The mutation of the bird into a dragon also
Here the upward-curling tips of the tail feathers
occurs in the illuminations of Armenian manu-
of the confronted, regardant birds transform into
scripts In a marginal ornament in a ninth- or
characteristic dragon heads that peck at the tail
tenth-century missal from Ejmiatsin (“the Only-
tips (fig 74)
begotten descended”) in Armavir province con-
The inverse mutation of the tail or wing ends
fronted mythical creatures have the bodies of
of dragons transforming into raptorial bird
birds, their long necks interlacing to terminate in
heads is exhibited, for instance, on a copper
dragon heads that turn backwards and appear to
alloy dragon knocker that was fastened to the
bite into the upright foliate tail tips (fig 71) Not
wooden door of the Great Mosque (Ulu Cami) of
the heads of the birds but more frequently their
Cizre (fig 83) or the dragon reliefs carved on the
tails end in dragon heads as shown in the L’viv
now destroyed Talisman Gate (Bāb al-Ṭilasm) in
Gospel transcribed and illustrated in Cilician
Baghdad (fig 139b), both discussed in the fol ow-
Armenia in 1198/1199 37 The eighth of the ten
ing
canon tables is framed by birds that are perched
on vertically interlaced vines, their tails extend-
ing into a spiral from which grow dragon heads
d The dragon and the feline
crowned by long rabbit-like ears,38 their open
mouths revealing tongues with bifid tips that
The symbiosis of the dragon with a feline preda-
touch the tips of the birds’ beaks (fig 72) 39 In
tor, two creatures carrying associations not only
the same manuscript on the opening page of the
of great danger, but of royalty (discussed below
Gospel of Luke, a pair of long-legged birds flank-
in chapter 7), is alluded to in Iranian literature
ing the central cross and surmounting the frame
The phenomenon is illustrated in a Shāh-nāma
of a headpiece are shown in the same posture,
account which describes how Rustam, the chief
their heads turned backwards, the beaks inserted
epic hero of Iran, when fourteen years old, van-
into the open mouths of yet another type of
quishes in India the sea- and land-dwelling
dragon with a scaly body and long pointed ears
dragon known as Babr-i Bayān Rustam has the
Importantly this depiction portrays the symbiosis
slain beast flayed and then makes out of the skin
of the entire dragon body with that of the bird,
or hide a coat for himself, the babr-i bayān 41 In
the dragon’s tail tapering towards the bird’s head
nature when an animal dies its flesh decays while
and extending towards the beak which, held in
the skin and hair remain This fact may have given
the dragon’s jaws, closes the loop (fig 73) Similes
rise to the association of animal hides with special
associating the serpent and the dove are recorded
powers The dragon’s skin may be considered to
in Agathangelos’ fifth-century literary composi-
represent the essence of the living beast Being
tion entitled Teaching of St. Gregory, one of the
covered with its skin was believed to symbolise
earliest Armenian theological texts, which states
the acquisition of this fundamental nature and to
that man will learn the wisdom of the serpent,
induce a transformation of the wearer The babr-i
strip off all ephemeral impurities as a serpent
bayān was invulnerable, proof against fire and
sloughs off its skin, and receive the pure sim-
water and impregnable to any weapon The hero
plicity of the dove 40
thus wore it before going into battle, placing it
A comparable feature portraying a fusion of the
above his chainmail tunic which was reinforced
bodies of the bird and the dragon can be observed
by iron-plated armour 42 The babr-i bayān was
on the stone relief above the southern outer door
visualised as either the pelt of a tiger (babr) or
at the monastery of Mār Behnām/Deir al-Khiḍr
that of a leopard (palangīna) 43 The dragon Babr-i
37 Prinzing and Schmidt, eds , 1997, pp 18–21
40 Tr and ed Thomson, 1970, p 29, and chs 602–10
38 The extensive range of the repertoire of zoomorphic
41 The legend is known among the Mandeans of Iraq in
visual fusions resulting in fantastic beasts on artefacts from
which Rustam kills the Babr-i bayān in China when he is
the Irano-Turkish region is exemplified, for instance, by
twelve years old Petermann, 1860–1, vol 2, pp 107–9 See
birds with the heads of hares, depicted on the cavetto of a
Khāleqī-Moṭlaq, “Aždahā II” and idem, “Babr-e bayān,” EIr
twelfth- or thirteenth-century silver-inlaid dish with poly-
42 Shāh-nāma, tr and ed Mohl, 1838–1878, vol 3, p 129,
lobed cavity See p 75, n 11
ll 1470–6 Melikian-Chirvani, 1998, p 173
39 Cf Akinian, 1930, p 16, fig 7; Prinzing and Schmidt,
43 Idem, vol 3, p 129, l 1474; 227, l 1035; this iden-
eds , 1997, p 50, pl VIII
tification is confirmed by its reference in a Sogdian text
dragons and animals of the natural and the mythical realms
79
bayān thus seems to have acquired features of a
The iconography of a dragon-tailed lion is also
feline predator endowed with dragon-like char-
shown on the portal of several thirteenth-cen-
acteristics 44 By clothing himself in the babr-i
tury Islamic and Christian monuments located
bayān Rustam implicitly signalled his symbolic
in particular in southeast Anatolia and northern
