acal signs and the seven planets fulfils a central
mentioned in this Mishna is a scaled and finned
function in talismanic design The visual concep-
figure like that of a fish This figure was highly
tualisation of the dragon thereby also plays a role,
renowned with them because they attribute it to
rendered as part of particular conjunctions which
a certain part of the celestial sphere And one of
form the basis for astrological prediction
them who used to make such pictures told me
The Qurʾānic exhortation not to worship the
that this one picture represents the dragon in
Sun and Moon, two signs created by God, occurs
the sphere of the moon [ tᵉli] – called in Arabic
once ( sūra 41, 37) 8 The codification of Rabbinic
“al-Djawzahar” – and that it is made after a cer-
laws, Mishna, also specifically refers to images
tain model and in a certain hour As I have never
seen such a picture I asked him in what book I
of the Sun, the Moon and, in addition, of the
might find it mentioned Whereupon he answered
dragon, all of which must have been commonly
me that his teacher himself had devised that pic-
represented in or before at least the fifth century
ture and confided it to him as a secret, together
ad (certainly the latest possible date of the
with many other things 11
composition of the Mishna), resulting in the
Talmudic tract ʿAvodah Zarah (“Mishna on Idol-
It is interesting that Maimonides thereby equates
atry” 3, 3) which contains the following prescrip-
the dᵉraqon with the dragon in the sphere of the
tion:
Moon (tᵉli), the meaning of the latter however
remaining unclear The commentary thus shows,
Whenever a vessel is found on which the picture
as Hartner put it:
of the sun, or of the moon, or of a dragon (draqōn)
is shown, it must be thrown into the salt sea 9
that still in the twelfth century the astrological
doctrines of the Djawzahar had by no means
Rabbi Judah explains with regard to the imagery
become a generally known matter but used to
of the dragon (dᵉraqon) that it is “anything that
be treated as a secret by the initiated, in such a
has fringes between the joints of the neck ”10
way that even a highly erudite scholar like Mai-
Commenting on this prohibition of the use of
monides could make only a rather vague statement
idolatrous images of the luminaries and the
about it 12
dragon in Moreh Nebukhim (“The Guide for the
Perplexed”) the great twelfth-century Jewish theo-
It reveals, moreover, the extent to which the fab-
logian Abū ʿImrān Mūsā ibn ʿUbaid Allāh ibn
rication of telesmata, or talismans, was shrouded
Maymūn/Maimonides (1135–1204) says:
in secrecy It is also associated with the fact that,
like astrology, the practice of magic (siḥr) was
When the picture of the sun or the moon is men-
frowned upon by the religious establishment 13
tioned, this does not mean that the picture of
As objects which were made to protect their
the sun is represented by a round disk, or that
owner and to ward off evil, the action of talismans
of the moon by a bow, but it refers to those fig-
is based on the concept of sympathetic magic,14
ures which are called telesmata, and which are
ascribed to the stars by the men who made them
which operates through the connectedness and
Thus, for instance, they used to represent Saturn
interdependence of all phenomena through their
like a black old man, Venus like a gold-adorned
qualities and attributes 15 Magic was defined by
fair young girl, the sun as a crowned king sitting
the Khurasanian theologian and religious re -
on a chariot, and likewise they ascribe many fig-
former, Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī (450/1058–
ures to all of the constellations and stars though
05/1111), as “based on a combined knowledge of
there is no agreement on it among them … But
the properties of certain terrestrial elements and
the picture of the dragon [ dᵉraqon] which is
of propitious astral risings ”16
8 Fahd, “Shams,” EI² IX, 291a
12 Hartner, 1938, p 150 See however Schlüter’s (1982,
9 Hartner, 1938, pp 149–50 It is of note that the serpent-
pp 141–1) suggestion that Maimonides, who in spite of
dragon image is to be cast into the salt sea, that is the Dead
being well-versed in astrology was, as is generally known,
Sea, presumably meant as symbol of death A baraita (extra-
ill-disposed towards the science, may thus intentionally have
canonical Mishna) similarly maintains that “all planets
equated the Moon tᵉli with the dᵉraqon (which the Mishna so
except the sun and moon are “permissible” as are all faces
expressly proscribed) partly in order to take distance from
except the human face and all figures except the dragon,” as
his contemporaries who placed such great importance on the
cited in Epstein, 1997, p 142, n 38 For a detailed discussion
Moon tᵉli
of rabbinic texts on the theme of the dragon and idolatry, see
13 Fahd, “Siḥr,” EI² IX, 567b
Schlüter, 1982, pp 62–129
14 Idem Cf Porter, 2006, p 794
10 Wilson, 2001, pp 124–5
15 O’Connor, 1994, p 67
11 Cited after the English translation by Hartner, 1938,
16 Iḥyāʾ, vol 1, pp 49–50, as cited in Fahd, “Ruḳya,” EI²
p 150 For a German translation, see Chwolsohn, 1856,
VIII, 600a
vol 2, pp 484–5; Schlüter, 1982, p 130
the dragon and the province of magic and divination
