysteries.

Fig. 22 - Dervish with triple burn marks. 17" century Safavid Iran. British Museum. Fig. 20 - Sasanian silver jug. 6" Fig. 20 - Sasanian silver jug. 6” century. MFA Boston Fig. 21 - Hilt of Charles the Bold gifted by his daughter to Maximilian. Kunstkammer, Vienna. Fig. 18 - Sarcophagus with Mithraic head, pheasant, peacock, and bull. Roman 2 century, Trablos. Istanbul Archeological Museum Fig. 19 - Pheasant bird with pearl necklace. 5" century. EMS coll.

Fig. 23 - Anahita with triple-pearl ornaments. Bandyan. Figs. 24 a, b - (a) Goblet of Mary of Burgundy with heraldic emblems and triple pearls, (b) Cross of the Order of the Golden Fleece with triple pearls. Kunstkammer. Vienna.

Figs. 26 a, b - Mithraic signet with solar emblems, and a bezel with winged bull referring to the sacrificial bull of tauroctony. Late Hellenistic or Roman period, EMS Collection.

Fig. 27- Caricature of Apam Napat () on Maximilian's seal°® Fig. 29 - Order of the Golden Fleece necklace. Kunstkammer, Vienna. Fig. 28 - Knight master with solar emblem (t) awarding knighthood (Meuleau 2010, 6)

Fig. 31 - Detail of Burgundian crown with a flaming sunburst. Dijon Museum. Fig. 32 - Philip the Good's Coat of Arms and motto "Aultre Naray". -hoto: King's College, Cambridge.

Figs. 33 a, b, c - Planer and level emblems of Jean Sans Peur, and headgear ornament. Tour Jean Sans Peur, Paris. that these Burgundian symbols established an affiliation with a brotherhood of similar artisanal origin.

Fig. 34 - St Andrew over a background of planers and levels. Bibliothéque Nationale de France. Fig. 36 - Knotted cross of St Andrew and Golden Fleece necklace, on Spain's royal coat of arms (wiki) Fig. 35 - Staircase twisting stone pillar with knotted branches. Tour Jean Sans Peur. incorporated into the architecture of the spiral staircase that Jean Sans Peur created in his Parisian tower, since at the very top of the staircase, the central pillar turns into a bunch of knotted tree trunks from which more branches grow anew (Fig. 34). As the only architectural decorative element of the staircase, it uses the metaphor of St Andrew's tree trunks, to show how a masonry base transitioned into a thriving brotherhood of branches.® More generally, the Duke seems to have used Masonic symbols in a tongue- in-cheek manner, for besides trying to obscure the Masonic origin of his leveler, he also tucked a number of three-pearl elements under the larger and dominant pearl ornaments of one of his medallion (Fig. 33c).

Fig. 37 - Coquillard with sheepskin, pouch, gourde and knife (Mediavilla 2006, 23)°!

and had to be redefined with changing religious environments. Figs. 38 a, b - A pair of Hellenistic gilt silver bowls with a golden ram, and a pheasant carrying a pearl necklace

Figs. 39 a, b -. (a) Tauroctony scene watched by the sun and moon from outside the cave . (b) Mithra and Helios seated on a bull skin inside the mithraeum. Back and front of a Mithraic stele. Louvre. A most intriguing double-sided stele at the Louvre has a tauroctony scene on the front (Fig. 39 a) and a banquet scene on the back, in which, following the Roman manner, Helios and Mithra are seated in a reclining position on a couch covered by a bovine skin (Fig. 39 b). Two other characters, perhaps the ubiquitous pair Cautes and Cautopates, are present at the banquet scene, one advancing with a wine rhyton toward Helios, and the other, bringing fire to the fire-altar. Remnants of color pigments attest that both once wore ared Phrygian bonnet and a red cape.

Fig. 409 — Sample of the Copiale Cipher encryption THE COPIALE CIPHER

Figs. 42 a, b— Abraham's "birthplace" complex. A list of dervishes and galandars buried in the complex. Urfa, Turkey

Figs. 43 a, b—a) Mithra hunting, b) Roman Mithraic initiates with leather tunics. Mosaics from Sepphoris. 5-6" century (web) Thus, the mosaics of Fig. 43b must reflect Mystery initiates, perhaps the miles, since they hold a spear in their hands. They also display menorah-like candelabras, which were probably used as symbol of the fire that was placed at the heart of the mithraeum and that lit its cave-like environment. A similar symbol, a candlestick with five branches was used by Iranian dervish orders,”’ while the Freemasons used candelabras with three, five or even seven arms; in Judea though, it was normal to use a seven-branched one as it was in tune with the prevailing type of local candelabras (see sec. XIV.10).”!

Fig. 44 — Initiation ceremony of an Indian warrior. India, 16" century (Soudavar 1992, 325) ‘ig. 45 — Turkish traditional wrestlers with leather pants (Turkish Airlines’ magazine)

Fig. 47 - Plain Masonic leather apron. Musée de la Franc-Maconnerie. Fig. 46 — French Foreign Legionnaires marching the Champs Elysées, with a leather apron and an ax on their shoulder (web) al While the leather garment was a byproduct of sacrificial ceremonies, it also had to follow—as with the candlesticks—local fashion and tendencies. Thus, in keeping with Roman fashion, the leather garment of Roman initiates was a leather tunic, while that of Iranian initiates was a pair of trousers. The more common and easy to use leather garment, however, was the leather apron such as the one famously adopted by the Freemasons (Fig. 47). It was also worn by Indian warriors affiliated to the Jalali dervish orders and by Iranian dervishes, who called it tanureh and had it decorated with nail- heads.” As such, the prominent full-hide apron of the French Foreign Legion members (Fig. 46) may have also derived from a brotherhood tradition that went back to Roman Legions affiliated with the Mysteries. These emblems, and certain elements of their paraphernalia, were all meant to induce a sense of unity among brotherhoods.

Fig. 50 —Lohan seated on a sheepskin, with Sogdian disciple. China, 18" century.'"! China. Some of these merchants eventually settled in China, and commissioned funerary monuments—and other objects—with a decorative program that blended Chinese motifs with Iranian and Central Asian features (Fig. 87).'°’ The presence of the Sogdian at the foot of the /ohan points to a Buddhist holy figure originally revered in Sogdiana or in the Eastern Iranian world, who maintained the sheepskin tradition of his western brethren.

being pulled by four flying horned cows!” rather than four horses as in the case of the sun chariot in Fig. 52. More importantly, its cows are guided by an Eros-type figure symbolizing Apam Napat, the Iranian aquatic deity who was the Lord of the Night, and was Mithra's counterpart in a duality that juxtaposed fire with water, sun with moon, and day with night (see secs. X.7, X1.12). While, according to Herodotus (1.31), Iranians had "no images of the gods, no temples nor altars, and consider the use of them a sign of folly," Alexander's conquest changed the Iranian outlook on this matter, and the image of the winged Eros was adopted from the Greek repertoire, to represent Apam Napat. As a key figure in the conveyance of farr, Apam Napat was often depicted handing a dastar (i.e., a flying ribbon and symbol of victory) to kings (Figs. 54-55). Eros was a perfect fit since he had wings that designated him as supernatural (i.e., a deity), and could personify Apam Napat whose very name meant "Child of the Waters,"'°* As Lord of the Night, Apam Napat controlled all nocturnal movements, including that of the Moon; that's why the Moon's chariot is being pulled by the childlike Apam Napat in Fig. 53. It should therefore come as no surprise if in a tauroctony scene from the mithraeum of San Stefano Rotundo (Fig. 57), the Moon's chariot is guided by Apam Napat. The Roman myth, which laid the foundation for the tauroctony scene, was built around Mithra, but in other areas of the

Fig. 55 - Apam Napat handing a dastar with three pearls. Sasanian plate. Islamic Kunst Museum, Berlin. Fig. 54 - Apam Napat handing a dastar with three pearls. F Sasanian silver plate. (Miho Museum). mithraeum, an allusion to the original Iranian deity pair was still very much in evidence, e.g., in the pairing of the sun and moon above tauroctony scenes, and the presence of water next to the fire of the mithraeum.'” Sun and fire were linked to Mithra, while the moon and the waters related to Apam Napat.''? If the Roman Mithra dominated the tauroctony scene, he was implicitly accompanied by Apam Napat, who had an equally important role as we shall further elaborate in sec. XI.12.

Fig. 56 — Apam Napat (Child of the Waters) held by Anahita (Lady of Waters). Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Fig. 57 - Apam Napat (7) guiding the moon's chariot pulled by cows. Tauroctony scene from San Stefan Rotondo (web)

Fig. 116 — Mithraic head with converging snakes and a sun motif. St Poghos-Petros church, Tatev Monastery, Armenia (Ph. Sara Kuehn) Fig. 117 — Mithra holding two lion snakes. Istanbul Archeological Museum Thus, from Elamite Iran, to Christian Armenia, to the Crypta Balbi in Rome, we have a recurring association of snakes with Mithraic entities. No wonder then that the Zoroastrian priesthood categorized the snake as a khrafstar, or noxious animal that had to be killed. As a distinctive symbol of Zoroastrians' opponents, it symbolized evil and that is why the head of Ahriman under the hoofs of Ahura Mazda's horse, in Naqsh-e Rostam. is infested with snakes (Figs. 129, 176).

Fig. 413 — Bronze object. Mithra holding two lion-serpents. Archeological Museum, Istanbul The question then is: Could this Mithra be labeled daiva? Citing a number of previous studies, Clarisse Herrenschmidt and Jean Kellens conclude that in the Gathas, the daivas had not as yet ‘become demons" but constituted a category of "genuine gods" who had been "rejected." This, they argue could be the basis of an abrupt or gradual change in belief for the Iranians, except "for the fact that no known Iranian dialect attests clearly and certainly the survival of a positive sense for *daiva-." Four possible such cases are presented and quickly rejected for not being conclusive. The most important one is the onomastic evidence. They remark that names with a div/daiva component only pertain to Sogdiana, where they insinuate Buddhism might have been at play.*° This is simply not true. Titles and names of the rulers of Mazandaran and Gilan, clearly vouch for a strong survival of non-Zoroastrian beliefs in Iran proper. Chronicles of the Mongol and Safavid cra, often name provincial rulers of the Gilan area with epithets such as amirag, merak and sa ‘luk, which, as I shall argue in my forthcoming book, link back to Mithraic Societies and its avatars. More pertinent to our study, though, are names such as Mohammad-e Div and Shams-od-din-e Div who were local rulers of Mazandaran and Gildn.*! Furthermore, the Safavid chronicler Eskandar Beyk relates that a certain Mirak-e Div, who was from the "cast of the Divs of Mazandaran,” was appointed deputy governor to a prince.°* For Eskandar Beyk, not only these rulers were part of a cast surnamed "The Divs," but they belonged to Mazandaran, the very region that the Shahnameh says to have been ruled by divs. While these rulers proudly assumed the name Div, others associated the word div with demoniac creatures. And throughout the ages, the projection of the div (e.g., Fig. 414) remained very similar to one of the chimera monsters that Darius was killing in Persepolis (Fig. 415). In all likelihood the "Mazandari daivas" expression, used for instance in Yt.5.22, and Yt.17.25, reflected a demonization of that Supreme Mithra and its followers. Interestingly, both of the chimera monsters that Darius is killing in Persepolis—the horned one of Fig. 415, and the griffin on the opposite side—have an earlier prototype in the gold pectorals from Ziwiyeh of circa 8-7" century BC. While the horned chimera of Ziwiyeh has a

The ¢riskeles sign that appears, for instance, on the coinage of the rulers of Persis, may symbolize this relationship, since it has a central element with three arms reaching outward (Fig. 62). If true, this must have been a secondary consideration, for it was difficult for the officiating priest to readily point to such a relationship among stars in the sky. Instead, I believe that Tishtrya's name mainly stemmed out of the discovery of a fixed triangle called the Winter Triangle, which comprised three fixed stars: Sirius, Betelgeuse, and Procyon (Fig. 63). They form a perfect equilateral triangle that is easily recognizable. This triangle better relates to Tishtrya's etymology through a tri-star grouping, instead of a linkage to the three Orion stars (which results in a quartet). cow, and a cleverly devised cow caricature was adopted to reflect its different phases; ''” it too was placed opposite the caricature symbol of Apam Napat as Lord of the night (Fig. 60). Similarly, the three-dot symbol was devised to provide a graphic symbol for Tishtrya's afsh-chithra epithet. Indeed, afsh-chithra meant "whose light is like a raindrop," and was applied to stars in general since they all scintillate like raindrops. The raindrop was then equated with a dot, which appeared on Sasanian coinage in association with other celestial symbols such as a crescent or stars (Fig. 61).''? The dot was then tripled for Tishtrya because, as Antonio Panaino explains, its name meant "the one who belongs to the three stars."''* Panaino further argues that, based on Vedic mythology, this tri-star concept may be attributed to a perceived relationship of Tishtrya with three stars from Orion's Belt (delta, epsilon, and zeta Orionis).''°

As a perfect equilateral triangle, the Winter Triangle can lend itself to a number o nagical interpretations, and must have been viewed as a source of power, perhap superior to the moon, since it maintained a steady shape and intensity—every night— while the moon didn't. Furthermore, the three-dot symbol is primarily configured as ai equilateral triangle, which clearly evokes the geometric configuration of the Winte [riangle. On a flat surface such as coins, the raindrops of Tishtrya had to be flattened a lots. But when the medium permitted, the raindrops took the form of granules, as on th zold ring of a Mithraic pater (Fig. 64). What's more, the positioning of the granules i etween the legs of its dog clearly alluded to Tishtrya as the Dog Star of the Canis Majo -onstellation, and ascertained that this triangular formation symbolized Sirius. What needs to be explained, however, is the reason for its adoption by Mithraic societies and their avatars. Was there a particular link to Mithra that justified its popularity in the Mithraic milieu? I believe the answer is yes, for two reasons. Even though the Avesta has been purged of many pre-Zoroastrian aspects of Mithra, it still contains useful information for our study. Stanza 143 of the Mehr Yasht (Yt.10), for instance, likens the brightness of Mithra's face to Tishtrya. In other words, Tishtrya's brilliance reflected

Fig. 68 — Turkish velevet with cintamani sign. 16" century. Metropoliatan Museum. southern Kazakhstan). Salim I, on the other hand, was much indebted to the Janissaries with whose help he had dethroned his father and eliminated a rival brother. The Janissaries had as patron saint the Khorasanian Sufi master Hajji Bektash Vali (d. 1271) who belonged to the same tradition as Yasavi.''* Since dervishes commonly sported a triple-dot burn mark, we may assume that the followers of Yasavi and Bektash Vali had it as well, hence Tamerlane and Salim's adoption of the same emblem.

Fig. 71 - Fire altar and Apam Napat's wave symbol (Curtis & Simpson 2010, 389) Fig. 70 - Photo of Tamerlane's letter (from 1931) still showing the fake seal imprint.'”° "triple-circle mark" and the motto "rdasty rasty" (righteousness is deliverance).'*! The latter motto can also be found on Sasanian Mithraic seals and embodies a core principle of Mithraic societies (see sec. VII.3). Ghazvini confirms the existence of both of these on the seal mark, and describes that it also bore a wiggle sign that "looked like an ." This wiggle sign is faintly visible next to the dots of the seal mark (Fig. 70), and is similar to the emblem on the Mithraic pater's bonnet (Fig. 69). It looks like a curled wave. Wave lines convey—almost universally—the idea of water to the extent that they are often used as the symbol of Aquarius [2%4].'”? Moreover, a seal from the Achaemenid period shows one such line above a blazing fire altar (Fig. 71). Since Apam Napat presided over nighttime ceremonies, this wavy line must refer to him. It thus seems that prior to the Sasanian adoption of a two-legged ankh sign for Apam Napat (Fig. 60), a less elaborate symbol was used to designate him, that of a water wave. The latter symbol must have lingered on in the more conservative parts of Central Asia to eventually reach Tamerlane and Salim. These water signs provide further confirmation for Tishtrya's close relationship with Apam Napat, and are a testimony to the resilience of structures and symbols associated with Mithraic societies, from Rome to Central Asia.

Since Mithra was associated with the sun, Mithra had to be able to follow it in its daily movement across the skies. Mithra was thus provided a quadriga with horses that had golden hoofs in the front and silver ones in the back (¥t./0./25). It created such a powerful image for the sun god that in the Roman World, Helios was often depicted with a quadriga, whether alone (Fig. 52) or part of the Zodiac (Fig. 72, see also sec. XIV.12). But as Frantz Grenet has noticed, in Bamiyan, the Buddha also stands, Mithra-like, on < quadriga, with a nimbus behind his head and a radiant disk around him (Fig. 74).'* Additionally, we recognize in the hands of the angels in the top corners of the fresco, a: well as flowing behind Buddha's head, flying ribbons called dastar, which we describec as farr symbols associated with Mithra and Apam Napat. Further east, we have the example of a Chinese textile in which not only a radiant Buddha is seated on a quadriga but he is flanked by two servants that strongly resemble the Cautes and Cautopates pai of the mithraeum (Fig. 73).

Fig. 83 - Philip III as Sovereign of the Order of the Golden Fleece. J.Pantoja de la Cruz, 1608. Louvre (Lens) Fig. 84 - Marianne on the Barricades, by Delacroix, 1830. Louvre (Lens) Fig. 81 - Fur bonnet of the Safaviyyeh order with ribbon and plumes. (TKSM, H2160/85) Fig. 80 - Mevlevi order miter. Rumi Shrine, Konya.

Fig. 85 - Italian capital with necklace-carrying bird. Louvre Fig. 87 — Funerary stone. Tang China. MFA Boston Fig. 86 — Sasanian silver jug depicting the Chamrosh and a peacock on its sides. Iran Bastan Museum 1V.6- Lhe Chamrosnhn bird The Chamrosh was an essential bird of the farr mythology, but a bird that Zoroastrianism put aside because of its affiliation with problematic gods, i.e., Mithra and Apam Napat (sec. XI.19). Its memory, however, was kept alive in the popular mind to the extent that the Chamrosh became a prominent decorative motif, especially for Sasanian and Sogdian textiles, many of which found their way into Western ecclesiastic institutions.'*° A pheasant, wearing the same necklace as the Chamrosh, was used by the Order of the Golden Fleece for their swearing ceremony on the occasion of the Banquet of the Pheasant in 1454; it also appeared, in the company of a peacock, on a Roman Mithraic sarcophagus (Fig. 18). These two birds are also depicted on a silver bottle from the Iran Bastan Museum of Tehran (Figs. 86a, b), and show that the pair portended the same auspiciousness in the Iranian world as in the Western one. But on this bottle, instead of wearing the pearl necklace, the Chamrosh holds it in his beak as if it was a gift to impart. Interestingly, a similar bird with a necklace in its beak is also depicted on an Italian church capital of the 10" century (Fig. 85). It is by no means an exceptional phenomenon, for as we shall see in sec. XIV.8, early on, Christianity incorporated many Mithraic motifs into its iconographic repertoire. Binally the annearance af the Chamrnach on the fimerary hede af Sagdian merchante who

Fig. 89 — Ram with dastars. Detail of Sasanian bronze plate. EMS Collection. Fig. 88 — A ram depicted with a dastar tied to his horns. By Reza-ye ‘Abbasi, dated 1634. Private collection.

Fig. 90 — Wrestlers exercizing in the zurkhaneh (web) Fig. 91 — Wrestler team of a truck plant. Iran 1976

of chivalry. As some of the fotovvat-namehs explain, "in Persian, fotovvat is called javanmardi, and the essence of javanmardi is to help others."!*”

Figs. 94 a, b- Gold ring of a Sufi leader with lion mask in lieu of a sunburst. (Christie's South Kensington. Sale of Apr. 7, 2011, lot 204) Powerful is the one who is content, and contemptible is the one who is greedy. This Arabic dictum, which is carved in an elaborate Persian nasta‘lig script, datable to the 19" century, emphasizes detachedness from worldly goods, and promotes the state of eflas or pennilessness, so essential to Sufi teachings.’ On the other hand, the gold ring itself is very similar to the Roman one, with one major difference: In lieu of the sunburst

Fig. 101 — Sun cross (f) in front of the names of the Mithraic magi (restored). 6" century. Mosaics of St Appolinare Nuovo, Ravenna Fig. 100 - Sun cross, next to griffin with sun symbol (f). Iran, 800 BC. Louvre Fig. 99 — Seal imprint. Sun cross next to a mountain goat and griffin. 1 Millenium BC. MFAB

Figs. 104 a, b — Sasanian seals, BNF. Legends evoking gods (yazatdn) in (a), and rasty in (b). (Gyselen 1997, 30.E.6, 30.T.1) b) Scorpion seals inscribed with the name of Mithra — When the name of a deity i mentioned on a scorpion seal, it's almost invariably that of Mithra (Mehr). For instance one seal bears the name Mehrag (Fig. 102); and the name on another one is given a Mehr-ddur Vishnasb [i] Ruwan-bin, the ruwan-bin part of the name being an adjectiv that refers to an exalted state in which the soul of the priestly official is so elevated that 1 can see the wandering souls of his predecessors.” The latter seal not only connects thi scorpion to Mithra's fire (Mehr-adur) but provides an adjective that is seemingh appropriate for the Mithraic hierarchy. 3) Scorpions with lions — The lion was the symbol of the sun par excellence, and on seals, the appearance of the scorpion in conjunction with lions, as in Fig. 103b and Fig. 104a, is one more clue for linking it to a Mithraic environment. The legend on both reads ‘abestan o yazatan" (support from gods),””’ and as such, refers, in an oblique way, to the Jeity pair Mithra and Apam Napat, especially on the seal which displays the lion and the oull as a pair (see sec. XI.17).

At the end of my book Aura of Kings (2003), I had tentatively linked the scorpion to the remnants of a proto-Elamite tradition that, later on, must have gotten enmeshed with Mithraic practices.”°? My only clue at that time was the abundance of scorpion images on 3"*millenium BC artifacts from southeast Iran that were then known as "Kerman" stones, and are now dubbed "Jiroft stones," due to a multitude of similar objects that were unearthed in the Jiroft area a decade ago. The complex iconography of these objects vouched for a strong priestly tradition that could hardly disappear without leaving a trace. Indeed, the motif of the "master of animals," or a superhuman who holds two threatening animals in each hand, is one that originated in the Jiroft culture, survived the vicissitudes of history to strongly re-emerge in the bronze art of Luristan in early 1*-millennium BC, and finally landed in the Roman world. Of particular interest to us is the Jiroftian prototype of the "master of animals" who holds two serpents in his hands (Fig. 106), which is echoed in a bowl from the mithraeum of the Crypta Balbi in Rome (Fig. 107), as well as on a Roman Mithraic cameo in which snakes are wrapped around two sticks (Fig. 108); the double snake motif also appears among the symbols of the Ostia mithraeum (Fig. 112) as a stick with two serpents, called caduceus, which was the ancient symbol of messengers.”'” A similar caduceus is held by Cautopates on the Louvre stele of Fig. 39b. Fig. 105 - Snake and scorpion in tauroctony scene. British Museum Mysteries on the other. The similarity between these seals cannot be accidental. 210 The caduceus was often mistakenly used in lieu of the Rod of Asclepius as a medicinal symbol.

An emblematic item from the Kerman/Jiroft series of objects is a handbag-shaped stone object, which is a crushing tool, probably used to crush grain in agricultural ceremonies and rituals.7!' Many of them feature serpents and scorpions (Fig. 111b). Because these creatures hibernate in winter, their awakening in springtime ushers in the rainy season. They were therefore considered as auspicious animals associated with water. The snake in particular became a god of water for the Elamites whose kings are sometimes depicted on a snake throne (Fig. 110). Other "handbags" show lush palm-tree plantations or water

Figs. 114 a, b — (a) Seal with 2 kusehs; (b) Seal depicting the chasing of the kuseh (Gyselen 1993, 10.E.5, 14.2)

Among the most impressive Sasanian seals, in size and weight, are two whose owners bear the title bap. The first is 3.7 cm long and has the following legend engraved arounc the bust of its initial owner: Bap Haredar (b’p hid'l), i.c., Bap the Protector/Guardiar (Fig. 118).?!° The second one, carved out of rock crystal (Fig. 119), reads: Bap Rok (by lky) i Mishan moghbed (The Blunt Bap who is the high-priest of Mishan).””° On a thire seal (Fig. 120), bap is followed by the epithet rad (master, spiritual leader). It is less imposing than the previous two seals but has a winged lion—as symbol of the sun anc Mithra—on it. We thus see that, on all three, the title bap is followed by reverential adjectives proper to individuals of high spiritual and social standing.

The fire monogram therefore alluded to the Mithraic oath. But it also evoked an important aspect of ceremonies held around a fire altar. For fire to be visible it had to be lit at nighttime; that is why the "A" of NWRA is represented as a moon emblem (i.e., the crescent) at the very top of the monogram. It placed the bap under the aegis of the moon, and evoked his nocturnal activities. But more important is the choice of this ideogram as opposed to the more widely used spelling ‘dwr (adur) to represent "fire," because this ideogram, like the Arabic word nur (light), emphasized the light aspect of the fire. It therefore alluded to the luminescence (chihr) of the farr that was embedded in the fire. Since the farr was considered a primordial source of power, the monogram implicitly projected the high rank and power of the baps.’”” monogram can be dissected into N, W, R and A (Fig. 121). A similar monogram opposit a fire altar on a Sogdian coin brings added confirmation to our interpretation because, by virtue of their symmetrical positioning, the fire altar and the monogram must b equivalent in meaning (Fig. 122). But fire was always closely associated with Mithra especially for sealing an oath. Mary Boyce sees Mithra's association with the Sun arisin; "through an original association of Mithra, lord of the covenant, with fire; for it appear from both Iranian and Indian sources that it was ancient custom to swear to covenants by Mithra, their personified power, in the presence of fire, which, as the flame on the hearth sustaining life, or the sun in the sky, controlling times and seasons, represented rta/asha the due order of things."*"!

The second highest rank in the Mysteries was heliodromos whose name has been translated as the "runner" or "courier" of Helios, often without any understanding as to the origins of his name. In a lively discussion that occurred at the end of a conference in 1975 on Mithraism, in which various inconclusive explanations had been proposed, E.D. Francis pertinently remarked: "but why is it important that one should be a courier or messenger of the sun?"”? In fact, the relevance of heliodromos can only be grasped through the name of its Iranian counterpart, mehr-astat, which is engraved on a seal with a NWRA monogram (Fig. 125); it designates the person who stood on the chariot of Mehr/Mithra.”*° As the one who stood closest to Mithra, he was also in charge of relaying his instructions (Fig. 126). It's a role that was fulfilled in later times by the shdter, the person who was responsible for leading the ruler's horse (as in Fig. 127). The shdters, who have frequently been equated with the ‘ayvars, formed a brotherhood with their own special fotovvat-nameh. They ran alongside their ruler on foot and were in charge of transmitting his orders, and as such they were also called peyk or courier (sec. VIII.2).

Furthermore, Lecoq only investigated the right side of the equation, 1.e., the evolution o parthava into NP pahlu (see Table 1). Had he investigated the left side of the equation he would have discovered that OP parsa had a clear phonetic similarity with NP parsa which means "pious/religious" and is mostly used as an epithet for renowned dervishe: such as Shaykh Abu-Nasr-e Parsa (d. 1461). Moreover, Fatemeh Jahanpur had draw1 attention to a remark by Hamdollah-e Mostowfi (1281-1349) about "parsas" who helc nighttime ceremonies next to a high altitude lake called Chashmeh Sau near Tus ir Khorasan.” The term parsd was clearly used by Mostowfi to designate non-Islamic priests, in lieu of the usual term mowbad. They were akin to the parsa of old, becaus« they too held their ceremonies at night, as attested by the moon above the fire altar in Fig 130. Logic dictates that, in between OP parsa and NP parsda, there must have been a Sasanian link, 1.e., a fire priest that corresponded to the Roman perses. Indeed, four Sasanian seals from the Cabinet des Médailles of the BNF (Figs. 128a, b, c , d), belonging to dignitaries or officials, allow us to justify this contention.” The first two (a, b) are elaborate official seals that have a modified NWRA monogram, complemented by a little bar underneath

Fig. 129 - Ardavan trampled by Ardashir's horse, and Ahriman trampled by Ahura Mazda's horse. Naqsh-e Rostam. In Paikuli, the Sasanian king Narseh (r. 293-302), who ascended the throne by displacing his grandnephew, is trying to prove his legitimacy by invoking the support of those who, in later Persian literature, are called arkdan-e dowlat or Pillars of the State. His was not a democratic state where ordinary people, whether Persians or Parthians, had a voice that mattered. If anything, ordinary Persians and Parthians were rebels to the state, and not its pillars, especially the Parthians who constituted the power base of the Arsacids. And the Arsacids, who were portrayed as Ahrimanic in the rock relief of Ardashir at Naqsh-e

Table | — The evolution of parsa, or fire priest

ig. 132 — Qalandar with red hat and Fig. 133 — A shater with red headgear and red robe, and dagger and bells tied to ed pants. Iran 17" cent. EMS coll. his belt. Mughal India. MMA SO ee ee eS ee ee a ee ee, As noticed in sections V.3-4, chronicles and literary texts often equate ‘ayyars with shaters. And in the same way that javanmard qualities were recognized in ‘ayyars, the shaters were also qualified as javanmard.”®° Similarly, wrestlers were called ‘ayyar,’*! and shdters used the ‘ayyars' slingshot (kamdan-e goruheh), the one that had been popularized by the Caliph An-Naser among the fetydn,’*® and like the Mazdakites and qalandars (Fig. 132), they often wore red headgear, red robes or red pants (Fig. 133). There was, thus, much intermingling and many common traits between them.

This city (Herat) is happy when you are present; and we are (only) happy when with you * we are all dying, as the real victims of your Astarabad exile

The Venetian traveler Michel Membré gives some added specificity about the shdters of Shah Tahmasb: appellation connects the shater back to the fire of the mithraeum, and the shovel held by the Jeo (lion) grade holder (see Fig. 139, also the 4" station of Fig. 3).

Fig. 143 — Caricature of Soltan Solayman. By Aqa Mirak, 16" century (Ph.: J. Soustiel) Fig. 145 — Caricature of a courtier, attributable to Shah Tahmasb (Roxburgh 2005, 205) was a mix of Persian and Chaghatay Turkish that echoed Central Asian traditions; and therein, he advocates the formation of a new army that he defines as yenge chakar.””

Fig. 148 - Dervish Ghiath-e Semnani by Reza ‘Abbasi. Ex-Khosrovani Coll. Fig. 146 — Wrestler, by Reza ‘Abbasi (Sotheby's sale 6-12-1967, lot 61) ‘ig. 147 - Dervish Beheshti with three dot burn marks and wine bowl. Reza ‘Abbasi Esfahan, dated 1625. Golestan Palace Library.

Fig. 149 — An ‘ayyar. A page from the khavaran- nameh. MMA Figs. 151 a, b — (a) A Safavid shdater with short pants and axe. (b) Safavid noblemen wearing sheepskin bonnets with ribbon. (Soudavar 1992, 235 and 244) And yet, as we shall see in the Sasanian graffiti, many members of past Mithraic congregations sported their long hair without a cover; for them, wearing a bonnet seemec to be the prerogative of the rank holders. And it is, perhaps, in consideration of suct practices that Denkard ITI.29 qualifies the enemies of Zoroastrianism as the divs with "disheveled hair," because, in the parlance of the early Zoroastrian priesthood, those whc had rejected the supremacy of Ahura Mazda, and honored Mithra instead, were treated a: divs (sec. XII.6). An example of such a person could be the chakar leading the horse o: Shapur son of Papak in the Persepolitan graffiti (Fig. 162). Nevertheless, in Safavic times, members of the nobility also donned a sheepskin hat tied with a ribbon, to show their sympathy for dervish orders (as the polo-playing prince in Fig. 151b).

Figs. 153 a, b, c — Dervish drinking bow! camouflaged as a bell (Sotheby's, London, sale of 14-4-2010, lot 206) Flower has set its emerald throne on green grass, * Seek the wine that's like molten ruby

Fig. 154 — Last page of a Koran dedicated to the shrine of Balim-Soltan. Turk ve Islam Museum, Istanbul. 00d peal (le rene cla écaly CHUA ala « WSim olS 9 Gud Cs 93 The skin-sitter of the court of the Hongar Hajji Bektash Vali, al-Hajj Mohammad-* Ali Helmi the Dede?!®

Fig. 157 — The khalifa of the Morshediyyeh congregation issuing an order in the name of Shaykh Abu-Es'haq (Soudavar 1992, 79) Fig. 158 - Teymur before Soltan ‘Ali Siyah- push, by Mo’in Mosawer, 17" century, Iran. EMS Collection. imperial decrees, including a gold seal mark (d/tun tamghda) that was the prerogative of Mongol rulers.**’ The Morshediyyeh acted in effect as a state within a state. And yet the order never grew militant. It simply focused on attracting more and more pledges, and on expanding its network. As a result, it was unable to withstand the onslaught of the Safaviyyeh who had their eyes set on their riches and could not tolerate the presence of a rival Sufi order, especially a Sunni one.

Figs. 159a,b — (a) Safaviyyeh officer holding the chub-e tariq; (b) Safaviyyeh officers being presented a golden plant (TKSM, albums H2153/38 and H2160/10)

Fig. 161 — Coin of Ardashir son of Papak (Private coll.)

Fig. 160 — Coin of Shapur son of Papak (Dr. Busso Peus, Sale 368, lot 364) X.3 - The Persepolitan Graffiti

Figs. 163 a, b- (a) Effigy of Papak with shoulder stars; (b) effigy of Shapur with shoulder stars (1), riding next to a Mithraic priest. Persepolis window jamb. master in Fig. 28, as well as the emblems of a present day robber gang known as Vor v Zakone (Fig. 164, see sec. XIV.13). The combination of the headgear and the solar emblem clearly justifies the name Papak for a Mithraic leader who, out of deference for the founder of the congregation, could not claim to be a bap himself. As in the case of the Khorramdiniyyeh, the successor to the paramount bap—presumably Sasan—chose a diminutive title, Papak/Babak. It probably derived from the belief in the principle of metempsychosis (tandsokh), similar to the one held by the Khorramdiniyyeh by which Javidan's soul had transmigrated into Babak's body. And we also saw that the head of the Morshediyyeh acted as the deputy (khalifeh) of Shaykh Abu-Es‘haq, and issued orders in the shaykh's name some four centuries after his death (Fig. 157). Because of his name, we suspect that Papak too purported to act as the deputy and successor to Sasan and in unison with his spirit.

