ticular local colouring of the individual cultures
to the region of Bactria that lies between the
that make up the whole ” Therefore, since it per-
mountains of the Hindu Kush and the classical
tains to more than one culture and geographical
Oxus river (known as Āmū Daryā) Known as
region, the study necessarily addresses the mul-
the Kushāṇas, they entered the Eurasian heart-
ticultural and hybrid facets of the dragon motif
lands and the Indian subcontinent in the first or
as it evolved in these regions and examines how
second centuries ad Under subsequent Central
the motif was accepted and incorporated into the
Asian dynasties such as the Sasanians and Sog-
artistic repertory
dians (who were closely linked with the Turkic
An investigation into the visual phenomenon
empires and played the role of active agents of
of the dragon, which evolved from its pre-Islamic
cultural interaction), the dragon motif continued
origins to manifest itself in varied but analogous
to be extensively employed and was to become
and interrelated forms across this wide spatial
a prominent emblem of the Great Saljuq Turks
and temporal entity, necessitates a broad over-
This so-called “Saljuq-style” dragon was a
view of the entire spectrum of images as they
motif in common currency from Central Asia
appear on diverse media In doing so the study,
to Anatolia (Rūm, the “Roman”/Byzantine lands)
moreover, inevitably exhibits some of the diffi-
long before its place was taken by a so-called
culties arising from the necessity of crossing aca-
“Chinese-style” dragon, introduced in the after-
demic boundaries An interdisciplinary method of
math of the Mongol invasion during the rule
analysis has been pursued, involving not only art
of the Chaghatayids (624/1227–764/1363), the
historical but literary, epigraphical and historical
Batuʾids (624/1227–907/1502) and the Ilkhanids
evidence During the ten years it took to compile
(654/1256–754/1353) when China marked one
the vast body of data the sheer scope of the mate-
pole of the Mongol empire at its time of great-
rial, in cultural, confessional, geographical and
est territorial expansion This gave rise to a Chi-
chronological terms, threatened to overwhelm
nese and Chinese-inspired but Mongol version
all attempts at containment and control Neces-
of the dragon that began to appear for instance
sarily, given the vastness of the subject, only cer-
on the tile revetments of the Ilkhanid summer
tain aspects of the multilayered and multivalent
residence at Takht-i Sulaimān, built in the 1270s
character of the topic can be treated This study
in the Azerbaijan region of present-day Iran, as
identifies and discusses specific themes pertaining
well as in some early fourteenth-century manu-
to the dragon iconography which can be observed
scripts The transmission of the visual rendering
over a long period of time
of the motif was the result of an acculturation
The likeness of the dragon is commonly associ-
process in which it was translated into a Central
ated with Asia and more specifically with China,
Asian context The focus of this study is precisely
being a paramount Chinese emblem yet its icon-
on the manifestations of the dragon as evinced in
ographic expression was known and used in a
the cultural and artistic context of the medieval
Central Asian context during the Bronze Age
Central Asian world before the phenomenon of
period, i e from the late third to early second mil-
the “Chinese-style” dragon occurred in the arts
lennium bc,7 and was again extensively employed
of Islam during the latter half of the thirteenth
in the so-called “animal style” which was trans-
and fourteenth century with the establishment of
mitted in the wake of the migrations of the ancient
the Mongols in Central Asia Examples dating to
nomads of the Scytho-Siberian culture 8 The late
after the Mongol invasion are employed only in
outflows of the culture which produced this style
so far as they illustrate a particularly pertinent
include, for instance, the Xiongnu of Mongolia
symbolic feature in the stylistic continuation of
and the yuezhi (Rouzhi), who were driven out
the “Saljuq-style” dragon (the term “Saljuq” being
of present-day Gansu province in China by the
used throughout this study in an extended sense,
Xiongnu in the second century bc and migrated
geographically and chronologically) The issue of
7 The dragon (together with its smaller relative, the ser-
late third mil ennium bc This body of evidence is investigated
pent, as will be shown) is a universally attested motif, per-
by the present writer in a separate, forthcoming monograph
haps generated simultaneously by a number of cultures
which discusses the dragon iconography from 2500 bc to
An “Eastern,” and more specifically “Central Asian,” prov-
650 ad See also Kuehn, 2009, pp 43–67
8
enance can therefore not be inferred for one of the most
The application of this term has been questioned since it
ancient iconographies of mankind However extensive mate-
seems to exclude geographically the important branch of the
rial evidence of the motif, so far fairly unknown, has been
same culture that inhabited Mongolia Cf Jacobson, 1999,
discovered in the Central Asia region from at the least the
p 173