185
The influential magical manual Ghāyat
in the exercise of their influence, by means of a
al-ḥakīm (“The Philosopher’s Goal”), attributed
psychic or satanic force 21
to Abū Maslama Muḥammad al-Majrītī, who
wrote between 443/1052 and 448/1056, provides
Among the images of the planetary gods described
a synthesis of magic with astrology and stresses
by al-Majrītī in the Ghāyat al-ḥakīm, one com-
the importance of using talismans, whether mate-
bines the Sun, the Moon and Jupiter with the
rial or verbal (spells) 17 The compilation was
imagery of the dragon 22 In one source cited by
inspired by Ṣābian sources,18 which played an
al-Majrītī the Sun is portrayed in the form of a
important role in the transmission of esotericism
standing male figure holding a shield in his left
from late antiquity into early Islam, and by “‘Indi-
hand and having under his feet the image of a
anised’ hermeticist astrology. ”19
dragon;23 in another he appears as a crowned king,
Taking inspiration from the tenth-century
enthroned with a dragon under his feet and a
compilations of the Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ, al-Majrītī
raven in front of him 24 The Moon resembles a
wrote:
woman with a beautiful countenance, girded by
a dragon A pair of serpents crown her horned
magic essentially comprises two parts, one
head, another pair encircle her wrists while above
theoretical and one practical The first consists
and below her head are seven-headed dragons 25
in knowledge of the positions of the immobile
heavenly bodies (which is where, in fact, the forms
Again, in the first cited source the Moon is por-
are located), the modalities of their radiation on
trayed as a woman who sits on a pair of dragons,
the planets and, finally, aspects of conjunctions
each biting the tail of the other 26 Jupiter is a male
of the celestial spheres at the precise moment
figure with lion head and raptor’s feet, with a
that the successful outcome of a project is desired
polycephalic (or seven-headed) dragon under his
Under this heading the ancients placed everything
feet 27
having to do with discernment of the beneficial
The significance of a talisman lies in its con-
and of the baleful and with theurgy As for prac-
junction with the celestial bodies;28 hence talis-
tical magic, it consists in the knowledge of three
manic astrology plays a central role in its
domains of the created being and of the qualities
prepa ration 29 The magician is warned of the
of the planets which would be disseminated
there 20
eclipses of the Moon and the Sun and instructed
to delay making the talisman until the Moon is
Ibn Khaldūn, who knew the Ghāyat al-ḥakīm,
free of the knot (node) 30 He is further warned of
goes further in his prolegomena on the history
worse calamity when the Moon “foregoes … the
of the world, al-Muqaddima, stating that:
head or the tail (taqaddama); because then he
… the souls of magicians possess the ability to
will be ‘burnt’ through the conjunction (bi-
exert influences in the universe and to tap into
mulāqāt) of his body with that of the Sun,”31 the
the spirituality of the planets, in order to use it
reason being that when “passing from northern
17 It was translated into Spanish in 1256 by order of
tion of the iconography of the celestial bodies; “Picatrix,”
Alfonso the Wise, king of Castile and Leon, and later became
tr and eds Ritter and Plessner, 1962, pp xliv, lxv
known in Latin under the title of Picatrix; Anawati, “Arabic
23 Citing a lapidary by ʿUṭārid as source; eidem, p 115 10–
Alchemy,” EHAS, 1996, vol 3, p 872 Cf Ritter, 1933; “Pica-
3
trix, ” tr and eds Ritter and Plessner, 1962; also Ritter, 1921–
24 Citing a work by a certain Qrīṭūn on pneumatic talis-
2
mans translated by Bu(i)qrāṭīs; eidem, p 115 14–7 and n 1
18 The so-called Ṣābian inhabitants of Ḥarrān in north-
25 Citing a lapidary by ʿUṭārid as source; eidem, pp 116 30–
western Mesopotamia were particularly well-known for the
117 1–5
practice of astronomy and astrology Cf p 177, n 90
26 Citing a book without a title by Apollonius as source;
19 Cf Fahd, “Ṣābiʾa,” EI² VIII, 675a
eidem, p 117 6–8 and n e
20 “Picatrix, ” tr and eds Ritter and Plessner, 1962, p 9;
27 Citing a work by a certain Qrīṭūn on pneumatic talis-
tr after Fahd, “Siḥr,” EI² IX, p 567b
mans translated by Bu(i)qrāṭīs; eidem, p 118 6–9
21 Idem (tr after Muqaddima, tr Rosenthal, 1958, vol 3,
28 Eidem, p 35 21
pp 156–8)
29 Eidem, p 35 21
22 Citing three sources, specified as a lapidary by ʿUṭārid,
30 Eidem, p 23 30
a book without a title by Balīnūs (Apollonius) and a work by
31 “…dem Kopf oder Schwanz … vorhergeht (taqad-
a certain Qrīṭūn (Kriton) on pneumatic talismans translated
dama); denn dann ist er ‘verbrannt’ durch das
by Bu(i)qrāṭīs (the name Bu(i)qrāṭīs is identified by Ritter
Zusammentreffen (bi-mulāqāt) seines Körpers mit
and Plessner as “Picatrix, ” while Ullmann, 1972, p 420, and
dem Körper der Sonne ”
Strohmaier, 1989, p 267, relate it to that of Hippocrates)
Varying descriptions of the planets are given in the text which
“Picatrix,” tr and eds Ritter and Plessner, 1962, p 24 5, cf
is a result of different manifestations and a syncretist evolu-
pp 69 27–70 1; with emendation by Hartner, 1965, p 445
186