mid-Shawwāl 671/early May 1273,151 although the
tion to this rule is the story of Isfandiyār’s son,
illustrations may be of a later date 152 It shows
the heroic king Bahman who features in the early
the warrior as a mounted angel with long beard,
twelfth-century eponymous epic Bahman-nāma
wearing a three-pointed Iranian crown and shawl
which was probably written by Īrānshāh ibn Abi
that streams in the wind The figure is identified
’l-Khayr between 485/1092–93 and 501/1107–8
as Shamhūrash (an angel known as judge and
In this account the king abdicates in favour of
ruler of the jinn), who is about to pierce a dragon
Humāy, the daughter of the king of Egypt, and
with a sword 153 The weapon of choice, a sword,
then during a hunting expedition “in Dayr-i
recalls the stucco relief from the Saljuq palace
Gachīn between Isfahan and Ray”155 he is killed
in Konya The dragon’s head was partly cut off
by a dragon 156 This may however, just like the
when the margin was trimmed, leaving only the
metaphor of being “caught in the dragon’s maw,”
open snout with curled tip; the long tail forms a
be a euphemism simply intended to indicate the
large pretzel-like knot and a simple loop (fig 102)
fact that he perished As such it would be indica-
The manuscript comprises a compilation of five
tive of man’s relation with the dragon as being
different Persian texts on various topics related
interdependent and transformative
to astrology and magic, influenced to a certain
extent by Byzantine prototypes The painting
is part of a treatise on geomancy and talismans
c The Eastern Christian holy rider as
which is further illustrated by the depiction of
dragon-fighter
magic writing on the page, composed of rows of
numbers and letters
The idea of connecting the cult and iconography
It may be postulated that the representations of
of the Eastern Christian warrior saints with the
the single fighter, mounted or on foot, and of the
dragon can be traced to at least the early sev-
paired horsemen of the medieval Islamic period
enth century 157 The dragon motif in the Chris-
did not solely fulfil a decorative purpose Il ustrat-
tian church developed in the eastern confines of
ing the belief of the magical power of images, they
Byzantium,158 where the so-called holy rider van-
very likely served as prophylactic and apotropaic
quishing a dragon was a well-established literary
representations with a talismanic function, pre-
topos and was represented in early wall paint-
cisely because as André Grabar has observed, “in
ings 159 Depictions are found on portable items,
this domain the possibility of a ‘consubstantiality’
ranging from magical amulets to luxury objects,
of the representation and the thing represented
as well as on sacred architecture, in particular
is implicitly acknowledged ”154
churches and funerary settings The motif fell on
It is also worth noting that in the pictorial rep-
particularly fertile ground in the Transcaucasus
resentations the dragon and the hero are general y
region which was part of the pan-Iranian reli-
shown in ongoing combat; the monster is some-
gio-cultural realm and was steeped in its artistic
times depicted in a rampant posture engaging
conventions
the hero in furious battle as if to test his valour,
The antecedents of the victorious equestrian
hence it is clearly not yet defeated By contrast in
figure fighting a dragon have been sought further
Islamic literature of the medieval period, as also
west where they have been linked to votive reliefs
seen in the examples cited above, the dragon is
with Thracian horsemen, confronted or single,
generally overcome by the hero A notable excep-
and a serpent sinuously rising towards the rider’s
151 Blochet, 1926, pl XIX; Hartner, 1938, p 143, fig 22;
bc and since the latter had been more popular with the
Barrucand, 1990–91, pp 113–4, pl 3c
Ira-nians, Antigonus was allegorically equated with the
152 Rogers, “Saldjūḳids,” EI 2 VIII, 936a
dragon (azhdahā) See Shokoohy, 1983, pp 448 and 451;
153 Winkler, 1930, p 102
Bivar, 2000, p 22
154
156
Grabar, 1957, p 140
See Hanaway, “Bahman-nāma,” EIr The dragon
155 This detail is recorded by Mehrdad Shokoohy from
is named Abr-i Sīyāh (“Black cloud”); Khāleqī-Moṭlaq,
the anonymous Mujmal al-tawārīkh wa ’l-qiṣaṣ, as noted by
“Aždahā II,” EIr
157
Bivar, 2000, p 22 On the basis of the geographic location
Walter, 2003, p 140
158
of Bahman’s battle with the dragon, Bivar relates it to the
Although the horseman was one of the most distinc-
campaign (much of which took place in Media and Susiana)
tive figures in the pictorial repertory of the Coptic arts of
between Eumenes of Cardia, whose name coincides etymo-
Byzantine Egypt, it is notable that he does not battle with a
logically with Bahman, and Antigonus the One-Eyed, both
dragon; an example of a rider piercing a dragon on a Coptic
successors of Alexander the Great, as recorded by the Greek
tapestry band of the early Islamic period forming a rare
historian Diodorus Siculus (19 44) who wrote in the first cen-
exception Cf Lewis, 1973, p 54, fig 28 (pls unnumbered)
159
tury bc Antigonus completely vanquishes Eumenes in 316
Cf Walter, 2003, p 37
the dragon in scenes of combat
103
feet, or coiled around his staff or around a tree 160
imperial imagery for the first time to represent
Similarly the god Mithras is depicted on horse-
the victory of Constantine I (r 306–337) over his
back accompanied by a serpent 161 However, there
enemy, one hundred years after the above-dis-
is no evidence that would establish a direct con-
cussed investiture relief of Ardashīr I (r 224–241)
nection,162 since, as Christopher Walter also notes,
