allel Mongol exploits with those of the formi-
al-Dīn Kay Qubādh I (r 616/1219–634/1237) at
dable hero Afrāsīyāb, a well-known figure in
Konya and Sivas 84
Iranian epic from the Avestan texts to the Shāh-
One of the episodes from the Shāh-nāma
nāma, the mythical king of Tūrān (the Central
depicted on several tiles shows the story of the
Asian region beyond the Jayḥūn/Āmū Daryā),
hero Farīdūn in his fight against the tyrant Ẓaḥḥāk
which after the appearance of the Turks in the
(al-Ḍaḥḥāk)/Dahāk 85 Another tile type shows
sixth century was mostly used in the sense of
Farīdūn with his bull-headed mace riding on a
Turkestan, or the land of the Turks,82 the legend-
cow going into battle against Ẓaḥḥāk 86 yet
ary nemesis of Iran In the Taʾrīkh-i jahān-gushāy,
another, which exists only in several fragments,
Juwaynī identifies Genghis Khān as the new
shows a similar procession with the chained
Afrāsīyāb:
Ẓaḥḥāk on foot 87 It is interesting that on one of
For that king is a male dragon panting for
the fragments the excavators of Takht-i Sulaimān
vengeance,
recognised two snakes wound around the head
A cloud of calamity
of Ẓaḥḥāk88 who, otherwise, is characteristically
A mountain of hard rock becomes like a sea of
portrayed with snakes growing out of each shoul-
water if
der 89
It hears the name of Afrāsīyāb 83
Other scenes show horsemen fighting with
Drawing on dragon symbolism to evoke the con-
dragons This is when the “Saljuq-style” dragon
queror Genghis Khān was also part of a rhetoric
makes an appearance on the lustre-painted frieze
that indicated a shift in political power and sought
tiles featuring riders with drawn swords attacking
to explain the change in political fortune indicated
the mythical creatures 90 Thus, notably in depic-
by the metaphor of the portentous transforma-
tions of heroic deeds from the ancient past, artists
tion of the “male dragon panting for vengeance”
do not draw on the newly introduced Chinese-
into a “cloud of calamity ”
inspired Mongol iconography to portray the
Pictorial and textual citations from the history
dragon, preferring the wel -known representation
of ancient Iranian kingship were long considered
that was current throughout medieval Western
an appropriate subject for the decoration of pala-
Asia Hence while the Ilkhanid period brought
tial buildings The inclusion of verses from the
new iconographic themes of “Chinese” derivation,
epic probably belonged to an established decora-
such as the dragon and phoenix, these did not
tive programme, also used, according to the
immediately override earlier visual traditions
chronicler Ibn Bībī, in 618/1221 to decorate the
However, the combination of subject matter and
walls of the palaces of the Rūm Saljuq sulṭān ʿAlāʾ
styles of both Chinese and Western Asian deriva-
82 Barthold, 1932–5, repr 1962, pp 86–7
(“House of Afrāsīyāb”) This is related to the epic cycle of
83 Tr Boyle, 1912–37, vol 2, pp 408–9 Cf Melikian-
the Qarakhanids which celebrates the exploits of Afrāsīyāb
Chirvani, 1984, pp 301, 323–4 Significantly, the metaphori-
who was adopted as ancestor by the founder of the dynasty
cal association of Afrāsīyāb with the dragon is reflected in his
and was identified with the Turkish hero Alp Er Tonga
role in the ancient scriptures of Zoroastrianism According
Maḥmūd al-Kāshgharī, Dīwān Lughāt al-turk, tr Atalay, B ,
to the yasht hymn, Afrāsīyāb’s powers included the suppres-
Ankara, 1939–1943, vol 1, pp 41, 159–60, 343, 381, 396,
sion of waters, draining of rivers, causing of drought, famine
410, 413–4, 466, 486; vol 3, 149–51, 157, 368, as cited in
and destruction The scriptures stress Afrāsīyāb’s repeated
Mélikoff, 1960, vol 1, p 43
but largely unsuccessful attempts to attain the farr (divine
84 Bombaci, 1966, p 39, n 5
fortune, glory), which he desired by, for example, sacrific-
85 Simpson, 1985, pp 139–40; Legacy, 2002, cat no 95
ing one hundred horses, one thousand cattle, and ten thou-
86 Naumann, E and R , 1969, p 52, fig 10; Simpson,
sand sheep to the fertility goddess Ardvī Sūrā Anāhitā (yasht
1985, fig 15; Masuya, 1997, pp 530–4, fig 6-2-4, pl 215
5 41–53) However, as Iran’s arch-enemy, only his defeat by
For a discussion of the representation of Farīdūn on medi-
the Iranian kings such as Zav and Kay Khusrow caused the
eval Islamic ceramics and metalwork, see Simpson, 1985,
rivers to flow and the land to prosper The Afrāsīyāb-myths
pp 131–49
were combined with a number of legends that mirrored the
87 Masuya, 1997, p 539, fig 6-2-6, pl 220
recurrent attacks on Iranian settlements by the nomads of
88 Naumann, E and R , 1969, p 51
the Central Asian steppes during the migration period of
89 See pp 8, 39, 118, n 71, 119, n 77, 164, 219
the various nomadic tribes such as the Saka (the Scythians),
90 Masuya (1997, pp 536–7) identifies two tiles made
the yuezhi, the Kushans, the Huns, the Hephtalites, the
from the same mould: Okayama Shiritsu Oriento Bijutsu-kan
Kidarites and the Turks See yarshater, “Afrāsīyāb,” EIr;
(“Okayama Municipal Museum of Near Eastern Art”), cata-
Zaehner, 1961, p 151 The association of the king of the
logue of the collection of the museum, Okayama, 1979, cat
Tūrānians in the Iranian national epic with a Turkic ruler
no 336; Sotheby’s, Catalogue of Islamic Ceramics, Metalwork,
has a precedent in Turkic Qarakhanid culture, to whom
Arms and Armour, Glass and Other Islamic Works of Art,
contemporary Islamic sources often refer as Āl-i Afrāsīyāb
London, April 12, 1976, lot no 103
220