Fig. 164—A Vor v Zakone with shoulder stars (web)

korymbos. The second one is essentially a Mithraic bonnet surmounted by a falcon head (Fig. 167). We shall explain its Apam Napat insignia (t) in section X.8, but at this juncture suffice it to note that its falcon top recalls bonnets that have a lion in lieu of a falcon, which appeared as identifiers of Mithra in Sasanian rock reliefs.*”” Figs. 168 a, b, c— Naqash-e Rajab. (a) The sanctification of Ardashir I, with a dividing line depicting: (b) Mithra and Anahita addressing their blessing to a supposed scene on the right, perhaps: (c) The sanctification of Shapur I, now situated on its right side, on a separate rock surface, split from the previous one by a water torrent

lotus flower—symbol of Apam Napat. At Naqsh-e Rajab, Mithra's bonnet is not only surmounted by a lion head but has a sunflower on the side (Fig. 168b). The same sunflower appears on a bronze bonnet of Mithra that probably came from northwest Iran (Fig. 75), and has a quilted pattern replete with sun emblems. Furthermore, Mithra appears with the same lion bonnet (ft) in a number of Sasanian scenes, including one in Nagsh-e Rostam, in which a row of deities express their approval of Bahram II through a gesture of the hand (Fig. 169).**° As crown prince, Shapur only wore a basic Mithraic bonnet (Fig. 184). On his coinage though, his Mithraic bonnet becomes more elaborate and has a falcon in lieu of Mithra's lion. Moreover, the famous korymbos, i.e., the forward-bulging cloth headgear, which Ardashir and Shapur I incorporated into their regal crown (Figs. 166, 171), is clearly a variation of Mithra's red bonnet, especially since that of Shapur was said to be red.**! Thus, not only was the Mithraic bonnet integrated into the Sasanian crown, but time and again, other princes and dignitaries donned one, as in Fig. 170.

ig. 252 —Darius fighting a lion. Persepolis Fig. 253 — Darius fighting a bull. Persepolis Fig. 254 - Darius grappling with a lion chimera. British Museum caste Fig. 258 — Griffin on Nero's breast plate. Istanbul Archeological Museum Fig. 259 — Darius grappling with a griffin. Persepolis Fig. 257 - Griffin and scorpion-tailed chimera (). Ziviyyeh pectoral. MMA

The primary meaning of chihr, i.e., the radiance that served as a gauge of one's /farr, became synonymous with farr, and was often used in lieu of farr, while a new word, chihrag, was created for the notion of image and figure.**° As a result, the exact symmetry between king and deity was set aside, and kings began to depict specific gods on the reverse side of their coinage. They thus expressed which deity (yazata) they considered to be their primary purveyor of farr. Shapur's eldest son Hormoz I, for Shapur I's issues, king and deity are identical and the mirror image of one another. Since chihr had also acquired a secondary meaning as image/figure, Shapur I decided to take advantage of it and make the motto more powerful. He thus moved the obverse deity to the reverse, and placed it to the right of the fire altar while his own effigy was placed to the left (Fig. 173). Through that symmetry, he was projecting that the king reflected the opposite deity in both image and farr, i.e., majesty and power. Thus, in Shapur I's issues, king and deity are identical and the mirror image of one another.

‘ig. 177 — Darius’s feet resting on pedestal at the level of the lion paws of his throne legs (which have an attached stand ¢ underneath). Iran Bastan Museum g. 176 — Ardavan and Ahriman under the hoofs of Ardashir and Ahura Mazda's horse, respectively. Detail of Fig. 129, Naqsh-e Rostam The primary reason for not having a clear definition of farr in the Avesta is that, in ancient times and prior to the Zoroastrian era, it was the aquatic god Apam Napat who created beings. In Zoroastrianism though, creation was the prerogative of Ahura Mazda. Apam Napat was therefore a deity that had to be eliminated or replaced. Although the aquatic goddess Anahita was adopted as a substitute, so intertwined had become the role of Apam Napat with the farr that kings—who wished to publicize their victories—had to resurrect him and show that it was he who released the farr to them. resurrect him and show that it was he who released the farr to them. In Nagsh-e Rostam, by depicting the Arsacids as Ahrimanic (Figs. 129, 176), Ardashir nsinuates that the Aryan farr had been dormant under their reign. While Ardashit invokes here the support of Ahura Mazda for his victory over Ardavan, his grand project of Ardashir-khvarrah—the capital city he built in Fars—divulges his fixation on Apam Napat. Indeed, the very architecture of this circular city built on marshlands filled with water, projected the rise of fire from water, since at its very center stood a tall tower on op of which fires were lit (Figs. 178a, b); it's the very expression of what Georges Dumézil had once qualified as "fire rising from waters," which alluded to the release of he farr that Apam Napat had guarded underwater; and it is in the image of naphtha (petrol) burning over water, a phenomenon whose name the ancient Greeks derived from 388 he second component of Apam Napat.

igs. 179 a, b— Moveable fire altar resting on a pedesta and hanging above two water fountains; Coins of Ardashir I: (a) British Museum, (b) Private coll. Figs. 178 a, b — (a) Plan of Ardashir-khvarrah; (b) Fire tower built at the very center of the city (Courtesy of D. Huff) table placed on a pedestal. As such, it resembles the Achaemenid movable throne (Fig. 193) that also carried a fire altar. Throne legs usually ended with lion paws, at the level where the monarch’s feet were supposed to hit the ground. If the monarch had a foot-rest or a pedestal before his throne, his throne legs rested on attached pompomed stands that raised its lion paws to the level of the king’s feet (Fig. 177). What appears under the legs of Ardashir's movable altar table, though, cannot be qualified as stands since they are clearly separated from the legs and have a nippled top rather than a flat one (Figs. 179a, b).*”° These stand-like objects under the altar table are in fact water fountains that recall the water fountains from which sprang the fire on top of Ardashir's tower.

Fig. 184 — Ardashir and Shapur defeating the Arsacids. Sketch of Firuzabad relief (Overlaet 1993, 89 As Lord of the Night, Apam Napat held sway over all other nighttime entities. On several silver plates, for instance, the chariot of the moon is being pulled and directed by an Eros-like symbol of Apam Napat (Fig. 53). In Yt.8.4, another celestial entity, Tishtrya, is said to derive its light (chithra) from Apam Napat. Tishtrya, which referred to Sirius as well as two other stars (Procyon and Betelgeuse), appeared in the form of an equilateral triangle known as the Winter Triangle (see sec. IV.2). In the Avesta, the epithet of Tishtrya is afsh-chithra (i.e., whose light was like rain drops), and that of the Moon is gao-chithra (i.e., bright as milk; see sec. III.7).*?’ These two epithets gave rise to the creation of two other caricature symbols. Because gao meant both milk and cow, gao- chithra produced a "cow sign" that comprised three elements, each representing one phase of the moon: A crescent on top representing the early phase, a circle in the middle as symbol of the full moon, and a bar sign at the bottom as symbol of nothingness (Fig. 180).°°8 Afsh-chithra, on the other hand, produced a three-dot symbol that mimicked the triangular shape of the Winter Triangle with each dot representing a rain drop or a pearl (Fig. 181). All three caricature signs embodied the auspiciousness of farr, but also followed an inherent hierarchy in which the symbol of the Lord of the Night naturally came first. This hierarchy is reflected in the Firuzabad reliefs depicting Ardashir's victory over the last of the Arsacids (Fig. 184). Leading the charge is Ardashir whose horse is adorned with the two-legged ankh sign of Apam Napat, and after him comes Shapur riding a horse marked by the cow-sign.*”” For the same reason, Apam Napat's symbol is placed next to the king

Fig. 185 — Victory relief of Narseh after initial victories over Galerius (unfinished after defeat). Naqsh-e Rostam

Figs. 186 .a,b- a) Victory relief of Shapur II over Julian showing Ahura Mazda with a pompom (7). b) Sanctification of Khosrow II by Anahita and Ahura Mazda with a pompom (ft). Taq-e Bostan

Figs. 187 a, b - (a) Khosrow haloed after a successful hunt, his hunting grounds (read empire) now stretching from India to the Nile. (b) The Aryan farr (ram with dastars) increased because of Khosrow's hunting feats gua conquests. Taq-e Bostan In Taq-e Bostan, far more eye-catching than the image of Khosrow flanked by two deities, are the two hunting scenes that dominate its ayvadn space and allude to his victories against the Byzantines and the Hephtalites. They project increases in his own farr (added halo in Fig. 187a), as well as the Aryan farr (running rams with dastar in Fig. 187b).“% They proclaim that his hunting grounds—as metaphor for empire—stretched from India (elephants) to the Nile (boars in marshlands), and included Bactria (camels). X.11 - The Tribal Aspects of the Farr

Fig. 190 - Praising the gods through the lion and scorpion (Gyselen 1993, 30.E.6) Fig. 188 — Seal with NWRA, lion and beaver (Gyselen 1993, 70.17) Fig. 189 — Lion with scorpion and farr roundels. V. Kooros collection. seems to envisage one deity, whereas the seal owner is actually invoking a tandem as he seeks support from "Borz and Mehr." Another seal bears the legend: Dad-Borz-Mehr, aspbed i pahlav, panah 6 Borzen-Mehr, which may be translated as "Dad-Borz-Mehr, the cavalry commander, (under) Borzen-Mehr protection." The seal owner's name, Dad- Borz-Mehr (Given by Borz Mehr), follows a well-known formula in which Borz ana Mehr are credited to have brought him into this world.*!* On the other hand, he seeks the 413 Chances are that the seal owner's protection of a Borzen-Mehr (i.e., the exalted Mehr). name was given by unorthodox parents, but in seeking protection, he himself invokes Borzen-Mehr, i.e., the convoluted entity that was in tune with orthodox Zoroastrianism.

Fig. 191 — Arab-Sasanian coin inscribed mhmt pgt'mbl Y yzdt'. (Courtesy of H. Rezai-Baghbidi) The same conflation that occurred for the Borz-Mehr tandem, can be observed for the word yazatan (gods), which is plural but was gradually used in the singular in expressions such as abestdn o yazatan (support from gods), and the NP yazdan (which is the Persian substitute for Allah) (Fig. 190). As such, it must have already been referring to a singular god in Pahlavi, before it was applied to Allah in Persian.

Fig. 193 — The Achaemenid king standing on his moving throne and greeted as a pdrsa by Ahura Mazda. Naqsh-e Rostam. The warrior king and the fire altar are both placed on a three-step pedestal to emphasize their equivalent roles in this setting, as well as the king's close association with fire.

There was no honor or distinction for Darius and his successors to repeatedly claim tha’ they were Persians or Aryans, since their servants as well as enemies were mostly Persians and/or Aryans.’ What Darius wished to emphasize was his status as pdrsa, anc his possession of the Aryan farr, especially after the conquest of non-Iranian territories.““° These were not banal qualities such as Persian or Aryan, but two honorifics that gave him a distinct aura of power. The two were also interlinked, because the locus of the Aryan farr was the main fire of the kingdom, the one depicted on top of the king's moving throne (Fig. 194). As reported by Diodorus of Sicily, this Fire was named afte: the king and was only extinguished after his death.**! the king and was only extinguished after his death."”" The same concept reappears on the coins of Persis. On these, the king stands, bow in hand, before the main fire edifice of his kingdom—presumably the so called Ka‘ba of Zardosht—while Ahura Mazda is depicted above and the Aryan farr standard is visible on the opposite side; to emphasize the farr symbolism of the standard, it is occasionally surmounted by the bird vareyna (Fig. 195).*** It conveyed the idea that if the vareyna was there, the farr had not departed and resided with the standard. It's an artifice that had been previously used by Darius (see sec. XI.12); and one which the Sasanians frequently used through the bias of wings adorning the royal crown on the obverse of their coinage

Table 2 — Darius’s eight predecessor kings (in bold), who ruled as Achaemenids Darius had been the quiver-bearer of Cyrus and the lance-bearer of Cambyses; **° bu those were credentials that, although important, were not enough to elect him king. If h« became king, it's because, among all the conspirators, he was not only a descendant o: Achaemenes, but he belonged to the principal dynastic line, the pdrsa line.**' His lineagé was his legitimacy. Far from trying to create a fictitious link between Cyrus and himself Darius proclaimed to be the rightful heir by boasting that he was not only ar Achaemenid, but parsa son of parsa, a distinction that Cyrus did not have. In the process he was almost portraying Cyrus as a usurper. That may explain his disdain for Cyrus; for it is a fact that Darius basically ignores Cyrus in his inscriptions, and only mentions hi:

Figs. 199 a, b, c. scenes form Pasargadae. (a) Cyrus's minute inscription on the fold of a robe; (b) a corner pillar (anta) bearing the CMa inscription; (c) the deeply incised letters of the CMa inscription Bisotun and Herodotus, in regard to the events that led to Darius's ascent to the throne, were fabrications that only modern historians could detect but not the people in antiquity! That to dupe everybody, Darius chose the less frequented site of Pasargadae, and not Persepolis—which was the seat of his empire—to inscribe his misinformation! And at a time when hardly anybody could read the Old Persian script, he chose a narrow strip of a robe in a door jamb to write his propaganda on (Fig. 199a)! Like an Easter egg hunt, the visitor had to first discover in Pasargadae that Cyrus was labeled an "Achaemenid" (but not Darius whose name appears nowhere therein), he then had to go to Bisotun and climb a steep vertical mountain to notice that Darius too had claimed to be an Achaemenid, after which the visitor had to connect these two affiliations together and exclaim Eureka, as he would suddenly realize what Darius had in mind: That Achaemenes was a common ancestor to him and Cyrus, and therefore Darius was legitimate! What an absurd way to conceive propaganda. Darius was legitimate! What an absurd way to conceive propaganda.

A more clever attack on the night and day duality was the creation of the iconic lion-and- bull emblem in Persepolis, which is prominently on display on each staircase (Fig. 221). It hits any visitor about to take the stairs. As such it must have carried a message that was very dear to Darius. There are of course many variations on the theme of a lion attacking another animal. What distinguishes this composition from the others is that the bull, rather than being a prey, is springing back to its feet and ready to attack the lion. Through Al.1/ - Median Duality against the roll of Varlus s Monotheism On ideological grounds, Darius's biggest challenge was to abolish the Median concept of the division of the world in the two realms of night and day, each presided by its own deity. His monotheistic religion necessitated the fusion of these two realms into one. As the "man" whom Ahura Mazda chose to rule,**° Darius had to establish his authority over both realms. He thus insisted in Bisotun that his orders had to be obeyed by night and by day (DB §7-8). Iconographically, two series of images conveyed the unification of these two realms. The first was Darius's canopy, which had two symbols of the khvarenah, one set within a row of lions, and the other, within a row of cows/bulls (Fig. 215). As the lion was a symbol of the sun and daylight, and the bull was a symbol of the moon and nighttime, this composition clearly insinuated that Darius was empowered by the khvarenah, by day as well as by night.

459 Henkelman 201 1a, 582. A key element of Vallat's argument rests on the relationship between the three consecutive words daae ikki hutta, for which he demonstrates that that the middle ikki should not be the suffix of daae, but must be read in combination with Autta as "j'ai traduit." The key sentence in the Elamite inscription DB L, which is equivalent to DB§70, is then translated as: "I (Darius) translated this differently in Aryan; it did not exist here before.." Accordingly, Darius explains that his OP version of the Elamite text was translated differently, and was written where it did not exist before (i.e. at the time the Elamite version was first written); Vallat 2011, 265-68. This, Henkelman never addresses. Nor does he address the importance of the CMc's Elamite characteristic that only appears in texts prior to Darius (see note 621 infra). Instead he faults Vallatfor the wrong use of Anshan and Parsa from the Nabonidus Chronicles, which appears nowhere in Vallat 2010 and 2011. His use of coup d'état in reference to Cyrus gaining the upper hand over his cousins, is also criticized. But no matter how you name it, Cyrus became an emperor by virtue of capturing the Median Empire, which prompted the de facto recognition of his supremacy. 400 Henkelman 201 1a, 597: Henkelman approving with minor caveats Potts 2005 and others. 461 Henkelman acknowledges that Cyrus is not only called "King of Anshan" but also "King of Parsu" in the Nabonidus Chronicles, and is called "King of the Persians" by Berossus (Henkelman 201 1a, 597) but treats them as inconsequential nevertheless (ibid, 582). In the process, the multiple references of Greek and Latin writers to Cyrus as "King of the Persians" are totally neglected (e.g., "Cyrus the Persian," (Diodorus [X:20)

I believe that a seal from the Cabinet des Médailles at the BNF seals the discussion on the dating of the Avesta (Figs. 201, 232a-b).*° For Alberto Cantera, the importance of this seal stems from the fact that it's the earliest representation of a Zoroastrian priest (on the right) performing the ritual of "sacrifice" to the fire as described in the Nerangestan.””’ Frantz Grenet qualifies it as the abzohr ritual, and observes that the engraver has astutely placed a circle at the end of the stick held by the priest, in order to depict the spoon holding the holy liquid that had to be offered to the fire.*”* While there is no specificity pertaining to the priest on the right, the dignified status of the figure on the left is emphasized through a number of visual devices and conventions. First and foremost are two indicators—an inscription and a winged symbol—crammed together and placed above the head of the left figure. They are clearly meant to reveal his identity. Of the two, the more significant one is the winged symbol, which was a universally recognized regal emblem, and a symbol of the Aryan khvarenah in the Achaemenid context. In all of the Zoroastrian literature, the only religious personality said to be endowed with the Aryan khvarenah is Zoroaster himself. Not even the Sasanian high priest Kerdir ever pretended to be blessed with the khvarenah, let alone the Aryan khvarenah, the most important source of regal power.

Table 4 — The possible relationship of Zoroaster with Cyrus and Darius through Vishtaspa's daughter Amytis ( ? means only one source provides this information, i.e., Ctesias, but concords with much circumstantial evidence)

Since power and authority emanated from farr (khvarenah), these stanzas portrayec Mithra and Apam Napat as purveyors of farr. The question then is why were there twc deities performing the same exact tasks? Mary Boyce has explained that this duplicatiot was because each of them held sway over a different realm: Mithra over daytime anc Apam Napat over nighttime.*'” This duality is also reflected in the Avestan myth of thi farr, which describes it in two different states. When lost, it was kept in a dormant anc dark state underwater, and its guardian was the aquatic god Apam Napat; whet resurrected, it shone like the sun and was bestowed by Mithra. In tandem, these tw« deities controlled the full cycle of the farr, from darkness to light and from sea to sky and conveyed power and authority. A higher degree of fnyrr ar farreh_pateyn ecanid anly he nrojected thronicoh

Fig. 208 - The encapsulated khvarenah depicted as a pearl engulfed in waves. Brick panel from Susa, Louvre. Fig. 209 - The khvarenah symbol guarded by two sphinxes. Brick panel from Susa. Louvre. Fig. 206 - Shapur II's rock relief. Taq-e Bostan- Fig. 207 - The cycle of the khvarenah. Persepolis

Fig. 213 - Later-added Shamash-like sun emblem on Ahura Mazda's hat in Bisotun

Fig. 215 - Matching the wing tips of Ahura Mazda's symbol with that of the khvarenah (Soudavar 2010b, 125)

Fig. 219 — Ahura Mazda riding the khvarenah's winged symbol. Persepolis Fig. 218 - Assyrian winged symbol Istanbul Archeological Museum

Fig. 216 — Egyptian winged-globe. Egyptian Museum, Berlin

Fig. 260 — A div with a dragon tail from the Tahmasb Shahnameh. MMA Xerxes showed in pursuing those he saw as "daiva-worshipers" in his XPh inscriptions:

Fig. 223 — Lions converging toward a lotus-sunflower emblem. Tomb of Artaxerxes II, Persepolis. the metaphor of an unsettled lion-bull combat, the composition evokes the perpetual day- night revolution, thus blurring the divide between the night and day realms. This interpretation is further confirmed by the imagery of several seals, which not only depic' an entangled pair of lion and bull, but also bear sun and moon symbols that give addec precision to their symbolism (Figs. 220, 222). Perhaps that is why Darius buried Lydiar coins—with confronting heads of a lion and a bull—under the foundation slabs of his palace in Persepolis. These coins were tossed in along with two foundation plaques, one in gold and the other in silver, which Cyndy Nimchuck has argued to reflect "golden sunlight" and "silvery moonlight."°*' By these symbolic gestures, Darius was metaphorically burying the separation of the day and night realms.*” Fig. 224 — Lion frieze without a flower emblem. Tomb of Artaxerxes III, Persepolis.

Fig. 226 - Achaemenid necklace with Ahura Mazda presiding over 16 deities (Miho Museum) by a number of smaller bearded men riding a crescent. They too are deities, but obviously of lesser stature than the central figure. While they all salute Ahura Mazda, he reciprocates with the same gesture. At the lowest point of the contour, we have a combined lotus-sunflower symbol—similar to the one on Artaxerxes II's tomb—which, like the aforementioned deities, sits over a crescent and is confined within a circle. One single motif had no decorative value. If the objective was embellishment, they would have interspersed one between every deity pair. On the other hand, associativity and homogeneity being important principles of Iranian iconography, this lone emblem placed among a string of deities had to be a deity symbol as well. It confirms once more our interpretation of the lotus-sunflower emblem on Artaxerxes's tomb as alluding to Mithra and Anahita. A more elaborate version of this imagery can be found on a magnificent pectoral of the Miho Museum, which has sixteen deities on its lower contour, all saluting Ahura Mazda, who is consecrating the victory scene of its lower register (Fig. 226).

Fig. 228 - Chamrosh bird on Mount Alborz, surrounded by khvarenah symbols. 5" century, Antakia. Louvre.

Fig. 230 — Late Sasanian silver plate. Reza ‘Abbasi Museum, Tehran.

Fig. 227 -Sogdian textile displaying the chamrosh with a pearl necklace, above a pearl-carrying duck (EMS coll.).

Fig. 229 — Chamrosh motif on a textile from the Vatican treasures. (Splendeur 1993, 116)

Figs. 232 a, b Religious ceremony conducted under the aegis of Zoroaster in Majesty. Post-Achaemenid seal. Cabinet des Médailles, BNF

Fig. 235 — Kalmakareh vessel with fire altar on its lid. (Mahboubian Coll.) Fig. 233 — Assyrian vessel from Kalmakareh (Al-Sabah Coll.)

Figs. 236 - a, b, c— Three silver vessels with intricate geometric designs from Kalmakareh. EMS collection.

“ig. 237 — Kalmakareh vessel lid, with a lotus-shaped fire altar. Surena coll. Fig. 239 — Kalmakareh vessel with goat over fire altar (Miho Museum) Fig. 238 — Lions with solar marks () on their hindquarters (Mahboubian Coll.)

Furthermore, there are two figures in Pasargadae that, because of their impressive sizes cannot be treated as mere decorative motifs. One is a winged anthropomorphic figure vaguely named "winged genius" by archaeologists and historians alike (Fig. 241), and the other, a half-broken fish-clad anthropomorphic figure that has received much les: attention (Fig. 242). But if iconographic conventions are to inform one's perception, they must be categorized as deities, because one is a supernatural being by virtue of its wings. and the other has a bovine chimera standing guard behind it, spear in hand.*®’ They bott

Fig. 243 - Egyptian hemhem-type crown of Horus. Ptolemaic, Louvre The winged figure wears royal Elamite attire;*™ 569 and as such, it must represent the supreme deity of Cyrus—King of Anshan°*’’—in the same way that Ahura Mazda is clad like Ardashir I in Naqsh-e Rostam, and Jesus is often represented in the attire of Charlemagne (r. 768-814). This supreme deity must have been Mithra, to whom sacrifices continued to be made at his tomb site long after his death.°”” And indeed it can be perceived as such, provided we put aside the common misconception that Mithra's head must necessarily be adorned with shining rays. be perceived as such, provided we put aside the common misconception that Mithra's

Fig. 246 — Seal with fish-clad deity behind the Moon god. Surena Collection The Egyptian-type crown was adopted because it could admirably project the full cycle of the Ahvarenah, as in the Persepolis brick panel of Fig. 207. At the bottom of the crown we have pearl roundels with concentric circles on a slightly spherical surface. Instead of stacked lotuses, we have a cluster of reeds tied together to indicate the rise of the khvarenah from the waters. And finally, at the top we have solar-disks that radiate the khvarenah (Fig. 245). It is perhaps no mere coincidence that the Bondahesh states that the "khvarenah of Fereydun sat at the bottom of the reed."*” Since Fereydun is the one who defeats and captures Zahhak in the Shahnameh, Cyrus's lore must have been partially transplanted onto this mythical hero of Indo-Iranian past. In addition, because the serpent was associated with the waters, especially in the Elamite tradition, the symbol of a solar-disk on the head of a rising snake projected the rise of the khvarenah from the waters.°”* The crown completed the regal outfit of Mithra, in tune with the title khsathra- pati that he formerly had (see sec. XI.9).

a aa I i We have already produced much evidence in support of the Traditional Date for Zoroaster, according to which he must have been active in the first half of the sixth century BC (circa 618-541 BC). To fully understand the role he played in the spread of the religion that bears his name and the mechanism by which it spread across the Iranian plateau, we must first find his powerbase and assess his stature therewith.

Fig. 263 — Autophradates I with Ahura Mazda above fire edifice.

Fig. 414 - Divs from the Tahmasb Shahnameh. MMA

Fig. 267 — Seal of Peroz with shoulder stars (Freeman et al. Fig. 268 — Papak with shoulder stars. Persepolis Thus, the Sasanian kings, who centuries later adopted the kavi title, must have wished to reemphasize, or perhaps reclaim, the king's role as warrior priest and possessor of the main fire of the kingdom. A case in point is King Peroz's (r. 457-84) adoption of this title.

Fig. 269 — Sketch of Persepolis gift bearers with the Elamites following the Medes (Roaf 1983, 51) Fig. 270 — A lioness and two cubs as gifts from Elam. Persepolis (Photo courtesy of Ali Asadi) Root's propositions are interesting but she seems to have overlooked the most obvious and the most plausible explanation: That the depicted lioness is a pointer to the gender of the two cubs as two princesses rather than princes. Since Darius married Cyrus's daughters, namely the Anshanite princesses Atossa and Artystone, the cubs must represent the "gifts" that Elam had sent to Darius. As such, two of Root’s important observations fall into place: That the "lioness has command, poise, and regal bearing," and the fact that the princesses are being carried, i.e. handled with deference. Following Herzfeld, Root also proposes that "the queen" in the British Museum's Banquet of Assurbanipal was a captured Elamite princess.” If Assurbanipal took pride in marrying an Elamite princess, so would have Darius. The grouping of a lioness with two cubs must therefore represent the transfer of the Anshanite "harem" to Persepolis, and as such, it denotes a complete transfer of power.™! Gaumata had appropriated all of Cambyses’s wives, and Darius was following suit by doing the same.

Fig. 273 — Hatchepsut defaced. MMA Fig. 271 - Darius and Xerxes defaced (or Xerxes and his sons). Persepolis Figs. 272 a, b - a) Teumman's head hung on a tree, b) Ashurbanipal defaced (two details of a bas-relief, British Museum) If it was the work of orthodox Moslems, they would have attacked all the faces indiscriminately, and not those of royalty alone. As for the theft theory, the extent of the physical damage is indicative of a different motive. Although many of the bas-relief have suffered extensive natural degradation, there are a number of better-preserved doorjambs, especially in the Hall of Xerxes (the so-called Harem), which show that the destruction went deep into the stone where no gold or jewellery could ever be found (Fig. 271). The destruction of the faces is so systematic and thorough that no purpose but defacing can be counted as a motive. The question then is: Who had such a motive?

Fig. 274 — Zahir-od-dowleh seated next to Safi-‘Ali- shah. Ink drawing. EMS Collection revolutionaries wore the red Phrygian bonnet of Mithra (Fig. 84). It naturally attracted, as an early supporter, the Marquis de Lafayette (1754-1834), who was a Freemason and whose flaming sword (Fig. 276) had symbols that recall the Burgundian ones, such as the Flaming Flint Stone and the Masonic emblems of Jean Sans Peur.°®! The red color, and the egalitarian aspirations of successive French revolutions of the 19" century, which so marked the communism that Marx advocated, clearly followed a tradition set by the Mithraic brotherhoods and the "red" Mazdakites.

A previous influx of Indo-Europeans had prepared the ground for the introduction of Median deities in Anatolia, because they revered similar deities to the Medes. First were he Hittites who established a powerful empire in Anatolia in the second millennium BC, followed by the Mitanni, who settled below them, in southern Anatolia and present day Syria, between the 18" and 14" centuries BC. In regard to the Mitanni, we have the text of treaties—they concluded with their neighboring countries—that name their deities. [he two most important ones were Mitra and Varuna, who, in the Vedic context of India, vere the guarantors of oaths and contracts, and were probably invoked by the Mitanni for he same reason.” But as Mary Boyce remarks, this "divine pair are so closely knit that t has been said that the only trait which makes a palpable difference between them is that Mitra dwells in fire, Varuna in water."°* Varuna was also referred to as Apam Napat, .e., Child of the Waters, and it is this name that prevailed in the Iranian context. Moreover, the Mithra/Apam Napat tandem was not only associated with fire and water, put also with the sun and moon, as well as the lion and bull. These were dualities that ‘emained ever-present in the mithraeum. Fig. 277 — Hittite Moon God and Sun God assisting King Pugnus-mili in a ritual ceremony. Ankara National Museum.

Fig. 278 — Hittite Sun disk with crescent (ft) Ankara National Museum As per the Neo-Hittite rock-reliefs of the 8"-century BC, the Hittites worshiped a deity tandem personifying the moon and the sun (Fig. 277). More importantly, they had a winged solar emblem, which carried a sunflower (Fig. 278), or a solar-disk (Fig. 279). These were used like the Achaemenid farr symbols, and seem to be emblematic of an analogous concept, because, when the Anatolian satrap Datames rebelled against the Achaemenids, he placed a similar Neo-Hittite emblem next to his enthroned effigy (Fig. 280). Anatolians must have believed in the same concepts of authority as Iranians did, since their winged solar symbols were often accompanied by a crescent or water waves.

the Persepolis foundation slab.°° The lion-and-bull imagery was the lynchpin of a Median ideology that saw the world divided into day and night realms, and constituted the antithesis of the monotheistic Mazdaism that Darius was trying to promote. Their minting was abandoned as soon as Darius rose to power.

Fig. 284 — Fire altar on the tomb of Artaxerxes III. Persepolis Fig. 283 — Fire altar from the mithraeum in Jajce, Bosnia. praise. Stanza 10.104 of this hymn is particularly

Similarly, the Avesta contains scattered references about the Aryan farr that was once closely associated with Mithra. The stanzas Yt./8.2-7, for instance, specify that the Aryan farr was accompanied by the Strong Wind. Thus, in the victory rock-reliefs of the Sasanian Shapur I, his dastars (flying ribbons) have an amplified wave pattern to project the action of the Strong Wind and to show a high degree of farr for the sovereign (Fig. 288).°”° We may then surmise that Mithra's windblown cloak in tauroctony scenes was also meant to project his association with the farr. Furthermore, the lion, which as a sun symbol was affiliated to Mithra in the Iranian context, is often present in the mithraeum, as in Jajce (Fig. 287), or as in Hedernheim (Fig. 289).

Fig. 289 - Mithra's cape blown as sign of his powerful farr, with a lion below. Hedernheim (web) Fig. 288 — Shapur I's billowing ribbons as sign of his powerful farr. Naqsh-e Rajab

Fig. 313 - The Mithraic Magi visiting Jesus 6" century. British Museum Fig. 314 - Sigismund of Luxembourg, Manuel Paleologos II & Jean Sans Peur in lieu of the three Magi, 1423. Uffizi®* and conceived to show the subordination of the Mithraic magi to Christianity.’ The Magi were imagined as a threesome, so that each could carry one of the three gifts that they supposedly brought.°* Centuries later, as Mithraism was left behind, the image of the gift-bearing Mithraic priests was set aside and the wayor were imagined as kings paying homage to the newborn Jesus (Fig. 314). Mithraism was no longer a threat; instead the Church's authority was challenged by kings. As with Zoroastrianism, subduing kingship became a major concern. Kings submitting their offering to the infant Jesus reflets such a concern, and projects the subordination of kingship to the Church.

ig. 292 — Apam Napat pulling the flying cows/bulls of the Moon's chariot. Sasanian silver plate Fig. 291 — Tauroctony stele from San Stefan Rotondo with Apam Napat directing the Moon's chariot (web) Figs. 290 a, b— Top comers of the Borghese tauroctony scene (details of Fig. 4)

and silver plates of Figs. 54, 55, and 292, is hovering over the cows of its Moon chariot. As Lord of the Night, Apam Napat was often invoked in Iranian nighttime ceremonies, and its presence in the San Stefano monument only confirms that mithraeum ceremonies were essentially based on Median ideology.*’! As such, they were bound to suffer from the persecution frenzy that accompanied the Magophonia, especially since they contained elements that became associated with the enemies of Darius's Mazdaism.

The very symbol of the Median magi whom Darius was killing in Persepolis was a standing lion-headed chimera with wings and a scorpion tail (Fig. 293). It provided the prototype for the representation of divs, whom Zoroastrians came to consider as demoniac creatures and opponents of Ahura Mazda. Several mithraea display statues of a standing lion-headed creature with wings, and a snake wrapped around it, in lieu of the scorpion tail (Fig. 294). They occasionally label it as Arimanius, perhaps to mark their disagreement with Zoroastrians, for whom, Ahriman was the embodiment of evil.