According to Eusebius’ Vita Constantini (III, 3), a
in none of the cases does the serpent seem to be
painting in the vestibule of Constantine’s palace at
a noxious beast nor does the rider seem to battle
Constantinople showed the emperor and his sons
with the serpent 163 On the contrary, in Mithra-
with a dragon writhing under their feet, identified
ism, which became a widespread religion in the
by Grabar169 as representing Constantine’s van-
Mediterranean basin, Europe and the Near East,
quished enemy, Licinius, his former co-emperor,
the serpent appears to have been “a symbol of
who was defeated and killed in 324, portrayed as
beneficial, life-giving force ”164 It has further been
being pierced and cast down into the deep 170 The
suggested that the dragon-slaying iconography
lost Constantinian composition was disseminated
grew out of the tradition of associating the saints
throughout the late empire by a widespread coin
with ancient Greek mythologies,165 in particular
type represented by the mid-fourth-century gold
the legend of Perseus and Andromeda 166 How-
medallion struck by Constantine II (317–361)
ever, this theory is based on the assumption that
after the victory over the usurper Magnentius
the story of a Christian saint rescuing a princess
in 353 It shows the emperor with raised right
or maiden from a dragon was ancient, whereas it
hand, mounted on a horse that rears up over a
dates back no earlier than the eleventh century,
dragon framed by the legend debel ator hostium 171
as will be shown below 167
The horse is represented with hind legs parallel,
Conversely, the iconography of a triumphant
hooves touching the ground, while the forelegs
rider trampling on or slaying a fallen enemy
are raised high over the coiled reptile How-
occurs frequently in antiquity and has been widely
ever, as Grabar has suggested, even though this
used in different contexts 168 The concept of kil ing
newly introduced iconography of the triumphant
a serpentine adversary was introduced on Roman
emperor striking down or trampling a dragon
160 Thierry, 1972, p 259, fig 22; Mazarov, I , “Opit za
in Pisidia during the first century bc However the rider is
rekonstrukcija na hipomita v devna Trakija,” Izkustvo 35 III,
general y depicted holding his lance as if to thrust it forward,
1985, pp 20–30, as cited in Walter, 1989a, p 664 and fig 2;
rather than straight down, that is, he is rarely shown to aim
2003, fig 11; Furūsiyya, 1996, vol 2, pp 221–2
at the serpent’s jaws, see Hil , 1897, pp 223–4, pl XXXVI, 3,
161 Rostovtzeff, ed , 1939, pp 112–6, pls XIV, XV;
4 Cf Der Nersessian, 1965, p 24; Whelan, 1980, pp 146–7
166
Cumont, 1937, pp 63–71 Cf idem, 1939, p 74 On the rela-
Cf Sakisian, 1937, p 228; Fontenrose, 1959, repr
tionship between the Iranian Mithra and the Roman Mithra,
1980, pp 515–20; Sharon, “Ludd,” EI 2, V, 798b
167
see Zaehner, 1961, pp 99–104
In spite of the analogies of the stories of Perseus rescu-
162 Hinnells, 1974, pp 244–5 Khāleqī-Moṭlaq (“Aždahā
ing Andromeda from a sea monster at Joppa located close to
II,” EIr) tentatively suggests that the feast of Mihragān (men-
Lydda, and that of the eleventh-century story of Saint George
tioned in the Shāh-nāma) held after the victory of Farīdūn
rescuing the princess from the dragon, the enormous gap of
(Thraētaona) over Ẓaḥḥāk may possibly be connected to
time does not allow for the establishment of a connection Cf
the story of the dragon-slaying by the god Mihr (Mithra),
Walter, 2003, pp 121–2 and n 82, p 140 and n 195
168
although no direct association between the ritual and wor-
It is interesting to note, though, that in Coptic Egypt
ship of the festival and the dragon-slayer has been found
there appears to be only one rare example of a horseman
A simulated dragon-slaying by the Emperor Commodus
vanquishing an enemy, in which case a prostrate human
during the mysteries of Mithras is recorded in a passage
figure lies under the horse’s hooves (fragmentary tapestry
from Lampridius ( Commodus 9); see Loisy, 1930, repr 1983,
panel, late sixth or early seventh century, Washington, DC,
p 182 However, Jean Calmard (“Mihragān,” EI 2 VII, 15a)
The Textile Museum, inv no 71 6) See Lewis, 1973, fig 7
calls this attempt “another attractive but faulty interpreta-
(pls unnumbered)
169
tion,” based on the ancient noun mithrakāna, associating the
Grabar, 1936, pp 43–4 and 130
170
suffix kāna (no longer akāna) with a variant of ghna (Ved
The earliest representation of the symbol of the
han, Old Pers jan) meaning to strike or kill; mithrakāna
serpent(-dragon) being slain by a labarum as metaphori-
thus refers to the killing (or sacrifice) for Mithra, analogous
cal victory over evil, a special imperial standard modelled
with the expression designating the Indo-Iranian god
on the cross after Constantine’s conversion to Christianity,
Verethragna Nevertheless, it is of note that with Christiani-
appears on bronze coins minted in Constantinople in 326–7
sation, the festival of mithrakān was consecrated to Saint
Eusebius, tr and ed Cameron and Hall, 1999, p 209, fig 2
George Cf Boyce, 1981, p 67
Cf Demougeot, 1986, pp 94–118, esp 94–6
163
171
Walter, 1989b, p 664
Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Cabinet des Médailles,
164 Hinnells, 1974, pp 244–5, 247, and idem, 1975, p 295;
inv no 462, Vitr XVIII Cohen, 1892, vol 7, p 443; Merkel-
Skjærvø, “Aždahā I,” EIr
bach, “Drache,” RAC IV, 1959, p 255, fig 2; Lewis, 1973,
165 The representation of a horseman surmounting a
fig 31 (unnumbered pls ); Grube and Johns, 2005, p 232,
coiled snake features on Greek bronze coins struck at Isinda
cat no 78 3
104