al-Ṣādiq al-Tamīmī, and also the Turba Philoso-
dragon being hot, auspicious and indicating
phorum
increase of wealth and the tail being cold, bringing
In the Kitāb al-Fihrist, a work composed in
misfortune and signifying diminution of wealth 82
Baghdad at the end of the tenth century, Abu
He also notes that:
’l-Faraj Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn al-Nadīm
(d 385/995 or 388/998) credits the Umayyad
some people say that the dragon’s head is male
prince Khālid ibn yazīd (d c 704/85) as the first
and diurnal and the tail female and noctur-
Arab to have been interested in alchemy and to
nal 83
have ordered translations of some alchemical
It is further of note, as recorded by al-Damīrī in
works 77 By the middle of the tenth century vari-
his bestiary, that in medieval Islam it was a popu-
ous philosophical currents circulated in Baghdad,
lar belief that “serpents do not copulate in the usu-
which also included the magical and alchemi-
ally known manner of copulation, but they twist
cal thought-world of the writings of the Jabirian
themselves round each other (for that purpose) ”84
cycle 78 In the writings of the Jabirian corpus of
A sexual character of the knotted dragon motif
alchemy, the idea of a transmutational elixir (al-
is further supported by the universal sympathy,
iksir) used as medicine or life-giving force, which
discussed earlier, that ultimately unites al natural
was probably transmitted from China,79 occurs for
opposing forces, including those of the female
the first time It could be prepared from animal,
and the male principle, which also finds expres-
vegetal or mineral substances and could be used to
sion in the coupling of the Sun and the Moon
prolong life or given as medicine to sick people As
The use of the twisted serpents’ motif as a simile
already mentioned in the preceding chapter, Jābir
ibn Ḥayyān (d c 196/812), purportedly an alche-
for sexual intercourse appears in Gurgānī’s poem
mist at the court of Hārūn al-Rashīd, believed all
Wīs u Rāmīn which in its essence is a celebra-
metals to be a result of their union in different
tion of an erotic relationship 85 However, whereas
proportions and according to different modali-
the theme of the twisted serpents was frequently
ties Under the influences of the planets, these are
associated with sexual symbolism in pre-Islamic
formed in the heart of the earth by the union of
written sources,86 it is a relatively rare occurrence
the hypothetical substances of sulphur, male, in
in medieval Islam
which fire and air are present and which has hot
Exactly the same motif as shown on the Sèvres
and dry “natures,” and mercury, female, which
pyriform flask is recorded on a contemporary
contains water and earth, and is cold and wet 80
unglazed clay jug with filter from northern Syria,
Astrological components may also inform
in the National Museum in Damascus The vessel
the iconographic rendering In Abū Maslama
carries around the body a similar moulded band
Muḥammad al-Majrītī’s magical treatise Ghāyat
with contiguous almond-shaped medallions
al-ḥakīm the opposing principles of positive and
enclosing the same knotted dragons (fig 172) A
negative bodily temperaments are associated with
similar depiction, but with the dragon heads in
the two celestial nodes (knots), the head and the tail
addorsed position, is found on a shallow ceramic
of the “hidden essence [“verborgenem Wesen”] ”81
bowl from Raqqa of the same period, now pre-
As mentioned earlier, al-Bīrūnī reports that the
served in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in
nodes have separate natures, the head of the
New york (fig 173) 87
77 Anawati, “Arabic Alchemy,” EHAS, 1996, vol 3, p 864
the sex of the monsters is differentiated: the female
78 Gutas, 1998, p 104
Leviathan dwells in the depths of the sea and the male
79 Hill, 1990, p 335 Cf Needham and Ling, 1954,
Behemoth occupies a dry wilderness on the east of Para-
pp 323–4; Needham et al , 1980, pp 330–425, esp pp 339–
dise The Apocalypse of Abraham 10 speaks of male and
55
female Leviathans Cf also the apocryphal book of Esther
80 Anawati, “Arabic Alchemy,” EHAS, 1996, vol 3, p 866
(1:4–11) in which Mordecai dreams of two combatting
Cf Moulierac, 1987, p 88; Kraus [Plessner], “Djābir b
dragons
Ḥayyān,” EI² II, 357b
84 Tr Jayakar, 1906, vol 1, p 634 Cf Ruska, “Ḥayyā,” EI²
81 “Picatrix, ” tr and eds Ritter and Plessner, 1962,
III, 334b
p 45 16–9
85 Tr and ed Davis, 2008, p 192
82 Kitāb al-Tafhīm, tr and ed Wright, 1934, p 233
86 See the forthcoming publication by the present writer
83 Idem, p 234 Of note is also the association of
which discusses the dragon iconography from 2500 bc to 650
Leviathan and Behemoth in the book of Job 40–1 where
ad; also Kuehn, 2009, pp 43–67
they appear as representatives of different orders, the one of
87 Lane, 1947, pl 81 B; Dimand, 1947, p 191, fig 124;
liquids and the other of solids In the book of Enoch 6:7–9
Grube, 1963, p 59, fig 15; Grube and Johns, 2005, p 230,
the knotted dragon motif
167
An esoteric character of this dragon knot is
Muhammad ibn yūnus – may God have mercy
suggested by its appearance on a hemispherical
on him 92
copper alloy magico-medicinal bowl, preserved
In addition it is inscribed with Qurʾānic verses
in the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, which
(comprising sūra s 84, 1–4; 71, 18; and 94, 5–6),
has been dated between the twelfth and fourteenth
further invocations asking relief from labour pains
