tions to northwest India 85 In his Kitāb al-Tafhīm
figure is shown to hold either a pair of upright
li-awāʾil ṣināʿat al-tanjīm (“Book of Instruction
dragons, their bodies forming a loop,92 or vertical
in the Elements of the Art of Astrology”), writ-
staffs (figs 113–116); both the coiling bodies and
ten upon his return to Ghazna in 422/1031, he
the allegorical staffs end in confronted dragon
refers to the two fictitious nodes, the eighth
heads with gaping snouts It is significant that rep-
and a ninth planet, as knot (ʿuqda) and point of
resentations of the planet jawzahar thereby make
crossing (majāz) 86 In spite of his statement that
use of the emblematic portrayal of the cosmic
“they are not real planets,” the same author does
ruler mentioned earlier, framed by dragon-headed
however record the position of the raʾs al-tinnīn
staffs, ubiquitously employed on visual art from
and the dhanab al-tinnīn in the various astrologi-
the mid-eleventh to early thirteenth century and
cal tables included in his texts 87 Much earlier,
associated with the ancient concept of the “Master
in the work On The Great Conjunctions, or the
of the Dragons ” The choice of this cosmic sym-
Aḥkām Taḥāwīl Sinī al-Mawālid, the astrologer
bolism underlines the prominence accorded to
Abū Maʿshar (d 272/886) had already referred
jawzahar which gives an indication of the magni-
to the points of exaltation for the nodes of the
tude of the potential effects the planet could have
Moon which for the dragon’s head is in Gemini
on the course of human events The conception of
3°, and for the tail in Sagittarius 3° 88
the central figure as dragon-tamer thereby per-
The “node of the Moon’s orbit” however is an
haps reflects the apparent necessity to harness
integral part of the iconography of the eclipse
the forces of this planet
monster, portrayed as loop or twisted knot, some-
The planetary character of the two nodes of
times visualised as a pretzel- or heart-shaped
al-jawzahar indicates that they are traversing the
knot This is reflected in the symbolism of the
plane of the ecliptic With respect to the signs, the
personification of comets, Ketu, visualised on the
planets have a “domicilium” as well as a place of
navagraha reliefs that represent the nine Indian
exaltation (sharaf) and dejection (hubūṭ) These
planetary deities, which are similarly illustrated
astronomical terms respectively define the points
with a human torso and a serpentine tail termi-
most distant from and closest to the earth, espe-
nating in a knot 89 The earliest surviving repre-
cially in reference to the elliptical orbit of the
sentation of Rāhu and Ketu in India is carved
Moon In astrology they relate to the point of
on a navagraha lintel from Uttar Pradesh, dating
maximum and minimum influence of one of the
from c 600 or slightly later, in which Ketu is rep-
seven traditional planets and of the two nodes of
resented as a half-ophidian figure sitting on his
al-jawzahar when they find themselves in associa-
coiled serpentine tail beside the cephalic Rāhu
tion with one of the constellations visualised as
(fig 140) 90
one of the twelve signs of the zodiac
Individual depictions of jawzahar – Draco as
In the Irano-Turkish territories, the eclipse
eighth planet next to the seven traditional planets,
pseudo-planet (al-jawzahar) is often shown at the
comprising the Sun, the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter,
point of exaltation of its head or tail in Gemini,
Mars, Venus and Mercury,91 often portray a cross-
as for instance on a silver- and copper-inlaid
legged figure holding a dragon in each hand The
brass ewer from Herat, formerly in the Nuhad
85 Boilot, “al-Bīrūnī (Bērūnī), Abu ’l Rayḥān Muḥammad
probably dates from c 600 to 650 (Markel, 1995, fig 29;
b Aḥmad,” EI² I, 1136a
Government Museum, Alwar) For later depictions, see also
86 Tr and ed Wright, 1934, pp 91–2
Hartner, 1938, pp 134, 138, figs 6–8 For a discussion of the
87 Idem, pp 255, 258
navagraha reliefs, see Pingree, 1964–5, pp 249–67; Markel,
88 Hartner (1938, p 133 and n 30) refers to De magnis
1995, pp 19–68 and 129–76
91
coniunctionibus, the Latin version translated by Johannes
Hartner, 1938, pp 114–38 In later medieval Indian
Hispalensis, printed at Augsburg in 1489 (repr Venice,
literature both nodes, Rāhu (raʾs al-tinnīn), and Ketu (dhanab
1515), which contains a chapter dealing with the planetary
al-tinnīn), were attributed the same importance as the other
influence of the nodes as a figure of the “dragon” with its
seven planets, hence there were a total of nine planets; idem,
head and tail twisted around two nodes (reproduced in idem,
p 133, cf also p 151
92
fig 10) Cf al-Bīrūnī’s references in his Kitāb al-Tafhīm, tr
For instance, on a late twelfth- or early thirteenth-
and ed Wright, 1934, p 358
century copper alloy inkwell inlaid with silver from West-
89 Ketu’s serpent tail is alluded to in the Agnipurāṇa; see
ern Central Asia (Pugachenkova and Rempel’, fig 196, and
De Mallmann, 1962, p 86
fig 197, line drawing), or on a thirteenth-century silver-
90 The earliest western Indian representation is found on
inlaid copper alloy candlestick from Mesopotamia (Baer,
a fragmentary lintel from Alwar district in Rajasthan, which
1983, p 256, fig 208)
the dragon and astrology
141
Es-Said Collection, now in the National Museum
inhabited with monster heads with long floppy
of Qatar in Doha (fig 141) 93 In Islamic tradi-
ears growing from scrol ing tendrils (as shown for