3 their practices acceptable to Zoroastrianism,°” in the same way that dervish orders falsely ascribed the principles of fotovvat to the Prophet Mohammad. Be that as it may, the placing of zodiac symbols above the tauroctony scenes provided an additional way to project the celestial vault within the cave. As such they were placed on the rim of the vaulted ceiling of the cave (Figs. 301, 302). Later on, the zodiac signs may have served to invoke astral power in initiation ceremonies. Since the Sun and the Moon were prominently figured on the top corners, and the dog, as symbol of the Dog Star, was present below, it made sense to expand the celestial imagery with zodiac symbols.

Fig. 303 — Tripod with cauldron. Ankara National Museum Figs. 304 a, b — (a) Roman Mithraic tripod, (b) Mithraic cauldron Altes Museum Berlin

Figs. 305 a, b — Two silver plates from a hoard datable to Tiberius's reign. Altes Museum, Berlin (a) Mithra against a moon crescent, (b) Anahita against a sun emblem The story conveys two interesting points. The first is that the Sasanians must have giver Aurelian a silver plate, with an engraved effigy of Mithra, in full knowledge of Aurelian’: family ties with a Mithraic temple; and the second is the fact that said Mithra's attire wa: similar to what this deity wore in the Roman Empire. We can thus only speculate that the gift of silver plates similar to the pair of the Altes Museum would have been appropriat« for the occasion.*”” One of these plates has an effigy of Mithra as the sun god (Fig 305a), and the other, an effigy of his aquatic counterpart depicted as Anahita (in lieu o: Apam Napat). Mithra has a bonnet with sunflowers similar to the bronze bonnet o: Boston (Fig. 305b), and a crescent behind him to indicate that he is but one god of a deity pair that symbolized the Sun/Moon duality. Conversely, the effigy of Anahita has a solai emblem in its background to confirm her belonging to the same duality. °

Figs. 306 a, b — Roman sarcophagus depicting the feats of Herakles. 2" century. Konya Museum. The spread of the mithraea across the Roman Empire only attests to the enormous popularity of the Mysteries among Romans (Fig. 6). Thousands of people, from every strata of society, were accustomed to taking an oath in Mithra’s name. Such a popular deity was bound to enter the Greco-Roman pantheon of gods, and blend itself into Greek mythology. A mid 2"“-century sarcophagus from Konya illustrates this blending process, as it integrates Mithra into the Herakles cycle (Figs. 306a, b).

Figs. 309 a, b — (a) Antiochus and Herakles. Nemrud Dagh; (b) Sunflowers on Antiochus's arm and lion on his hat had erected statues of himself shaking hands with Mithra (Fig. 307), in which the sun god wears the same bonnet—with the same sunflowers—as on the silver plate of Fig. 305a. Mithridates's son, Antiochus I, shook hands with Herakles (Fig. 309a), but his paraphernalia was nonetheless replete with Mithraic symbols such as lions and sunflowers (Figs. 309a, b). The Commagene dynasty obviously considered Mithra as a protector, and a deity who had to be revered on a par with Greco-Roman ones such as Herakles. On another stele, on which Antiochus is shaking hands with Mithra, this deity is given the double name of Apollo-Mithras (Fig. 308).

But the emperor who raised Mithra to the top of the Roman pantheon of gods was Julian. As Dominique Hollard has recently demonstrated, Julian, who had been initiated into the Mysteries, was so enamored with Mithra that he often sacrificed bovines to him, wrote a treatise in his honor (on the occasion of Mithra's birthday on the 25" of December), and placed his bust at the gate of his military encampments.*° The importance that Julian accorded to Mithra can be evaluated by the reactions it drew from two antagonist camps, namely the Persians and the Christians.

Sea aN aR RSs Cas aa On the Christian side, the reaction was even stronger. Julian was branded the "Apostate" and the Mithraic congregations were perceived as enemies, although, as we shall next argue, Christianity must have initially joined forces with them. If Julian was declared an apostate, it is not that he was ever a Christian and renounced his faith to deserve such a label. It was because he took the Roman Empire—which Christians had considered as theirs since Constantine I (r. 306-37)—back to paganism. It's the Roman state that slid into apostasy and not Julian; but he got branded as such for causing it. Julian's Mithra- oriented actions prompted a severe rift among two interconnected movements, with all the animosity and venom that often spills out when betrayal is felt, or imagined, among next of kin or comrades in arms. It is thus that the centurions of Judea in charge of Jesus's crucifixion in Fra Angelico's Scenes from the Life of Christ operate under the Roman SPQR banner, but wear capes adored with scorpions as symbols of their Mithraic affiliation (Fig. 310). Fra Angelico is insinuating that it was not the Roman state that committed this crime, but a Mithraic faction within that state. Fifteenth-century Italy was still under the spell of that 4"-century rift between two former allies. Fig. 310 - Scenes from the Life of Christ, by Fra Angelico, circa 1451. Museo di San Marco, Florence Fig. 311 - St Peter with red miter. 15" century Burgundy. MMA

784 T enfant 2009, 238: based on Dinon, as quoted by Clement of Alexandria. sacrificial ceremonies that Zoroastrians couldn't untangle them and adopted them as their

Fig. 315 — Portal of the 13th-century Parma Baptistery (Photo: Nasrin Soudavar) eventually join forces. One can readily understand that besides the communal meal, the practice of secrecy, the initiation procedures, and the Mithraic hierarchy would have been of interest to the early Christian activists. But as far as Jesus was concerned, Matthew 23.9 clearly reveals that he was aware of congregations that addressed their leaders as "father," but rejected that practice. Later priesthood, however, saw great benefit in that type of hierarchy, and espoused it in contravention of the spirit of simplicity and brotherhood that Jesus had preached.

Fig. 317 — Apse of the San Clement Basilica in Rome. moon god, each riding a guadriga driven by four horses and four cows respectively (Fig. 315). It's a feature that has a meaning in the Mithraic context but none whatsoever in Christianity. Similarly, the sun and moon gods that appear on an ivory plaque from the MMA (Fig. 316), are featured with crowns like those of the mithraeum, and are located in the same corners.

Fig. 321 — Malta Order Altar piece. Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris. Fig. 320 — Virgin and Child under a shell. Bordeaux Museum Fig. 319 — Byzantine platter with a shell between lamps. Dumbarton Oaks Museum

Fig. 323 — Chi-Rho symbol placed under a shell. MMA Fig. 322 —San Simeon with a Mithraic bonnet under a shell. 6" century Syria. Louvre Fig. 324 — Sun cross and shell above archangel Michael (British Museum)

Fig. 329 - Jesus's monogram Fig. 330 - Sun-cro and cross within sunburst. within Jesus's nimb Bordeaux Museum Aya Sofia side columns and two candlesticks. This pattern of a shell, in combination with twc columns, is not Christian-specific and seems to replicate itself across various religiou: settings. In another variation, a Byzantine ivory plaque has a sun cross at the center of < shell (Fig. 324, see also Fig. 364). When the sun cross was turned into the Chi-Rhc monogram of Christ, it was again placed under a shell and between two columns (Fig 323). Furthermore, the previously discussed sun symbol of an Armenian church flankec by a pair of snakes (Fig. 326) provides a link to a similar architectural element from < mosque in Konya that has a sun symbol flanked by two snakes (Fig. 327).°* We thu: have a number of common motifs between Christianity and Islam, which, because o: their sun, shell, and snake motifs, betray a Mithraic heritage.

Since the fire-harboring chahdr-taq was the focal point of pre-Islamic religious ceremonies, the same structure was used to orient the Moslem believer within the mosque, and to direct his prayer toward Mecca. Thus the mihrab was conceived as the two-dimensional image of the chahar-tagq fire altar on a wall, and it became the "heart" o1 the mosque. And that's why numerous mihrabs have the image of a lamp hanging unde: the arch (Fig. 332), or the image of a pair of lamps at ground level (Fig. 333), or twc actual mosque lamps set in front of them (Fig. 334). Shahnameh to argue that it actually referred to a domed structure that harbored a fire underneath, which was called chahar-taq in Sasanian times.” In Persian, tag meant arch and the chahar-taq referred to a four-arched edifice with a dome on top. If in open air. the structure warranted heavy corner pillars as in Fig. 331, but if inside, it looked more like a domed canopy supported by four columns. To this day, the Zoroastrian fire altar is called dar-e Mehr (Mithra's gateway); and that may be the reason why the Islamic mihrat is conceived as a portal or gateway. What's more, a Zoroastrian tradition states that dar-e mehr or "place of fire" should have four doors.’°

Fig. 336- Elamite beaker with wave and sun motifs. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery e and Fig. 337 — Ziwiyyeh beaker with sun and fish Fig. 338 - Sasanian she llery motif (8" cent. BC). Louvre vessel. EMS coll. obviously alluded to the sun (mehr) (Fig. 335).” But he falls short of grasping the full meaning of mihrab by thinking that its second component (ab) only meant water, rather than alluding to Mithra's eternal companion, Apam Napat. As noted before, the king of Kabul (who was thought to be a descendant of Astyages) was similarly named Mehrab in the Shahnameh to emphasize his Median religious affiliation as opposed to a Zoroastrian one.” And pre-Achaemenid objects display this duality with the appropriate dual symbols, such as water waves and sunburst on an Elamite silver beaker from the Sackler (Fig. 336), as well as fish and sunburst on a Ziwiyyeh beaker from the Louvre (Fig. 337). 7oroastrians incorporated existing expressions into their all-encompassing religion by simply sanitizing them, which in great part consisted of eradicating Apam Napat who stood as a rival to Ahura Mazda. Where his name appeared in tandem with Mithra, it was mostly changed to the neutral and inconspicuous ab (Av. ap); at the same time, various appellations such as Borz-Mehr, or even yazatan, were devised to refer to them as a pair, without openly naming Apam Napat (see sec. X.12.). What's more, shell-shaped vessels remained popular in the Sasanian era, as obvious symbols of Apam Napat (Fig. 338).

Napat were often on display. We already saw that in Armenia, where churches were still called mehean after Mithra,””’ sun and snakes—as symbols of Mithra and the waters— adored their portals (Fig. 326). Moreover, the two-dimensional mihrab-like design was also used in the Christian context, for instance, on the Armenian wooden door of Fig. 339. In lieu of the mosque lamp, it has a Greek cross—that was once viewed as a sun symbol—and lush vegetation, which may or may not be perceived as a water symbol. The two medallions above the mihrab-like arch, however, are undoubtedly in lieu of the Mithraic sun and moon placements, since they are not symmetrical and incorporate two different geometrical sunbursts.”* On a mihrab-like marble slab from a Gujarati monument, a lamp is hanging from a lotus flower that may have also been designed with the aim of producing this dual symbolism, since we have two sunburst medallions on its top corners (Fig. 340).””” Symmetry being an important principle of Islamic architecture, the two Gujarati medallions are designed to be identical; so are the protruding globular medallions of a stone mihrab from Konya (Fig. 341). Nevertheless, they all occupy positions (fT) similar to the corner spots of the sun and the moon in Mithraic edifices.

Fig. 402 — Sogdian drawing honoring both Zoroastrianiism and Mithraism (BNF, Courtesy of F. Grenet) seems that, even if the Sogdians accepted Zoroastrianism, they did not reject Mithraic brotherhoods; because they probably did not consider them as incompatible doctrines. In other words, the Zoroastrianism that they favored may have been a Mazdaism devoid of all the animosity that it had gradually developed against Mithraic societies. The Zoroastrian priesthood doesn't seem to have convinced the peripheral provinces to join the fight against the "khrafstar-ish devils" that cherished the snake and the serpent.

he very presence of the sun-and-moon-like medallions, in tandem with the hanging amp of this Konya mihrab, implies affiliation with a mehr-db tradition. If so, its hanging amp must have had a water counterpart somewhere. At first glance, the design elements yf its mugarnas squinches can look like lotus leaves (which can be interpreted as water ymbols). But a closer look reveals that they are stylized shells, similar to the Sasanian essel of Fig. 338, and to the shell markings (Fig. 342) that pave the pilgrimage road to st James of Compostela—the saint after whom the "Coquilles St Jacques" shell and callop were named. They were elongated to fit the squinches and/or to look more regetal and more Islamic. As such, one possible explanation for the hitherto unexplained nuqarnas is to see it as a replacement of the shell niche, especially since the earliest nown mihrab, the one made circa 709 for the Medina mosque, was reportedly conceived s a shell niche flanked by two columns.”'° It may have looked like the circa 762 mihrab f the Al-Mansur mosque in Baghdad (Fig. 318), and probably followed a pre-Islamic nodel, a specimen of which was found in the mosque of Estakhr, as a reused element rom a Partho-Sasanian monument (Fig. 343).”"!

Fig. 347 - Solomon before his Temple. Byzantine plate, 7" century. MMA

Figs. 348 a, b - Printed parody on the Freemasons, which alludes to the virtues of their rivals, the Gormagons

The caricature offers several points of interest for our study. We saw that on the Iranian side, the avatars of Mithraic societies included street performers such as the lion tamer of Fig. 92, as well as guild members such as butchers (see sec. III.6). Here too, in addition to the butcher standing with his large apron on the far right, we have a monkey with an apron representing street performers and animal tamers. The supposed forefathers of the Masons are depicted on the left, and include (A) Chin-Quaw-Ki-Po, the legendary first Emperor of China, (B) Confucius, (C) the Grand Master In-chin.’!° Even though the origin of their order is placed in China, the Chinese emperor has a Mithra-like sunburst emanating from his head, and Confucius is wearing a sun emblem. It clearly acknowledges a non-European origin for the Masons. But more important are the noble virtues that Hogarth recognizes for the Gormagons: wisdom, truth, and social love; they are the exact virtues that the Qabus-nameh enumerated as principles of javanmardi: kherad (wisdom), rasty (truthfulness), mardomi (to be of the people, i.e., social love).’'® Figs. 349 a, b, c - Documents from Musée de la Franc-Magonnerie ; (a) Triangular emblem with the three-dot symbol and an ancient Iranian motto, (b) Letterhead honoring the three dots as triangle, (c) written manual

Figs. 350 a, b, c, d— Objects from Musée de la Franc-Maconnerie ; (a) plate, (b) floor mat, (c) cup, (d) apron

Figs. 351 a, b— Masonic ceremonies held around a floor mat with candlesticks placed around it. Scenes from the Gabanon etchings, Musée de la Franc-Maconnerie

Fig. 354 a,b — Aprons with: (a) snake cauldron, (b) fire altar under a chahar-taq. Musée de la Franc-Maconnerie Figs. 353 a, b — Floor mats with different candelabras. Musée de la Franc-Maconnerie

Fig. 355- Stone cutter's tombstone. Bordeaux Museum Figs. 356 a, b, c - Grand Théatre of Bordeaux. (A) Solomonic floor pavement, (b) Bordeaux's Masonic emblem set in a sunburst, (d) Shell niche A case in point is the city of Bordeaux, which prospered not only through win exportation, but also trade with the Americas. As a result, major construction project were undertaken in the 18th century. More than six hundred quarries were activel exploited to provide the stones for its buildings. In Roman times, Bordeaux had mithraeum, which may have paved the way for the establishment of Freemasonry amon its stone cutters. Judging by one of their funerary stelae (Fig. 355), the stonecutting cra! must have been a respectable one. As a matter of fact, it's the son of one of these ston cutters, the architect Victor Louis (1731-1800), who designed the sumptuous Gran Theatre of Bordeaux. When visiting it, city guides explain how Louis, who was Freemason, built the Grand Théatre on Masonic principles, with black and white floorin imitating that of Solomon’s Temple (Fig. 356a). So strong was Bordeaux's Masoni tradition that the modern emblem of this city is a triple Masonic eye, arranged as triangle. In using this emblem in the theater, the architect further accentuated its Masoni symbolism by placing it over a sunburst (Fig. 356b). Moreover, in the entry hall, h provided a shell-domed niche, underneath which a statue has now been placed; it mo: probably had a candelabrum in the old days (Fig. 356c). By Louis's time, the shell-dome niche had perhaps become a standard architectural ornament, but it's not beyond th realm of possible to imagine that he placed it there in full recognition of what it originall meant, i.e., a water symbol above a fire niche.

RV eR RO RRR PUM U IVERCREE CARY SSE HAUL EEE EPR GE LUE VvpYvye Built by the Seleucids on the banks of upper Euphrates in eastern Syria, Dura Europos was a trade counter that often changed hands between Iranians and Romans. As a result its cultural backbone was an amalgam of all the tendencies and religions that crisscrossed this region. It has two interesting monuments, a mithraeum whose elements are now at Yale University (Fig. 301), and a larger premise that has been labeled as a "synagogue," even though it's not. Certain scholars tend to explain the anomalies of this supposed synagogue in terms of "necessity and adaptation to local conditions,"’* while others note that it has multiple frescoes in contravention of the Second Commandment, and that it has a single hall, where men and women could not be segregated. As a matter of fact, nobody has been able to discern "an overall pattern to these scenes," or provide a coherent explanation as to why they were part of a synagogue.’ What is labeled as a synagogue is in fact a big hall in the far back of a larger complex. This hall has a central niche surrounded by frescoes, for each of which a biblical interpretation has been advanced (Fig. 357).’”° Judging by available images, they do not all seem to be of the same period; but since the building underwent major repairs prior to its burying by Roman soldiers circa 256 AD, it is difficult to judge which of the images came first. Two elements therein are of interest to us, the niche and a fresco next to it.

Fig. 406 - Sun Chariot of the National Museum of Copenhagen (web) Next after the bulls came horses, a sacrifice for the Sun; and after them came a chariot sacred to Zeus; it was drawn by white horses and with a yoke of gold and wreathed with garlands; and next, for the Sun, a chariot drawn by white horses and wreathed with garlands like the other. After that came a third chariot with horses covered with purple trappings, and behind it followed men carrying fire on a great altar.

Fig. 360- Mithraic pater seated on a skin throne next to his wiGrarnival of the | pater or his deputy (on the left); three-dotted black border ; lion and bull. (web) The niche is regularly explained as a "Torah niche in the direction of Jerusalem." But as the plan of the building shows (Fig. 359), it is completely integrated into the city grid of Dura, and its wall—on which the niche is situated—follows the street line, in continuation of adjacent buildings. It is hard to imagine that the Seleucids, Parthians or Romans had any desire to orient a whole city toward Jerusalem. The orientation of the niche is dictated by the city grid and has nothing to with Jerusalem; it just so happens that it follows that general direction. More importantly, it is conceived as a typical mehr-ab; it not only has a shell dome with two side columns, but its upper imagery clearly shows Mithraic elements (Fig. 358). Granted that there is a menorah-like candelabrum on the left, but as we saw in Freemasonry, different sorts of candelabras were used in lieu of the Mithraic fire altar, and in Byzantine Judea it made sense to choose one with seven arms. On the opposite side, however, there is a Persian-style fire altar (+) that counterbalances the candelabrum and emphasizes the importance of the fire to this setting. Like in Freemasonry, the twisted columns of the latter edifice may evoke Solomon’s Temple. But these were evocations that were necessary for protection from religious adversaries. As for the lamb on the right side, it is not clear whether it alludes to the Mithraic sacrificial lamb, or the story of Abraham, or both. And if the Christian and Islamic examples can be of guidance, candlesticks, rather than a Torah, must have been placed under the shell dome.

Fig. 366 — Sepphoris mosaic floor (Weiss 2005, 240) Fig. 368 — Qalandar with horn (Louvre) Fig. 367 — Mosaic floor from Hammat Tiberias (web)

Furthermore, as Lee Levine has argued, these facades do not fit the description of Solomon's Temple.’*? The supposed Temple of this floor has a middle element conceived as a gateway. The gateway concept is even more pronounced in Hammat Tiberias where a door appears behind curtains (Fig. 367). On the mosaic floor of the Beth Shean "synagogue," this curtained gateway is incorporated into a canopied structure underneath a temple edifice (Fig. 365); it cannot be a temple within a bigger temple. The gateway must therefore symbolize a focal point similar to the mihrab. Whether gateway o1 canopied structure, they are all topped by a shell that confirms their mihrab-like purpose, especially since the same edifice has a shell and sun-cross in a Christian monastery (Fig. 364). Moreover, the Sepphoris floor has two rows (above its Zodiac) that show bovines, food baskets, and a cauldron with four protruding animal heads (), similar to the bronze ones from the Berlin and Istanbul cauldrons (Figs. 303, 304b).’*4 It is not beyond reason to suppose that these two rows define the main activity of the premises, i.e., the distribution of sacrificial meals, especially since a similar food basket appears at the very top square of the Ostia mosaics—which functions as its heading (Fig. 362).

Fig. 373 — Roman warrior with solar emblems from Merot (web)

Fig. 375 — A meter standard of Paris in its original setting 746 T am indebted to Garnik Asatrian for informing me about Usoyan's name and epithets. 747 See note 73 supra.

The Yazidis - Another congregation, spread over the same corridor, is that of the Yazidis who have much in common with the Ahl-e Haqq.”' They too are predominantly Kurdish, i.e., descendants of the Medes. And like the Ahl-e Haqq who switched their name from Rastan (the righteous ones) to an Arabic equivalent, the Yazidis created an Islamic veneer by naming themselves after the second Omayyad caliph, Yazid (647-83). As Percy George Badger who visited their dwellings in 1850 observed, it was a switch from the Persian yazad (god) to a similar sounding Arabic name, and a "stratagem" to fend off Moslems.’°* Yazad must have referred to Mithra, as it mostly did in regions where Zoroastrianism did not hold sway, even more so in the Yazidi context. The Yazidis paid daily homage to the rise and setting of the sun, by facing the sun and kissing the ground;’* and the saintly figure of Shaykh Adi (d. 1162), whom they revered, was thought to be conceived by Light, and envisaged as god incarnate (i.e., Mithra incarnate).

sacred, and they leave a lamp burning near the fountains or springs of their shrines;’4 and they sacrifice a cow, and at times a sheep, during a yearly festival celebrated in the month of Mehr.” The shrine of Shaykh Adi was adorned with a snake (symbol of water), lions (symbol of the sun), and dual sunbursts over an arched portal (Fig. 376a), in lieu of the Mithraic sun and moon. The snake is described as huge, and black, by various visitors who have seen it, and to its right was an object that no longer exists, but based on Badger's image, was often referred to as a "seven-branched scepter."”*° One can perhaps imagine a seven-headed mace, but not a scepter. On the other hand, the Masonic imagery and the Sepphoris mosaics seem to suggest that what Badger sketched was a seven- branched candlestick. Iranian dervish orders use five-branched ones for their rituals, and as we saw, the Masons used an entire gamut of candelabras. Aslo, the image of the snake precludes any Zoroastrian connection, while its presence next to a candelabrum establishes a mehr-ab duality that points to the Yazidis' Mithraic heritage. The most peculiar aspect of the Yazidi ceremonies is one related to Malek Tavus, i.e., King Peacock, and a brass symbol this peacock is circulated during their Tavusgeran festival. As a sacred symbol, the peacock has no counterpart in other congregations, except for the Order of the Golden Fleece, where, as we saw, the master of ceremony explained that it was an "old custom" of chivalry to take an oath by swearing over a "peacock or other noble bird" (see sec. II.3). A pair of doors and a wooden mihrab from the Saljuq period vouch for the Mithraic symbolism of the peacock (Fig. 379 a, b).

Figs. 404 a, b— Details of the Metternich Stele, circa 360-343 BC. MMA. Netherworld is marked by a sun disk at the very top of this stele. Within the sun dish (Fig. 404b), Ra is depicted in his nocturnal form, as a ram-headed deity wearing a triple coned crown; this is in lieu of the sun-disk that usually adorned his falcon-headed effig; in daytime. This is the same Egyptian-looking crown (the hem-hem) that was adopted fo Mithra in Pasargadae (Fig. 245). Its association with the sun god of Egypt reinforces th« appropriateness of such a crown for Mithra. Furthermore, as far as I can tell, thi particular variant of the crown, which first appeared in the Amarna period, become: popular only after the Achaemenid conquest of Egypt, during the 30" dynasty, anc mostly in the Ptolemaic period (as in Fig. 243).”* It stands to reason that it wa: Cambyses's conquest of Egypt that revived the use of the three-coned crown there once again.

The corpus can be divided into two general categories; one depicts humans and the other, demon-like creatures. Those of the first category include fully clad dervishes who have peculiar accoutrements of the type prevalent among previously discussed congregations. In Fig. 380, for instance, we see master dervishes with a tall bonnet wrapped with a ribbon of the type we have already seen (Figs. 381-82). Because of a golden element on top, it must designate high rank, probably a Sufi master. Furthermore, they hold ornate sticks that cannot be for walking. Their gold ornaments are indicative of a ceremonial instrument, one akin to the chub-e tarig that the Safavids used (sec. IX.7). The more problematic drawings however, are those of the second category involving demon-like creatures. They all have human-like expressions, as if the demoniac features were only a camouflage for real human beings. Siyah Qalam must have had a specific group in mind, a group that could be characterized as demoniac. Wine and intoxicants created such a state of ecstasy in the Safaviyyeh ceremonies that they indulged in

Fig. 384 — Siyah Qalam drawings of divs with short pants (T) and wine cups (7). Freer Gallery Fig. 383 — Soltan Ya'qub giving audience to Qazi “Isa and Chinese ambassadors (TKSM, H2153) wearing short pants and drinking wine (Fig. 384). activities unacceptable to civil society, whether Islamic or not. The cannibalistic behavior of the later Safavid shock units can only suggest that such egregious behavior also existed among the Safaviyyeh militants. Similar to the Janissaries, these militants must have had shdter training for warfare, and like the ‘ayyars and shdaters, they wore short pants and drank wine. It is this group that Siyah Qalam must have portrayed as divs, wearing short pants and drinking wine (Fig. 384).

What triggered these series of paintings must have been the embassies sent to the Ming Court, which came back accompanied by Chinese envoys. We have two testimonies for these visits. The first is a painting that may be attributed to Siyah Qalam's fellow painter who signed his works as Shaykhi-ye Ya‘ qubi (Fig. 383). Ya‘ qub is seated under a tree, with the white-bearded Qazi Isa kneeling before him and two Chinese ambassadors on the far right wearing a Chinese hat and a Ming insignia on their chest. The second is an entry in the Ming annals for embassies from Esfahan and Shiraz (i.e., Aq-qoyunlu territories) in 1483.’°° They probably brought back Chinese paintings as presents, for we have a number of Ming paintings in the Aq-qoyunlu albums of the Topkapi, with But Qazi Isa's strict application of Islamic law created such resentment among the population that no sooner had Ya‘qub died than riots broke out and the ga@zi was hung. In an atmosphere in which the court resented the Sufi dervishes, and the population perhaps sympathized with them, the talented painter Mohammad Siyah-Qalam created a style of painting that portrayed these dervishes as divs, 1.e., the traditional enemies of royalty, but, at the same time, depicted them with so much humor and realism that they seemed sympathetic. Siyah Qalam, who was also referred to as Darvish Mohammad and Shaykh Mohammad, must have been close to the milieu of the dervishes and wrestlers. As such, he was no different than a contemporary painter at the court of Soltan-Hosayn Bayaqara, Mirak-e Naqqash-e Khorasani, who also engaged in wrestling and frequented the wrestler milieu. No wonder then that, among the Siyah Qalam paintings, we have wrestling divs depicted in the classical position by which one is grounding the other (Fig. 386-87).

Fig. 389 — Marriage Procession of Zhong Kui's sister (MMA) Fig. 388 — Copy by Siyah Qalam of the traveling Zhong Kui (TKSM, 2153/15) imitations drawn by Ya‘qubi court artists. A Chinese man riding on a donkey (copied twice), for instance, replicates a popular Ming model depicting the "demon queller" Zhong Kui (Fig. 388). Another popular theme was the procession marriage of Zhong Kui's sister, illustrations of which are kept at the MMA and the Freer Gallery (Fig. 389- 90). They seem to have inspired the Ya‘qubi painters to depict the Safaviyyeh dervishes as demons, and Ya‘qub as a demon-queller who had given his sister in marriage to them.

Fig. 392 - A regular shater (TKSM, H2153) Fig. 391 — Marriage procession of Ya‘qub's sister, Halimeh Begi, accompanied by demonized shdaters. Painted by Siyah Qalam (TKSM, H2153/77) Fig. 390 — Marriage Procession of Zhong Kui's sister (Freer Gallery of Art)

Fig. 394 - Zhong Kui scroll detail of Fig. 389 (as model for Fig. 393) Fig. 393 - A distraught Halimeh Begi leaving a black-domed Ardabil, with a black tuq (7) planted in front, in sign of mourning. By Shaykhi (TKSM, 2153/130) One scroll-like painting depicts Ya‘qub's sister, Halimeh Begi, on her way to marry Soltan Haydar (Fig. 391); in lieu of Chinese demons, she is accompanied by demon-like shaters of the Safaviyyeh order, but whose paraphernalia are very much like that of regular shdters (Fig. 392). Another painting depicts a distraught Halimeh Begi leaving Ardabil, with the dome of its octagonal abode painted in black, and a black horsehair standard (tug) planted in front, in mourning of Soltan Haydar; a dervish master with a golden bonnet is left behind grieving in his black cloak (Fig. 393). In a more barbaric scene, divs are devouring an animal (Fig. 395), perhaps as a pointer to the Safaviyyeh militants who devoured their enemies. More generally, the divs are shown engaging in activities that Moslem jurists severely condemned, such as wine drinking and debauchery (Fig. 396). Similar to the caricatures drawn for Tahmasb (Figs. 143-44), these paintings were to mock the Safaviyyeh dervishes at Ya‘qub's court; it's otherwise inconceivable to have so many paintings in a royal album, without a courtly audience for them. have so many paintings in a royal album, without a courtly audience for them.

Fig. 395 — Divs devouring a horse (TKSM, 2153/40) Fig. 396 — Dancing divs. (TKSM, 2153/64)

Fig. 398 - Shdter (Golestan Library) Figs. 397 a, b — Hittite relief replica, Altes Museum From Gaumata to the Qezelbash, the avatars of the Mithraic congregations, especially the militant ones, seem to have concentrated in a corridor that stretched from north-east Turkey, to Syria and western Iran. The top section of this corridor coincided with the Hittite dominions. We noticed that the Hittites invoked the powers of the sun and the moon in tandem, as did the Medes; it’s therefore not beyond reason to think that some Hittite practices eventually found their way into Mithraic societies. We have no textual information in this respect but iconography may provide a clue. Indeed, some of the Hittite rock reliefs from Yazilikaya in Turkey (Figs. 397a, b) depict a series of guards who look like shdters (Fig. 398), insofar as they have similar tall bonnets, wear short pants, and carry an axe on their shoulders. These similarities may be purely coincidental, but experience proves that one cannot overlook such visual indices. It's an avenue that must be further explored in the future.

LOCntall WLUSCUTT The event that gave a negative connotation to a certain number of Iranian deities and at the same demonized their followers was not initiated by Zoroaster, for as we saw, in the Gathas they are still respectable entities. Such a major upheaval necessitated a cataclysmic event. It can only be the Magophonia that pitted the parsds against the Mithraic magi. In the process, the Zoroastriar priesthood sided with the parsds for two reasons: 1) They shared the same veneration for Ahurz Mazda, and 2) their Prophet, and perhaps family members of his, had been chased and persecutec by the same Mithraic magi.*° In revenge, not only the magi were massacred when Darius and his co-conspirators killed the usurper Gaumata, but that event was celebrated as a yearly festival during which no magus could venture outside and all of them had to stay home the entire day (Herodotus III:79). It clearly shows a continued process of witch hunting by which the enemy was

Fig. 415 - Darius killing a chimera monster™

The rejection of my reading of the NWRA monogram in Fig. 121 (as stated by the reviewers of Studia Iranica and Iranian Studies in Appendix IV) coincides with the recent publication of a major article on Sasanian monograms (Gyselen & Monsef 2012); which I suppose is a sample of the standard they call "pratique trés minutieuse de la philologie iranienne en diachronie". Nevertheless, they seem to ignore the basic rules of monogram construction. Studia Iranica's reviewer argues that the crescent on top of the NWRA can "in no way" represent the letter A (written almost as "u" in Middle Persian). Presumably, a curve cannot be rendered as a square ot angular form, and vice versa. But a monogram is, by definition, a rearrangement of letters in an elegant and compact form, for which many liberties are usually taken to achieve balance and symmetry. The monograms of the French kings Louis VI and IX, for instance, use a square C on their right leg to balance the L on the left leg of a monogram to be read as LVDOVICVS (Figs. 418a, b). Moreover Jean de Menasce had read the monogram in Fig. 420 as "afzun" by attributing the value "Z" to the crescent.! While the crescent is an auspicious symbol, its presence within a monogram is only justifiable if it also represents a letter, whether A or Z. There are no superfluous elements in a monogram, except for the lines that interconnect them. In Byzantine seals, some letters were even read twice, or thrice, as in Fig. 419. The lack of appreciation for this principle has led R. Gyselen and Y. Monsef to suggest readings by discarding many signs, including the "crescent" symbol. For Fig. 421a, they offer the reading wyh (véh), instead of ddur, if all signs were to be included, as they should have. More bizarre is their reading of Fig. 421b in which they drop both the crescent and the "heart" symbols, but add 5 letters out of the blue to get ‘dw<ynd ‘t> (Even-dad). What's more, they elsewhere assign the values (¢, p, or c) to the heart sign as a whole, even though there is no affinity between the letters they propose and the "heart." To become meaningful, the "heart" must be split

Fig. 421 - Corrections for proposals given by Gyselen & Monsef 2012, 160-64. (The light grey numbers are theirs, and the red ones are my additions) into two, which will then produce Gdurdan (fires). Furthermore, in Fig. 421c, they attribute the value "p" to one "circle," and not the other, to get Papak; whereas, if signs 5 and 6 were properly resiten the monogram would yield Papakan. In Sasanian monograms, the "circle" is consistently used in lieu of "p" and therefore Fig. 421d should be read as dpyr (dabir, scribe) and not yazad or veh as they hose proposed. A word of caution is however warranted with respect to the "circle" sign. It takes the value "p" if fully integrated in the monogram; but if unconnected to the rest (as in Fig. 123), it represents the pearl as symbol of farr within a hybrid syntax in which symbols and words are mixed.” Finally, Gyselen and Monsef have assigned the value "y" to the sign 2 in Fig. 421e; it can only be done by flipping it horizontally and changing the direction of its convexity, which is not permissible. Letters can be rotated but not flipped. Sign 2 should be read as "I", which will give hwl=khor (sun). As such, it is in tune with a number of other auspicious monograms like NWRA, aduran, and adur, which are all about light and fire.

