sea When the dragon swallowed these, his
of a mounted figure fighting a dragon was applied
stomach burst Significantly, in stories where
widely to objects and architectural decoration in
the dragon was presented as a historical person,
Anatolia and the neighbouring Jazīra
the invulnerability of the hide was metaphori-
The motif occurs on an important frieze frag-
cally transformed into the impregnability of the
ment from the now destroyed pavilion (once part
enemy’s castle 125
of the palace) of Qılıch Arslan II (r 551/1156–
The depiction of a fighter on foot in direct
588/1192), one of the greatest Rūm Saljuq sulṭān s,
combat with a dragon whom he attacks with his
noted both for his military achievements and his
sword – a motif which appears to be absent from
patronage of the arts It shows two haloed horse-
Christian iconography – is found on the outer
men charging each other and attacking respec-
walls of a celebrated plate whose interior is deco-
tively a dragon and a lion (fig 98) The rider on
rated with a large battle scene featuring the siege
the left thrusts his long spear into the gaping jaws
of a citadel and inscribed with the names of the
of the dragon The beast is shown with curling
warriors These names incorporate Turkish ele-
goatee beard projecting below the chin, and a pro-
ments, suggesting that they may have been Saljuq
nounced bristling crest running down the spine
fighters 126 Datable to the early thirteenth century,
to the tapering tail The second horseman turns
the plate is housed in the Freer Gallery of Art,
around to grasp the lion’s mane with one hand
Washington, DC (fig 97) 127 The outer wal s show
while dealing him a blow with the sword held in
a richly clad warrior carrying bow and arrow,
the other The Rūm Saljuq depiction thus pro-
shown in three-quarter view and facing a writhing
vides a parallel to the version emblematised on
ophidian dragon in rampant posture The dragon
the Iranian penbox made by Maḥmūd ibn Sunqur
combat is one of five heroic feats portrayed on
(fig 93) almost a century after the making of the
the plate, the vignettes being separated by trees
frieze This composition, moreover, again fea-
Other feats include the shooting of a wolf with
tures the fight of confronted horsemen against
bow and arrow, clubbing a feline, probably a
the most dangerous and deadliest of adversar-
panther, with a mace, and shooting a mythical
ies, the dragon and the lion The fragment must
creature with bow and arrow A further element
have been part of a large frieze and is a valuable
shows two confronted figures, one of whom is
example of the type of decoration that presumably
holding a feline, probably a cheetah, on a leash
once adorned not only Saljuq-period pavilions but
An upper register contains an epigraphic band
related secular buildings throughout the entire
with good wishes in Kufic script
region as far as Central Asia 128
Following the Saljuq victory at the battle of
One of the earliest depictions of the motif of
Manzikert in 463/1071 and subsequent large-
the single equestrian dragon-fighter west of Iran is
scale Turkish penetration into Anatolia, the
found on the coinage of Turko-Islamic Anatolia
Saljuq sulṭān s of Rūm, being closely affiliated
An equestrian warrior spearing a prostrate scaly
with Iranian cultural and artistic traditions, also
dragon appears on the reverse of a copper coin of
125 See chapter 5
perpetuated these semantic horizons . The image
a type minted by the last Türkmen Dānishmendid
lonians; the Jewish Prophet Daniel killed it without sword
miniature showing Ardashīr pouring molten lead down the
or staff by brewing a concoction of pitch, fat, and hair
dragon’s throat, illustrated in the St Petersburg Shāh-nāma
and then feeding cakes made of it to the dragon (Gunkel,
(Dorn 329, f 243r), copied in Shiraz, 30 Jumādā I 733/16
1895, pp 320–3, cogently argues that this story is an adap-
February 1333 These references not only demonstrate that
tation of a passage of the Babylonian creation epic Enūma
this method of killing was known but perhaps also testify
Elish, an Akkadian text; cf idem, 1895, pp 412–3, tablet
to its ongoing popularity in the medieval period See also
IV, ll 93–104; Pritchard, ed , 1955, repr 1968, p 67)
p 58, n 96
125
The execution of enemies seems sometimes to have been
Khāleqī-Moṭlaq, “Aždahā II,” EIr
126
inspired by the manner in which the dragon was killed
Atil, 1973, cat no 50
127
in these traditions (Merkelbach, “Drache,” RAC IV, 1959,
In 1983 the conservation department of the Freer
pp 234–5) Mithridates VI (120–163 bc), king of Pontus,
Gallery of Art discovered that the original plate had some
for instance, gave orders to execute Manius Aquilius by
overpainting and subsequently restored it back to its original
pouring liquid gold down his throat (Appianos, Mith-
state As a consequence part of the upper body and head
ridates, XII 21; Pliny, Naturalis Historia, XXXIII 48; cf
of the warrior and a section of the snake’s protome are no
idem, pp 234–5) This method of killing the dragon is
longer visible after the restoration A photograph of the plate
described by al-Qazwīnī in his Kitāb ʿajāʾib al-makhlūqāt
that pre-dates the conservation was used in order to make
(ed Wüstenfeld, 1849, repr 1967, p 112) For the illustra-
the imagery more easily recognisable
128
tion of this story in the so-called Sarre Qazwīnī, now in the
Cf The Anatolian Civilisations, vol 3, 1983, pp 34–5,
Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, see Badiee, 1978,
cat no D 38; Turks, 2005, p 392, cat no 58