tion, the planetary eclipse in Sagittarius is gen-
example in the depiction of “Moon in Cancer”)
erally rendered as a centaur taking aim with a
that Hartner identifies with “the dragon prog-
bow at its long dragon-headed tail and shooting
eny threatening the luminaries or, vicariously,
an arrow into the dragon’s mouth On the Qatar
their domicilia and exaltations ”96 However, he
ewer the sign is accordingly portrayed as the pro-
has qualified the astrological interpretation sug-
tome of a winged quadruped dragon with tongue
gesting that “in all probability, various elements
protruding from the gaping mouth rising from
– astronomical, astrological and mythologi-
the looped tail (fig 142) A sculptural example
cal – were here fused in one ”97 This shows that
of the planetary eclipse in Sagittarius is depicted
the astrological veracity of such details was less
among eight astrological reliefs carved onto the
important than their exemplary significance It is
pillars of the Tigris bridge, near the city of Jazīrat
moreover noteworthy that the monster heads with
ibn ʿUmar (present-day Cizre), Anatolia Among
long floppy ears issue from vegetation, which for
the reliefs is the upright knotted protome of a
its association with fertility generally has positive
dragon with gaping mouth and curled-up snout
connotations It may therefore be hypothesised
tip, oriented towards the figure of a centaur shoot-
that the depiction of “dragon progeny” together
ing with a bow and arrow into its mouth The
with the signs of the zodiac and the planets was
bridge was commissioned by the wazīr of Mosul,
intended to have a beneficial influence on the
Jamāl al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Iṣfahānī The wazīr’s
paths of the luminaries
imprisonment in 558/1163 provides a terminus
A related large silver-inlaid brass ewer, housed
ante quem for the construction of the bridge and
in the Georgian State Museum, Tbilisi, Georgia,
its astrological relief sculptures 94 As pointed out
which is decorated on the shoulder with the signs
by Hartner, the reliefs are one of the earliest-
of the zodiac and the planets, bears inscriptions
known sculptural examples “in which the Islamic
that not only give the name of the maker, one
artist obviously grants the same rights to one or
both of these pseudo-planets as to the seven real
Maḥmūd ibn Muḥammad al-Harawī and the
ones, while in India this had been the rule cen-
date, the month of Shaʿban 577/19 December
turies before ”95
1181–17 January 1182, but also state that the
Similarly, depictions of al-jawzahar threaten-
“seven heavenly bodies, however proud they may
ing the Sun and the Moon, or their respective
be, are protection for the one who works so ”98 As
zodiacal animals, the lion and the crab, became
James Allan states, “from this poem it is evident
prevalent in the decorative programmes of objects,
that the inlayer saw those images as protection
as evidenced in the depictions on the same ewer
for himself against evil ”99 It further underlines
(figs 143 and 144) The importance of the eclipse
the overall magical and prophylactic quality that
pseudo-planet is such that most of the roundels on
was ascribed to the iconography of the signs of
this ewer show the signs of the zodiac and planets
the zodiac and the planets The frequency of their
93 Jawzahar at the points of exaltation of its head or tail
astrological treatise, probably illustrated under Islamic
in Gemini is also depicted at the top of the lid of the penbox
influence in 1188; Amiranašvili, 1966, pl 56 See also
from Iran (signed by Maḥmūd ibn Sunqur on the hasp
p 19, n 36 A comparable figure is represented as centaur-
and dated 680/1281–2; on this penbox see also pp 96, 98
archer shooting an arrow backwards at the dragon head
and fig 93), which bears roundels in three groups of four
emerging from its tail on the coinage of the Artuqid
containing symbols of the zodiac with their ruling planets
ruler of Mardin, Nāṣir al-Dīn Artuq Arslan ibn Il Ghāzī
Cf Hartner, 1938, p 138 (misprint of dates), figs 14 and 15
(599/1203–637/1239); Roxburgh, ed 2004, p 398, cat
(roundel representing “Gemini”); idem, 1973–4, pp 115 and
no 86; What the Coins Tell Us, 2009, p 102; Hauptmann
fig 9 (left); Pope and Ackerman, eds , 1938–39, repr 1964–
von Gladiss, ed , 2006, pp 107–8, figs 15, 16 The same
81, vol 13, p 1336 B; Barrett, 1949, pl 33 top; Legacy, 2002,
emblem also figures on the coinage of the ʿAbbasid caliph
cat no 158, fig 46 The same motif is shown on an early
al-Nāṣir (577/1181–620/1223); eadem, 2006, p 107, cat
thirteenth-century copper alloy inkwell, inlaid with silver,
no 15
95
attributed to Iran or Syria, now in the Metropolitan Museum
Hartner, 1938, p 132
96
of Art, New york; cf Baer, 1983, p 257, fig 209 (detail of
Idem, 1959, pp 237–9, and idem, 1973–4, p 112, 118
97
p 79, fig 59)
Idem, 1973–4, pp 112–3
94
98
Meinecke, 1996, p 60 On the reliefs of Jazīrat ibn
Loukonine and Ivanov, 2003, pp 116–7, cat no 117
ʿUmar, see Preusser, 1911, pl 40; Hartner, 1938, p 134
(with the inscription in Arabic and English) Cf Allan,
and fig 2 (photograph at bottom left), and idem, 1973–4,
1982a, repr 1999, p 49; Atil, Chase, and Jett, 1985, p 17,
pp 108, 110; Gierlichs, 1996, pl 47 4 A Sagittarius rendered
fig 6 The translation given is based on the rendering by
as a centaur shooting an arrow towards his own tail which
Allan See also p 36, n 6
99
terminates in a dragon head is depicted in a Georgian
Allan, 1982a, repr 1999, p 49
142