It seems rather self-evident that in a hymn dedicated to the god Mithra, the ultimate realm of this important deity should not be confined to, or capped by, the domain of a mortal, i.e., Zoroaster. Therefore, the designation "master of zarathushtrot" must be replacing an older title of Mithra, one that Bivar argues to have been khshathra-pati.”' He relies on the Xanthos inscriptions,“* as well as analogy with a pentad of divinities in Mani's Shapurgan. This pentad is modelled after the hierarchy presented in Y. 19.18, and is listed as: 1- manbed (house-chief), 2- visbed (village-chief), 3- zanbed (tribe-chief), 4- dehbed (nation-chief), 5- "pahragbed." Bivar who translated the 5" position ("pahragbed") as "lord of the frontier-post," sees it as "out of place" in a "sequence of widening territorial responsibilities." But if this 5™ position is corrected to pahlav-bed (the w and g are almost identical in written MP), it would refer to a super-pahlav (1.e., a super commander) of the caliber of the original khshathra-pati. In the Manichean context, the title of the ultimate Manichean leader was changed to pahlav-bed, or "commander in chief,"*?? whereas in Zoroastrianism, the title khshathra-pati (empire-chief) was replaced by "master of Zarathushtrot" and the whole world became the appanage of Zoroaster. This 5-level hierarchy was based on an archetype that probably originated with the ancient hymn to Mithra, and was subsequently used by whoever wanted to empower his own prophet. All he had to do was change the definition at the top level (level 5) by substituting one to his liking. Interestingly, not only does the title Ahshathra-pati no longer appear in this—doctored—stanza of Mehr Yasht, but it was scratched from the whole of the Avesta. As a result, the highest temporal title that we can find in Zoroastrian texts is dahyu-pati, or nation-chief, which is applied to Vishtaspa, the friendly "king" of Zoroastrianism.” In a system where Zoroaster was supposed to be the ultimate ruler, the Zarathushtrot" and the whole world became the appanage of Zoroaster.

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From Africa to Ifrīqiya: Settlement and Society in Early Medieval North Africa (650–800) (2013)

by Corisande Fenwick

2013, Al-Masaq: Islam and the Medieval Mediterranean

North Africa is rarely mentioned in scholarship on the medieval Mediterranean. This paper demonstrates the potential of archaeology for understanding the impact of the Arab conquests on settlement and society in seventh- and eighth-... more

Figure 1. Map of early medieval towns in North Africa, based on Cambuzat, L’ Evolution.

Figure 3. Plan of early medieval Tocra (Taucheira), after Smith and Crow, “The Hellenistic Defences”, with additions from Buzaian, “Excavations at Tocra”.

Figure 4a. Plan of Sbeitla in the late Byzantine period modified from Duval, L’urbanisme. analysis in the 1960s by Noél Duval produced a picture of a city reduced by the seventh century to a series of small inhabited nuclei consisting of fortified complex(es), a church and a production site, surviving in this fragmented state until at least the ninth century.”” This idea of urban fragmentation and ruralisation has proved influential, with some scholars suggesting that a similar pattern of scat- tered settlement within the ruins of earlier cities may be observed elsewhere. Recent excavations at Sbeitla suggest that this model may be in part an archaeologi- cal construct. Figure 4b shows the suggested reconstruction of seventh-ninth century Sbeitla based on archaeological research conducted in the 1960s and earlier. It is striking that the identified clusters of Byzantine occupation align with the limits of excavation. Excavations in the 1990s revealed further Byzantine and early medieval occupation outside these clusters (Figure 4b), though systematic sampling of unexcavated sectors is needed to demonstrate the full extent of seventh—ninth-century occupation.”’ It is clear, however, that the central part of the site around the forum and the south-west area remained occupied into at least the ninth century. RW ik |) co mo HAS AK Ge WA ke eee tha Gell Asser AD Sere. walk memes OCQlecetela Se

Figure 4b. Plan of early medieval Sbeitla, integrating excavations reported in Béjaoui “Nou- velles données”, and “Une nouvelle église”.

Figure 5. Plan of early medieval Volubilis, after Fentress and Limane, “Volubilis”, with additions from Akérraz, “L’enceinte” and “Niveaux islamiques”.

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(2017): "The First Iconoclasm in Islam: A New History of the Edict of Yazīd II (AH 104/AD 723"

by Christian Sahner

2017, Der Islam

This article offers a revised history of the iconoclastic edict of the Umayyad caliph Yazīd II, which was promulgated in 104/723. This edict is often interpreted as a precursor of Byzantine iconoclasm and as a forerunner of the Islamic... more

Fig. 1: Statue of a woman, Khirbat al-Mafjar, Jericho, West Bank; first half of the 8th c.; Rockefeller Museum, Jerusalem. Photo: Christian C. Sahner

Fig. 6: Camel driver, hunting, and farming scene, Church of St. George, Dayr al-‘Adas, Syria; mosaic installed 722. Photo: Pauline Donceel-Voiite, Les pavements des églises byzantines de Syrie et du Liban: décor, archéologie et liturgie. Louvain-la-Neuve: Département d’archéologie et d’histoire de Vart, 1988, 49, fig. 23 (reproduced with permission from Pauline Donceel-Voiite)

Fig. 7: Phoenix and potted plant, Church of the Virgin, Wadi ‘Ayn al-Kanisa, Mt. Nebo, Jordan; mosaic installed ca. 762. Photo: Michele Piccirillo, “The Mosaics,” Mount Nebo: New Archaeological Excavations 1967-1997, 2 vols., Michele Piccirillo & Eugenio Alliata, eds. Jerusalem: Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, 1998, i, 362, fig. 231 (reproduced with permission from the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, Jerusalem)

Fig. 9: Aniconic mosaic, Church of the Virgin, Madaba, Jordan; mosaic first installed 767. Photo: Christian C. Sahner

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Of Islamic Grammatology: Ibn Turka's Lettrist Metaphysics of Light

by Matthew Melvin-Koushki

al-'Usur al-Wusta, 24 (2016), 42-113

As Derrida charged, Plato’s famous declaration of speech’s superiority to writing would seem to have resonated with inheritor cultures similarly transitioning from orality to literacy, and especially the Islamicate; despite the explosion... more

As Derrida charged, Plato’s famous declaration of speech’s superiority to writing would seem to have resonated with inheritor cultures similarly transitioning from orality to literacy, and especially the Islamicate; despite the explosion of writerly culture from the 8th century onward, Arabic scholarship continued to evince a categorical, if increasingly rhetorical, mistrust of writing. In the 14th century, however, as the age of encyclopedism dawned throughout the Islamicate heartlands, the superiority of writing to speech was formally and definitively asserted by Arabic and Persian encyclopedists, including most prominently Ibn al-Akfānī (d. 1348) of Mamluk Egypt and Shams al-Dīn Āmulī (d. 1352) of Ilkhanid Iran. It is hardly coincidental in this connection that the same century also witnessed the burgeoning popularity among scholarly and ruling elites of lettrism (ʿilm al-ḥurūf), kabbalah’s coeval cognate—the occult science that posited the cosmos itself as a text to be read, even rewritten. Synthesizing these literary and occult-scientific currents, in the early 15th century a circle of Muslim neopythagoreanizing lettrists—chief among them Ibn Turka of Isfahan (d. 1432)—developed the first formal metaphysics of writing.
This article analyzes Ibn Turka’s unprecedented valorization of writing over speech in terms both epistemological and ontological, as well as the sociocultural ramifications of this move throughout the post-Mongol Persianate world. Letter-number, he argued, is a form of light eternally emanated from the One; hence vision, that faculty of light, must be the sense most universal; hence visible text must be the form of the One most manifest. In support of this thesis, he synthesized the Avicennan-Ṭūsian doctrine of the transcendental modulation of being (tashkīk al-wujūd) with its illuminationist upgrade, the transcendental modulation of light (tashkīk al-nūr), to produce his signature doctrine of tashkīk al-ḥarf: letters of light as uncreated, all-creative matrix of the cosmos, gradually descending from the One in extramental, mental, spoken and finally written form. Far from being a peculiar intellectual rabbit trail of no enduring significance, I argue that Ibn Turka’s lettrist metaphysics of light was embraced by subsequent thinkers in Iran as the most effective means of conceptualizing and celebrating Islamicate writerly culture; these include the famed philosophers Jalāl al-Dīn Davānī (d. 1502) and Mīr Dāmād (d. 1630), founder of the so-called school of Isfahan. Nor was its influence limited to Aqquyunlu-Safavid philosophical circles; I further argue that Ibn Turka’s system informed the explosion of Persianate book culture more generally, and by extension Persianate visual culture, from the early Timurid period onward. A telling example in this context is the emergence of the album preface as a new genre of art history-theory in early Safavid Iran, a phenomenon that has been well feted and studied by art historians; but they have wholly elided high lettrism as the genre’s most immediate philosophical context. This principle may be extended to the Persian cosmopolis as a whole: two of the most seminal discourses on writing developed in the Ottoman and Mughal contexts, by Taşköprüzāde (d. 1561) and Abū l-Fażl ʿAllāmī (d. 1602) respectively, are demonstrably Ibn Turkian.
Like Derrida was to do half a millennium later, in sum, early modern Muslim lettrists inverted Plato’s speech-writing hierarchy; unlike Derrida, for whom writing can have no ontological edge, they put forward a profoundly humanistic neopythagorean ontogrammatology as core of the philosophia perennis—and that so trenchantly that it served to shape Islamicate intellectual and aesthetic culture alike for centuries. The modern ideologues of East-West rupture notwithstanding, moreover, I propose this cosmology as a major node of Islamo-Christianate cultural continuity even to the present.

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Artificial Intelligence, Deepfakes and a Future of Ectypes

by Luciano Floridi

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The Mosques of Egypt - Introduction

by Bernard O'Kane

Almost final proof of the substantial Introduction

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Geometry in Islamic Art

by Carol Bier

2015, Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures

Geometric patterns in two and three dimensions comprise one of the key characteristics of arts and architecture of the Islamic world in many cultural traditions from the central Islamic lands of the Middle East to Spain, India, Indonesia,... more

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The Evolving Representation of the Early Islamic Empire and Its Religion on Coin Imagery

by Stefan Heidemann

How did the theology of Islam and its idea of an empire evolve, based on the Hellenistic Romano-Iranian foundation, in the face of Christianity, Judaism, Neo-Platonism and Zoroastrianism? This much debated question has once again raised... more

Fig. 24. Anonymous, titles amir al-mu’minin and khalifat Allah, drahm, without mint (Damascus), year 75 H (694-5 cE); Gorny und Mosch (2007), no. 5599 (3.34 g).

Fig. 1. Heraclius and Heraclius Constantine, nomisma, Constantinople, without date (ca. 616-625 cE), Oriental Coin Cabinet Jena inv. no. 2007-04-001 (4.21 g; gift of F. and G. Steppat).

Fig. 3. Anonymous, Imitation of a follis of Constans H, without mint and date [20s/640s - 50s/670s], validating countermark Ji-llah; photo Oriental Coin Cabinet Jena no. SB1312.

Who was responsible for the issue of these imitated coins in Syri: and northern Mesopotamia? We do not know who the regulatins authorities were, but it is possible that military authorities in the gar risons, local authorities in the cities, money changers, or merchant were involved in their production. We know from the reports on the futih that the Christian urban and parochial elite represented the cit ies when dealing with Islamic military tribal leaders, and that they were the mainstay of early Umayyad civil administration.”

Fig. 5. Anonymous or Khalid, fals, Tiberiados (tabariyya), without date (ca. 50s/660s — 74/692); Oriental Coin Cabinet Jena inv. no. 303-C04 (4.71 g; ex. coll. Marquis de Lagoy).

Fig. 6. Anonymous, fals, Hims/Emesa, without date (ca. 50s/660s — 74/692); validat- ing mark KAAON and tayyib; Oriental Coin Cabinet Jena inv. no. 303-C08 (3.85 g; ex. coll. F. Soret).

An awareness of the cross as a symbol can be seen in a comparatively limited series of imitative gold coins, probably struck in Damascus, closely copying a nomisma of Heraclius and his son Heraclius Con- stantine, with slightly blundered Greek legends (fig. 7). The prominent “cross on steps” on the reverse (fig. 1) was transformed into a “bar on a pole on steps.” Hoard evidence suggests for these imitations a date not much later than 680 cz, about the period of Mu‘awiya.*® Similarly, on a rare imitation of a nomisma of Phocas (r. 602-610), crosses were changed into “sticks” with a small pellet on the top. Miles has suggested that the latter coin was struck at about the same time as the previous one. At this stage of the development, and in this iconographic context, the new design was probably regarded at first as a mutilated cross. The cross might have been perceived as more than merely a Christian religious symbol and might have also been identified with the rival Byzantine empire.” Thus, it could also be described as a “de-Byzantinized” cross. This question will be dis- cussed below in the context of ‘Abd al-Malik’s reforms.

From 72/691-2 to 74/693-4, the name Khusrii in Pahlawi is again found in front of the portrait (fig. 19) so that the design, except for the Arabic invocation of Muhammad, remains the recognizable standard drahm design.” In the year 73/692-3 the invocation of the messenger of God, Muhammad, was supplemented with an Arabic shahdda in the obverse margin of the silver, and probably also on the undated gold coins of Damascus (fig. 20 and 21) and on the drahms of Kufa (fig. 29). The gold coinage followed the same course. The beginning of this series is presumably contemporary with the inclusion of the shahada

Fig. 22. ‘Abd al-Malik, fals, Qinnasrin, without date (74-77/693-696); Oriental Coin Cabinet Jena inv. no. 303-F08 (3.15 g).

How did the currency and visual representation of power and religion develop in the newly conquered lands of Iraq and Iran? The central- ized Sasanian empire was attacked at its apogee, despite the devasta- tion and chaos caused by the aftermath of Heraclius’ victory. Its administration, its army based on cash payments, and its monetary economy” were to a significant degree under control by the center, in contrast to the declining and decentralizing Byzantine empire.“ Even after the assassination of Khusrt II in 628 cz and the almost complete annihilation of the army at the battle of Nihawand in 641 cz, institu- tions and the monetary economy remained intact. The centralized Sasanian state enabled the conquerors to take over the administration swittlv.

Remains mete Seyret YO NAR: Oa RE tee Nea, From the fifth regnal year (15/635-6) onwards, Yazdgard III, the last shahanshah, was in retreat. In his twentieth regnal year, in 651 CE, he was assassinated in Marw, the last eastern remnant of his empire. Few coins were minted between the decisive battle of Nihawand in 641 cz (regnal year 10 or 20 H) and 651 cz. Coins struck in the conquered territories are almost indistinguishable from those struck under the authority of Yazdgard III, except that the mints lay outside his shrinking realm.* The next phase lay between 20 Yazdgard Era (YE) and about 30 YE, or between 31 and 41 Hijri, or 651 and 661 cz. In contrast to Byzan- tium, the Sasanian empire collapsed completely and the shahdnshah’s claim to universal rule ended. The Islamic conquerors did not attempt to continue the Sasanian claim ofa universal empire until the Abbasids. The outlook of the Syrian Umayyads was different, being closer to the Roman tradition. Cains cantinued to he ctruck in the names and with the nortraite

Fig. 10. Georgia, Bagratids, Stepanos II (r. 639-663 cE), drahm, (Tiflis?), without date; Oriental Coin Cabinet inv. no. 302-C04 (3.03 g; ex coll. H.A. Zwick, 1840); Mayer, Sylloge, 110, no. 1001. cal—and with the fire altar and attendants. The dating was according to the Yazdgard era, although most coins used the immobilized date of 20 YE (fig. 9). Frequently, but not always, additional Arabic vali- dating expressions appear in the obverse margin, usually in the second quadrant, such as bi-smi Ilah (in the name of God)” or jayyid (good) as on the Syrian copper coins. These expressions have no specifically Islamic connotations. The resulting picture for the early decades seems to correspond to a situation in which the Sasanian administration remained operational, but functioned at a provincial level and was responsible to Arab governors.” In the 30s/650s, possibly in the year 33/653-4, the mint authorities under the jurisdiction of the Basra prefecture, began dating coins with Hijri years written in Pahlawi.* The introduction of the new era on coins indicates that the admin- istrative Arabic elite gradually developed an awareness of its Islamic identity, but there was still no overt representation of the Islamic religion and its empire.

Fig. 11. “Abdallah b. ‘Amir b. Kurayz, governor of the Basra-prefecture, drahm, abbre- viation DP (probably Fasa in the Darabjird district), year “43” H (immobilized date, ca. 43-47/663-668); Oriental Coin Cabinet Jena inv. no. 2005-15-002 (4.04 g; gift of H. Wilski). Contemporary Georgia shows that religious iconographic symbols were of importance in coin imagery elsewhere. Christian Georgia had belonged to the Sasanian realm and was part of the circulation zone of the Sasanian drahm. A strong sense of religious identity is found here at about the same time as the immobilized year “20 YE” drahms were being minted.” New coins, supplementing the circulating stock (fig. 10), show on the obverse a portrait resembling that of Hormizd IV (r. 579-590 cE), but the Georgian inscription names the Bagratid king Stepanos, who reigned between 18/639 and 43/663. On the reverse, the fire altar was distinctly replaced by a Christian altar with across on top.

Fig. 12. Mu‘awiya, “amir of the believers” in Pahlawi, drahm, abbreviation D’ (Darabjird in Fars), year “43” H (immobilized date; 54-55/673-675), clipped rim; Oriental Coin Cabinet Jena inv. no. 304-B07 (2.06 g; ex coll. F. Soret, ex coll. Sprewitz). Darabjird in the province of Fars was important in the history of the Sasanian dynasty. It must also have had a special place in the early Islamic empire, though this has not yet been explored. Darabjird and the mints related to it struck coins in the name of the caliphs for some time, more than any other mint. Coins in the name of Mu‘awiya were only struck here (fig. 12).°! His Arab title is written in Pahlawi script and the second part translated into Persian as “amir of the believers,” stressing his role as leader of the Islamic elite.*

The Second Fitna—Zubayrid and Khdrijite challenges Fig. 13. “Abdallah b. az-Zubayr, “amir of the believers” in Pahlawi, drahm, abbrevia- tion D’-J (Jahrum in the Darabjird district), year 60 YE (72/692); Oriental Coin Cabinet Jena inv. no. 2005-15-004 (4.12 g; gift of H. Wilski).

Fig. 17. Anonymous, nomisma, without mint (Damascus?), without year (ca. late 60s-72 / late 680s until 691-2 cE); Spink, Auction 18 (1986), no. 86. The First Attempts in Syria: The Years 72-74/691-694

Before 72/691 -2, silver drahms were not known to have been minted in Syria. On the basis of the coin type, style, and mint technology, L. Ilisch ascertained that at least one workshop from Aqila/Kufa was brought to Damascus to introduce a silver coin type in 72/691-2. It was similar to the previous Zubayrid issues of Aqula. Like the Aqula drahms of 70/689-90 (fig. 15), the new Marwanid Damascus drahms (fig. 18) were modeled on the current Sasanian drahm retaining the images of the shahdnshah and the fire altar with attendants. The coins are anonymous; the Arabic invocation Muhammad rasul Allah is placed in front of the portrait, however at first without the profession of the unity of God. Similar coins were struck in Hims in 72/691-2.* Drahms naming only a MHMT in Pahlawi and/or Muhammad in Ara- bic without titles or reference to the messengership might come from further mints, such al-Hira, close to Kufa, Harran, and/or one mint in the Jund Qinnasrin in Syria.® The Zubayrid propaganda was adopted as suitable for the ongoing power struggle with the Kharijites.

Fig. 25. Anonymous, titles amir al-mu’minin and khalifat Allah, drahm, without mint (Damascus), without date (ca. 75-79/694-698); Baldwin’s, Auction 26 (2001), no. 1569. lel copper coinage (fig. 23). These drahms, the following ones from Damascus, and the first emission of the reformed type of 79/698 do not give the mint name. Ilisch has inferred that ‘Abd al-Malik had intended to concentrate all the minting of silver in Damascus, as he did with the minting of gold coins, according to the Byzantine model of coin production; the mint name on the coin thus would have appeared to be unnecessary. Concerning the silver coinage, however, this centralization failed due to the significant differences to the fiscal and monetary organization of Iran.”

Fig. 27. Anonymous, triens/thulth, Africa (Qairawan), without date (ca. 90-93/708- 711), with a corrupt Latin version of the basmala® and of the shahdda; Oriental Coin Cabinet Jena inv. no. 305-B02 (1.37g; ex coll. F. Soret).*° of the northern gate of the city, today the Damascus Gate (fig. 26). In the early Islamic period this column was still a landmark. Al-Mugaddasi (d. 381/991)* and other writers knew the nearby gate as that of the “column,” as Bab al--Amud.** Such monolithic columns symbolized urban and civic pride and were a common feature in late Roman and even Umayyad cities, and therefore understandable even without a specific allusion to Jerusalem.* In this interpretation, the pellet on the top of the pole on the coins might represent a globe without cross, and the bar might stand for an empty platform or capital. The urban column would then be a non-religious symbol, and it would be close enough to the Byzantine Christian “cross on steps” in order to serve as recosnizable mark of value.

Developments in the Basra and Kufa Prefectures In the Basra and Kufa prefectures and in the northern provinces different designs were chosen; most important is the iconography developed in Kufa that is probably related to that in Damascus Between 73/692-3 and 75/694-5, Bishr b. Marwan, the caliph’: brother and governor of the Kufa prefecture, struck coins in Aquala and in 75/694-5, he minted coins also in Basra. In 73/692 he startec a series of coins comparable to those of Damascus struck in the same year; that is, they were anonymous, still with the bust of the shahdnshal and the fire altar, and with reference to Muhammad and the profes. sion of faith in the obverse margin. Later in the same year, though he changed the design. The fire altar with its two attendants wa: replaced by a praying figure, a khatib, with an attendant on eithe: a conservative symbol for the value of the coin, like the shahdnshah or the image of the emperor. The “phi-shaped symbol on steps” should be considered as a mere mark of value for the copper coins, too, replac- ing the Greek M or m. It might thus simply be regarded as being a Greek phi for follis, as John Walker has alluded.’? Whatever the origi- nal symbolic meaning of these images might have been, it was obvi- ously secondary to their function as marks of value, and it fell into oblivion after “Abd al-Malik’s reforms. The lance and the “globe/bar on a pole on steps,” or column, should hence be viewed as non-ven- erated objects of pride, power, and victory, and as a substitute for the symbols of the other religions.

Fig. 29. Anonymous, dinar, without mint (Damascus), year 93 H (711-2 cg), Oriental Coin Cabinet Jena inv. no. 306-A02 (4.23 g). Between late 77/696 and 79/699, the definitive symbolic representa tion of Islam and the Islamic empire was introduced on coinage. Thi occurred immediately after the victory over the Kharijite caliph Qatar b. al-Fuja’a, and must be seen as a response to legitimize Marwanic rule in the entire empire with Islamic propaganda common to al Muslim factions. This reform was not organized at a district or pro vincial level, but centrally, by the caliph in Damascus, in close coop eration with al-Hajjaj b. Yusuf, the supreme governor of the forme senger of God and the Arabic shahdda. The phase of Marwanid experi- mentation between 72/691-2 and 77/696-7 shows the growing uneasiness with conventional coin designs alternating between neces- sary conservatism and ideologically driven innovation. Many of the iconographic symbols can be seen as non-Christian or non-Zoroas- trian. Some of them, such as the lance for God’s victory and the khatib, might have a plausible Islamic meaning, and the standing caliph or his half portrait is unambiguously the representation of the empire, though precious metal coins remained anonymous. The other symbols are primarily marks of value, and any secondary meaning remains speculative. As far as the present state of research is con- cerned, none of the other objects—i.e., the arch or the column, if the latter is interpreted correctly—can be convincingly established as a religious Islamic symbol.

Sasanian east. In 77/696, new dinars were produced (fig. 29), probably in Damascus, at 4.25 g slightly lighter than the Byzantine nomisma. They bear the new religious symbols of Islam and its empire, the shahada, encircled by the Qur’anic risdla, the prophetic mission of Muhammad (a shortened version of Qur'an 9:33), and on the opposite side the word of God, the beginning of Sarat al-Ikhlas (a shortened variation of surah 112), surrounded by the date of the striking. Late in the year 78/697-8, al-Hajjaj b. Yusuf, the governor of the East, ordered the reform of the dirhams in his realm. The new coins weighed about 2.8 g to 2.9 g with slight regional differences. The new design was very similar to that of the new dindrs, but in addition carried the mint name, as was the practice on Sasanian-style drahms. As far as we can currently tell, the reform began in Kufa,’* Azerbaijan,” Armenia,’ Jayy,'” and Shaqq at-Taymara'™ in the Jibal. The follow- ing year saw the adoption of the new design by more than forty mints all over the east (fig. 30), many of them in the former regions of Kharijite dominance, and in the imperial capital Damascus.’ Until the time of the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur (r. 136-58/754- 775), precious metal coins remained anonymous. Not only the name

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Calligraphy on Islamic Coins

by Stefan Heidemann

Western coinages in the Hellenistic tradition are praised for the beauty of their images complementing perfectly the circular space. Since the Renaissance, Greek and Roman coins are understood in the antiquarian mind as objects of art... more

the stage of the imperial religious cult. Between the years 72/691-92 and 77/696-97 the Umayyad government experimented with new symbols of religion and imperial power, not all of which are well understood today. However, the recurrent theme of all experiments in coin design was the inclusion of the name of the Messenger of God as the putative founder of the empire (Muhammad rasal Allah), and sometimes also the profession of faith, the shahdda. Finally, the definitive iconic representation of Islam and the Islamic Empire on coinage was launched. In 77/696 new dindrs (FIG. 82) - probably minted in Damascus - bear the new religious symbol of Islam: the shahdda, encircled by the risdla, the prophetic mission of Muham- mad (variety of Quran 9:33) and on the opposite side, as a symbol of the ultimate sovereignty of the empire of the Word of God, a variation of the sara ikhids (variety of Quran 112}, and the date of minting. Late in 78/697-98, the governor of the East ordered the reform of the dirham design in his realm, almost similar to the new dinars, but adding the mint name. These coins are among the oldest surviving text carriers of the Quran. Until the time of the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur (r. 754-75 CE) precious metal coinage remained anonymous. The reform of ‘Abd al-Malik constituted a historically unprecedented breach with Hellenistic coin imagery going back about a millennium in the Roman west and the Iranian east. The aniconism, the non-use of images, of the precious metal coins is the result of the character of the ‘iconic’ new symbols: the Quranic Word of God as an expression of sovereignty and the empire and the profession of faith as an expression of the religion. Anonymity on coins did not mean modesty, because the new Islamic universal emperor claimed to be nothing less than khalifat Allah, “deputy of God". This presupposes an entirely new understanding of the role of the Islamic Empire and its religion, and led to coins becoming anhiacte af ralliaranhi

(FIG. 90). In the central lands of the caliphate, namely in western lran, Kufic calligraphy on coins reached its artistic zenith between the 350s/960s and 370s/980s when Buyid die-engravers marked their products with their names ina minuscule script. words of two marginal inscriptions now bend to the circular shape of the coin, becoming neat curvilinear and enhancing legibility. The new style of coinage of al-Ma’mun reverted to anonymity. The return to simple curvilinear script, the anonymity of coinage and the innovation of the added Quranic phrase on the outer margin was an attempt by al-Ma’mun to regain political credibility by pointing to traditional values and design.

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Orality, writing and the image in the Maqamat: Arabic illustrated books in context

by Alain Fouad George

Detail of a scene from Arabe 3929, fol. 163r, illustrating the twenty-third maqama, thirteenth century (plate 11).

On that note, the two characters part, before another chance encounter in Hulwan, at the other end of the Islamic world, opens the second maqama. The scene is set for fifty episodes written in iridescent, fluid rhymed prose (sqj‘) interspersed with verse. The pattern established in the first story remains relatively unchanged throughout the text: each new episode is narrated by al-Harith, who witnesses a masterpiece of eloquence by an old or a young man, a woman, a poet, a storyteller, an orator, a person able to read the stars, to resolve grammatical problems, to pronounce authoritatively on legal issues, and so on.° All of them turn out to be one and the same Abu Zayd, whose performance earns him a generous reward, after which al-Harith discovers the subterfuge; in most cases, he goes on to confront Abu Zayd before both characters part. | Cairo manuscript, title and autograph ijaza of al-Hariri dated Sha’ban 504 AH/ February II11 CE. 20 14 cm. Cairo: Dar al-kutub al- misriyya (Adab 105, fol. 5r). Photo: Pierre MacKay.

2 Cairo manuscript, middle of fourteenth maqama (centre) and certificate of areading held at a mosque in Aleppo on 18 Dhu al-qa’da 626 AH/8 October 1229 CE under ‘Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi (left margin). 20 * 14cm. Cairo: Dar al-kutub al-misriyya (Adab 105, fol. 38r). Photo: Pierre MacKay. QiMenstOl OF Ie LEAL TAG DECOIMME CLOSELY LILCT UW ITEC Will 1s WIILLEIL VETSIOrl. An exceptional witness of this human context is to be found in a manuscript of the Maqamat preserved at the Egyptian National Library (Dar al-kutub al-misriyya, Ms. Adab 105; plate 1 and plate 2). It was copied from the author’s autograph version by Abu al-Mu'ammar al-Ansari (1083-1155), who recorded at the end of the book that its reading (sama’, lit. ‘audition’) was concluded in the presence of al-Hariri himself on 7 Sha ban 504 AH (18 February 1111 CE).'” The reading, which took over a month to complete, was performed in Baghdad by Abu al-Fad] Muhammad ibn Nasir al-Salami (1075-1156), a renowned Baghdadi philologist remembered in the biographical dictionary of Ibn Khallikan. The names of twenty-nine auditors who attended the whole event were noted down in the manuscript, alongside those of seven others who were present at only some of the sessions: several of them can be

3 Maqamat of al-Hariri, manuscript copied in 583 AH/1187 CE by ‘Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Muhrizal- Ansari. End of the text (top three lines), colophon (centre of page) and certificate of a reading at the Fatimid palace in Cairo on 3 Sha‘ban 661 AH/II June 1263 CE (right, bottom and inner left margins). 26 x 19cm. Rome: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Ms Sbath 265, fol. 175r). Photo: Pierre MacKay. In 1236, the manuscript was briefly taken back to Baghdad, where a reading took place in the house of one shaykh Badr. Although the latter’s name is incomplete, his title suggests that he was a man of social standing, whether his authority was religious, literary or of some other kind.* The manuscript was returned to Aleppo in the same year after which its track vanishes for about half a century (Ibn al- ‘Adim, who fled to Cairo in the wake of the Mongol capture of Aleppo in 1260, may well have taken this precious belonging with him).”” By 1284, it was in Damascus, where a reading was performed at the ‘Izziyya madrasa, an Ayyubid monument built in 1224.° Other manuscripts of the Maqamat with certificates tell us of readings at the Great Mosque of Damascus in 1286; at the Nasiriyya madrasa in the same city in 1284; and at the Fatimid palace in Cairo in 1263, nearly a century after the dynasty’s downfall (plate 3)."” These books thus represented the nexus of human interaction, at the boundary between the oral and written dimensions of the text.

