Iran Through his talismanic powers Balīnūs
nistic Orient represented by De XII gemmis, the
helped the king to defeat Āẓar Humā, the pow-
tale of the fourth-century bishop of Constantia
erful priestess of a fire temple, who in the form
(Cyprus), Epiphanius,136 as wel as by Pseudo-Aris-
of a dragon guarded the holy fire, in other words,
totle 137 It is retold in the Alexander Romance 138
the treasure of the temple 132 The same motif is
and also recorded by al-Bīrūnī in his Kitāb
extensively used in Niẓāmī’s Haft Paykar, con-
al-Jamāhir fī maʿrifat al-jawāhir (“Comprehensive
sidered in chapter 14, and also in his Laylā wa
Book on the Knowledge of Precious Minerals”),139
Majnūn When the news of Laylā’s death reaches
by Niẓāmī in his Iskandar-nāma,140 by the Ara-
Majnūn, he hastens madly to her grave and:
bian mineralogist Aḥmad al-Tifāshī (580/1184–
651/1253),141 in the collection of travel narratives
rolls in the same way as a serpent,
of Sindbād in the Alf layla wa-layla 142 as well as
Or a worm coiling beneath the earth,
Wi
later in the travelogue of the merchant explorer
th a thousand toils, he coiled himself around
The grave-stone like a serpent on a treasure 133
Marco Polo ( c 1254– c 1324) 143 It recounts that in
the east on the extreme frontier of Khurasan there
Even in her death Majnūn continues to keep
is a deep val ey in which diamonds lie, guarded by
watch over the grave of his beloved, Laylā, like a
poisonous snakes upon which no man can gaze
serpent guarding a treasure:
without dying; however this power endures only
The cavern is always the home of a snake;
so long as the serpents live On his way to India
O Moon, why has the cavern become your resi-
Iskandar, the Dhu ’l-Qarnayn (“two-horned”)
dence?
of the Qurʾān ( sūra 18, 82–98), is said to have
I wil lament in your cave for you are my beloved;
ventured into such a diamond pit He outwitted
you are the companion of the cave (yār-i ghār),
the serpents by holding up mirrors as shields in
how can I not weep?
which the serpents saw their own reflection and
you turned out to be a treasure in the earth;
died 144 The association of diamonds with serpents
If you are not a treasure, why are you then thus
may also explain the belief in the toxicity of dia-
[in the earth]?
monds first advocated in the Pseudo-Aristotle,
Every treasure, which is in a cave,
which cautions its readers “against taking the dia-
has a serpent upon its skirt
monds into their mouths, because the saliva of the
I am a serpent which is the sentinel of your grave
snakes adheres to it so that it deals out death ”145
watching the treasure on your grave 134
The association of dragons with gems is also
Serpents as guardians of treasures are a widely
recorded in Armenian epic lore, as related by
known topos in folk tales, as recorded in the Alf
the eleventh-century Armenian scholar Grigor
layla wa-layla, for instance the giant fire-spitting
Magistros (990–1058) in a letter addressed to
serpent guarding Solomon’s magic ring in the
prince Tʿornik Mamikonean:
story of the adventures of Bulūqiyā inserted into
A fish called Azhdahāk (i e , Azhi Dahāka)
the story of the Queen of the Serpents 135 The story
gave a concubine a huge pearl she took it to
of the Valley of the Diamonds, which recurs in
the king, who had it set into a crown The king
many eastern sources, associates serpents with
then ordered that the gods be honoured with rich
diamonds It is found in the legend of the Helle-
offerings, and that this fish be carven, together
the real figure of the Macedonian conqueror, as evidenced
138 Stoneman, 1991, p 2
by al-Bīrūnī’s Kitāb al-Āthār (tr and ed Sachau, 1876–8,
139 P 99, 11–102, 5, as cited in Ullmann, 1994, p 107 Cf
p 127) in which he comments upon the catastrophic con-
Ruska, “Almās,” EI¹ I, p 313; Ruska [and Plessner], “Almās,”
sequences of the historical Alexander’s invasion in 330 bc
EI² I, 419a
which led to the extinction of the Achaemenid empire
140 See Laufer, 1915, pp 10–1
132 Dīwān, pp 974–5, cited in Pseudo-Apol onius of
141 Raineri Biscia, A , Fior di pensieri sul e pietre preziose
Tyana, tr and ed Weisser, 1990, p 27 The theme of Alex-
di Ahmed Teifascite, Bologna, 2nd ed , 1906, pp 21, 54 In
ander as dragon-slayer appears in the Syriac version of the
this version the serpents are “able to swallow an entire man
Pseudo-Callisthenes, ch 7, tr and ed Budge, 1889, repr
(“inghiottiscono un uomo intero”),” cited after Laufer, 1915,
2003, pp lxxiv, 107–9, as well as in the Ethiopic version,
p 13 and n 1
idem, p ciii
142 Marzolph and van Leeuwen, 2004, p 385
133 Ed Asgharzada, A A , and Babayev, F , Baku, 1965, ch
143 Laufer, 1915, pp 10–21, esp pp 11, n 2, 14, and 18,
62, 42–3, cited after Gohrab, 2000, p 90
n 1
134 Idem Cf idem, 2003, p 83
144 Idem, pp 10–21 Ullmann, 1992, p 111 Cf Ruska,
135 Marzolph and van Leeuwen, 2004, p 130
“Almās,” EI¹ I, p 313; Ruska [and Plessner], “Almās,” EI² I,
136 Laufer, 1915, p 20
419a
137 Das Steinbuch, tr and ed Ruska, 1912, pp 14–6
145 Laufer, 1915, pp 40–1
dragons and the powers of the earth
63
with the effigies of the other divinities, and that
In the Central Asian world the iconography
sacrifices be made on the banks of the river Phison,
is further recorded on a small early medieval
