inherent parallels in artistic expression as well as
The tenth-century compilations of the Ikh wān
the adaptation and incorporation of seemingly
al-Ṣafāʾ (Brethren of Purity), a sect of the Ismāʿīlis,
“Chinese” and Chinese-inspired Mongol stylistic
similarly note that the dragon, king of all crawl-
formulae, in particular under the Ilkhanids, and
ing creatures, has the viper as wazīr 13 That the
their amalgamation with the visual contexts of
dragon is in fact a large serpent is noted much
the Central Asian region will be addressed in the
earlier in the writings of the fifth-century Arme-
first part of the Epilogue
nian apologist, Eznik of Koghb 14
Literary sources of various types, from practi-
cal writings (that is to say, pharmacopoeia, trav-
Characteristics of the (serpent-)dragon
elogues or books on magic), to theological and
exegetical writings, poetry, fables and in particular
Since earliest antiquity the dragon has been a
epics,15 such as the early eleventh-century Persian-
richly multivalent symbol of complex mythical
language masterpiece, the Shāh-nāma (“Book of
and symbolic value characterised by a coalescence
Kings”), prove invaluable in the effort to establish
of maleficence and beneficence Owing to this
a relationship between dragon iconography and
inherent polyvalence and ambiguity, it has been
cal ed “one of the most complex symbolisms of the
its possible iconological content, in other words
history of cultures ”9 Its iconography is a recur-
the endlessly varied contemporary cultural con-
ring and popular image in the architecture and
cepts that generated these notions Such varia-
the arts of the medieval Islamic world yet despite
tions result in an apparently limitless repertoire
its wide diffusion, the symbolism that survives
of iconographical formulae for the dragon which,
from the Central Eurasian world of the medieval
according to the Shāh-nāma:
period is often elusive and even cryptic
lived in the water and overland now in the river
The composite mythical creatures are endowed
and anon in the sun [i e , on the earth], and could
with features or parts belonging to various animals
pull a ferocious elephant with its tail 16
generally recognisable across cultural-aesthetic
This verse describes the dragon’s ability to undergo
boundaries, the reptilian, feline and raptorial
motif being prevalent in the overall composition;
environmental and spatial changes In his well-
they thus often carry chthonic, aquatic and aerial
known bestiary, Ḥayāt al-ḥayawān al-kubrā (“The
aspects It is however the reptilian characteris-
Life of the Biggest Animals”), the fourteenth-cen-
tics that predominate in the iconography of the
tury scholar Kamāl al-Dīn al-Damīrī (745/808–
medieval Central Asian dragon This is not only
1344/1405) similarly observes that:
displayed in visual information but also demon-
Serpents are originally in their nature aquatic
strated by written sources In a passage from the
[creatures] and can live in the sea after having
Arabian col ection of tales of the Alf layla wa-layla
been land ones, and on land after having been
(“Thousand and One Nights”),10 the physician
marine ones 17
asks the slave girl Tawaddud to name him a ser-
pent that lays eggs In response she names the
Allusions such as these reveal that the dragon
dragon, in other words, a grown serpent 11 The
was able to cross boundaries within its natural
same notion is expressed by the Ghaznawid poet
environment, metamorphosing from land to sea
Masʿūd-i Razī when he advises sulṭān Masʿūd ibn
creature and vice versa The physical changes
Maḥmūd of Ghazna (r 421/1030–432/1040):
accompanying such shape-shifting all form part
of the dragon iconography in medieval Islamic
Do not extend security and do not give time and
art so that the creature is, for instance, portrayed
opportunity [to the enemy]
variously without legs, with two forelegs or with
Given time the snake turns into a dragon 12
9 Le Goff, 1980, p 162
Muṣaffa, M , 6 vols , Tehran, 1961, vol 2, p 1170, as cited
10 A collection of stories in Arabic, Thousand and One in Daneshvari, 1993, p 17, n 13
13
Nights, appears to have formed around a Persian framework
Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ, tr and ed Dieterici, 1858, pp 83–4
14
and to have developed with many additions from various
Elc alandocʿ, tr and ed Mariès and Mercier, 1959,
locations from the ninth and tenth centuries, taking final pp 593–4, ch 133
15
shape in the thirteenth century Cf Littmann, “Alf layla
For a discussion of Islamic mythology comprising the
wa-layla,” EI 2 I, 358b
creation myths, the lives of the Prophets and eschatology, see
11 Cf Tausendundeine Nacht (Brandenburg, 1973, p 70), Thackston, 1990, pp 186–201
16
which contains this episode
Tr and ed Mohl, 1838–1878, vol 6, p 41, ll 427–9
12
17
Rīzā Qulī Khān Hidāyat, Majmaʿ al-fuṣaḥāʾ, ed
Tr Jayakar, 1906, vol 1, p 636
6