The oral delivery of the Maqamat, involving an eloquent narrator surrounded by his audience, also found a mirror image in the text, with the character Abu Zayd among the crowds of the Islamic world.”® Such an assembly could itself be called a maqama, although the term majlis was more commonly used.*' They are often depicted in the eleven illustrated versions of the work which are known to survive from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries (table 1). Their images of an orator before his seated audience, all presented in fine dress whether rich or poor, appear as idealized reflections of real-life performances among notables (plate 4).°* In one illustration from Arabe 5847, a man is even shown reading from a book in front of an assembly at a library in Basra while Abu Zayd is preparing to outshine him with verbal brilliance (plate 5).°* Such pictures would have added a visual dimension to th reflective game between the text of the Magamat and its audiences. Caven the cheer difficilty af the woark hanke containino the Manamatxzere nrone

display objects, exposed to the gaze of all participants in literary assemblies. The physical features of extant illustrated versions make them particularly suited to this mode of perception and appreciation. Upon opening the majority of these books, the reader is immediately struck by the consistently high quality of the script, its large size and its clarity. All eleven manuscripts have extensive diacritical marks and vocalization. I was able to study eight of them in person: in six cases (Or. Add. 7293, Or. Add. 22114, Arabe 3929, Arabe 5847, Arabe 6094 and Marsh 458), the tall letters are 0.8 to 1 cm high and separated from the next baseline by a gap of at least equal size; a more cluttered script prevails in two other cases (Or. 1200 and Or. 9718), to which I shall return.** Published reproductions suggest that the three remaining manuscripts (the Vienna, Istanbul and Saint Petersburg Maqamat) follow the former pattern rather than the latter.** This is an unusual pattern for book production of this era which, Qur’an manuscripts set aside, displayed a more cluttered approach

to layout and script, even in textual copies of the Maqamat that are known, from their certificates, to have been read in front of live audiences: among the latter, only Vatican Sbath 265 has a breathing space and script that could justify a comparison with the above manuscripts (see plate 3).°° Thus most illustrated versions of Maqamat were luxury volumes not only in outward appearance, but also as a support for recitation: the size of their script, its spacious layout and the orthography would have aided the delivery of the text with minimal scope for hesitation, while also enhancing its material presentation, as is the case with a Qur'an. 6 Double-page spread with sketched image of Abu Zayd and his audience (third maqama). Maqamat of al- Hariri, unknown scribe and illustrator, text completed | Rabi‘ 11723 AH/9 April 1323 CE. Each page 43 x 30cm. London: British Library (Or. Add. 7293, fols. l4v-15r). Photo: British Library.

and extreme.’ These norms of literary performance may well have extended to the Maqamat, with their rich mixture of rhymed prose and various types of verse. ees ete a A i as 7 ae Several episodes in al-Hariri’s work contain a palpable dimension of drama. In the thirteenth maqama, an old, destitute woman followed by a group of miserable children approaches a group of literati assembled on the river banks of Baghdad, among them al-Harith (plate 7 and plate 8). She begs them for donations, first in prose and then in verse, with such talent that ‘she cleft [their] hearts in pieces.”* Having been duly rewarded, she departs, swiftly leaving the children behind, and takes refuge in the ruins of amosque. As she removes her veil, the familiar traits of Abu Zayd are revealed to the indignant al-Harith: their confrontation and separation ensue.” De ee ee ee 2) a oe en, oy Se en

true character, sometimes with the aid of accomplices that almost bring to mind a small theatrical troupe; finally, a dropping of the masks followed by a separation which closes the episode, thereby affirming the autonomy of each maqama in relation to the whole and turning it into a discrete narrative.”” The genre could thus lend itself to a gradation of dramatic effect through such devices as gesturing, body movement and the imitation of voices, to which an audience may have responded with their own words and laughter. The linguistic wealth of the text conversely meant that its delivery could just as easily dispense with such additions. ae ey - a ae Sap | RS seg It is not permitted to gather a crowd around oneself and narrate stories in mosques or sell charms or other objects. One must expel those who tell stories in mosques if the contents of the stories are not what is found in dependable books of religious tradition, or are not accurate. Expelling them was the custom of the ancients. As for those who adorn themselves and whose master is lust, and tell [their stories] in rhymed prose and sing them — when even young women are present in the assembly — such a deed is considered an unforgivable sin and should not be permitted even outside the mosques.”*

This depiction can hardly fail to raise a smile and likewise a comical mood becomes increasingly manifest when one attempts to ‘read’ the images alongside the text, as Arabic-speaking audiences would have done. This is particularly evident in some manuscripts — the Saint Petersburg Maqamat, Arabe 3929, Arabe 5847 and Or. Add. 22114 come to mind — but it transpires to different degrees throughout

RRS RSS SE SEA SEER: RN STUUR MESSRS Erinn enone tr ag) MIRSSETUES aoe | TINIAN SE USS SEE eA TERME PPE sian gen she erent nb Comical effects, in all but this manuscript, are achieved through two main devices, which often work in concert. The first is a visual expansion by the illustrator on the basis provided by the text.*” Instances of this are so frequent that they cannot all be listed here. The trend may be conveniently exemplified by one detail which occurs time and again in the corpus: the depiction of side characters in blissful sleep, eyes narrowed and arms languidly stretched above the head.** In the example shown here (plate 10), a man is also ardently embracing a pilaster, for no apparent reason, in an excess of euphoria shared by several other figures in the Saint Petersburg Maqamat.*” SAL command annradton’ ac tndhe eclmnlaantmaktnn and emlanerdial character

talent and deception, in attracting the sympathy of the governor of Baghdad. As the crowd begins to disperse al-Harith, who had witnessed the scene from a distance, comes closer and recognizes Abu Zayd. As he relates:

In different guises, plain or subtle, humour is thus deployed throughout the corpus. These pictorial accents are for the most part lighthearted, but occasionally they wander off in unexpected directions. In the twentieth maqama, Abu Zayd laments over the loss of his virility with age and gathers generous donations from an assembly. He is eventually recognized by al-Harith, who follows him and enjoins him to show his body. Aby Zayd lowers his trousers and points to his penis as they altercate.”* Al-Wasiti, and like him the illustrators of Arabe 3929 and the Vienna Magqamat, did not hesitate to depict the trickster showing his penis (plate 12). The same detail may have originally been present in Or. Add. 22114, where this part of his body has been erased.”*

Notwithstanding its frankness, this particular choice can be explained by reference to the text. Yet elsewhere, the propensity to illustrate sexual subjects reaches beyond the obvious. In the thirty-third maqama, a miserly old man, his face contorted by paralysis, appears at the end of Friday prayer in a mosque at Tiflis (modern Tbilisi). He relates to those present the misfortunes of his life, thereby earning a sizeable recompense before his subterfuge is unmasked by al-Harith. In the Vienna manuscript, the mosque setting has been recreated by showing lamps and a dome. But rather than adding a mihrab or minaret, the illustrator has chosen to depict two members of the congregation in prayer, despite al-Hariri’s indication that those present ‘sat still like the hillocks’ in front of Abu Zayd after prayer.”* What is more, the two men are worshipping in the direction of a half-naked Abu Zayd, whose genitals are clearly evident — a grotesque juxtaposition that was clearly intended to elicit laughter (plate 13). Even the frozen attitude of al-Harith may have contributed to this effect: standing next to them but somewhat removed from the scene, he is staring at us impassively, with the resignation of one who knows what is going on. The magama itself does not carry any overt sexual references. At one point, Abu nes ~ Dee es : es ~ aia : ee ~ Reali The maqama itself does not carry any overt sexual references. At one point, Abu Zayd is asked to show the ‘tree of [his] branch and lift the mouth-veil (litham) off [his] descent (nisba).””” The message is unambiguous: Abu Zayd is urged to reveal his identity and tell the audience about his genealogy, a reading confirmed by the main commentator on al-Hariri’s work, al-Sharishi.”° The potential for a sexual metaphor did not occur to other Magamat illustrators. Moreover, whatever we take it to imply, the request to ‘unveil’ is declined by Abu Zayd. At the end of the episode, al-Harith discovers that the trickster had ‘no ailment in his body, and nothing doubtful in his outward tokens’, but this statement, again, seems to refer to his face and does

of obscenity, again administered with a healthy dose of jest. It was performed with articulated leather puppets pressed against a white screen which may have provided a significant source of inspiration for Maqamat illustrators — a connection explored in more detail in another publication.'” The author of the few such plays to survive from the pre-modern era, Ibn Daniyal (¢. 1248-1310), boasted that he had composed ‘plays of muyjun of high rather than low literary quality’ and had infused them with a ‘touch of mujun which is not shameful’.""° Time and again, his characters crudely evoke sexual matters in verse, prose and rhymed prose tinted by an unrelenting sense of humour. One of these characters, Tayfal-Khayal, provides a clue as to the rationale for this attitude when he exclaims in his opening address to the audience: 15 Double frontispiece. Maqamat of al-Hariri, written and illustrated by al-Wasiti, 634 AH/1237 CE. 37 x 28cm. Paris: Bibliotheque nationale de France (Arabe 5847, fols. Iv-2r). Photos: Bibliotheque nationale de France.

The Maqamat and their illustrated versions offer a game of mirrors with the social reality of their times, albeit one that naturally involved a degree of reframing and distortion. The broad cultural horizons of Arabic-speaking elites, first of all, found a direct reflection in al-Hariri’s text. Each new episode is set in a different place, be it Samargand, Baghdad, Damietta or Oman. Yet wherever they are, the protagonists find a common language in the values of adab, the étiquette and urbane culture of the social elites.** The figure of the rogue that lies at the heart of the genre also bears a resemblance to actual figures in medieval Islamic society, such as the qass (public storyteller), the haki (imitator or live actor) and the mukaddi (the wandering beggar with a gift for eloquence and deception). These terms, which are to a certain extent interchangeable, all evoke a popular type of narrator able to captivate crowds — and get them to part with their money — through his powers of speech. One of the earliest writers to introduce such figures into literature was al-Jahiz (c. 776-869) in the Bukhala’ and the Bayan wa’l-tabyin. They became a major trope with the Maqamat of al- Hamadhani and their (anti-) hero Abu al-Fath al-Iskandarani, followed by al-Hariri’s Abu Zayd of Saruj.”” Table | List of illustrated manuscripts of the Maqamat (thirteenth to fourteenth centuries CE), based on Oleg Grabar, The Illustrations of the Maqamat, Chicago, IL, 1984, 8-16.

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Monumental Calligraphy in Fatimid Egypt: Epigraphy in Stone, Stucco, and Wood

by Bernard O'Kane

Published in The World of the Fatimids (exhibition catalogue), ed A.S. Melikian-Chirvani, (Toronto, 2018)

inscriptions at al-Azhar are all in stucco, but it is prob-

Detail of foundation inscription (early 11th century) of the NorTh minaret of the Mosque of al Hakim.

Roundel (early 11th century) of the north minaret of the Mosque of al-Hakim.

Detail of the mihrab of the mashhad of al-Juyushi (1085).

Detail of the inscription below the zone of transition of the mashhad of al-Juyushi.

Medallion at the apex of the dome of the mashhad of al-Juyushi.

Detail of the foundation inscription of Bab al-Futuh (1087).

Detail of the foundation inscription of Bab al-Nasr (1087).

Detail from the Cenotaph of Sayyidna al-Husayn (ca. 1160-1170), wood, H 136 cm, L 186.5 cm, W 132.5 cm, Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo, Inv. No. 15025.

Detail of the inscription below the zone of transition of the Mausoleum of Sayyida ‘Atika (ca. 1125). End of the foundation inscription of Bab al-Futuh.

Central mihrab of the Ikhwat Yusuf shrine (ca. 1125-1150).

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Türk ve İslâm Eserleri Müzesi Taş Eserler Koleksiyonu (Doktora Tezi)

by M. Murat Bozcu

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The Influence of Ḥadīth on the Architecture of Early Congregational Mosques

by Essam Ayyad

2011, University of Leeds

This study weighs up the influence of Ḥadīth, "traditions of the Prophet Muhammad of Islam", on the architecture of the major mosques which were built from the establishment of the Islamic state in 1/622 to the end of the Umayyad period... more

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“Islamic objects in Christian contexts: relic translation and modes of transfer in medieval Iberia”, Art In Translation, vol. 7, no. 1 (March 2015), special issue: ‘Translation and Hispanic Visual Culture’, pp. 39-64

by Mariam Rosser-Owen

Many medieval Islamic objects have survived in ecclesiastical contexts in Christian Spain. The majority of these objects are containers of some kind, especially caskets, and textiles, ranging in size from small frag- ments to enormous... more

Abstract Many medieval Islamic objects have survived in ecclesiastical contexts in Christian Spain. The majority of these objects are containers of some kind, especially caskets, and textiles, ranging in size from small frag- ments to enormous wrappings. These objects vary in artistic quality, but they all share a direct association with the relics of saints. Many of these saints were buried in territory under Islamic rule, and on occa- sions during the tenth and eleventh centuries their relics were translated to the emerging Christian kingdoms of the north. This essay argues that this process offered a means by which Islamic objects transferred into kind, especially caskets, and textiles, ranging in size from small frag- Art in Translation, Volume 7, Issue 1, pp. 39-64 DOI: 10.2752/1 756131 15X14235644692275 Photocopying permitted by licence only. © 2015 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC.

Reet eye: «| NE ee One spectacular Andalusi object, now a unicum, that has survived thanks to its use as a reliquary in Girona cathedral is formed from silver-gilt and niello panels in repoussé over a wooden core (Figure 1). Its inscription does not give a precise date, but informs us that it was commissioned for Hisham, son of al-Hakam II, while he was still crown prince. The use of the phrase wali al-‘ahd to designate his status allows us to assign the casket to around 976, the year in which he was of- ficially declared his father’s heir though he was still a minor.’ The casket may well have been a celebratory gift from his father. Other intriguing objects have been found in Catalufia: a spherical perfume bottle and a tiny ivory unguent pot are among the objects preserved in the cathedral of La Seu d’Urgell, founded by Bishop Ermengol (d. 1035) and conse- crated by his successor, Eribau, in 1040.'° The spherical perfume bottle was found together with other objects in a cavity in the main altar; it held a relic, and it has been suggested that these objects were used in the cathedral’s consecration.'! Their materials, production technique, and iconography associate them with al-Andalus. The explanation usually given for how these objects found their way to Catalufia is that they all formed part of the booty seized during the military expedition against Cérdoba in 1010, which was led by Ramon Borrell, count of Barcelona, and his brother Ermengol I, count of Urgell.!

Casket of Sadaqa ibn Yusuf, 1044-7, silver-gilt and niello, h: 7.5 x w: 12.4 x d: 7.9 cm, Real Colegiata de San Isidoro, Ledn. © Museo de San Isidoro and Fernando Ruiz Tomé.

Casket of al-Mu'‘izz (r. 953— 975), 960s, ivory, h: 20 x w: 42 x d: 24 cm, Museo Arqueoldgico Nacional, Madrid (inv. 50.887). Photograph © Archivo Oronoz, Madrid.

Figure 5 Casket containing the relics of Santa Eulalia of Mérida, late eleventh or twelfth century?, wood, silver-gilt, and niello?, unknown dimensions, Camara Santa of Oviedo Cathedral. Foto Mas 84476, Archivo Fotografico del Real Instituto de Estudios Asturianos.

rigurc Metal casket from San Isidoro de Leon, first half of the eleventh century?, silver-gilt and niello, h: 8 x w: 17.7 x d: 11 cm, Museo Arqueolégico Nacional, Madrid (inv. 50.867). Photograph © Archivo Oronoz, Madrid.

rigure o Embroidered lining of the lid of the reliquary casket of San Isidoro, before 1068, silk and gold thread, casket dimensions h: 33 x w: 81.5 x d: 44.5 cm, Real Colegiata de San Isidoro de Ledn. Photograph © Archivo Oronoz, Madrid.

the casket contains two tiny silver, heart-shaped boxes apparently of Andalusi manufacture, to which the Latin inscription ee sunt reliquie sancti pelagii (“These are the relics of San Pelayo”) has been added (Figure 7).°” The use of silver and niello, and the form of the split pal- mette decoration on these tiny containers, closely resemble the silver and niello mounts of the ivory caskets produced during al-Hakam’s reign: there is a particularly striking comparison with the mounts on a small ivory casket made for one of al-Hakam’s sisters around 961, just a few years before San Pelayo’s translation (Figure 8).°* The historical

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The Egyptian Art of the Tiraz in Fatimid Times

by Bernard O'Kane

Published in The World of the Fatimids (exhibition catalogue), ed. A.S. Melikian-Chirvani (Toronto, 2018)

Tiraz, Egypt, in the name of the imam al-‘Aziz (r. 975-996), plain weave with inwoven tapestry weave, linen and silk, L 40 cm, W 4o cm, Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo, Inv. No. 13015. Tiraz, Egypt, in the name of the imam al-‘Aziz (r. 975-996), plain weave with inwoven tapestry weave, linen and silk,

Tiraz, Egypt, roth century, linen, tapestry-woven silk, L 151 cm, W 51 cm, Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, Inv. No. AKM670 On the eve of the Fatimid conquest, in the reign of the Abbasid caliph al-Muti‘, tiraz appeared in which the elements that became the cornerstone of early Fatimid design were already apparent: the script now is flori- ated, with discs decorating the tops of uprights. Many of these ascenders curve upward in swan-neck fashion."* Two lines of script, one inverted, are employed, and the band between them is decorated with Coptic-derived figural imagery, usually within medallions (Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo, Inv. No. 13015).1° A tirax belonging to the Aga Khan Museum from the reign (952-975) of al-Mu‘izz (Inv. No. AKM670) displays a very sober foliation but boldly emphasizes the baseline of the script with a deep red woven silk contrasting with the yellow used for the upper parts of the letters. How- ever, the greatest impression one derives from the numerous examples preserved from the reigns of the Fatimid caliphs al-‘Aziz (975-996) and al-Hakim (996-1021) is that of the variety of scripts employed (Cairo Museum, Inv. No. 9344). These can range from

found in each.” At least the content of the inscription: in the private factories is likely to have been determinec by the chancery. Whether in pre-conquest Fatimid tiraz made in Ifriqiya or in early examples from Egypt, the epigraphic protocol was sure to mention a variety o! phrases of Shi‘i significance: the Prophet and his pure family, the pure imams, the caliph’s pure ancestors anc descendants, and blessings from God on his friend the imam.** Occasionally, particularly in tiraz of al-Hakir found in each.”’ At least the content of the inscriptions

and later, the father or the son of the ruling imam is also mentioned.

Tiraz, Egypt, in the name of the imam al-Hakim (r. 996-1021), plain weave with inwoven tapestry weave, linen, silk, and gold wire, L 62.3 cm, W 23.5 cm, Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, Inv. No. 1950.549. Tiraz, Egypt, in the name of the imam al-Hakim (r. 996-1021), plain weave with inwoven tapestry weave, linen, silk, and gold wire,

Tiraz, Egypt, in the name of the imam al-Zahir (r. 1021-1036), plain weave with inwoven tapestry weave, linen and silk, L 380 cm, W 60 cm, Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo, Inv. No. 14546. Tiraz, Egypt, in the name of the imam al-Zahir (r. 1021-1036), plain weave with inwoven tapestry weave, linen and silk,

Tiraz, Egypt, in the name of the imam al-Mustansir (r. 1036-1094), plain weave with inwoven tapestry weave, linen and silk, L 35 cm, W 12 cm, Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo, Inv. No. 9751.

Veil of St. Anne and Detail, Damietta, Egypt, in the name of the imam al-Musta'li, datable to 489 or 490/1096 or 1097, plain weave with inwoven tapestry weave, linen, silk, and gold wire, L 310 cm, W 150 cm, Cathedral of St. Anne, Apt, France. Veil of St. Anne and Detail, Damietta, Egypt, in the name of the imam al-Musta'li,

Tiraz, Egypt, 12th century, plain weave with inwoven tapestry weave, linen, silk, and gold wire, L 63.2 cm, W 27 cm, Cleveland Museum of Art, J.H. Wade Fund, Inv. No. 1982.291.

Tiraz, Egypt, 11th-12th centuries, linen, embroidered, L 40.2 cm, W 11.2 cm, Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, Inv. No. AKM675.

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Heritage Under Fire: Lessons from Iraq for Cultural Property Protection

by Benjamin Isakhan

2016, A Companion to Heritage Studies (Wiley-Blackwell)

This paper focuses on the impact of the war and subsequent occupation (2003–2011) on Iraq’s heritage, documenting the most significant and devastating instances of heritage damage and destruction that occurred. Moving forward, this... more

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Coffeehouses, Urban Spaces, and the Formation of a Public Sphere in Safavid Isfahan

by Farshid Emami

2016, Muqarnas

Fig. 1. Plan of Isfahan, ca. mid-seventeenth century, showing the main elements of the city and the sites studied in this article. (Plan: © Farshid Emami)

Fig. 2. Old photograph of the Chaharbagh, taken ca. 1880s, showing the axial walkway bordered by plane trees, looking north from the middle of the northern section of the Chaharbagh. Tehran, Iranian Cultural Heritage Organization Docu- mentation Center. (Photo: Ernst Héltzer)

Fig. 3. Excerpt from a plan of the Shah Sultan Husayn Ma- drasa, showing the original layout of the Chaharbagh and the coffeehouse (no. 35), as surveyed by Pascal Coste in 1840. (After Pascal Coste, Monuments modernes de la Perse [Paris, 1867], pl. xix—xx)

Fig. 7. Interior view of the extant structure along the Cha- harbagh (which once served as a coffeehouse), showing the central hall and the upper-floor gallery. (Photo: Farshid Emami, 2013) of Isfahan: in his description of the benefits of coffee, Qazi b. Kashif al-Din had noted the ameliorating effect of the substance on a hangover (daf-i khumari).5® And of course frequenters of the Chaharbagh tavern re- mained exempt from the sporadic prohibitions on wine drinking, although, as Awhadi pithily wrote, in Safavid Isfahan “no one cares” (kas ra bi kas kar nist).

Fig. 6. Plan showing the Chaharbagh coffeehouse along with the adjoining platform and landscape elements. Drawn on the basis of old photographs and surveys of the madrasa. (Plan: Farshid Emami)

Fig. 8. Old photograph showing the Chaharbagh coffeehouse in the late nineteenth century. Washington, D.C., Freer Gal- lery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives, Smithsonian Institution. (Photo: Antoin Sevruguin, ca. 1880)

Fig. 9. Mu‘in Musawvir (attributed), “Portrait of Muhammad Taqi Tabrizi.” London, The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art. (Photo: Nour Foundation, courtesy of the Khali- li Family Trust)

Fig. 10. Elevated view of the northeast side of the Maydan-i Naqsh-i Jahan, showing the restored arcades where the cof- feehouses were once located. (Photo: Farshid Emami)

Fig. 1. Schematic plan by Galdieri of the northern side of the Maydan, showing original Safavid constructions and later additions. (After Eugenio Galdieri and Roberto Orazi, Progetto di sistemazione del Maydan-i Sah [Rome, 1969])

fig.12. Excerpt from the plan of the Maydan-i Naqsh-i jahan drawn up by Eugeéne-Elie Beaudouin in 1932, showing the original layout of the coffeehouses on the 1ortheast side of the plaza. (After Eugene-Elie Beaud- nuin, “Ispahan sous les grands chahs, XVIle siécle,” Ur- yanisme, revue mensuelle de l’'urbanisme francais 2, no. 0 [January 1933], 25) _- Fig. 13. A sketch from the diary of Pietro della Valle, showing the layout of the coffeehouse where Shah ‘Abbas held a reception fo: foreign envoys in 1619. Vatican, Vatican Library (Biblioteca Apos tolica Vaticana), Ott. lat. 3382, fol. 126v. (Photo: courtesy of the Vatican Library)

Fig. 14. Plan showing the northeast side of the Maydan-i Naqsh-i Jahan along with the reconstructed layout of the coffee- houses: 1) row of coffeehouses consisting of six octagonal rooms alternating with alcoves; 2) Bazar-i Qannadha (Confection- ers’ Market); 3) Chaharsuq-i Shah; 4) Qaysariyya Market; 5) sherbet houses; 6) covered market leading to the Old Maydan. (Plan: Farshid Emami)

Fig. 15. Axonometric view showing the overall structure of the coffeehouses as they originally stood on the northeastern side of the Maydan-i Naqsh-i Jahan. (Drawing: Farshid Emami)

Fig. 16. Engraving showing the northern side of the Maydan-i Naqsh-i Jahan, with the entrance portal of the Qaysariyya Market at the center and the arcades containing the coffeehouses on the right-hand side. (After Jean Chardin, Voyages du chevalier Chardin, en Perse, 4 vols. [Amsterdam, 1635], 2: N. xxxvii)

Fig. 17. View looking south on the Maydan-i Nagsh-i Jahan, showing the ‘Ali Qapu (right), Shah Mosque (center), and Shaykh Lutfallah Mosque (left). (Photo: Farshid Emami)

Fig. 18. Restored plan of Takhtgah: 1) Maydan-i Harun-i Vilayat (Old Maydan); 2) tomb chamber of Harun Vilayat; 3) porch (suffa) overlooking the tomb chamber; 4) entrance portal of the ‘Ali Mosque. (Plan: Farshid Emami)

Fig.19. Eugene Flandin, drawing showing an impressionistic view of Takhtgah, ca. 1840. (After Eugene Flandin, Voyage en Perse de MM. Eugéne Flandin et Pascal Coste, Perse moderne [Paris, ca. 1850], pl. LXIII)

Fig. 20. Hasanabad (Khvaju) Bridge. (Photo: Farshid Emami)

Fig. 21. Views of the structure in the rear area of the Lunban Mosque in Isfahan, probably the coffeehouse built by the poet Nasrabadi in the 1670s. (Photos: Farshid Emami)

Fig. 22. Plan of the Mahyar Caravanserai, with the coffeehouse in the southwest corner. (After Maxime Siroux, Caravan sérails d’Iran et petites constructions routiéres | Cairo, 1949], 59)

Fig. 23. View of the main facade of the Mahyar Caravanserai in 1937. Washington, D.C., Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives, Smithsonian Institution. (Photo: Myron Bement Smith)

Fig. 24. Riza ‘Abbasi, “Kneeling youth offering coffee.” Tehran, Gulistan Palace Library, Ms. 1668 (Muraqqa“i Gulistan or Gulshan), fol. 37. (Photo: courtesy of the Gulistan Palace Library)

Fig. 25. Detail of the fagade of the Chaharbagh Madrasa, showing one of the two epigraphic tile panels on the eleva- tion of the coffeehouse. (Photo: Farshid Emami)

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Medieval Islamic Maps: An Exploration

by Karen Pinto

2016, Medieval Islamic Maps: An Exploration

https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo17703325.html Hundreds of exceptional cartographic images are scattered throughout medieval and early modern Arabic, Persian, and Turkish manuscript collections. The plethora of... more

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Dalla svastica alla Bibbia

by Roberto Lirussi

Storia del Vicino Oriente Antico:
Mesopotamia: storia, etnogenesi, culture, religioni
Storia dell'Ebraismo, redazione e composizione della Bibbia
Storia ed Archeologia dell'Arte musulmana

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Between Istanbul and Gujarat: Descriptions of Mecca in the Sixteenth-Century Indian Ocean

by Guy Burak

2017, Muqarnas

In 1543, a quarter century after the Ottoman conquest of the Holy Cities, the Meccan jurist, hadith scholar, and chronicler Jar Allah Muhammad Ibn Fahd (d. 1547) completed a short work devoted to the construction projects undertaken in... more

Fig. 1. View of the Ka‘ba at Mecca, ca. 1850-1900, watercolor on paper, 42.23 x 85.09 cm. Harvard Art Museums (1995-827).

Fig. 2. Plan of the Holy Mosque in Mecca: (1) the Ka‘ba; (2) the Hatim; (8) the Station of the Hanafis; (11) the minbar; (15) the colonnade. The eastern arcade (riwaq) is on the left side of the upper plan.

Fig. 3. Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, Entwurff einer historischen Architektur (Leipzig, 1725). The structure at the lower left corner is Bab ‘Ali. very attentive to the textual exchanges between the Ot toman sultans and their subjects. In fact, he was an ac tive participant in this exchange: he dedicated texts tc Sultan Siileyman and, at the same time, recorded anc responded to texts that were being produced in the im perial center. that time limited themselves to minarets with conical lead-covered domes and to inscriptions commemorat- ing the patronage of the sultans in Mecca, but had not yet constructed identifiably “Rumi” buildings.®° It was not until the lead-covered domical arcades surrounding the Haram were built in 1573 by Mehmed Cavus, a royal architect from the team of the chief architect Sinan who was sent from Istanbul with building materials, that an unmistakably Ottoman idiom would be manifest in Mecca.*! This point, however, remains to be further ex- plored, as the number of comparative studies of the se- miotics of building materials and forms in the Mamluk sultanate and the core lands of the Ottoman empire is fairly limited.5?

Fig. 4. A view of Istanbul in Matrakci Nasuh’s Beydn-t Menazil, 8b. (Photo: courtesy of Istanbul University’s Nadir Eserler Kiitiiphanesi)

Fig. 5. Illustration of Aleppo in Matrakgi Nasuh’s Beyan-t Menazil, 105b. (Photo: courtesy of Istanbul University’s Nadir Eserler Kiititphanesi)

Fig. 6. Illustration of Karbala (Iraq) in Matrakc1 Nasuh’s Beyan al-Menazil, 62b. (Photo: courtesy of Istanbul Univer- sity’s Nadir Eserler Kiitiiphanesi)

Fig. 7. Hlustration of the Holy Mosque in Mecca from Kitab Shawq-nama. National Maritime Museum, Haifa MS inv. no. 4576. (Photo: Stas Korolov)

Fig. 8. Illustration of the port of Jedda and its fortifications from Kitab Shawq-nama. National Maritime Museum, Haifa MS inv. no. 4576. (Photo: Stas Korolov)

Fig. g. Illustration of the Holy Mosque of Mecca from Bahti’s Mendsik-i Hacc, page 7b, 17th century. The madrasa of Qaytbay appears in the lower part of the page (the second structure from the right). (Photo: courtesy of Staatsbiblio- thek zu Berlin)

Fig. 10. Depiction of the Holy Mosque of Mecca on a tile, 17th century, Iznik, fritware and underglaze painting, 62.4 x 35-8 x 3.5 cm. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, 48.1307. The madrasa of Qaytbay appears on the lower part of the tile, outside the Holy Mosque. The madrasa built by Siiley- man appears next to the minaret on the lower right corner of the Mosque.

Fig. u. Muhyi al-Din Lari, Futuh al-Haramayn, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Diez A quart. 4, 12v. Probably made in the 1540s

Fig. 12. Illustration of the Holy Mosque of Mecca from a manuscript of Futuh al-Haramayn, 16th century, central Asia, probably Bukhara. Ink, opaque watercolor, gold on paper, 24 x 16.5 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2009.343. An inscription indicating the location of the mad- rasa built by Siileyman is on the lower left side, next to the lower minaret.

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The Benaki Museum of Islamic Art

by Mina Moraitou

2008, HALI issue 156

Treasury along with all the museum's most valuable possessions, irrespective of their cultural or chronological context. In those days exhibits were arranged according to category with a special emphasis on use, in accordance with... more

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Céramiques islamiques du Musée des Tissus de Lyon (2015)

by Sandra Aube Lorain and

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"The Ilkhanid Book of Ascension: A Persian-Sunni Devotional Tale"

by Christiane Gruber

Plate 1 Incipit of the anonymous Mé‘rajnama, dated 685/1286. SK Ayasofya 3441, folios 4 Me

Plate 2 Colophon of the anonymous M/i‘rajndma, dated 685/1286. SK Ayasofya 3441, folios 74v—7 5r.

Plate 3 The Prophet Muhammad encounters prophets in Jerusalem and undergoes the ‘testing of the cups,’ Mz‘rajndma, ca. 1317-35. TSK H. 2154, folio 62r.

Plate 5 The Prophet Muhammad arrives at the gate of the first heaven, made of emerald, Mi‘rajnama, ca. 1317-35. TSK H. 2154, folio 61r upper.

Plate 6 The Prophet Muhammad encounters the celestial rooster in the first heaven and a group of angels raising their hands in prayer, Mi‘rajndma, ca. 1317-35. TSK H. 2154, folio 61v.

Plate 7 The Prophet Muhammad arrives in the seventh heaven, made of light, and encounters the gatekeeper angel Nuryabil, accompanied by a host of angels, Mi‘rajnama, ca. 1317-35. TSK H. 2154, folio 31v.

Plate 8 The Prophet Muhammad, on Gabriel’s shoulders, ascends through the seventh heaven, made of light, Mz‘ra@jndma, ca. 1317-35. TSK H. 2154, folio 42r.

Plate 9 The Prophet Muhammad, on Gabriel’s shoulders, flies over the Swollen Sea (a/-bahbr al-masjiir) beyond the seventh heaven, Mi‘rajnama, ca. 1317-35. TSK H. 2154, folio 42v.

Plate 10 The Prophet Muhammad and Gabriel, with /ais in a pavilion in paradise, observe the Lote Tree of the Limit, Mz‘rajnama, ca. 1317-35. TSK H. 2154, folio 121r upper.

Plate 12 The Prophet Muhammad has a miraculous vision of Jerusalem upon his return to Mecca and correctly describes it to Abt Bakr, Abi Jahl, and members of the Quraysh tribe, Mi‘rajnama, ca. 1317-35. TSK H. 2154, folio 107r.

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La Vega Baja de Toledo.

by Mar Gallego García and

2009, La Vega Baja de Toledo. ISBN. 84-95453-65-7

""Cap. 1 Territorio: Historia, cartografía e Imagen. Cap. 2. La Vega Baja en época visigoda: Una investigación arqueológica en construcción. Cap. 3. ¿De complejo palatino visigodo a arrabal islámico? Cap. 4. La cultura material de la... more

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"The Content of Form: Islamic Calligraphy between Text and Representation"

by İrvin Cemil Schick

Figural inscriptions of this kind were used almost exclusively on metalwork, and to date several masterpieces bearing such inscriptions have come to light. These include the Bobrinsky bucket (1163) at the State Hermitage Museum, which is the earliest dated example; the Wade cup and Mosul ewer at the Cleveland Museum of Art; the Fano cup at the Cabinet des médailles in the Bibliothéque nationale de France; a bronze penbox (1210-1211) and a canteen at the Freer Gallery; the Zodiac ewer and a copper basin at the Musée du Louvre; and finally the Blacas ewer and another ewer at the British Museum.’ Only a few of these are signed, and those signatures likely belong to the metalworkers, not the callig- raphers. Whether or not the animated inscrip- tions were actually designed by the metalworkers themselves is unknown; indeed, even the precise identity of the metalworkers remains uncertain.” In his treatise Gulistan-i hunar (ca. 1606), Qadi Ahmad b. Mir Munshi al-Husayni mentioned a calligrapher by the name of Mahmid Chap- nivis, also known as Majniin, who “invented a style of writing in which combinations of letters formed images of men and beasts.”’+ Given that Majniin lived around the turn of the sixteenth century,’> however, he was certainly not the orig- inator of animated script."®

the immense popularity of calligraphy in China and Japan, where there is no ban on figurative representation, nor the relative (and I emphasize “relative”) unimportance of calligraphy in the Judaic tradition, given the extreme iconophobia of the Hebrew Bible. between form and content in such works, it will be useful to review briefly two basic concepts in the context of Islam: image and text.