pl 32 The theme is also visualised in a fourteenth-century
the dragon in scenes of combat
99
ruler of Malatya/Malaṭiyya (Melitene), Nāṣir
struck by the crusader prince Roger (d 513/1119),
al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl (r 557/1162–
who usurped the throne of Antioch in the guise of
565/1170 and 570/1175–573/1178), whose name
regent for Bohemond II between 1112 and 1119,133
appears on the obverse, minted in the 1170s 129
and can ultimately be traced back to early Byz-
Mounted on a galloping horse the rider’s right
antine coinage 134 On Roger’s coin the equestrian
foot is placed on the body of a dragon and
rider is similarly portrayed nearly in profile and
with his right hand he grasps the end of a lance
leaning forward on a galloping horse to stab the
which is thrust in the small uncoiled dragon’s
mouth of a serpent with his lance The inscription
open jaws; the left hand holds the reins Impor-
identifies the figure as Saint George In spite of
tantly the armoured rider, clad in a short skirt
the differences in the iconographic representa-
and a long-sleeved coat, is here portrayed nearly
tion of this mounted dragon-fighting warrior, in
in profile The coinage was produced after the
particular the depiction of the figure in profile,
Dānishmendids’ capture of Malatya, situated
there is an overall consistency with the image of
not far from the upper Euphrates on an impor-
contemporaneous dragon-fighters throughout
tant stretch of the Arab-Byzantine frontier, in
medieval Western Asia
494/1101 following a three-year siege For much
The cosmopolitan milieu and the generous
of its existence the dynasty of the Dānishmendids
patronage of Badr al-Dīn Luʾluʾ (618/1222–657/
(463/1071–573/1178), one of the earliest Türk-
1259) in Mosul permitted the city to become a
men principalities established in Anatolia that
haven for master craftsmen from Central Asia
reigned in northern Cappadocia, maintained a
who were fleeing the Mongol invasion 135 Among
frontier ethos in which the dragon-fighting ghāzī
them were specialist inlay workers from the
was a pre-eminent symbol, as will be shown in
greater Khurasan region (where the technique was
the Epilogue
developed) 136 Their skill is prominently displayed
Qılıch Arslan II’s conquest of Malatya
on a copper al oy candlestick base, probably made
in 573/1178 brought about the end of the
in the Jazīra in c 1230, and inscribed with the
Dānishmendid dynasty Not long after the Saljuq
names of the masters, Ḥāj i Ismāʿīl and Muḥammad
conquest of Malatya, the city of the frontier hero
ibn Futtūḥ al-Mawṣilī 137 The dragon-fighting
par excellence,130 a new copper coin with a horse-
theme is shown in a large polylobed cartouche
man slaying a dragon was minted by the ruler of
depicting a rampant knotted creature that rises
Malatya, Muʿizz al-Dīn Qayṣar Shāh (r 582/1186–
above the horse’s rump, his large open maw with
597/1201 with an interruption in 587/1191), a son
projecting tongue oriented towards the rider
of Qılıch Arslan II (r 551/1156–588/1192) 131 As
who turns towards it with raised sword in hand
Nicholas Lowick tentatively suggests, the Turk-
(fig 99) 138
ish ghāzī rulers were perhaps “consciously or
The same iconography of a horseman fighting
not, seeking to establish contact with an imagi-
a dragon reappears in a mid-thirteenth-century
nary heroic world of the past, possibly under the
glazed fritware sculpture, now preserved in the
stimulus of historical or quasi-historical works
National Museum of Damascus Possibly a foun-
of literature ”132 The dragon-slayer iconography
tain element, it was discovered in Raqqa, a major
on Dānishmendid and Saljuq coins is thought to
city in the western part of the Jazīra 139 The warrior
have been inspired by the Byzantine copper coins
wears his hair in long braids under a small cap
129 Whelan, 1980, pp 143–8, pl 16, 5b
Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Cabinet des Médailles, inv
130 Wittek, 1936, p 295
no 462, Vitr XVIII; cf Merkelbach, “Drache,” RAC IV,
131 Istanbul, Archaeological Museum, inv no 1068
1959, p 255, fig 2; Lewis, 1973, fig 31 (pls unnumbered);
Süslü, 1987, p 640, pl 118, ill 5 (line drawing) Cf
Grube and Johns, 2005, p 232, cat no 78 3
135
Pan ca roğlu, 2004, p 157, fig 7 Another copper coin with
Ettinghausen, 1962, p 92; Hillenbrand, R , 2006, p 20
136
a horseman drawing a bow against a dragon, of uncertain
Pinder-Wilson, 1997, p 344
137
date, is inscribed with the name of Muḥammad ibn Salduq
The Arts of Islam, 1976, p 182, cat no 200
138
( c 570/1174–597/1200); Lane Poole, 1877, repr 1967, p 114,
The same motif is found on other thirteenth-century
cat no 310
inlaid copper alloy candlesticks, cf for example, one from
132 Lowick, 1985, p 170; cf Pancaroğlu, 2004, p 156
Anatolia (?) in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London,
133 Schlumberger, 1878, repr 1954, pp 46–9, pl 2, no 12;
inv no M 711–910, and another from Siirt, Anatolia, in
Whelan, 1980, pp 147–8
the Nuhad Es-Said Collection of Islamic metalwork (Allan,
134 Related imagery appears already on the fourth-
1982a, repr 1999, pp 59–61, cat no 7)
139
century gold medal of the Roman Emperor Constantine II
Glazed fritware in the form of a horseman fighting
(337–361), struck after the victory over Magnentius in 353
a dragon, datable to the mid-thirteenth century Discov-
The emperor is shown on horseback with right hand raised
ered by Eustace de Lorey in Raqqa, Syria Height 46 5 cm
over a coiled dragon with the legend debel ator hostium
Damascus, al-Mathaf al-Waṭanī, inv no A 5819 A Concise
100