where it had appeared to the concubine 146
ancestral fire altar (chirāgh khāna) from Samar-
qand 149 The niche, which formed the nucleus of
a house, is decorated on both end panels with
d The dragon and vegetal compositions
a stylised tree-like vegetal composition flanked
by a pair of perching birds with long florid tails,
An instance of the association of the serpent with
probably representing peacocks Springing from
a tree has already been noted in the figure of the
the trunk of the tree are arched regardant dragons
Rigvedic primordial “serpent of the deep,” Ahi
that flank a large central crescent-shaped bracket,
Budhnyà, which resides at the roots of the tree
above which flutters a pair of small birds (figs 40
This may be related to the notion of the giant
a and b) After the destruction of the fire temples
serpent as custodian of a tree, often represented
fol owing the advent of Islam, these chirāgh khāna,
as stylised vegetation, which became an impor-
miniature imitations of fire temples, were placed
tant iconographical motif, reflected in particu-
as small altars in private houses for the luminar-
lar on the decoration of portable objects found
ies that manifest the presence of the eternal fire
throughout the Central Asian regions The preva-
A small fire was lit in the niche, the denomina-
lence of this theme in these regions is corrobo-
tion chirāgh khāna translating as house of the
rated in the depiction of a fork-shaped harness
lamp, in other words a domestic “fire temple ”
ornament, datable between the sixth and the
Together with the dragons that spring from the
eighth centuries, which was excavated from a
central tree this altar contains images of roost-
tomb at Kebinai in southern Siberia (fig 38) The
ers The rooster motif is a well-known visual ele-
pendant is cast in openwork with paired anti-
ment harking back to Sasanian and early Islamic
thetical dragons emerging from a stylised vegetal
iconographies The idea of the rooster (Av parō.
composition that springs from a horned mask-like
dərəs-, “he who foresees [dawn]”) as a sacred bird
head at the bottom
or a bird endowed with special powers was char-
Long-necked regardant dragon protomes with
acteristic of Iranian beliefs In the Avesta it is
deep-set eyes, lupine or canine snouts and feath-
considered as the bird of Sraosha, the angel who
ery wings, springing from a central foliate stalk
defends mankind from demons 150 Generally in
and emitting or biting the leaves are shown on
Zoroastrianism it is regarded as an ally of the
a belt fitting serving as hinge joint, cast in open-
powers of light and goodness, as an enemy to evil
work The fitting was unearthed in Novocherkassk
and demonic beings, and as a symbol of royalty
in the lower Don region and is attributed to the
and true religion; thus in the Vidēvdāt Ahura
second half of the eighth century (fig 39) 147 A
Mazdā says of the rooster:
Byzantine attribution has been suggested on the
basis that Byzantine workshops are thought to
That bird lifteth up his voice at the mighty dawn
have existed in the proximity 148
(saying), ‘Arise, O men, laud Best Righteousness,
contemn the demons’ 151
146 Tchukasizian, 1964, p 325
migrations of nomadic peoples from the Eurasian steppes
147 Cf Daim, 2000, p 128, fig 51
such as the Avars, subjects of the Turks, who fled to the
148 Idem, p 130 The paucity of early medieval records
north Caucasus region in 558 and then migrated westwards
of this important visual element from the wider Central
into the province of Pannonia (which lay to the east of
Asian world warrants a brief geographical digression It is
northern Italy), where later waves of Avar migrants con-
interesting to point out that the motif also exists on eighth-
tinued to join them (cf Pohl, 1988, pp 28–9; Barthold and
century Lombard and Frankish art such as the sarcophagus
Golden, “Khazar,” EI 2 IV, 1172a) The motif of dragon pro-
of Abbess Theodota [ sic], Pavia, I 720–30 (Atroshenko and
tomes projecting from vegetal compositions that is found
Collins, 1985, p 139, fig 88; Daim, 2000, drawing on p 319,
on eighth-century Lombard and Frankish art may thus have
fig 13 3), on the Baptistry of Callisto (so-called Sigualdus),
been inspired by Central Asian prototypes
dated 762 to 776, in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Civi-
149 Rempel’, 1983, p 127, fig 49 5; idem, 1987a, p 103,
dale del Friuli (Daim, 2000, p 128, fig 52, drawing on p 319,
fig 42a; and idem, 1987b, pl LI, fig 11, altar to the left side
fig 13 2), and on the eighth-century silk-embroidered white
150 Vidēvdāt 18 14–5; Gershevitch, 1959, p 62 In Jewish
linen tunic of the Frankish queen, Saint Bathilde of Chelles,
post-biblical scriptures ( Yoma 21a) the crowing of the cock is
which is thought to have been made at the Merovingian
likewise known to drive demons away, see Ginzberg, 1909–
court under Byzantine influence (Vida, 2000, p 312, fig 6 2;
38, repr 1946, and idem, 1955, vol 5, p 173, n 16
cf Vierck, 1978, pp 521–64) The iconographic expression
151 Vidēvdāt, Fargard 18 2 14 ( The Zend-Avesta, tr Dar-
was probably transmitted to Europe in the wake of the great
mes teter, 1880); Bundahishn 19 33 ( Sacred Books of the East,
64