‘Ali son of Abi Talib, may the generosity of God be upon his victorious countenance, and may God be pleased with him”) in the form ofa lion (fig. 9.4). The scroll is the work of ‘Ata Allah Muhammad of Tabriz, and is dated 1458.76 A calligraphic horse formerly in the collection of Stuart Cary Welch contains the Throne Verse, one of the best known verses in the Qur’an that describes God’s absolute power.”7 It is undated, but was probably made in the late sixteenth cen- tury in India, possibly Bijapur in the Deccan.78 An Ottoman calligraphic inscription in the form of a ship contains the names of the Seven Sleepers (ashab al-kahf) and their dog.”? It is signed Ismail Derdi and dated 1690.8° Valérie Gonzalez has distinguished between works of pictorial calligraphy in which the text and image share a single referent, and those in which their referents are distinct.*' The examples above include both cases. In the bird and the horse, for instance, there is no obvious relation- ship between form and content. On the other hand, the lion contains an invocation of the caliph ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib, whose nicknames were khaydar (“lion”) and asad Allah (“lion of God”); thus, the fact that the inscription is shaped like a lion emphasizes the caliph’s nickname. Such lion-shaped calligraphic compositions were quite popular among Alevis belonging to the Bektashi order.®* Likewise, the fact that the ship contains the names of the Seven Sleepers is sig- nificant because the Ottoman navy was believed to have been entrusted to them, and their names were often written on the ships.*3 ~~ . eee if © + «© @ @ 2 © 4

of writing in the Islamic worldview. Moreover, it overlooks the fact that the societies where such works of pictorial calligraphy were most com- monly produced—Turkey, Iran, and India— were precisely the societies in which figurative images were most plentiful. The question is why such works of pictorial calligraphy were made.

artist’s belief system by projecting it onto the weft of daily existence. As for the pictorial calligraphies in which text and image share a single referent, these are rarer but often much more interesting. An example is the stork-shaped inscription designed by the Ottoman calligrapher Abdiilgani Efendi in 1763.°5 It survived as a stencil, from which several copies were subsequently made. The text forming the bird is a couplet about a cer- tain dervish known in his day as Seyyid Hasan Leylek Dede. Here, Hasan was his given name, seyyid indicates that he was a direct descendant of the Prophet, dede is a title indicating that he had some seniority in the dervish order, and the word leylek is Turkish for “stork.” It is said that the dervish earned this nickname because he was very talland lanky. The poem that composes the image celebrates the devotion of this dervish to his master, Mawlana Jalaluddin al-Rami. It reads as follows: What is most important here is that the text and the image are related at a very basic level. The text speaks of a dervish known by the nickname “the Stork,” and it is also written in the shape ofa stork. Another popular theme in pictorial calligra- phy concerns a well-known story about Caliph ‘Ali.8° He is said to have predicted his own assas- sination to his sons, Hasan and Husayn. After the murder, he told them, a camel driver would arrive; they were to load his coffin onto the camel and follow the driver wherever he went (fig. 9.5). His predictions came true: a mysterious camel driver wearing a veil arrived, and the caliph’s sons loaded the coffin and ‘Ali’s famed sword, the dhilfiqar, onto the camel. Then they followed the camel and its driver into the des- ert. Eventually they tired and begged the camel driver to stop and show his face. He lifted his veil and revealed himself to be their father, who

the Sakarya River in the town of Geyve, prov- ince of Adapazani, in Turkey (fig. 9.6). It is dated 901 AH (1495/96 CE). The text is in Arabic, and says “shifa’ al-qulub liga’ al-mahbib” (“The well-being of the hearts [depends on] the coming-together of the lovers.”) This is cer- tainly an apt inscription for a bridge, but there is a very interesting detail in the calligraphy that deserves a more careful look. The inscription is written twice in mirror-images, a style that is called muthanna or “doubled.” This in itself is not unusual. However, mirrored calligraphies are usually divided into left and right halves, that is, the axis of symmetry is usually vertical. Here, on the other hand, it is horizontal, which makes the calligraphy look very much like a bridge and its reflection in the river. Indeed, had risen from the dead. The panels illustrating this story are remarkably narrative: Caliph ‘Ali himself is constituted by an invocation (here, “madad ya ‘Ali” or “help, O ‘Ali”) or hadith (“ana madina al-‘ilm wa ‘Aliyun babuha” or “I am the city of knowledge and ‘Ali is its gate”); his sons Hasan and Husayn are made up of their own names; and so forth.87 Sometimes the pictorial calligraphy is quite subtle. A relatively early architectural example, this one from the late fifteenth century, is the inscription on the Sultan Bayezid II Bridge on

The Arabic word hilyah refers to the features or appearance of a person, and the Ottoman compounds hilye-i serife (noble hilye) and hilye-i saadet (felicitous hilye) denote the features or appearance of the Prophet Muhammad. Tim Stanley has suggested that while the hilye may have arisen as the Muslim counterpart of the Orthodox Christian icon (in view of the fact that a figural representation of the Prophet would have been frowned upon in the Sunni tradition), it was most likely inspired by the cel- ebrated poem known as Hilye-i Hakani, written by the sixteenth-century Ottoman poet Hakani Mehmed Bey.?° This poem was in turn based on a possibly spurious tradition, according to which the Prophet is reported to have said: “Whoever 90 Tim Stanley, “From Text to Art Form in the Ottoman Hilye,’ in Studies in Islamic Art and Architecture in Honor of Filiz Cagman (forthcoming). See also his “Sublimated Icons: The Hilye-i Serife as an Image of the Prophet,” paper read at the 21st Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies on “The Byzantine Eye: Word and Perception,” University of Birmingham, 21-24 March 1987. On the poet Hakani Mehmed Bey (d. 1606), see E. J. W. Gibb, 4 History of Ottoman Poetry (London, 1900- 1909), 3:193-98, where the name is transcribed as Khdqani; and Bursali Mehmed Tahir Bey, Osmantl: Miiellifleri, ed. A. Fikri Yavuz and Ismail Ozen (Istanbul, 1972?-75), 2:171-72.

sees my hilye after me is as though he has seen me. And whoever is true to me, God will spare him the fire of Hell, and he will not experience the trials of the grave, and he will not be driven naked on the Day of Judgment.” If Hafiz

Caliphs of Sunni Islam. (Sometimes they contain the various titles of the Prophet Muhammad.) Starting in the eighteenth century or so, we see an interesting new development. Devotional manuscripts began to feature pages with large medallions containing the names of God, the Prophet, the Rightly Guided Caliphs, some- times the companions of the Prophet, and even the Seven Sleepers and their dog (fig. 9.9). What is so interesting is that often these medallions appear below (or are placed between) a caption that does nothing but state the obvious. For example, if the name Muhammad appears in the central medallion, then the accompanying cap- tion might say something like “This is the name of His Excellency Muhammad, may prayers to God and peace be upon Him.” If the name in the medallion is Aba Bakr, then the caption might say “This is the name of His Excellency Aba Bakr, may God be pleased with him.” This is a common pattern, and begs the question, why were the captions added in the first place? After all, if one can read the caption, then surely one can also read the central medallion. FIG. 9.9.

the word for “name,” ismun, the captions both look and sound almost exactly alike. As a final example, it is instructive to con- sider a panel that produces meaning not only through its textual content but also through its form (fig. 9.10). It is by the great late Ottoman calligrapher al-hajj Mehmed Nazif Bey, who lived between 1846 and 1913. The panel is dated 13319 AH (1901/2 CE) and features a short poem in Turkish extolling the virtues of the Basmala. The poem is of no great literary value, and reads as follows: The phrase “al-Sirat al-Mustagim,” or “the straight path,” appears in the opening chapter of the Qur’an, the Fatiha, and is taken to mean “the true faith,” ie., Islam. In addition, however,

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THE COMPACT OF MEDINA: A Constitutional Theory of the Islamic State

by Muqtedar Khan

The essay explores the Compact of Medina as a constitutional basis for a modern Islamic state.

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Calligraphy, colour and light in the Blue Qur'an

by Alain Fouad George

Fig. 2: Folio from a Qur’an in gold script on blue paper (Q. 2:1-9), Kuwait, Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, LNS323 MS (14.6 x 11.3 cm)

Fig. 3: Folio from a Qur’an in style D.I (Q. 18:1-2), Dublin, Chester Beatty Library, Is. 1422 (18.5 x 26 cm)

Fig. 6: Inscriptions from the Masjid al-Haram (Mecca, 167/784)

Fig. 7: Folio from the Blue Qur’an with decorative devices (Q. 2:196-8), Riyadh, Rifaat Sheikh al-Ard Collection (29 x 40 cm)

Fig. 8: Detail of a folio from the Blue Qur’an with silver sura title, private collection (page width 29.9 cm) Fig. 9: Folio from a Qur’an in the New Style with sura title in style D.I and marginal juz’ marker (Q. 6:165-7:3), Kuwait, National Museum, al-Sabah Collection, LNS65 MS (13.3 x 19 cm)

Fig. 10: Detail of St Petersburg, National Library of Russia, Marcel 13, fol. 12v (Q. 40:58-60, page width ca 30 cm)

Fig. 11: Folio from a Qur’an in style D.Vc (Q. 23:51 -2), Kuwait, Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, LNS2 CA a (19.7 x 31 cm) Letter numerals did continue to be used for astrolabes long after they were abandoned in Qur’anic manuscripts; interestingly, their evidence suggests the older abjad was not entirely forgotten in the lands east of Egypt. Al-Biriini (d. ca 442/1050), who lived most of his life between Iran and Central Asia, thus wrote about abjad numerals:*”

Fig. 12: Folio from the Rossano Gospels (sixth century), Rossano (Calabria), Museo Diocesano (30.7 x 26 cm)

Fig. 13: Folio in D.IV belonging to the same manuscript as Nuruosmaniye 27 (Q. 29:17—24), London, Nasser D. Khalili Collection, KFQ52, fol. 4a (27.5 x 36.8 cm)

Fig. 14: Detail of a mosaic inscription from the Great Mosque of Cordoba (expansion of al-Hakam II, 350—66/ 961-76)

Fig. 15: Apse mosaic of the Monastery of St Catherine (Mount Sinai, sixth century AD)

text is unknown; further leaves are also likely to exist in private hands. The verse numbers given here provide a broad sequence of the folios in their original order; in some instances, these numbers can be approximative, as this information is not consistently provided in all publications (where altogether absent, it has been derived from published images, which are typically limited to one side of any given folio). Auction references are to London sales rooms, unless otherwise stated. This list is inevitably non-exhaustive; !©? the Raqqada collection alone comprises 67 folios of which only a handful have been published, so that the full extent of their Qur’anic text is unknown; further leaves are also likely to exist in private hands.

Calligraphy, Colour and Light in the Blue Qur’an List references

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Arabic script and typography: A brief historical overview (2002)

by Thomas Milo

Language Culture Type: International Type Design in …

Figure 1. Simplified diagram showing evolution of European and Arabic scripts from a common ancestor, Phoenician. text — this reduced or skeleton script was in fact an economical way

Figure 2b. Each character code is rendered by up to four individual presentation forms. This is the minimum shaping required to produce recognisable Arabic text. Figure 2a. A plain text encoding for Arabic, such as the Unicode encoding shown here, requires only a small set of codepoints.

Figure 3b: Vertical connections are a feature in all major styles of the Arabic script, from the oldest kufic style as seen in this example from an early Islamic manuscript, left. On the right is the same text in the naskh style.

Figure 6. The Arabic scripted world. ture and language. In the more remote areas, the traditional script was

Figure 5. In early, unmarked Arabic script, certain shapes could express multiple letters: the archigrapheme (the common graphical elements of two or more letters, minus the distinctive graphical elements). As a consequence, words could only be read in context. In some cases, like this example, even context might not resolve the ambiguity. The modern system of dots differentiates consonants of identical form

Figure 7c: In Arabic (grey, left) the letter kafis distinguished from the similar — or, as in this thulth example, identical — shape of /ém by the inclusion of a small mark derived from a miniature form of the swash kaf. In Urdu (black), a miniature form of the Arabic £@’ is used to distinguish the letter tteh from the Arabic thd’. Figure 7b: Many new letters are formed for non-Arabic languages by adding new patterns of dots (black) to the basic forms of Arabic letters (grey)

Figure 7a. Not all Arabic letters connect. A gap is used in Arabic (grey, left) to distinguish the originally identical ascending forms of /é4m and alif: In the orthographies of some non-Arabic languages such as Kurdish and Uyghur (right), a gap is used to create a new letter based on the Arabic ha? In Arabic (black, middle), this class of letter joins on both sides; in Kurdish it joins on the right only, and indicates the vowel @.

Figure 8. Interior view of the Aya Sofya mosque, Istanbul, from Caspare Fossati’s Die Hagia Sophia. This image captures the paradox of the western visual artist’s encouncter with the calligraphic art of Islam: the building is rendered with precise accuracy, utilising all the techniques of linear and atmospheric perspective in the European tradition, but the image of Arabic calligraphy lacks any understanding of the actual forms. It is as if the artist lacks the necessary mental machinery to understand what he is seeing, and so is unable to depict it. The correct calligraphic forms are superimposed for contrast. (Conversely, this kind of realistic depiction of the building would likely have beeen impossible for an artist of the Middle-Eastern tradition, lacking an understanding of the visual culture of European art.)

Figure 9. Qur’an fragment with colophon identifying it as the handwriting of Mehmed Sefik (Muhammad Shafiq) Efendi, an Ottoman calligrapher in the school of Mustafa Izzet Efendi, whose handwriting was to become the model of the finest nineteenth and twentieth century Arabic typography. a ee Se ae Sas ee Se Se ey ee ee The shaping of Arabic is governed by a set of rules that are both prac tical — in that they improve the legibility — and elegant, as they were laic down by people who rank among the world’s greatest graphic artist: What sets the Arabic alphabet apart from all others is its developmen into an elaborate morphographical system. It is the outcome of a cor scious effort by Arab and Persian scholars to turn the late Syriac-Aramai: script inherited by the Arabs into a finely balanced connected script, a: an expression of Islamic culture. From the sixteenth century onward: Ottoman calligraphers developed a number of the existing styles int uniquely disciplined art forms.

Figure 12. Typography by Ohanis Miihendisoglu in the Yeni Hurufat, 1870. The first, short-lived effort to print books with Arabic letters was made in Istanbul by Ibrahim Miiteferrika, a Hungarian renegade, in 1727. In the last decade of the eighteenth century, typesetting in the Ottoman Empire was taken up again and on a larger scale, culminating in the designs of Ohanis Muhendisoglu” in the second half of the nineteenth century. These laid the basis for all modern naskh typefaces. It took a scholar to handle the set of over 1500 movable types to construct each syntagm correctly. With the increased use of typography, one can observe that the discrepancy between hand-written and typeset naskh increases, due to mistakes, incomplete fonts or ignorance of the design.

Figure 13. Mesk miirakka’i or writing exercise by izzet Efendi elaborating the shapes and connections of the letters ‘ayn (large, in the siiltis (thulth) style) and kGf (small, in the nesih (naskh) style). This kind of exercise is the artistic equivalent of the étude in the Western musical tradition.

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The Artistic Culture of Central Asia and Azerbaijan in the 9th-15th centuries. Volume IV. Architecture. — Samarkand-Tashkent: IICAS, 2013. — 280 p.

by Shahin Mustafayev

2013

The Artistic Culture of Central Asia and Azerbaijan in the 9th-15th centuries. Volume III. Architecture. — Samarkand-Tashkent: IICAS, 2013. — 280 p. Project Manager: Sh. Mustafayev Academic Editorial Board: K. Baypakov, Sh. Pidaev, A.... more

Plan of Khoja Mashad mausoleum. (by L. Bretanitskiy).

a Sa ae MMe PR EM ee ME The site of Otrar with a rich historic past starting from the first centuries AD to the 18" century was the centre of the district, where monumental constructions including palaces were erected in the researched period on the Great Silk Road. One of early examples of palatial construction is the citadel of Keder city of the 6-12" centuries (the site of Kuyruk-tobe), which could have been the country residency of Kangar rulers and the capital of the Otrar district in the 10-11" centuries. [he citadel placed in the centre of the city was initially a palatial construction; the evidence is its oosition on an artificial platform (10m high) made of clay blocks and mud bricks and a complex of

Babaji Khatun mausoleum. 3'4 century BC) and Khorezmian Koy-Krylgan-kala (the 4" century BC). It is possible that the rite of ritual incineration of burial vaults taking place among different Indo-European people was connected with the cosmologic symbolism of burial constructions themselves'. A tomb in Indo-Iranian and entire Indo-European mythology was interpreted as microcosm and correspondingly its planning was comprehended as a miniature reproduction of the Universe structure. Since the religious-mythological systems of ancient Indo-Europeans imagined the World structure (i.e., the Earth and the Heaven) as the circle and square with their common centre, then the planning of mentioned mausoleums of the Aral Sea area was the circle with an inscribed square (more infrequently, a square with an inscribed circle). WIM. AAAS eee ee ee ee AoA ASA fe LAA Awaba tania At AAwms An Tama SISA BAR Ais HES Ayal

Babaji Khatun mausoleum. Plan. The building is square; the internal room is 4,45x4,45m in size and its external outline ),78x6,78m in size; it is covered with double domes: internal one is semi-spherical, ribbed ar »xternal one is tapered-tent and corrugated. The mausoleum constructed on upland is oriente o the East with the main facade accentuated by a low parapet and hall-door thickening. Fro he point of view of architecture and arts, all three facades (apart from the western one) we similarly planned. The main arched recess with doorway in the main facade and window openin; n the lateral one is placed on the axis of symmetry; two narrow arched recesses ended with tv nedallions of figured brickwork are built on each side from the main arched recess. All the: irchitectural details are framed in U-shaped frame. The dented decorative string of paired bricl aid with angle out is placed above the frame and on the polyhedral drum of the tent. A part nscription written in the naskh style is preserved on the parapet terracotta plates. T.K. Basen 1eld that the carved plates were placed in recesses [Vseobshaya istoriya... 1968. p. 62-63]. The western facade of mausoleum is smooth. The interior without clear division into a commc

Ornament of the decor of the mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi. surfaces of building with decorative terracotta tiles. The originality of architecture of the Aysha-bibi mausoleum is even better perceived in comparison vith other constructions of architectures of the Karakhanid period in other areas of the state. First of all, it should be noticed that the absence of plaster and wall facing in Central Asian architecture n the 11" century led to exceptional thoroughness of brickwork. The main means of artistic »xpressiveness was the decorative brickwork occasionally ornamented with geometric (rhombi, ‘ings, parallelogram, and so on.) or free curvilinear figures carved on brick facets. Such a technique -an be seen on the mausoleum of Alamberdar (early 11" century, near Kerki city, Turkmenistan), he middle mausoleum from the group of mausoleums in Uzgen (early 11 century), the mausoleum rom the complex of Sultan-Saadat in Old Termez (the 11" century) and the mosque-namazga of Talkhatan-baba (1095, near Old Merv). fy ee es ae ee et) | ae ee, ee ee a Le ee) ae: i i a a ee ee i nn ae hs oan

carefully composed pattern. Thus, the Daud-bek mausoleum is of the centric-dome type and can be regarded as a development of memorial constructions without portal of the Karakhanid period. According to G.A. Pugachenkova, the Syrly-tam mausoleum on the Inkar-Darya of the late 13° century stylistically occupied the intermediate position between the mausoleums in Maverannahr on the one hand and ones in the Jetisu and the Fergana Valley on the other [Masson, Pugachenkova 1950, p. 130]. It is a square (10x10m in size by outline) single chamber construction (7.6x7.6 m in size) covered with ellipse-shaped dome with the light opening in the top and 11.5m high according to V. A. Kallaur’s data [Kallaur, 1896 p. 8]. The building is remarkable for its large volume. According to G. A. Pugachenkova, the Syrly-tam mausoleum (on the Inkar-Darya — B.G.) like the Babadja-khatun mausoleum and the Aysha-bibi mausoleum is the mausoleum for women, which was completely unheard of in Central Asia in the pre-Mongolian period. The building is bricked with the baked bricks 27x27x4.5cm and 23.5x12.5x4.5cm in size. The brickwork is very thorough and joints are so thin that it is impossible to identify what kind of mortar was used. The schematic draft of fagade by Djanibekov indicates that the building was a portal mausoleum with a massive pointed dome which might have been a tent in the past. The upper part of the portal has

The mausoleum of Kosmola. Plan. Iso marked with a innovative method that later ecame traditional for Western Kazakhstan. M. M. Mendikulov described this method as follows: t uildings were erected, as a rule, without foundation and socle (apart from the later mausoleurr nitially, the grass cover was removed; the coat of worksite was consolidated with manual rammi ne row of stone slabs was placed on such a base along entire perimeter of outer walls, above whi wo parallel suites of wall blocks were bedded and the space between them was filled up with refus f construction materials and soil with clay mortar. The levelled three-ply suite of blockwork w mbricated with horizontal slabs providing the transverse strength of this structure. Thus, t ncient method of blockwork known already among the Scythians of Northern Black Sea area, t ncient Romans, in Early Medieval Armenia and Vladimir-Suzdal architecture of the 12" centu eceived a specific interpretation in Westernt Kazakhstan [Mendikulov 1982, p. 147]. Thiic the large nctaoahedral (2 9m in diameter) Kacmola mancoleim wae hynothetically cover

eee ee Le ee a SM ee Fe The high level of subterranean architecture of Western Kazakhstan of the 14 century i demonstrated by the mosque of Shakpak-ata. The construction is graved in the rock cape an its planning is interesting: the shape of Latin cross oriented from East to West. Its main elemen is the central square (5x4.5m in size) hall separated from all four rooms by an elliptic archex wall supported by four corner three-quarter columns with a capital, without a base, but with a1 entasis. The significance of the hall is underlined by the dome cover and the light and ventilatio1 opening (1.2m in diameter and 5m high) in the dome. The square protective construction built o the cut large rectangular blocks of malm-rock used, obviously, also as minaret (remains of spira stairs are evidence) was erected above the mosque. Me same aed wil Dhan namebtewnbkiaw sohprwc. Lhe oem “hore wank emnwewwend ond Lhe eneratwndws

Construction plan of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi.

Doors of the mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi.

Mausoleum of Khoja Akhmed Yasawi. Caucasian and Tajik dwellings — supporting a ceiling ‘darbazy’, where the poles are endowed with special magic function connected to the cult of fire and hearth. As we have already mentioned, the end of the 14"- early 15" centuries in Kazakhstan was marked by an impressive Khoja Khoja Ahmed Yasawi mausoleum-khanaka in the city of Turkestan’. The Turkestan complex has more than 30 rooms built for different purposes to underline the significance and sanctity of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi’s burial place. The genius architect Hoja Husein al-Shirazi managed to materialise the ideology of Islam and

Architectural decor of the Akchy palace: murals (1-5), pandjara (6), carving on clay (7-9) (by: Zaurova, 1977).

a gE eee eee ee a i ee ne en a ee SE a ae ee The need to orientate the mihrab of the mosque along the south-western axis, i.e. in the directic of Mecca forced the architects of the mausoleum-khanaka to position its main entrance to tl south-east. The most grandiose and majestic part in the complex is the portal of the main facac 50.4m wide with a huge pointed recess 57.0m high (higher and wider than the main body), 18 wide and 13m deep. Its monumentality is strengthened in contrast with a respectively small do opening placed deeply in the recess and two faceted corner towers flanking the portal. In gener the main facade is designed as opening outside and rhythmically sharply increasing pointe recesses; it demonstrates the metaphor of the doctrine of the sheikh-poet Khoja Ahmed Yasav spreading all over the world and radiating from within, from the ‘gardens of paradise’ (raudé mausoleum). At the same time it is an image of a widely open embrace happily accepting peop and inviting them to purification of the soul and perfection of the spirit. ALTO) LiiViliils Uiiei LO PULINCAUOTT OF LUE SUUL dil PCLICCUOUIT UL UIC spirit. The constructive design of mausoleum-khanaka is also very interesting. The engineering and echnical methods are notable for their deep and scientific validity providing stability and longevity »f the huge construction, while other great buildings of the Timurid period either have completely lisappeared or are in ruins. Professor A.A. Shishkin, an expert in stone constructions, noted the istonishing insight of the builders constructing the complicated and huge complex in seismic ‘onditions and on uneven bases. The simplicity and precision of the constructive scheme achieved oy cutting the whole complex into eight constructively independent spatial blocks provided the ong-term preservation and general stability of the complex even when the loess base of the complex

Rabia Sultan Begim mausoleum. Plan. Rabia Sultan Begim mausoleum.

The palace on the citadel of the Ak Beshim settlement: hearth-fire in room 13 (1-2) and plan (3) (Semenov, 2002) TOWN PLANNING. The most part of the buildings described in this work is connected with towns. The problem of appearance and development of towns is still far from being solved. Today we are only sure that they had sprung up by the early ist millennium BC in the south of the country, in the Fergana valley, while in the north they appeared in the early medieval time. They reached the peak of their development in the Karakhanid time (10"-early 13" centuries), followed by a rapid collapse of settled and urban life. By the end of the studied period (15 century) Kyrgyzstan becomes a zone of monopolistic nomadic supremacy However, in the beginning of the studied period structural elements form and function in towns, which even today we can easily identify in the topography of medieval sites: densely built shakhristans, suburbs (rabads?) with isolated mansions, and long walls surrounding them. The chalkhrictane of towne were not eycavated in the Soviet nerind and in the recent timec: not even thoce

Dwellings in the Krasnaya Rechka settlement. Country palace (4), mansions (2-6) house (7) (by: Kozhemyako, 1967 Goryacheva Peregudova, 1989).

Akchy palace. Plan (by: Zaurova, 1977). The Krasnorechenskoye palace. The object which researchers called a country palace was situated 1km south of the citadel of the site. The archaeological expedition headed by V.D. Goryacheva was studying it in the late 70s and 80s of the last century [Goryacheva, Berenaliyev, 1979; Goryacheva, Peregudova, 1989] The palace was built on the ruins of an early medieval castle-keshk (which remained practically unexplored) that had been turned into a stylobate, and had four periods of functioning. The plan of the first construction period reflects the idea of the architect that was brought to fruition at the first stage. The other stages are connected with ‘improvements’ and repairs that gradually nullified the beauty of the concept. The palace is almost square in plan, 33.7 m by 31.8 m, with the sides oriented at an angle of 27 degrees to the N-S and E-W directions, like the majority of buildings in this site. It has two entrances — a broad one in the centre of the south wall and a narrower one in the middle of the north wall, creating the object’s compositional axis In the centre of the palace is a spacious (146 m by 16.5 m) court, around which, along the perimeter of the external walls, there are a number of rooms: single ones along the north, west and south walls and three rooms interconnected by a passage along the east wall. Four symmetrical pits for columns were found 4 m from the north wall of the court, which means that there was a shed in this part of the court. In a number of rooms the walls were decorated with panels of fretted clay painted in monochrome colours. The largest fragments display shallow fretwork, which forms the contour of an epigraphic or stylised plant drawing According to archaeological data, the palace was built in the 10-11" century. The nalace in Sadvr-Kurean A monumental hiildinge of four rongqnme ahove 900 caiare metrec

passages went through adjoining rooms, third could be entered from the corridor. Often they ran along one of the walls. In his reconstruction of the plan S. Khmelnitsky suggested a different, tripartite layout? [Khmelnitsky, 1997. p. 146-148, ill. 133]. Incidentally, a highly artistic decoration, the best preserved one among the monuments of Kyrgyzstan, was found in this ruined mansion. On the wall of the south-west room, right above the floor, a decorative alabaster panel with a shallow painted fretwork was discovered in situ, while in a dump on the floor a fallen fretted clay frieze was found. It had probably been initially situated in the upper part, just below the covering. a ee | Pm en a oe eS oe 1 1 a | . | fr. > F>rie.,. frrale

Manors at the upper Talas. Plans, graphic reconstructions of the estates at Ak-tobe Talas (Tekabket) (4-3) and Ak-tobe Orlovsky (Kul) (4-5) (by: Goryacheva Peregudova 1995).

Caravanserais: San Tash (1), Sarah-Bulun (2), May Tor (3). Plans (by: Winnik, 1968 Winnick, 1978; Moskalev, 2005).

Manakeldy caravanserai (by: Bernstam, 1997; Kozhemyako 1968, Nusov, 1963 8-10 - photo Tabaldiev K.Sh.).

Tash-Rabat caravanserai. The cuts, the plan (by: Peregudova, 1989).

Tash-Rabat caravanserai. Exterior in 1960 and the current state after restoration (1- 3- by: Nusov, 1963 Peregudova, 1989 4-6 - photos by authors and K.Sh. Tabaldieva).

Sayed settlement. Palatial houses: A- city living house, 9-11" centuries. B - town house with manufacturing facilities, 9-11" centuries. (by E.Gulyamova).

Tash-Rabat caravanserai. Interior (4 - by: Nusov, 1963). Ul 19065. 1) Ue Sprig OF 1YYO, DB. AMANDAVeVa, ONC OF Te AULOLS OF ULS SCCUON, 11) COMAaADOTATLON WITH The architect S. Ya. Peregudova, re-excavated, measured and photographed the construction. It has a rectangular shape, 13 m by 16 m in size, oriented in the cardinal directions. Of the external parts of the building the north and west walls are rather well-preserved; the south and east ones have remained only to a half of their length. In the centre of the north wall is a fire chamber in the form of a two-step niche 1.68 m wide and 0.58 m deep. The aperture of the fire chamber was 0.9 m high; over the fire chamber there is a mouth of the flue of kubur. We know from D.F. Vinnik’s report that elements of a subterranean heating system in the form of small brick posts 0.7-1 m by 0.25-0.35 m in size (preserved to a height of 0.2-0-8 m) were found in the north and north-west parts of the building; the posts were standing on a layer of clay and ashes. According to the scientist, they belong to the second functioning period, what is apparently true. In general, nine rooms of small sizes and various functions have been excavated. One of them, room N@ 7, is octagonal, with niches in the north and south walls with remains of ganch plaster. In two other rooms (5 and 6) remains of round water reservoirs have been discovered In the last room a small ground was discovered, 0.85 m by 1 m, the surface of which was covered with a thick layer of water-proof kyr plaster. The floor of one of the rooms (9) was paved with baked brick. Such is the general description of the Buran bath house. a Ca bf Oe a an ce rr i, i es fi ee be a a i a cs i: i: i i Se cs oi: [i si

Osh bath. Structural elements and the plan (6). foe ee So ea ee a See Se ae Se eee See, a Se a a a © The remains of the preserved external walls have different length. The following objects have been xcavated: a square hall with figured tiling; axial and diagonal passages into adjacent rooms, a part of vhich were covered with water-proof plaster; a considerable quantity of baths of different size, seats and iches; a fire chamber in the north part of the building; a hypocaust, main and secondary heat-conducting anals, and ventilating pipes at their junction; a tazar along the north facade built in the form of an arched unnel. The entrance, most probably, was in the western side. Its location in this part can be explained y the possibility to use maximally the light of day. This is also confirmed by the base of a round column ituated in the south-west corner of the building. A part of a water supply system of bronze pipes was found 1 situ along the facade wall.

Burana minaret. Photos of 1915 (4), 1950 (2-3) and the current state (4) (1-3 - by: Goryachev 1985, Nusov 1963). laS traces Of palit OF aliferent Colour. It is rather difficult to define the function of each room. However, we suppose that room 4 wa ool, moderate temperature could be in room 3, and room 5 could be a room for bathing, massag ind rest. As for the south rooms, they were meant for washing, which is testified by the water-proo laster carefully laid onto the floor and walls. The wide use of kyr facing and its colour, the baths o arious size, the tazar, the combination of posts, small canals and kuburs in the heating system — al his makes it close to the bath house from Akhsiket (Uzbekistan) also situated in the Fergana valle Anarbayev, Akhrarov, 1991. p. 173-183]. It can also be compared to a number of other Central Asia ath houses of the Karakhanid period. As to the dating, we can see two main chronological period. he 11'*-12"" centuries and the post-Mongolian time. In general, the coins and other material do no ontradict this version [Amanbayeva, 1998]. TIL Win we Arex rm heth benetwn i yer sat ee: waspee wed lace: Loesch ies) woh BE ecous lewd divewcwtex TKhaeee Keeswerecunen Ek.

Uzgen minaret. Overview. Photos of 1880 (1) 1923 (2) 1953 (3) and 20009 (1-3 - by: Shcherbina-Kramarenko, 1896 Bernstam, 1997, Nusov, 1963).

Zulpukar mausoleum. Plan and cross-section (), the main (east) facade on the outside (2) and the inside (3), re-use of decorative plates (4-5) (a - by: Goryacheva Peregudova, 1995).

Uzgen mausoleums. Elevations, plan and overview appearance. Photos 1953 (2), 1960. (3) and 2009 (1-3 - by: Nusov, 1963 Imankulov, 2005).

North Uzgen mausoleum. Overview. Photos 1953 (2), 1960. (4, 3) and 2000 (4) (by: Nusov, 1963, Imankulov, 2005).

South Uzgen mausoleum. Overview. Photo 1953 (1), 1960. (2, 3) and 2000 (4) (by: Nusov, 1963 Goryachev, 1983). its corners directing the points of the compass [Goryacheva, 2010. p. 143]. The squat square tetragon has

Architectural decor Kumbez Manassa. (on: Nusov 1963, Pomaskin 1972). ; built on a plot evened for that purpose, and consists of one square room 4.38 m by 4.38 m in size. It has o foundation and rests on a base of several rows of stone slabs. The walls are built of baked brick 23 cm y 23. cm by 5 cm in size on clay mortar. The interior walls are covered with two layers of plaster: the inner ryer is clay and the outer ganch. The arches, trumpet arches, and inner dome are built of the same size rick, but on alabaster mortar. The floor was apparently paved with baked brick over plaster of combined lay and abode. The ruins of a dioctahedral ribbed drum around the inner spherical dome of the mausoleum an be seen on old photographs published M.Ye. Masson and G.A. Pugachenkova. In addition, during the xcavation of the mausoleum they found facing bricks with one side cut at an angle of 60 degrees and which robably served for facing the surface of the hipped dome. On the basis of these finds, calculations and tylistic analogies G.A. Pugachenkova made a reconstruction of the kumbez with a covering in the form of pyramidal ribbed tent-shaped dome. The correctness of these calculations was confirmed by the works arried out in 1968-1970, during which the top of the hipped dome, 56 cm high and 64 cm across, was found ear the west wall of the kumbez that had been left open in 1945 for making further studies [Pomaskin, )72. p. 30]. Bricks with ornamented butt ends used for the decoration of a transitional belt between the rum and the dome were also found here. Thus, the monument has been restored on the basis of scientific nalysis of real material; however, the hipped covering of the monument remains inacceptable for the 1ajority of the population of the valley. In the mass consciousness the kumbez lives as a building with the iner dome and without the lost outer covering. That is why the proper governmental bodies receive from me to time proposals to change the covering of the building. "1 oe caw

Kumbez Manas. Overview, plan and cross- section. Photo 1938 (4) 1970 (2) and 2000 (3) (by: Bernstam, 1997; Pomaskin, 1972 Goryacheva Peregudova, 1995).

Ak-Beshim complex of Christian churches. Plan (4), cross-section (2) and graphic reconstruction of the interior of the nave of Church A (3) (by: Semenov, 2002).

