The aim of this research is to contextualise and
into a centre of Islamic civilisation It also resulted
chart, as far as possible, the complex iconogra-
in the assimilation and subsequent Islamicisation
phy of the dragon in the medieval Islamic world,1
of the steppe peoples of Turko-Mongol heritage
by interrogating the many factors, contexts and
Islamic-period Central Asia natural y inherited
contingencies that helped to shape and transform
artistic traditions from preceding dynasties such
it 2 The study focuses on the identification of the
as the Sasanians ( c 224–651) and the Sogdians
dragon imagery in a medieval Central Asian3
(fifth–eighth centuries) A true melting pot of
cultural context, in what may be described as
peoples and cultures, the region had from earli-
Irano-Turkish territories, from where it was dis-
est times served as a mediator and transmitter of
seminated by people of predominantly Turkic
artistic trends as they passed from east to west
and Iranian stock 4 It necessarily draws on a
Asia and vice versa This phenomenon was taken
vast corpus of imagery of long artistic and icono-
even further in the vast spatial entity of Islam,
graphic tradition which originates from an equal y
where economic links facilitated the transmis-
vast geographic area of enormous cultural and
sion of knowledge as well as cultural and artistic
ethnic complexity, with a primary emphasis on
exchange among peoples of different backgrounds
the transmission of the dragon iconography from
and thus, in spite of the multicultural setting, con-
Central Asia to Anatolia Importantly, the latter
veyed a feeling of unity and a sense of belong-
comprises to a large extent parts of the region
ing to a common civilisation 6 Medieval Islamic
that formed part of the empire of Alexander the
society was a mixture of several regional cultures
Great at his death in 323 bc, constituting ancient
which included Muslims and non-Muslims speak-
Sogdia, Bactria, the Indus Valley, Parthia, Media,
ing many languages, including Arabic, Persian,
the Transcaucasus and Anatolia A common fea-
Syriac, Hebrew, Armenian, Turkish, Kurdish and
ture of these regions is therefore to have been
various local dialects The approach in the fol ow-
subject for three to four centuries to intermittent
ing essays is thus necessarily broadly compara-
waves of Hellenistic influence
tive since evidently, as Julie Scott Meisami has
Arab conquests of Central Asia began to gain
aptly put it, “the medieval world does not stop
momentum from 86/705 when Qutayba ibn
at, say, the border between Christian By zantium
Muslim was appointed governor of Khurasan,
and Islamic territories, it is also clear that valu-
from where he led incursions into neighbouring
able insights may be gained from comparing
regions 5 This led to a process of Islamicisation in
the various manifestations of what is, to a great
the city states of sedentary Central Asia and the
extent, a unified tradition, which shares certain
subsequent transformation of the entire region
basic attitudes and assumptions despite the par-
1 Throughout this investigation the traditional historical
part of China, northern India, northeastern Iran, Mongolia,
era, commonly referred to as the medieval period, is defined
Pakistan and the [former] Central Asian Republics of the
as spanning the eighth to the thirteenth century
USSR ” See Miroshnikov, 1992, repr 1999, pp 259–80 (the
2 On the history of the study of iconography in Islamic
discussion also includes a brief outline of the historical
art, see the recent resumé of Ernst Grube (2005, pp 13–33)
usage of the term) The problems of defining the concep-
with an extensive list of references
tual geographies of Central Asia are revisited by Akiner,
3 Today “Central Asia” has acquired a narrower meaning
1998, pp 3–62
associating it with its use in the former Soviet Union and
4 The words “Turkic” as well as “Iranian” are used as gen-
can be said to include the territories of Uzbekistan, Turk-
eral designations to denote people whose ruler or majority
menistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan as well as
spoke a Turkic or an Iranian language Tribal confederacies
Mongolia, the Tibet Autonomous Region and the Xinjiang
in Central Asia were very heterogeneous and under various
Uighur Autonomous Province in northwest China However
cultural influences Cf Frye, 2005, p 149, n 1
throughout the present study the term is used in its broader
5 On the Muslim Arab campaign in Central Asia and
sense following the cultural definition of Central Asia given by
subsequent consolidation of power, see the classical study of
UNESCO in two meetings of experts, held in 1978 and 1979,
Gibb, 1923
which is anchored in the multi-volume History of Civilization
6 The accounts of medieval travellers show that there
of Central Asia The Final Report of 12 February 1979, Paris,
were, in fact, apart from sea frontiers, no clearly defined
reads that the spatial dimensions include “territories lying at
boundary lines within the Islamic empire See Bauer, 1995,
present within the boundaries of Afghanistan, the western
pp 34–6
4