tion on the Takht-i Sulaimān tiles might be con-
of the madrasa was funded by the powerful vizier
sidered an important testimony to the meeting
of the last period of the Saljuqs of Konya, Fakhr
and merging of cultural elements from Eastern
al-Dīn ʿAlī Ṣāḥib Aṭaʾ (d 687/1288–9), in 670/
and Western Asia as well as evidence of early
1271–2 when the Saljuqs were vassals of the
acculturation in the development of an Ilkhanid
Ilkhanids In the same year two further madrasa s
idiom
were erected in Sivas, the Çifte Minare madrasa
Both the choice of site for the palace, in its
commissioned by the Ilkhanid vizier Shams
implicit appropriation of a past dynasty’s legacy
al-Dīn Juwaynī and another madrasa ordered by
of power and ancient affiliations with Iranian
al-Muẓaffar ibn Hibat-Al āh al-Barujirdī, a private
spiritual strength, and the themes of the tile dec-
individual of whom only the name is known
oration with Chinese and Iranian symbols of roy-
These were the first Ilkhanid-sponsored buildings
alty, indicate that the Ilkhanid rulers were trying
in the city, which was the place of residence of
to enhance their strategic representation Their
the Mongol governors, and reflect the change
aim was to communicate the legitimacy and cha-
from Saljuq to Ilkhanid hegemony It is against
risma of Ilkhanid rule as well as to accumulate
this background that Fakhr al-Dīn ʿAlī appears
“spiritual,” in other words political, power since
to have sought to consolidate his own power base
for the Mongols “the fashioning of a capital was
by training a group of Muslim bureaucrats at the
a statement of material and spiritual riches ”91
Gök madrasa who would support his personal
Until the adoption of Islam as state religion,
ambitions 97 While the other two Ilkhanid spon-
the early Ilkhanid calendar was based on the astro-
sored madrasa s are devoid of zoomorphic depic-
nomically determined twelve animal cycle of
tions, it is noteworthy that only on the façade of
years, the so-called “Chinese-Uighur” calendar,
the madrasa patronised by Fakhr al-Dīn ʿAlī are
in which the year was perceived as starting in
animal sculptures represented The manner of
spring and the main unit of time was the alterna-
their articulation however, in tightly grouped
tion between winter and summer encampments 92
clusters projecting from interlaced stems, was not
According to this system which was well-estab-
confined to this one site nor to architectural dec-
lished in Central Asia, each year is associated with
oration A closely related type of imagery with
an animal; the cycle comprising rat, buffalo, leop-
an assemblage of four interlaced dragon heads
ard, rabbit, dragon, serpent, horse, sheep, monkey,
appears on a two-dimensional medium, an illu-
rooster, dog and pig 93 In ancient Turkish mythol-
mination in a thirteenth-century Armenian col-
ogy the two animals of the twelve animal calendar,
lection of sermons illustrated in the monastery
the serpent (yılan) and the dragon (luu), are
of Surb Karapet near Baghesh (Bitlis) (fig 191)
related 94 The origin of the animal cycle has been
The dragon motif similarly makes an appear-
much debated, and it remains uncertain whether
ance on the Sunqur Beg Mosque in Niğde in
it can be associated with a Chinese or Central
south-central Anatolia, built in the Saljuq period
Asian origin 95 It was used in Khotanese, Sogdian,
but restored in 736/1335 by the Ilkhanid governor
Buddhist Sanskrit, Tocharian, Gandhāran, and
Sayf al-Dīn Sunqur Ağa during the reign of the
Turkic accounts as wel as Chinese where the cycle
last major Ilkhanid sovereign Abū Saʿīd Baḥādur
had taken root during the Tang period 96
Khān The rectangular side panels that flank the
Some Ilkhanid-period works of art have been
portal are framed by rinceaux of vegetal scrolls
associated with this calendar, such as the identi-
which bear animal heads, including dragon heads
cal animal scroll reliefs that adorn either side of
with “Saljuq-style” snouts (fig 192) Hence, more
the portal façade flanking the top corners of the
than fifty years after the construction of the Gök
door of the Gök madrasa in Sivas, where a prom-
madrasa the iconography of the dragon remained
inent dragon head projects from amidst the clus-
remarkably consistent It is, moreover, notewor-
ter of animal heads (fig 190) The construction
thy that zoomorphic creatures, fantastic and nat-
91 Allsen, 1996, p 130
rooster (cock/hen), dog (rarely replaced by a crane), and
92 See Melville, 1994; van Dalen, 2002, pp 327–56,
pig/boar (rarely replaced by a goat) Rashiduddin Fazlul ah’s
esp pp 333–5
Jamiʿuʼt-tawarikh, tr Thackston, vol 1, 1998–9, p xxix
93 Alternatively these could be replaced by the following
94 Boratav, “Schlange,” WdM VII, 1, p 248
animals: rat/mouse, buffalo (bull/cow), feline (leopard or
95 Cf Needham and Wang, 1954, pp 405–6
tiger, rarely replaced by a lion or fox), hare (rabbit), dragon
96 Cf Whitfield, 2004, London, p 233; Panaino, “Calen-
(rarely replaced by a lizard, giraffe, bird or fish), serpent,
dar,” EIr
horse, sheep/goat, monkey (rarely replaced by a human),
97 Wolper, 1995, p 44