century 88 The interior of the bowl features a
and colic (requesting the help of four genii) as well
pair of knotted confronted dragons with paired
as a series of nine letters that form the initial part
slender sinuous tails, an undulating serpent, an
of a different sūra (hence are endowed with a spe-
eight-legged scorpion and a quadruped, probably
cial “sympathetic quality,” or khawāṣṣ) It is sig-
a lion 89 The dragons are characterised by “Saljuq-
nificant that although the decorative programme
type” fanged jaws with the conspicuous feature
and the inscription suggest that talismanic power
that their tongues are darting out to meet at the
was invested in this bowl, the inscription does not
centre (fig 174) The interesting serpent-lion-
attribute this power directly to a planetary rep-
scorpion combination is mentioned in Aḥmad
resentation, but instead emphasises the curative
ibn ʿAlī al-Būnī’s (d c 622/1225) widely circu-
properties of the bowl The therapeutic efficacy
lated thirteenth-century writings on magic 90 It
for an ailing person to drink from a bowl that is
also occurs on Islamic talismans such as the “Lion
inscribed with Qurʾānic verses and formulae of
Seal” described by Ibn Khaldūn 91 The bowl is cir-
blessing is well-known It may be presumed that
cumscribed on the exterior in cursive script with
just as the medicinal effect derives its power from
a therapeutic inscription which reads:
the contact of water with a vessel inscribed with
pious inscriptions and magical invocations, the
This holy bowl is useful for the sting of a scor-
pion and of a snake and the bite of a mad dog,
symbolism of the three animals, the quadruped,
for difficulty in childbirth, nosebleed, stomach
the snake and the scorpion, as well as the knotted
ache and colic The afflicted person is to drink
dragons on this magico-medicinal bowl93 serve a
from it three times By the grace of god he will
similar function through the agency of water The
recover For difficult labour drink saffron water
charging of water with magico-medicinal healing
For stopping nosebleed and abdominal pain, snuff
through material contact with a magical object
water from it For colic, gulp down hot water
or talisman94 is also illustrated, for instance, in
This has been proven by experience The work of
the magical manual of the Pseudo-Majrīṭī, Kitāb
fig 77 9 For a line drawing of the knotted dragons, see
their misfortune … People assume that the person
Rogers, 1969, p 151, fig 2
who holds onto it (the charm) has an indescribable
88 See a related bowl dated 565/1169–70 from Syria in the
power over rulers and is able to have close contact
Nasser D Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, London; Savage-
with them, to serve them, and to use them for his own
Smith, 1997, p 82, cat no 25
ends…
89 Knotted dragons also occur on another type of early
Islamic magic-medicinal bowl, the so-called “poison cups,”
Tr Rosenthal, 1958, vol 3, p 163 The same motif is men-
which are also of hemispherical form In addition to the
tioned in the Ghāyat al-ḥakīm (“The Philosopher’s Goal”),
knotted dragons, they also consistently represent a serpent,
attributed to Abū Maslama Muḥammad al-Majrītī The
a scorpion and a quadruped, in appearance something
serpent-lion-scorpion motif was current in the Islamic east
between a dog and a lion (the former would be more appro-
in the early Islamic period A depiction of just the lion and
priate since the bowl serves to protect against the bite of a
scorpion, without the serpent, appears on the obverse of
mad dog) These were used to provide an antidote for poison
two circular pendants from the Nīshāpūr excavation of the
and to serve as protection against animal bites and stings
Iranian expedition of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1936
Rehatsek, 1873–4, pp 150–4; Canaan, 1936, p 105, 1938,
to 1947) Cf Jenkins and Keene, 1982, cat no 7a and b;
p 146; Ittig, 1982, p 82; Savage-Smith, 1997, pp 73–4
Allan, 1982b, pp 68–9, cat nos 60, 61
92
90 Canaan, 1936, pp 101–5; Ittig, 1982, pp 91–2; Savage-
Ittig, 1982, p 81
Smith, 1997, pp 138–9; Porter, 2004, p 185
93 The same “decorative programme” is given also on
91 Ibn Khaldūn states in the Muqaddima:
five other “magic bowls” that were examined by Annette
Ittig (1982), but the knotted dragon figures on only one of
Then there is the ‘Lion Seal’ which is also called the
these bowls While Ittig suggests that the inscriptions may
pebble seal On a steel thimble, the sorcerer engraves
therefore not necessarily be directly related to the motif of
the picture of a lion dragging its tail and biting on
the knotted dragons, the depiction certainly cannot be anti-
pebbles which is thus divided into two parts A snake
thetical to the content of the inscriptions and may belong to
is represented in front of the lion It is coiled at the
a body of magico-talismanic symbols used for related pur-
feline’s mouth Upon the lion’s back, a crawling scorpion
poses that do not necessarily have to concur
is represented In order to make the engraving, (the
94 The use of talismans in the region of Mosul that are
sorcerer) waits for a time when the sun enters the first
written in ink and washed off with water which is then given
or third decan of Leo, provided (further) that the two
as a potion to a person who has been bitten by a serpent, scor-
luminaries (the sun and the moon) are well and out of
pion or mad dog, is described by Thompson, 1907, p 327
168