appropriation of the dragon’s qualities as well as
Mesopotamia It appears on the so-called royal
his mastery over the hybrid creature It is of note
door of the monastery of Mār Ḥūdéni/Mār
that such composite animal imagery associating
Aḥūdēmmeh in Mosul,47 the monastery of Mār
the feline, in particular the lion, with the dragon
Behnām/Deir al-Khiḍr at the southeast of Mosul
is also apparent in ancient Near Eastern myth 45
(fig 77),48 on the men’s entrance of the Chaldean
The visual conflation of dragon and feline is
church49 and on the main portal of the Jacobite
expressed in Central Asian art from at least the
church (fig 78),50 both located in Cizre The seated
eleventh century onwards It appears on a matrix
lion is portrayed in profile, the head rendered
from the set of 77 late twelfth-century copper al oy
frontally or in three-quarter view, his long tail
matrices for belt/strap fittings, considered earlier
winding around the hind legs, under the belly
in chapter 3, one of which bears an inscription
and extending over the back transforming into
in the name of the Ghurid sulṭān Ghiyāth al-Dīn
a dragon’s neck and head The mythical creature
Muḥammad ibn Sām The matrix is symmetrical y
is portrayed with a curved horn and gaping jaws,
cast in relief with a pair of small, addorsed lions
revealing a long tongue with bifid tip entwined
couchant These are surmounted by ascending,
at mid-section, snapping at the lion’s back At
exaggeratedly long, imbricated tails that interlace
Mār Ḥūdéni the lion’s tail again forms a pretzel-
in a lozenge-shape before overlapping again at the
like knot, and at the Jacobite church the dragons’
tip and terminating in disproportionately large,
bifid tongues entwine at mid-section (the same
confronted dragon heads The creatures’ open
feature can be observed on the addorsed entwined
snouts touch at the tips, thus forming another
dragons at Mār Behnām, figs 17a and b, 160)
small lozenge, and are crowned by prominent
Of note is moreover the conspicuous placement
curving horns with curling tips (fig 75) Another
and orientation of the dragon-tailed lions towards
small matrix from the same set, with lozenge-
the opening of the doorways drawing attention
shaped outline topped by a trefoil finial, features
to the threshold
a single seated lion in high relief whose upward-
Similar depictions appear also in the two-
arching tail also ends in a large, horned, snarl-
dimensional medium of manuscript illumination
ing dragon’s head with gaping mouth revealing
such as in a Gospel book painted by Bartholemew
the tongue (fig 76) 46 The conflation of the king
(Bardagh) in the Armenian province of Siunikʿ,
of animals, the personification of kingly power
in which two confronted lions are seated on
par excellence (lion hunting being the preroga-
the tips of the Armenian initial “Ս” of the first
tive of Islamic rulers), with the dragon presented
word of Mark’s Gospel (Սկիզբն, the beginning)
an apt symbolism for the strap fittings of a royal
The two lions represent here the symbol of Saint
belt
Mark,51 their heads being rendered in frontal view
(Benveniste, E , Textes Sogdiens, Mission Pelliot III, Paris,
products; ‘s2’ height 2 69 cm, width 1 53 cm, ‘t2’ height
1940, pp 134–6), as cited in Khāleqī-Moṭlaq, “Babr-e bayān,”
2 92 cm, width 1 87 cm
EIr Cf Melikian-Chirvani, 1998, p 173
47 Height 22,5 cm, width 27 cm Sarre and Herzfeld, 1920,
44 It is worth mentioning the analogy to the Greek legend
vol 2, p 294 (drawing), fig 281, and, eidem, 1911, vol 3,
of the pre-eminent hero Herakles, whose exploits included
pl 106, fig 3 Fiey, 1959, pp 144–6, fig 11
strangling a lion, which could not be slain in any other
48 Preusser, 1911, pl x; Hartner, 1938, fig 27; Fiey, 1959,
way because its pelt was invulnerable, and wearing its skin
fig 12; Gierlichs, 1996, pl 59 1
as a coat over his shoulders as though becoming part lion
49 The church no longer exists; recorded in situ by
himself
Preusser, 1911, p 25, pl 35 2 (Preusser refers to it as Jaco-
45 The story of “The Slaying of the Labbu” (Cuneiform
bite church); reproduced by Hartner, 1938, pp 143–4, fig 24;
texts from Babylonian tablets in the British Museum 13 33–
Willy Hartner also notes the fact that as “manly animal” par
54; Heidel, repr 1951, pp 141–3) recounts the victory of the
excel ence, the lion reliefs were absent from the women’s
god Tishpak over the dragon referred to variously as labbu
entrance of the Chaldean church, fig 25
(Akkadian for “lion”), bašmu and mušḫuššu The latter two
50 Height 45 cm, width 56 cm The church does not exist
are listed as separate members of Tiamat, the personified
any more; recorded in situ by Preusser, 1911, p 25, pl 34 2
primordial water-chaos, and her battalions in the Akkadian
(reproduced by Hartner, 1938, pp 143–4, fig 23); the reliefs
epic of creation, Enūma Elish (I 121; II 27; III 31,89), of Bab-
are preserved in the Archaeological Museum, Diyārbakr, inv
ylon See Wilson, 2001, pp 30–2
nos 64, 65 Öney, 1969, p 209, and n 50, fig 34; Gierlichs,
46 Kuwait, al-Sabāh Collection, Dar al-Athar al-
1996, pl 60 5, 6
Islamiyyah, Kuwait National Museum, LNS 2558 J ‘a-x2’ ‘s2’
51 I would like to thank Rev Dr Vrej Nersessian for this
and ‘t2’; ‘t2’ being entirely covered with reddish corrosion
information
80