Architectural decor of the mausoleum of Shah-Fazil: samples of cornices (1-4), outlets (5-17) (by: Imankulov, 2005)

Architectural decor of Uzgen mausoleums.

Piece of architectural decor from the Krasnaya Rechka settlement (1-10 by: Kozhemyako, 1967).

Palace in Hulbuk. Plan with a partial reconstruction (by Yu.Yakubov and E.Gulyamova) oms. The decoration of the sufas draws particular attention; on the front they are covered thickly ith white alabaster, and with red paint on the sides. The floor of the rooms was paved with baked ‘ick. A mihrab (a niche in the Qibla wall of a mosque indicating the direction of Makkah) in the estern wall with the corners decorated with three-quarter fretted columns is a remarkable feature ‘the rooms. Usually, the rooms in a house form groups: a ceremonial hall in the centre, a kitchen, room for ablution with an elevation and a small bath with a hole for sewage, and rooms with sufas. In the 9th-10th centuries Fergana was a major, economically strong province of Maverannahr, ith populous towns and villages, such as Khujand, Kand (Kanibadam), Samgor, Asht and others. hujand consisted of three parts: kuhendiz, shahristan and rabad. The ruler’s palace was placed the rabad, the prison in the Kuhendiz and the cathedral mosque was in the shahristan. The city retched for 6-8 km in a straight line. The main canal that supplied the city with water flowed the middle of the city. Cob houses were placed in clusters, many gardens and vineyards grew 1 its outskirts. The city was situated at the junction of the roads of Sogd, Chach and Fergana. -cording to Arab geographers, Khujand was a unique and the most beautiful city on the left

Hulbuk. Zoomorphic ornament decoration of the palace, 10-11th centuries. —S aS ee a ee a SLL lee (such as Bartold) traced the resurrection of this town as a cultural and trade centre of the Upp: Zeravshan in the 9‘"-12" centuries on a new place. Arabic and Tajik written sources of the 10-12 centuries keep some information about it. The new town Penjikent appeared in the south-west pa of the plain Dashti Mulloh on the left bank of the Maghian-Darya. According to the research of tk archaeologist Eshonkuloy, it consisted of a citadel that had appeared in the 7th century, and a lars settlement (500 m by 350 m in size) enclosed in a fortified wall. According to medieval sources ( Istahri), Penjikent had a cathedral mosque, the only one to the east of Samarkand. The ruins of mud brick minaret in Dashti Kozi are all that have remained of it to our days. A cemetery adjoine the walls of the town. Finds consisting of baked bricks, shards of ceramics and glass vessels, grai graters and millstones of watermills are a visual proof that Penjikent was a rich and developed tow in the 9-12" centuries.

Hulbuk. Reconstruction of the palace of Khatlonshah, 10-11" centuries. (by S.G. Khmelnitskiy). The Arabic influence was considerably weaker in Badakhshan because of its isolation by mountai ridges, and Islam has spread there only since the 11" century. For more than one hundred year Buddhism was one of the principal components of the cultural life of peoples of Central Asia, includin: Badakhshan. Pilgrims and preachers came from Kashgar, India and other places along the Great Pami Road; Buddhist shrines were also built here. A monastery (4*-8", 19'* century) in the neighbourhoox of the village of Vrang, Ishkashim region, Gorno-Badakhshan autonomous province, was built o1 the ledge of a rock and enclosed in a wall. In the eastern part of the complex were rectangular livin rooms, in the western a stupa with a building. A cave-town with more than 100 cells (about 70 havin: been preserved to this day) was cut under the walls of the monastery and in a conglomerate on th opposite bank of the river Vrang-Darya. Doubled cells with an arch-like entrance, sufas at the wall and hearths in the floor were had a common entrance in the ceiling. Caravanserais, stations and bridges were built for the convenience of travellers, some of them havin

Graphic reconstruction by V.Bazhutin of the entrance to the palace of Khatlonshah in Vose district of Khatlon region, 10-11" centuries. Negmatov N. N. and Khmelnitsky S. G. may serve as an example of appearance of a residential hou: f the 9'*-10" centuries. This is a many-roomed residential house of the centric type, square in pla vith a square hall in the centre and a suite of rooms around the principal axis of the vestibule-ha ‘he living part of seven rooms in this complex is related in its plan structure to many residenti 10uses of Khorezm and Termez of that time. An effective stone front staircase leading to a flat woc ‘oof is a unique element of the Central Asian architecture. The very principle of the organisation | he centric house draws our attention. In contrast to the houses of simple people which, built by the nasters’ own hands, are not planned strictly around the central axis and have unparallel walls ar lisproportional rooms, the house of this type has a clear planning scheme, strict axial compositic ind a stressed central core. Such compositional planning of the seven-room house in the comple yf Childukhtaron resembles in structure centric buildings of defensive character, in particular, 1umber of castles in Khorezm. Cs) ee, es a | ee i: i er ir i: . : r e i > ee ,

Tympanum peshtak to the destruction of the building and the modern look of the ruins.

Kunya-Urgench. Mausoleum of Khorezmshakh Tekesh.

Sayed settlement. Situational scheme of palatial houses of 9-11" centuries. (by E.Gulyamova).

Khoja Nahshron west mausoleum. Wall peshtak (by S. Khmelnitsky).

MBAG. Badakhshan. Eastern Pamirs. Mining town of Bazardara, 11" century. Plan. (by M.A. Bubnova).

Shugnan district of the MBAG. Fire temple in the village of Kafyrkala. Bogif. Plan. (by M.A. Bubnova).

Ustrushana. Karabulak settlement. Plan of the excavation, 10-12" centuries. A - feudal castle, B - the residential part of the settlement (by Brykina GA). Ishkashim district of the MBAG. Buddhist monastery Vrang (4-8, 19" c.) (by L.N. Dodhudova)

Shakhristan area. Kalai Kahkaha 1. Temple «idols», converted into a mosque. Axonometric and classification of posts. 7-9" centuries. Piayelio al© eit Uli ivtUolilit LOC yo. Several memorial buildings in Istaravshan erected in the 15"°-16" century attract particular attention. The Sari Mazor mausoleum in the southwestern extremity of Istaravshan is one of them, around which an ensemble of medieval monuments is organised bearing the same name. Apart from the mausoleum, the Ajinakhona mausoleum, a community mosque and an ancient cemetery are situated here. The Sari Mazor mausoleum is a two-chamber domed building with two portals made of baked brick in the 16" century. The ziyoratkhona is a square domed room; four arched niches enlarge it and make it cruciform in plan. The arched niches of the portals are attached on

a a i ce There is a mihrab 1.84 m high in the centre of a deep arched niche in the western wall of the ziyoratkhona. The considerable depth of the niche caused the appearance of a brick addition on the outside, projecting a little out of the plane of the facade. The mihrab has a hemispherical ending filled on the inside with a belt of shallow arches-niches. In spite of its relatively small size (9.8 m by 9.8 m) the mausoleum looks monumental from the outside. The perfect combination of individual elements make the whole vault look surprisingly harmonious, even though the facades bear no decorative facing or other ornamentation. The very form with its aesthetic proportions contributes to the integral perception of the mausoleum from any direction. All this demonstrates the delicate taste of the creators of the mausoleum, who were doubtlessly familiar with the laws of proportions and harmony of architectural forms. Even the small gurkhona attached to the mausoleum from the eastern side ae the north and south sides; rectangular passages lead from the portals to a funeral mosque with a mihrab in the western wall where on the floor there are five gravestones. A passage in the middle of the eastern niche leads to a small square domed gurkhona with a big ganch gravestone. The domes of the room with the portals and the gurkhona are supported by arch walls and rounded squinches. Inside, the mausoleum is plastered with ganch. The portals are decorated with three rows of rectangular niches. There is a hatch on the outside of the western wall leading to the roof. Latticed tobadons are adjusted over the rectangular entrance passages. Ts es See: os at ean + Daw wo idee lk 26e Sls weiss wil we Awe ween wlalw te Phew ~eeeretaww casell af Ghia

Upper Zarafshan. Carved wooden console from the Obburdon mazar, 9-10th centuries. (by A.Muhtarov).

Upper Zarafshan. Left: The capital of carved wooden columns from Fatma, 10- 12th centuries. Right: A carved wooden column at Kurut, 10-11" centuries. (by V.L. Voroninoy).

Upper Zarafshan. Console of the Mavlono Muhammad Alis mazar in Sangiston, 10- 11" centuries. (by A.Muhtarov).

Upper Zarafshan. Mausoleum-mosque of Muhammad Bosharo in the village of Mozori Sharif, 12 and 14" centuries. Facade, plan, cross-cross-section (according to S.G. Hmelnitskiy).

Towns in northern Tajikistan. A. - Uratube; B. - Khujand.

Stages of formation of the city of Khujanc (by T.Belyaeva). Khujand. Tubahan mausoleum, 12 — early 13" centuries. Graphic reconstruction of the facade by Mukimova Sayora. Nermrinsvpone , WHICH Pesemples a PalQuet WOK Pal tern. 11S WEM-DOUTIG aNd Strong. Time has not kept to our days any residential houses of the 14-15" centuries, which comprised the majority of buildings in towns and villages, nor it has preserved palaces of rulers and rich townspeople. Only miniatures of the Timurid time allow us to have some notion about them. The houses usually consist of two storeys, with windows filled with lattices-panjaras and small balconies. The residents used the flat roof as a terrace for rest. A pool was built in the court, and columns with thin trunks supported the roofs of the iwans.

Qabodiyon area. Ak-Mazar mausoleum. 14-15" centuries. Plans and levels (by S.Hmelnitskiy and A.Muhtarov). Qabodiyon area. Mosque in the village Lilac-Yui, plans and levels, 14-15" centuries. (by S.Hmelnitskiy and A.Muhtarov). PRINT ENA Ys CAMERA ELE NN: MCLGs RIES ENE RIN RA NG, CERO RRR RENO DAREN) CL DARE CARE ARN A MAR CAAA SEK URES RANEY, as the newly restored Kok-Gumbaz, one of the most interesting monuments of Istaravshan today. The Sayd Amir Hamadani mausoleum was built in the 15" century in Kulyab; it consists of vo rooms~—a large ziyoratkhona and a small gurkhona. The former had three portals and a double ome; the outer dome has preserved a unique construction—a moulded ganch frame filled with bricks. he facades of the mausoleum were decorated with fretted bricks forming a complex relief pattern ater, a number of domed and vaulted buildings were attached to the mausoleum, concealing its itial shape and forming a complex asymmetric ensemble. In 2006, the mausoleum was completely 2stored by the 2700" anniversary of Kulyab, which made it a place visited by a great number of ilgrims from around the country and from abroad. The subterranean burial construction Khazrati Yusuf in Vakhdat region built in the 15"

Medieval monuments of Kabadian: A - Adobe mosque near the village. Nosir Khusraw, 14-15" centuries. B - Adobe Kuhna Masjid mosque near the village Nosir Khusraw, 14- 15" centuries. Plan B - Adobe clay mausoleum-mosque Said Hodge with. Lilac-Yui, 11- 12" centuries. Plan and cross-section (by S.Khmelnitskiy and A.Muhtarov).

Khurmuzfarra. Ruins of 9-10" centuries mosque.

3. THE CLASSICAL OR PRE-MONGOL PERIOD 999-1220) Plan of Magoki-Attari (Bukhara), 12", 16 century.

VUL LICHT Was COTMIPIClelLy QeotlOyead DY UIE WlOTISOIS Il leet, From the 10" century the towns of North Khorasan were rapidly urbanising. A distinctive feature of a ‘city’ is that it is supposed to have a cathedral mosque in it. According to this criterion there were few cities in the region, but the number of rural settlements increased. Their two most important construction elements are ribat (the symbol of the Arabs’ political power) and k’yoshk (the symbol of the local feudal nobility’s economical power). Both objects dominated the opposite sides of settlements extended along the densely built-up street up to some 2 km in length and along the main aryk (irrigation ditch in Central Asia). By the 10th century the quantity of such ‘long’ settlements ran to 6000. In this period Khorezm started reviving, this process revived the left-bank Kunyauaz, Izmikshir (Zamakhshar), Yarbekir, Shahsenem, right-bank Kavat-kala, Gul‘dusun, etc., these settlements’ economic activity had almost stopped in the 4" century. Gurganj had rapidly been extending as it occupied an advantageous position on a crossing of trade routes running from south to northwest, to the Volga and eastwards to Mongolia and China. In the place of the dying Kyat Gurganj had become a capital of the entire Khorezm by 995 and was considered to be the

Tossing Gurganj as well. NO traces Of those objects nave remained. Only pinion walls have remained from numerous provincial town-fortresses of Khorezm th vere the centres of the agricultural rustak areas. They represent a rare fortification system. ddition to main walls and towers, there is a second group of forward-type walls with autonomo ine of bastions. A particular attention was given to the entrance: the concept of ‘labyrinth’ w leveloped and was strikingly displayed in Izmikshir (Zamakhshar) fortress next to the mode ity of Dashoguz. Its adobe walls some 1.5 kilometres in length surround an improperly-shap cient site and have a row of binary towers; they also have two massive gate constructions fre he north and from the south. In the 10" century after Kushan Kingdom had collapsed Rulers <horezm reconstructed abandoned fortresses of Yarbekir (a rectangle 250 x 220 metres) a sjhahsenem (Suburn) is nearly of the same size, right on the border of a medieval oasis (both he fortresses are 90 kilometres westwards and south-westwards of Dashoguz). Pee analbannlivastmnal ot@ko Cha honwany chill efenn sw; Em fem ahs hhe careening ores ana

BAD READ AU REE REEDS EMA PeV Pit Vt Lt ive ivit comprised 20 to 25 % of the total population. In the most urbanised Merv oasis this figure is twice as big. The building area in the medium satellite towns of Merv (Khurmuzfarra, Sinj, Kushmeykhan, Harak and, probably, Gireng) was 100-150 ha (10-15 thousand people). The population of each of the other five towns in the Murgab delta is 3-5 thousand people. The towns of the valley at the foot of the Kopet-Dag (contemporary Akhal province), which were developing intensively in the Seljuk period, had the same parameters. These were, first of all, Abiverd, Shehr-Islam and Ferava, the re-established centres of oases, and Dehistan and Ahur situated further to the west. Tens of agricultural settlements were concentrated around the towns and were in close relation with them. So far there is no evidence testifying to the rapid development of the agricultural centre Anau in this period; Nisa, however, revived and flourished, which was confirmed by al-Istahri in the 10th century, and later by al-Makdisi (Mukaddasi). The former described it as ‘a very pleasant town possessing large and fertile settlements in the moutains’. Nisa’s shakhristan (28 ha) grew on the territory of the Parthian town (New Nisa), which had earlier been almost completely deserted. Arab travellers told about 10 streets ending in 10 gates. The walled rabat also had 10 walls. Stone and brick foundations and fragments of the walls of residential and public buildings, among which there is a 12"*-century bathhouse with coloured ornamental wall painting, are the only objects that have remained of a densely built town. As the bathhouse in Muslim countries was the most attended place after the mosque, its painting should not have had any images of living beings. A three-room namazgah mosque, strictly oriented towards the Kaaba, was situated outside the town on the slope of a mountain. Its walls were constructed of natural rocks, and the domed coverings - of baked brick.

Nd Main DaZaars, WaS growing soutnward and westwald. Kufen (the site Chugundor 25 km north of the station Artyk) was another large town in the eighbourhood of Abiverd, occupying an area of 145 ha. An Arab mud-brick ribat, rectangular n plan, was the core of the town and became a citadel after it was reconstructed with the use of aked brick and was surrounded by a wall and a moat. There was no shakhristan here, and the abad, the oval contour of which was enclosed in a wall with five gates, was the town proper, as t was in Merv. The residential blocks were divided by narrow streets (2.6m wide) and consisted f many-roomed houses, each room of which was meant for a special purpose. The windows had anjara (lattices) inserted in them.

Mihrab of the mosque in Dandanakan. Reconstruction (By A. Pribytkova).

and are elegant, rational and of high quality [Pribytkova, 1955. P.77-110]. In the early 11" century under Khorezmshah Abu-l-Abbas Mamun rule the construction of the highest minaret of Central Asia started. Then for a long time the construction had stopped and had been finished only in 1321-1336 under Kutlug-Timur, a deputy of Golden Horde, this 62 metres-high-tower was named after him. Its orderly slender and conical shape (the diameter of the socle is some 12 metres and the diameter of the under dome drum is some 2 metres) is divided by narrow stripes of vertically placed bricks making an architectural rhythm, and then comes a wide belt with a kufi inscription. The minaret was formerly crowned by a wooden lamp; the beams radiating out of the placing are the only remains of the lamp. The spiral staircase with 145 steps leads to the top of the minaret, one could get to the stairs only from the roof of the mosque missing at present. The Kutlug-Timur minaret has no luxurious décor (unlike most Central Asian minarets of the 12" century), but excels them in terms of the constructive design, in the height and in the proportional symmetry; it represents the next stage in the development of this traditional type [Artemyev, Urmanova, 1999. P.126-136]. The bottom of the second large minaret (probably by a cathedral mosque) was found after

Kunya-Urgench. Peshtak of an unknown monumental building of the 14" century.

Chartak of the mausoleum Abdullah ibn Bureida.

Meana Baba mausoleum. Reconstruction of the eastern facade. been repaired several times and may even have been re-laid. It is obvious that the structure of the outer dome is not original, as such rough form could appear neither in the 11th nor in the 14" century, particularly with the disproportioned post sticking out by 1.5 m. Apparently, the original outer shell rested on the post, which indicates the top of the former dome. On the other hand, the post might have been taller, which means that the dome also was higher. In the late 15*-early 16 century a mosque, of which now remain only the foundation and the left

The ribbed drum is of particular interest, having no analogies in the Central Asian architecture ind being very similar to those of the burial constructions of North Iran and Transcaucasia. It s distinguished by the rich plasticity of forms, which increase upwards: first, highly projecting lihedral ribs, and then two rows of stalactites between each pair of ribs, enclosed in frames of igured bricks. The effect is strengthened by concave panels between the ribs, framed by figured erracotta. Various losses and repairs made the mausoleum’s appearance poorer; however, this loes not prevent us from estimating highly the original ideas, interesting artistic findings and onstructive decisions from unknown masters, all of which testifies to their great skill. Lg a ee, a | en, ee ck a: i: Se a, ef:

Kusam ibn Abbas mosque (Samarkand), 11-12" century.

Minarets of the 11-12" centuries: the Chor-Sutun (Termez), Kusam ibn Abbas (Samarkand), Kalan (Bukhara), the minarets in Jarkurgan and Vabkent.

Mausoleum of Il-Arslan. Plan. but is more monumental. It is situated 300m northwest of the Il-Arslan mausoleum. It has a square room (11.5 x 11.5), enlarged by spacious lancet niches with stalactite vaults, which have arched openings inside them. Above the square room there is an arched octagon, over which there is a dioctahedron decorated with small niches in the form of seven-blade concave shells. Then comes the inner spherical (not lancet, as is often supposed) dome. The mausoleum is distinguished with its size and the original upper part. Its exterior size is 18.5 x 18.5 m, the walls are 3.7m wide, the diameter of the dome is 11 m, the height from the floor to the foot of the dome is 12.5 m, and to the to of the inner dome — 18.5 m. The top of the outer conical dome was 30m high.

by governments, as they filled the trade market SM ee? La Se ee a a a, eee ee a er ee ee ee ee eee The Askhabs Mausoleum (the Askhabs were Prophet Muhammad’s companions buried in Merv in the 7" century) is the only 15'"°-century ensemble that remains in Merv. In the Timurid times their graves were covered with marble slabs with marvelous fretted décor and were concealed by domed kiosks. The second building stage was marked by two adjacent baked-brick vaulted portals connected with each other by a narrow arch. They lead nowhere and cover nothing, being just a background for both graves. The monumental proportions and the polychrome facing with blue tiles are a reminder of the Timurid architectural achievements in Samarkand, Shakhrisabz and Herat. Afterwards the house of a guard, khujras for pilgrims and a sardoba were built near the ensemble.

Two nameless 11"-12""-century caravanserais in the desert north of Merv, near Suli-depe represent a unique type of a well-fortified inn. They are nearly identical, differing only in size and some details. Each consists of thick blind slanting pakhsa walls, up to 15m high, and a two tier tower at the gates. The entrance and the plinths of the towers are faced with baked brick. The interior plan of these buildings was not excavated. A small inn in the medieval Bashan (site Gurtly depe north of Bayramli) also has no analogies. The plinth and the details of facing are also made of baked brick, figured in part. A deep iwan in the northern part of the building faces the utility yard. The semi-cylindrical pendentive of the iwan is based on pendentives in the form of festoons The khujras of the centric residential part of the construction have separate exits to the outside this is a characteristic feature of a town caravanserai. this is a characteristic feature of a town caravanserai. The type of inn the most characteristic of the Khorasan was formed by the late 11" century. The planning scheme of these rectangular or square, but always symmetrical buildings includes the inner court surrounded by rooms for guests, store-rooms and sheds for animals and forage. The ruins of two large caravanserais of this type lie in the southern and eastern parts of the site Dehistan, outside the fortress. Their walls, vaults and domes were built of mud brick, and only the foundation and some details of the facing were made of baked brick. The southern caravanserai had a fenced yard (52 x 56 m) in front of it, while the caravanserai proper (37 x 36 m) had thick blind walls with false loopholes, one tower in each corner and two towers on each side. The inner court (11.4 x 11.4 m) was faced by arched niches or iwans on wooden columns. Traces of an iwan were also found in the court of the eastern caravanserai. Its entrance is particularly express, having the form of a monumental pylon with an arched vault and being faced with ‘bows’ — decorative fretted brick. Ce eh , i I sR a a i: i, a, > ee i: i

ound towers and an entrance arch. Between them there was a main city street. In the northern corner of the Abdullakhan-kala is a fenced lot where the ruler’s palace was ituated. It is a double-storeyed rectangular (40metres x 45metres) adobe building with the nner yard (25metres x 30metres) and a very simple wall facing. Single-storeyed buildings, tables and other departments border on it. Southwestwards there is an ensemble consisting of he Shakhrukh mosque and the Khusraviye madrasah built thanks to the famous poet Alisher Javoi. Nowadays it does not exist, but the remains were detected by V.A. Zhukovskiy in the ate 19'6 century.

Reconstruction of the plan of Bukhara in 9-10th centuries. (by A. Bolshakov; corrected by E. Davidovich): 1 - Ark (citadel), 2 - shahristan, 3 - Registan, 4 - rabad.

Kirk-Kiz (Surkhandarya) plans for the first and second floor, 9th century. —— eee ee en ee eee eat ean ee ane ae an een ences aac eee a an mee eee The transition towards the new religious worldview presented in the Koran and the establishment of the Muslim cultic practice continued through several generations and was accompanied by mass disorders on the confessional ground, the largest of which was the insurrection of Mukannah in the 760-770s. Up to the end of the 8 century Maverannahr remained a rebellious region, in which disturbances caused considerable damage to the craft and trade and disrupted the order of urban life. The Arabs’ advance farther to the east encountered fierce resistance and retaliatory raids from the nomadic Turks. Having to defend themselves, in the 8**-century Arabic rulers took active steps to consolidate a number of defensive lines, such as the wall Kampyr-Devor in the Bukhara oasis and Devori-Kiyomat, the outer wall of Samarkand. At the time of the governor Abu Muslim’s rule

Dome Hall of Afrasiab (Samarkand), 8-10" centuries. Reconstruction by L. Rempel.

Mausoleum of the Samanids (Bukhara), Late 9- early 10" century. — ITID DANES LOLAAIWIIN PONLIUY GQ “LO VGINETUNIDD). In the 9-10" centuries Maverannahr, now a part of a unified Islamic world, regained and trengthened its position in the centre of the transcontinental trade between Europe, China and India. his stimulated a rise in the economic life and gave a new impulse to the development of towns as entres of handicraft and goods exchange. In the first centuries of Islam fortresses were restored and ardoba (reservoirs) and new caravanserais — trade stations, which also became places of dislocation or gazi detachments — were built along old caravan roads. To protect agricultural oases with large owns in the centre (Bukhara oasis, Samarkand) the boundary walls are strengthened and the towns

Arab-Ata mausoleum (Samarkand province), 1oth c. Analysis of the building (by M.S. Bulatov) From that time the Central Asian Interfluve became one of the main centres of the Islamic East, where the long-continued synthesis of old culture with the new Islamic worldview began The Central Asian intellectual tradition is now actively involved in the formation of the Islamic culture, the interests of which range from the translation of classical works of the Greek philosophy mathematics, astronomy, geography etc., on the one hand, to the comprehension of the philosophical and cosmological contents of the Zoroastrian doctrine’, on the other hand. In the first decades of the 9 century the caliph al-Mamun attracted to the court a group of scientists from Maverannahr which later joined him in his transfer to Bagdad to make up the core of the scientific academy ‘Bayt al-Khikma’ (‘House of wisdom’). One of the main figures of the academy became Muhammad al Khorezmi from Khorezm, a major mathematician, who is associated with the birth of a new type of mathematics based upon algebra and algorithmic thinking. — = ey i = se 7 ea ig 4 1 . = e +m 147 . ++ . eR as 7

The square sign of the mausoleum of the Samanids (Bukhara), late 9 — early 10 century. By that time the aristocratic dihkans had lost their position of ruling nobility and, having turnec into a social relict, came to serve the Caliphate rulers. Therefore, the once self-sufficient castles hac oecome architectural relicts. Citadels and shakhristans with farmers’ castles, which had determinec the model of the pre-Islamic town, were deserted and lost their significance. The trade-and-craf suburb named with the Arabic word ‘rabad’, with its bazaars, bathhouses, caravanserais, mosques and new holy places, began to play the leading role in the urban life. Trade and business life alsc moved there. Rabads were built up thickly and spontaneously, so that they inexorably encircled the ancient citadels and shakhristans at their side. This changed the structure of towns and, as a rule required new rings of town walls to protect the rabads as well. ie = . ~*~ ey ~ es # ‘ei + 4 age: ae

Signs of the mausoleum of the Ak-Astana-baba (Surkhandarya), 10-11" centuries.

Mikhrab niche at the palace in Afrasiab (Samarkand), 8-9" centuries. Reconstruction.

A fragment of a stucco mihrab in an early Islamic mosque of 10 — early 11" centuries. (State Museum of History of Uzbekistan). Graphic reconstruction. ee SS eee ae eee ee eee It was in the 9-10" centuries that basic topoi (protoforms) of the Islamic cultic architecture egan to form in the Central Asian Interfluve, which defined the new appearance of towns for he centuries to follow: mosques, minarets, mausoleums and so on. They developed out of a ombination of western forms brought by the pan-Caliphate traditions with the local building 1ethods of the pre-Arabic Sogdian, Khorezmian and Tokharistanian architecture. With very 2w exceptions, these buildings have not remained until our days; therefore we learn about their xistence only from written sources, archaeological data and their more advanced forms realised 1 the following centuries. 4 oo 1 +e. 7 -— oe 7 rot 71 1 7 rot

Ornamental composition of an Afrasiab panel (Samarkand), 9" century. Analysis of the building (by M.S. Bulatov).

CLIe LICL Y UE ULVOe SULIT LU LL ULLIEL WULIU The commemoration of a person by public farewell and burial in a community cemetery® was alsc a new development. The construction of a mausoleum®, a separate ‘eternal house’ for importan persons, is a practice established in the early Islamic period. Prior to this, the cultural traditior kept only single personal burial places, such as the ‘graves’ of Afrosiab and Siyavush in Bukhare The construction of courts (khazira) was a simpler architectural format of burial of outstandins persons. In this case burial places ‘under the open sky’ were covered with a gravestone (sagana or a dakhma, while the court was enclosed in a brick wall with a portal entrance. The memorial o the imam Abu Khafs Kabir*° died in 832), an ancient sanctuary of Bukhara, and the khazira of Abt Bakr Saad (aoth century), the founder of the dynasty of Juybar Seyids, which became the base fo: the later memorial Chor-Bakr, are the best known of ancient khazira. Another significant persor imam Mohammed ibn Jafar (9'*-10" centuries), was, probably, buried in a khazira beyond the wal of the Samarkand rabad, in the place named Registan. Ce) a Te: ee f: : i, i: le Se es er ae ee eee ee : :

The map of Termez. 1-arc 2-first shahristan, 3-second shahristan, 4-first rabad, 5-second rabad, 6-a suburb; monuments: 1-the mausoleum of al-Hakimi Termezi 2-Mosque Chor Sutun, 3-Palace of Termez Shahs 4-monastery Kara Tepe, 5-monaster: Favaz Tepe.

Building a system of dynamic rectangles (a geometric princi- ple of proportioning in early Is- lamic architecture).

Sultan-Saadat (near Termez, Surkhandarya). The eastern facade. Mausoleums of 11!" century. HI OdlllalllG PdldalGs, WEIC GCoselr lou, The Karakhanid ruler Arslan-khan III Muhammad (1102-1132), the father-in-law and vassal he great Seljuk sultan Sanjar, paid a great attention to Bukhara. It is well-known that Arslan-khi II restored the citadel Ark and the town walls of Bukhara. In his time a mud-brick rampart w: yuilt around the town, and in 1119 the Namazgoh mosque was relocated to the territory of the gard Shamsabad. In 1121 Arslan-khan III ordered to build a new cathedral mosque within the shakhristé nstead of the old one at the citadel wall, and in 1127 the remarkable minaret Kalyan was erecte nthe mid 12“ century the Ark was destroyed again: first by the Khorezmshakh’s troops and the oy Seljuk mercenaries. In 1164/65 the Sadrs came into power and enclosed the shakhristan a1 ‘abad in a defensive wall, using for this purpose the baked brick from the foundation and towe of the Ark. Forty years afterwards the Khorezmshakh Muhammad restored the Ark and turned nto a military fortress. He also fortified the town walls (the wall of the shakhristan and the tv ‘ows of the walls of the rabad). Tha Akawneitne wl oenata lad a. fh. Awan Sw tha laces al tha Zawoewchkawn “«khtak «neu baad tm tharfall wd

Madrasah Tamgach-Bogra Khan (Shah-i- Zinda, Samarkand), 12"* century. Recon- struction by N.B. Nemtsova Karakhanid possessions, so that sources describing the Mongol invasion do not even mention Tashkent. The early 11" century is marked by the highest scientific achievements embodied in the activity of al-Mamun’s academy in Khorezm and in the encyclopaedic works by Abu Raykhan Biruni and Abu Ali ibn Sino (Avicenna). The sheer scale of the scientific heritage of these outstanding scientists testifies to the high level of Central Asian scientific culture, which laid the theoretical base for both architecture and applied arts. The systematic, encyclopaedic and integral character of the knowledge generated at this time gave an idea of some completeness and canonisation of the Islamic worldview at that stage, which, in its turn, suggested the formation of the stable cosmography and canonisation of Islamic topoi.

Palace of Termez Shahs (Surkhandarya, 11-12" centuries.): 1 - reconstruction of the overall plan, 2 - Plan of the audience hall.

Building ornaments in 12th century: 1 - Palace of Termez Shahs (Surkhandarya), 2 - Magoki-Attari (Bukhara). Analysis by M.S. Bulatov. =) Hl, = Ml, 5 Ml alld 5.0 Ill TPOSPCCulVvely”. The Magoki-Attari, Bukhara’s oldest surviving mosque, was constructed in the 12" centur on the site of the Makh mosque of the Samanid period. It had 12 domes resting on the walls an 5 internal column-pylons. The unique Deggaron mosque has been preserved in the village o Khazara, some distance from Bukhara. Its walls are built of pakhsa (rammed earth) and mud bricl and it is covered by nine brick domed vaults of the ‘balkhi’ type. Their pendentives rest on fou internal columns made of brick and having limestone foundations. The multi-domed covering o the winter room was a natural continuation of the summer iwan sheds. As these buildings were lov they were lost in the surrounding town constructions. Therefore, additional architectural device were required to emphasise the significance of this place in the urban landscape, the main of whicl was the construction of a minaret. — | ™tt ere 7 a | a | We . rare rae 1 |

Decorative plates from the audience hall of the palace of Termez Shahs (Surkhandarya), 12" century.

The Sayf ad-Din Bokharzi mausoleum. Bukhara, 13-14" cc. Plan and cross-section. All known mausoleums in Maverannahr dated back to this period are rectangular domed buildings?°. ‘he Shuburgan-ata, an 11°°-century mausoleum near Karakul, Bukhara province, is a rare exception. ‘he entrance in the form of a portal is a general rule for the mausoleum. According to their size, the nausoleums can be divided into small, medium and large ones. The small mausoleums are 4-5 m n size: the gurkhana of the Kusam ibn Abbas, the Shuburgan-ata mausoleum and the Iskhak-ata nausoleum (11 century, the village of Pudina, Kashkadarya province), which continue the line f the Mir-Seyid Bahrom mausoleum, the Arab-ata and the Astana-baba. The Sultan-Saodat and chakimi Termizi mausoleums, close in proportions to the Samanid mausoleum, have the size of -10 m and can be referred to the medium mausoleums. Large domed mausoleums comparable in

The Sheikh-Mukhtar-vali mausoleum. Ostana village, 14" century. View in cross-section. of the palace of the Termez-shahs was decorated ave not been found in Uzbekistan. The appearance of an independent architectural standard for the Islamic school (madrasah n Maverannahr is connected with the classical period. The Buddhist monasteries with thei ells around a common court — a place for lessons and cultic practice-are regarded as one of th rchitectural prototypes for the Central Asian school-madrasah. The earliest of the madrasahs o Aaverannahr we know of today, the Kusamiya madrasah built by the Karakhanid Tamgacl ;ogra-khan opposite the Kusam ibn Abbas mausoleum, represents a well-established type o nadrasah. Archaeological excavations have shown that it was a one-storey building, 55 m by 4 n, with an inner court 20 m by 30 m in size. In the four corners there were domed rooms. Th nain (eastern) entrance was decorated with a portal with projecting pylons. On the outside th orners were decorated with towers (guldasta). According to a 1066 vaqf, the Kusamiya madrasal n Nemtseva’s opinion, included a mosque, a library, classrooms and rooms for readers of th ‘oran and for teaching the adab.

The facade of the mausoleum built in 1361, Shahi-Zinda (Samarkand). Photos of the late 19" century. By the time of the Mongol invasion, the ancient local traditions and the shapes common for tl vhole Caliphate had been completely replaced by the local vision of the semantics (‘language’) ar he composition of ornament. The complex geometric girikh that was formed by the ideal shapes ntertwined lines regulated by harmonic proportions, into which plant pattern was often incorporate yecame the essence of this vision [Pugachenkova, Rempel, 1982. P.20-21]. The later décor of tl ylace of the Termez-shahs demonstrated that even in the late 12"" century, the ornamentation yuildings, although within the strict geometry of girikhs, allowed the depiction of live, thous antastic, creatures. The epigraphic décor found itself in the same geometric field; this type of déc vhich also included the inscriptions from the Koran, appeared in the early Islamic period and hav yecome one of the principal methods of the decoration of monumental buildings. The unified semantic field of the décor of the Maverannahr glazed ceramics of the Afrosié

Geometry of the ornament of mausoleum of Khoja Ahmad at Shah-i Zinda (Samarkand), 15" century. Analysis by M.S. Bulatov. Chagatay ulus. The invasion of the Mongol troops in 1220 led by Genghis-khan had a serious impact upon the urban culture of Maverannahr: most of the towns were pillaged and others were destroyed, while tens of thousands of artisans were forcibly taken to the east. Right after the occupation of Samarkand and Bukhara, Genghis-khan ordered to destroy their outer defensive walls. Termez, Akhsiket and Kuva suffered total destruction. The result of the Mongol invasion was the inclusion of Maverannahr in Genghis-khan’s empire: most of the territory of the Interfluve became part of the Chagatay ulus”, and only left-bank Khorezm belonged to the Juchi ulus (the Golden Horde). The Mongols did not mean to destroy Central Asian town centres, as it was now an important TadaAirAna far £EhaA MAW eAl Bwawriere THE 2a zAmo emo Kanth aActanak that 2m: Eben TSOS6AG6_ 7OTASE Nawraramnae hr

The construction of the Buyan Kuli Khan mausoleum’s ornament. Bukhara, 14" century. Analysis by M.S. Bulatov.

The modelling of proportions after J. Kashi (45" c.): 1-square, 2-circle, 3- the difference between the diagonal and side, 4-side of the octagon and half of its diagonal.

Samarkand in the Timurid period (last decades of the 14-15" centuries). A map of the town.

The citadel of Amir Temur in Samarkand. Late 14-15"" centuries. Schematic plan. SE a SE ae ee SN, Ee ee SS eae he declarative capacity and power of architecture, which had the task of demonstrating the power rosperity and richness of the country he created. The ruler’s ambitions embodied in the well-known saying ‘If you doubt our power, see our constructions”3, determined the appearance and development of the imperial style of architecture in Tamerlane’s time. Samarkand and Shakhrisabz, Tamerlane’s ‘Wo principal towns, the portals of the main constructions of which represented gigantic gates with spans about 20 m wide” and as tall as the Kalyan minaret, became the centres of the new style. To sive the surrounding kishlaks (villages) the names of rival towns — Bagdad, Damask, Cairo, Sultania and Shiraz — was a demonstration of superiority of Samarkand, the capital of the empire. hh A ftaatiewad hat Asvetimnaiichoad the tmnavrial GEGlA fenm tha o€tolad Af BMrAARAA HS MATIAA So RKO

Gur-Emir. Samarkand, early 15" century. Vertical cross-section.

Bibi Khanum. Samarkand, early 15" century. Analysis of the construction plan (Bulatov M.S.).

Temurids’ Registan. Samarkand. 15" century. Schematic plan.

The geometry of construction plans of the Ulugbek madrasah in Samarkand, Bukhara and Gizhduvan. The first half of the 15" century.

Facade of the Ulugbek madrasah in Samarkand. 1417-1420. Analysis of the building (Bulatov M.S.). Having chosen Samarkand as his capital, Tamerlane decided not to restore the town in its former boundaries. Ignoring the broad contour of the old defensive walls, which had not withstood the Mongol invasion, he pragmatically opted for new, narrower boundaries of the town within the main construction core of the southern rabad. In 1370-1372, he hastily enclosed this smaller town in a new defensive wall3? with six gates, and in its western part he constructed a new citadel separated from the town by a high wall and a moat.

The ornamental décor of the Ulugbek madrasah. Samarkand. 1417-1420. subterranean stone crypt was built at the southern wall of the court, and an octahedral mausoleum

Model of Ulugbek’s observatory. Samarkand, 1420. Version of Bulatov M.S. (4977-1979). part of the Registan on behalf of Tamerlane’s wife Tuman-aga. The architectural code of Samarkand was renewed by Mirzo Ulugbek, who continued the large-scale building activity of his grandfather [Arapov, 2003. P. 132-137]. He reconstructed the Registan and made it the main square for official ceremonies, where military parades were helc and governmental decrees announced. Supporting education, Ulugbek ordered two large buildings a madrasah and a khaneqahs built opposite one another in the western and eastern parts of the square, which became the architectural dominant of the Registan. The Ulugbek madrasah hac a high entrance portal, two lateral entrances, a mosque located on its main axis, four darskhan< (classrooms) and four minarets at the corners, and became the largest one for its time. By that time Tuman-aga’s tim had been dismantled and removed to another place, and its site was used for the construction of the Mirzoi caravanserai, the profits from which were bequeathed to the madrasak The Ulugbek khaneqahs, which has not survived to our days, had, according to Babur, a very hig and, apparently, double dome. In the 1330s, in the southern part of the square, on the site of an olc cathedral mosque, the Timurid nobleman Alike Kukeltash built a new mosque which had a broac court with 280 columns on marble bases and a domed building with a mihrab. A small mosque called the Mukatta was built near it. TWlaichek’e nnique ahcervataryv AON Mm in diqmeter the cuihterranean nart of which wae dicreoverec

Mausoleum-khanaka Ishratkhana. Samarkand, the second half of the 15" century. Re- construction of the north-eastern facade.

Shakhrisabz in the last decades of the 14-15" centuries. A map of the town. ‘oe ES IEE SEG ee This monumental government residence [Barry Lane, Lewcock, 1996. p.51] was the highest onstruction in Central Asia, not only of the Timurid time, but of the whole medieval period. The .k-Saray palace had a four-iwan composition similar to that of the Bibi-Khanum mosque. The nain portal of the palace, about 50 m wide and 70 m high, was a complex construction with several loors and numerous rooms, which was crowned with ‘kungra’ spikes. The height of the corner owers of the portal mounted on a polyhedral plinth reached 80 m [Billard, Schvoerer-Ney, 2008. .27]. The court of the palace with a hauz (pool) in the middle was about 100 m long and ended in building with a portal and a dome for receptions and meetings. mL. 2... 22D 22 ee PL nn ee ic ee, a ae [eS aE, ee i a i ee: ee ee re |

Ak-Saray palace in Shakhrisyabz. The end of the 15" century. Version of the schematic plan (M.B. Lane, 1996). A mausoleum over the grave of the sheikh Zayn ad-Din and a small mausoleum for the Sufi sheikh Ay Khoji Zangi-ata were built near Tashkent in the time of Tamerlane, in the late 14" century. At the same time a fine gravestone of white marble was made for the sheikh Ay Khoji Zangi-ata. The funeral mosque (ziaratkhana) with an entrance portal was built at the Zangi-ata mausoleum in Ulugbek’s time already.

Domed halls of cathedral mosques of Central Azerbaijan. 1. Urmia 2. Marand 3. Kirna village 4. Nakhichevan. BR ANEN, MALIN WE GLE MM AALI VN EMINEM EM EQVbsews NV LEAS. CAEL ds At the time of the Seljuks and Atabeks many Azerbaijani towns, such as Maragha, Kazvin, 3eylagan, Baku, Derbend, Khoy and others, were enriched with new buildings. Zakriya Kazvini 13th century) described a graphic model of a developed Muslim town of this period in one of 1is works. The model consisted of five concentric circles: Kuhendiz (the little town), shakhristan the big town), gardens, vineyards and ploughed fields. This model was characteristic of large owns in Azerbaijan of the Seljuk period. mk

Sudzhas. Juma mosque. 12" century. Plans, cross-sections, reconstruction (R. Hillenbrand).

Zanjan, Herve village, 12th century. Juma mosque (V. Kleys).

Nakhichevan. Mausoleum of Yusuf ibn Kuseir. 1162. Plan. yllowed ancient local traditions, creating unique, inimitable works of architecture. The minaret, an inseparable part of a mosque, logical from the constructional aspect and erfect from the artistic point of view, indicates the level of cultic architecture in the Seljuk eriod. Mature style is a distinguishing feature of the minarets with cylindrical trunk in zerbaijan in the 11'*-12"" centuries. There are some free-standing minarets among them, such s the Save ‘mil minare’ (1061), the Shamkur (late 11" century), and those attached to a mosque the Siniggala and the Pirsaat. On the basis of the materials from the Gudi khatun complex 1 Garabaglar and the Atabeks complex in Nakhichevan we also know about monumental ortals with twin minarets, which were formed in the architecture of Azerbaijan in the reign f the Atabeks.

Pir Hussein Khanegahs. Tile decor (Sankt-Peterburg State Hermitage).

Nakhichevan. Mausoleum of Yusuf Ibn Kuseir. 1162.

Garabaglar. Gudi Khatun mausoleum. 14" century. After restoration.

Icheri shekher. Baku. Siniggala Mosque. 1078.

Architectural decoration of the mausoleum in Gulistan. Architectural decoration Momine Khatun mausoleum. 1186.

Zanjan. Gaflanty bridge. 12" century (Giz korpusu).

Baku. Bail castle, 1234. The plan of a reconstruction.

Bridges of the 12th century at the Aran Islands: 1. The Red bridge (the Kazakh bridge), 2. The bridge in Barda. Incursions in the early 13" century caused temporary fall in the economy and culture of Azerbaijan. However, in the late 13'* century, when Azerbaijan becomes a political centre of the Ilkhanid empire that included also Iran, Iraq, Caucasus and Anatolia, the country enters a period of strong rise in economical and cultural life. According to the major orientalist V. V. Bartold, ‘the vast areas conquered by Muslims’ and the ‘cultural and historical ground of a global significance’ they created, were the simplest and clearest causes of this progress. And Tebriz, which had scarcely been affected by the Mongol invasion, became one of the centres of the world communication.

Tebriz. The mosque of Alishah, 14" century. (reconstruction by J. Giyasi). The fantastically wide scope of the construction the Ikkhanid rulers carried out in Azerbaijai che combination of various artistic traditions, and the important reforms of Gazan-khan le o incredible blooming of architecture and town building in south regions of the countr and to stylistic enrichment. The artistic forms and methods that had formed in the cours: of history continue to develop and become more complicated. The rich traditions of the 11' 2" centuries and the wish of the Ilkhanid rulers to erect majestic constructions conformin with the scale and power of the large empire are the two factors in the art of building at tha ‘ime that were combined to create a new style and a new architectural school. Comparing th architectural works of the Maragha-Nachichevan and Tebriz schools it is not difficult to trac hese changes and reveal their characteristic stylistic features. Lg) es ly ee ee ee i: er haere : ee i ony he ie pe

Marand. Juma mosque. 12" century. Plan. PlLiIotil CLICCL UL ALCIIILOCULUL dL CICMUITIIts dllG GQCUCUTL, The development of glazed brick production and the appearance of architectural tiles nade it possible to cover large surfaces with many-coloured, ornamental carpets, creating hus the stylistic originality of the architectural decor of the Tebriz school, which had existed or many centuries. Composite fretted mosaic made it easier to create complex curvilinear rnamental compositions from the technical aspect. The new facing technique also influenced rchitectural epigraphy, where the geometric kufi hand had replaced the complex patterns of askh and suls. The facade surfaces of huge constructions faced with bright, many-coloured iles gained solemn and shining appearance, while the constructions themselves looked festive nd pompous.

sters of art and skillful artisans with their families from Bagdad to Sultaniye. The Uygur artisans were particularly respectable and influential as masters of miniatur d architectural decoration. The Uygur artists Kutlug Buga, Altun Buga, Toktimur, Aya 1 others took part in the formation of the Tebriz miniature school in the 13-14" centurie No doubt, Uygur architects we do not know yet anything about played a leading part i - building of a number of constructions in the territory of Azerbaijan, such as Buddhis nples, kumirs, Mongolian obas and others architectural forms characteristic of Centre an architecture. According to Nizari, a 13""-century Iranian poet and traveler, 30 dragon re depicted on the Hulagu-khan castle on Shakhu-tell Island. Colourful tiles of the lat ‘century with relief images of dragons found in Takht-i Suleyman in some sense confirr account. Just there, during the excavation of ruins of an IIkhanid palace archaeologist ind capitals of columns of red stone in the form of a bulb. According to specialists, thos gments decorated with relief images of dragons and plant ornaments, both in form an aracter are of East Turkestan origin. rm Fsvreyri@}y%me* * y tT . ¢ £ ee i > ie Ty, fs 2 Fo T* RA Jy &§ BP |

Ali SAAUL Valjall. fA CLD vVeLy LiLtiv Lilail new towns appear, while a number of old ones, such as Maragha, Tebriz, Ardebil, Ujan, Baku, Barda, Salmas and others are restored and increase their territory. In V. V. Bartold’s opinion, the consequences of the Mongolian destruction, ‘like the effects of any other defeat, were not at all that great and did not hinder the appearance of new towns’. And indeed, beginning from Hulagu-khan almost all the Ilkhanid rulers contributed to the town building. Abaga-khan restored the town Shiz, ancient Ganzak.

Gandzasar monastery. 13" century. General view of the facade.

Haji-Gabulov. Khanegahs Pir Hussein. 12-14" centuries.

Tebriz. Ghazan Khan mausoleum. Late 13" century. The plan, elevation and axonometric view (reconstruction by J. Giyasi).

Sultaniye. Mausoleum of Oljaytu Khan. 14" century. Plan.

Khachyn-Dorbatly. Mausoleum Gutlu Hajj Musa oglu. 1314. ceremonies, Muitary parades, receptions Of aMpDassadors, sporting COMpetitions etc. The southern part of the square was bordered by a river which made a natural boundary between the square and the Kayseriye trade complex built by Uzun Hasan. Thus, the administrative, cultic and trade complexes were joined together around one gigantic rectangular square to form the largest town centre. YWUAaLS LY LULL UID Idlsvtol LOW COLLIE. The Hasht Bekhisht palace described scrupulously by an unknown Italian merchant was ne central construction of the palace complex in the western part of the Sahibabad square. he reception hall of this palace pavillion was octagonal in form and was covered with a dome. pool with a fountain was in the centre of the hall surrounded by eight corner rooms. The lasht Bekhisht had four entrances on the main axes of symmetry. Its spatial composition onsisted of a prismatic body with large deep arched lancet apertures and the high dome of he central hall. The famous Hasht Bekhisht palace pavillion in Isfahan (17 century) was rected after the model of the Hasht Bekhisht in Tebriz built in 861 of the Hegira (1486) and nitated its forerunner in plan and construction. Qyaltan Vakith’e tnumn Aaildinge activity wae nnt eanGnead anlk ta the ennetrietinn af niamarnie Sultan Yakub’s town building activity was not confined only to the construction of numerous buildings in the main town centre. In the south part of the town he laid out the large Baghe- Shimal garden (the Northern Garden), in the centre of which were a palace pavillion and a pool. A broad alley that lay on the main axis of symmetry of the garden connected it with the Muzaffariye complex. The alley might go up to the main centre of the town. Of the constructions

Tebriz. Miniature by Nasuh Matrakchy, 16th century (graphic reconstruction by J.Giyasi).

Baku. The complex of the palace of the Shirvanshahs. 12-16" centuries. Plan. Written sources contain data concerning Shirvanshahs’ activity in fortification and improvement of towns. Palaces, mosques, caravanserais, madrasahs, bathhouses and other buildings were constructed in towns and villages of Shirvan in Sheikh Ibrahim’s time. The main buildings of the Shirvanshahs palace complex in Baku were erected by order of Halilullah. His name remains in the inscriptions of many of the monuments of Shirvan. Farrukh Yasar was also engaged in building. eee a cae Pa ez . ere 2 a |OUw

The complex of the palace of the Shirvanshahs.

The complex of the palace of the Shirvanshahs. Divankhana. Plan. were built in the lowest point of the territory of the Shirvanshahs palace complex. The Shirvanshahs palace has been preserved to our days almost intact, which makes it a unique specimen of palace constructions in the history of Azerbaijan and the whole Middle East. Each building of the ensemble in Baku belongs to the final stage of the development of the given type of the Shirvan school. The Divankhana building was the most attractive for travellers and for specialists by its integral composition, perfect architectural forms, masterly fretwork in stone and delicate ornamental decoration.

Tebriz. Geoy mosque. General view (reconstruction by J. Giyasi).

Tebriz. Geoy mosque. The main facade (reconstruction by J. Giyasi).

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Great Ladies and Noble Daughters: Ivories and Women in the Umayyad Court at Córdoba

by Mariam Rosser-Owen and

In Pearls on a String: Artists, Patrons, and Poets at the Great Islamic Courts, ed. Amy S. Landau (Baltimore and Seattle: The Walters Art Museum and University of Washington Press, 2015), pp. 28-51

close, and they were probably made by the same hand—an artisan who employed a delicate miniature style, quite distinct from the bolder, blockier style seen on the larger V&A casket (fig. 1.3), which seems to have been carved by a different artisan. The stylistic consonances are most evident in the execution of the vegetal decoration and inscriptions on the Burgos and smaller V&A caskets, as they also share a motif in the long thin leaf with two circles where it joins the stem. While the overall conception of the decoration is consistent between the two V&A caskets, the actual execution is different, and employs different vegetal motifs: on the larger casket, for example, a large lotus-like flower is seen on the sides and back, and a cornucopia-like motif from which palmette scrolls flow is seen especially on the lower part of the two short sides and on the front slope of the lid. These motifs are not seen on the smaller casket, likely indicating the work of a different hand.

The V&A caskets also incorporate a short prayer following ‘Abd al-Rahman’s name (rahmat allah alayhi wa-ridwanuhu, “May God’s mercy and favor be his!”), which commemorates his death, at age seventy, on October 15, 961. Such a prayer for the recently deceased is highly unusual in the luxury arts, but is well attested at this period in tombstones, which were increasingly used in al-Andalus from the tenth century onward.'1 The more usual phrase employed is rahimahu Allah (may God be com- passionate), but the variant rahmat Allah ‘alayhi (or -ha in the feminine form) is also known, as well as longer compound expressions, which tend to be used on bigger— and thus more expensive—funerary inscriptions.12 The appearance of this formula on a set of luxury objects made in the caliphal atelier may suggest the closeness of the relationship between father and daughter, or simply the mourning of ‘Abd al- Rahman’s passing by the machinery of the state. It is, however, extremely useful from a historical point of view, since it allows us to date the objects’ production to soon after the caliph’s death. This makes this group of three caskets the earliest date- able extant ivories in the entire corpus. Since the Burgos casket does not include this prayer, scholars have frequently dated it to before ‘Abd al-Rahmaan Ill’s death, but given the correspondences with the other two caskets, a simpler and more likely explanation is that there was not enough space in this small area to include the full inscription.13

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Global Aspirations of the Mughal Album

by Yael Rice

2018, Rembrandt and the Inspiration of India

These are the _proofs_ of an essay now published as “The Global Aspirations of the Mughal Album,” in _Rembrandt and the Inspiration of India_, ed. Stephanie Schrader (Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2018), 61–77.

FIGURE 42 Abu’l Hasan (Indian [Mughal], active 1600-1630), page from the St. Petersburg Album, Painting Overlaying Dialectica Engraving by Jan Sadeler, ca. 1615. Ink and opaque watercolor on paper, painting: 14.5 x 16.3 cm (5'/%, x 6%, in.). St. Petersburg, Institute of Oriental Studies, E-14, fol. 46. Detail showing lower register of the aloum page (see fig. 46)

FIGURE 40 Attributed to Miskina (Indian [Mughal], active ca. 1570-1604), Buffaloes in Combat, late sixteenth century. Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper, 17.5 x 24.1 cm (6% x 9% in.). New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1983.258

FIGURE 41 Antonio Caranzano (Italian, fl. 1577-1623), unknown European artist, and unknown calligrapher, page from the Dara Shikoh Album, Saint Margaret and Saint Catherine of Siena with Chagatai Calligraphy, 1585-early seventeenth century; aloum page assembled ca. 1630-33. Engravings, ink and gold on paper, page: 32 x 22cm (12%, x 8% in.). Margaret (left: 4.1 x 8.6 cm (1% x 3% in.); Catherine (right): 5.1 x 8.5 cm (2 x 3% in.). London, British Library, Add. Or. 3129, fol. 43

FIGURE 44 Thomas de Leu (French, 1560-1620), Portrait of Francois of Valois, Son of Francois | and Dauphin of France, 1570-1612. Engraving, 15.3 x 9.5 cm (6 x 3% in.). London, The British Museum, 1922,0612.1

FIGURE 45 Like the assimilating processes discussed above, the Mughal album combined locally produced and imported materials to create a new —if also precarious— whole. Among these materials can be found European prints, Persian and Chagatai calligraphies, and paintings and drawings from the Mughal, Safavid, Shaybanid, and Deccani courts. Most Mughal album pages were compiled in codices, the standard format of manuscripts pro- duced in the Islamic world (fig. 45). But unlike books of history or poetry, the Mughal album is a veritable material agglomeration, and the album page is, in effect, a collage. The album page on which the Sadeler engraving appears, for example, is comprised of multiple supports: the two panels of paper that bear the paintings in the upper and Vughal-style album of seventeenth—eighteenth-century paintings and calligraphies, probably assembled in the eighteenth century in India by or for a Europea oatron. Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper with leather binding, page: 29 x 20.6 cm (11%. X 8% in.). Private collection (photograph courtesy of Sotheby's

Govardhan (Indian [Mughal], active 1596-ca. 1645), Nanha (Indian [Mughal], active ca. 1580-1627), Payag (Indian [Mughal], active ca. 1591-1658),and Abu'l Hasan (Indian [Mughal], active 1600-1630), page from the St. Petersburg Album with composite paintings, ca. 1615-30; borders added in mid-eighteenth century. Ink and opaque watercolor on paper, page: 47.5 x 33 cm (18%, x 13 in.). St. Petersburg, Institute of Oriental Studies, E-14, fol. -

FIGURE 47 Unknown Indian (Mughal) artists, page from the Gulshan Album, Composite Painting of Horse and Groom, European Man, and Shiva with Devotee, ca. 1570-early seventeenth century; album page assembled before 1618. Opaque watercolor on paper, page: 40.8 x 25.2 cm (16%, X 91%, in.). Tehran, Golestan Palace, Manuscript Library, Ms. 1663, page 150

Unknown Indian (Mughal) artist, Portrait of Khan ‘Alam, early seventeenth century — PLATE 44

FIGURE 48 Manohar (Indian [Mughal], active 1582—ca. 1624) and Murar (Indian [Mughal], active ca. 1620-ca. 1645), page from the Minto Album, Portrait of Shah Jahan on Horseback, ca. 1615 and ca. 1630; album page assembled before ca. 1640. Opaque watercolor on paper, page: 38.8 x 26.6 cm (15%, x 10% in.), painting: 23.6 x 16.8 cm (9%, x 6%in.). London, Victoria & Albert Museum, IM.12-1925 FIGURE 49

FIGURE 50 Nanha (Indian [Mughal], active ca. 1580-1627), page from the Shah Jahan Album, Portrait of Bhim Kunwar, ca. 1615-29; aloum page assembled ca. 1630-58. Opaque watercolor and ink on paper, page: 38.7 x 25.6 cm (15% x 10%, in.); painting: 16.4 x 9.7 cm (6%, x 3'%, in.) New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 55.121.10.2 FIGURE 51 Hunhar (Indian [Mughal], active ca. 1628-60s), page from the Late Shah Jahan Album, Portrait of Bhim Kunwar, ca. 1650; album page assembled ca. 1650-58. Opaque watercolor and ink on paper, page: 37.9 x 24.7 cm (14%, x 9% in.), painting: 21.5 x 14cm (8%, x 5% in.). Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, 60.172

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Arquitectura doméstica tardoandalusí y morisca

by Alejandro Pérez Ordóñez

dialnet.unirioja.es

[ES] Pretendemos con esta investigación intentar una aproximación al estudio antropológico del modelo de familia andalusí -especialmente entre los siglos XIII y XVI-, para realizar la conexión entre el conocimiento de estos grupos humanos... more

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Western Influences on the Ottoman Empire and Occidentalism in the Architecture of Istanbul

by Ali Uzay Peker

This article portrays the initial century of Westernization in Ottoman culture by studying the architectural developments of the eighteenth century.

Western Influences on the Ottoman Empire and Occidentalis in the Architecture of Istanbul

Figure 1. A view of the city of Istanbul from the Garden of the Palais de France in Choiseul- Gouffier’s Voyage pittoresque de la Gréce (Paris, 1782), vol. 2, plate 76. Courtesy National Library of Australia.

“igure 2. Sultan Ahmed Fountain (1728) at the Royal Gate of the Topkapi Palace photograph by James Robertson, 1850s, Canadian Centre for Architecture). Courtesy National Library of Australia.

Figure 3. Hatice Sultan Palace at Defterdarburnu (end of the eighteenth century), engraving after the drawing by A. I. Melling subsequent to the completion of his renovations, in his Voyage pittoresque de Constantinople et des rives du Bosphore (Paris, 1819). Courtesy National Library of Australia.

Figure 4. Sadabad Palace in Kagithane (1722) in Choiseul-Gouffier’s Voyage pittoresque, vol. 2, plate 92. Courtesy National Library of Australia. The simultaneous emergence of a new attitude toward Christians in the capital and of a class of notables in major towns such as in Izmir

Figure 5. Nuruosmaniye Mosque (1749—55) and Covered Bazaar in Istanbul (photograph by James Robertson, 1850s, CCA). Courtesy National Library of Australia.

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Painting, from Royal to Urban Patronage

by Christiane Gruber

2017, A Companion to Islamic Art and Architecture, ed. Gülru Necipoğlu and Finbarr Barry Flood

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Coloured Dots and the Question of Regional Origins in Early Qur'ans: Part I

by Alain Fouad George

2015, Journal of Qur'anic Studies

During the first centuries of Islam, the written notation of the Qur'an underwent a gradual evolution. 1 After an early stage represented by the 'Ḥijāzī' tradition, red dots were introduced into 'Kufic' Qur'ans to mark short vowels. 2... more

Table 1. Regional conventions as seen by al-Dani.

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Escher and Islamic Geometric Design

by Eric Broug

An essay in the catalogue for the 2013 exhibition 'Escher and Islamic Art'.

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Review: What is Islam by Shahab Ahmed ~ Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations

by Khalil Andani

Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations,

‘[A] valid concept of “Islam” must denote and connote all possible “Islams,” whether abstract or “real,” mental or social’ (104)... Ahmed seeks to avoid two major pitfalls: (1) making Islam into a static essence or a category within an... more

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THE LEGACY OF THE ARAB SPRING: NEW FORCES AND FAULT LINES

by Jeroen J. J. Van den Bosch and

"The Legacy of the Arab Spring: New Forces and Fault Lines," R/evolutions: Global Trends & Regional Issues, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2016

How did the Arab Spring change the Middle East? That is the main question on which this fourth issue of R/evolutions wants to zoom in. This issue therefore is divided in three parts: 'The Arab Spring in Perspective' provides an overview... more

[REET ART PROTESTING AGAINST THE MILITARY RULE IN EGYPT. “DAMN THE FALL OF THE REGIME — THE REGIME DIDN'T FALL YET! WHAT IS THE -FERENCE BETWEEN THE PAST AND NOW? — THERE IS NONE!” — CAIRO 2011 ODENIS BOCQUET

"GET DOWN TO THE STREET! GET OUT ON THE STREETS!” (A FAMOUS SENTENCE IN EGYPTIAN DIALECT TO ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO STOP WATCHING THE EVENTS ON TELEVISION AND TO JOIN THEM INSTEAD) — CAIRO 2011 ODENIS BOCQUET

Some interrogation tools are attached to the walls of the cell and others are scattered on the floor. The prisoner, hand and foot amputated, hangs dying from straps, his blood drip dropping on to the floor. Meanwhile, his torturer having completed his assignment relaxes a bit and weeps at the tenderness of a television romance.

Figure 2: Ali Farzat, “International Hypocrisy ”! This cartoon is one of the first items uploaded to Sana Yazigi’s Creative Memory of the Syrian Revolution site that features thousands of cultural works from inside Syria and outside.

Figure 4: Sari Kiwan: “Dancing on a Barrel Bomb” 21 Hence the title of my forthcoming book Dancing in Damascus: Creativity, Resilience and the Syrian Revolution (cooke 2016). 22 ~+#Artist’s permission 10-07-2015.

Figure 5: Tammam Azzam: “Dancing on the Ruins”?

Figure 6: Kafranbel “Revolution Panorama ”” Many have buried the Arab Spring and especially the Syrian Revolution, but I have argued in Dancing in Damascus: Creativity, Resilience and the Syrian Revolution that these people’s movements need to be placed into the larger context of modern Arab intellectual history. These revolutionaries are not rabble to be dismissed because without leader, ideology and agenda - doomed to fail. They are part ofa hinge moment in their nations histories. As Wassim al-AdI asserts, the “revolution was not about an ideology or a religion, and it wasn't about grand political scheming, it was about normal people who stopped what they were doing to stand up for what they believed in, and they did that even though they were afraid and, in many cases, would lose their lives.”

"BOYCOTT IT — IT IS ROTTEN!” (ABOUT THE WRITTEN MEDIA) — CAIRO 2011 ODENIS BOCQUET

Figure 1. Core Ideological Propositions of the Counter-Revolution

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GIRARD P.E, 2010: Le verre antique: Usages et techniques. Le Proche-Orient, creuset de l'innovation verrière? Tome I

by Pierre-Eric Girard

Encore trop méconnue, l'étude du verre méritait une synthèse des connaissances actuelles aussi bien sur le plan technique, chimique, artistique et archéologique. Ce travail universitaire réalisé dans le cadre d'un master II, tente de... more

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The Three Caliphates, a Comparative Approach

by Glaire D Anderson and

2017, A Companion to Islamic Art and Architecture

Ficure 9.3. Great Mosque of Cordoba, Spain, mihrab. Source: Jennifer Pruit Reproduced with permission.

Ficure 9.5 Mosque of al-Hakim, Cairo, south minaret with encasing, inscription, and reconstructed portal. Source: Jennifer Pruitt. Reproduced with permission.

FicurE 9.7 Detail of Fatimid palace beams, from the Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo. Source: Jennifer Pruitt. Reproduced with permission.

Ficure 9.8 Abbasid tivaz, 991-1031. Its inscription reads: “Bismillah. Praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds, and a good end to those who fear God. And God bless Muhammad the seal of the Prophets, and all his family, the good, the excellent. Blessing from God and glory to the Caliph, the servant of God, Abu’l-‘Abbas Ahmad, al-Qadir billah, Commander of the Faithful, may God glorify him and [. . .].” 31.106.56a. Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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Johns 2016 "A Tale of Two Ceilings. The Cappella Palatina in Palermo and the Mouchroutas in Constantinople" (revised pre-print version: now published)

by Jeremy Johns

in Michael Rogers, Alison Ohta and Rosalind Wade Haddon (eds.), Art, Trade, and Culture in the Near East and India: From the Fatimids to the Mughals, Gingko Library Art Series, London, 2016, pp. 56–71.

The muqarnas ceiling of the nave Cappella Palatina in Palermo was built and painted for the Norman King Roger of Sicily in circa 1140 by a coordinated workshop of Muslim carpenters and painters trained in Fāṭimid Cairo. While it is the... more

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AL-AZHAR MOSQUE: AN ARCHITECTURAL CHRONICLE OF CAIRO’S HISTORY

by Nasser Rabbat

Mamluk History Through Architecture: Building, Culture, and Politics in Mamluk Egypt and Syria (London: I. B. Tauris, 2010), 72-97.

FIG. 7.1. Aerial View of al-Azhar from the south (courtesy AKSE, Aga Khan Services, Egypt).

FIG. 7.3. Bab al-Muzayinin (Gate of the Barbers) of ‘Abd al-Rahman Katkhuda.

FIG. 7.5. Roundels and niches stucco ornaments above the arches.

FIG, 7.4. Main or southeastern facade of the mosque’s haram.

FIG. 7.9. The four minarets of al-Azhar including the two Ottoman minarets of ‘Abd al-Rahman Katkhuda — at Bal al-Muzayinin and al-Aqbaghawiyya — (drawn by Prisse D’Avennue, ca. 1870).

FIG. 7.10. Portal of the Riwaq al-‘Abbasi. was the straightforward requirement to maintain the building to ensure the ade- quate functioning of this major pedagogica institution. The second was the desire o Ismail, and to a lesser extent his two suc cessors, Tawfig and ‘Abbas Hilmi II, to mod ernise, regularise and urbanise this centra site in their capital. The task became more urgent with the opening of al-Azhar Street and Maydan al-Azhar in 1890-92; the entire northern facade needed to be aligned with the street, and the minaret of ‘Abd al- Rahman Katkhuda had to be demolished since it stood alone outside the Bab al- Muzayinin. The third was the effort to win the acceptance and boost the popularity of the rulers among the Azharites and the general population by endowing _ this respected centre of learning with visible additions that would celebrate and perpetu- ate their names. The same religious policy lies behind the restoration of popular shrines and the launching of grand mosques

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Les fortifications fatimides, Xe- XIIe siècle (Ifrīqiyya, Misr et Bilād al-Šam)

by Stephane Pradines

Cet article est l’occasion de présenter l’état de nos connaissances sur les fortifications fatimides du IVe H. /Xe AD au VIe H. /XIIe AD siècle, précisément de H.297 /AD 910 à 566 H./1171. Ce bilan historiographique et bibliographique... more

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