It is very likely that the Jewish/Christian tradi-
parable process of development in neighbouring
tion took over the image [of the struggle against
Cappadocia which was located at the crossroads of
a dragon] from the Zoroastrian one in order to
the Byzantine, Arab and Transcaucasian worlds
formulate its own eschatological myth 196
Among the earliest known instances of bas
The metaphysical struggle between fighter and
reliefs with the motif is a seventh-century Geor-
dragon of course represents in a basic sense an
gian stone stele from Ekikilise, village of Agʿegui
“antagonism of the light, celestial (sun), and the
in Kartli region (fig 103)200 preserved in the
dark, terrestrial, principles ”197 By extension tra-
Museum of Fine Arts in Tibilisi The iconogra-
ditional combat depictions convey the triumph
phy of a single unnamed dragon-fighting eques-
of good over evil and light over darkness As Kiti
trian figure spearing a large dragon, whose spotted
Mačabeli observes, the older eastern model of
body is rendered as twice coiled, succumbing at
the iconography of the light-bearing horseman
his horse’s feet, can be clearly made out 201 Just
lent itself naturally to Transcaucasian Christian
as in the later examples from the Islamic world
imagery, resulting in an identification between the
considered above, the rider is often portrayed
mounted saint as the embodiment of light and
with his head encircled by a halo and his upper
the positive principle, seen in the act of crushing
body turned so as to appear nearly frontally; the
the dragon, the quintessential symbol of evil and
horse usually has its hooves firmly planted on
darkness 198 One illustration of this concept in a
the ground and the serpent is knotted or coiled
Sasanian context is the third-century depiction
beneath it yet significantly, the battle with the
of the god Ahura Mazdā/Ohrmazd on horseback
dragon is now almost exclusively reduced to the
crushing the head of the Zoroastrian spirit of evil,
moment of triumph visualised by the weapon of
Angra Mainyu/Ahriman (figs 86a and b)
choice being invariably plunged into the animal’s
The earliest surviving representations of the
throat, thus killing it
dragon-slaying model in Eastern Christian art are
An important, possibly seventh-century, wall
found, as mentioned above, on the eastern con-
painting with confronted warrior saints fighting
fines of the Byzantine empire in Transcaucasia
two dragons is found in Cappadocia, now in a
This region, and in particular Armenia, was pro-
very poor state of preservation, in the rock-cut
foundly influenced by Parthian Iranianism, hence
church known as Mistikan kilise in the village
it is safe to assume that the artistic traditions had
of Güzelöz (Mavrucan), region of Çavuşin 202 It
to a certain extent developed in symbiosis with the
is one of the earliest surviving examples of the
Iranised world 199 The model underwent a com-
conceptual doubling, in other words the paired
200
the nations again” for a thousand years Cf Boyce and
The stele bears the inscription of which one can only
Grenet, 1991, pp 421, 446
decipher the word “ assomtavrouli ” (“ serpent ”) I
196 Hintze, 1999, pp 86–7
would like to acknowledge my debt to Nicole Thierry who
197 Hartner, 1938, p 143, n 45
provided me with this information (the inscription was read
198 Cf Mačabeli, K , Pozdneantičnaja torevtika Gruzii:
by Mrs Kétino Abachidzé); she identifies the rider as an
Pomaterialam torevtiki pervych vekov nashej ery, Tbilisi, 1976,
early representation of Theodore Another contemporary,
p 85, translated into German by Scholz, 1982, p 245
yet unpublished fragmentary relief with the same motif from
199 Sasanian-style iconography is found in reliefs with
Berdadzor is also preserved in the Museum of Fine Arts in
scenes of the hunt on the seventh-century church of Ptghni
Tibilisi Thierry, 1999, p 236 An early example appears on
(Ptghnavank ʿ) in Ararat province On the right side, below
one side of a fragmentary capital, dated to the sixth century,
the archivolt on a window of the south façade, is a galloping
found at Dwīn, the ancient Armenian capital, now preserved
rider armed with bow and arrow taking aim at the protome
in the Historical Museum, yerevan, inv no 2604, featur-
of an excessively long-necked monster with large gaping
ing a serpent protome beneath the hooves of a horse The
mouth The accompanying inscription identifies the rider
rider’s hand is shown holding the horse’s reins but he is not
as Manuel Amatuni (d 389), who has been portrayed in
shown holding a weapon, hence it is unclear whether he is
the same manner as was customary for the Sasanian kings
intended to represent a mounted warrior Khalʿpakhʿchian,
who were overlords of this part of Armenia (Der Nersessian,
1980, p 92, pl 9
201
1945, p 89) The weathered condition of the carving makes
Thierry, 1999, pp 236, 240, fig 4 The stone relief
it difficult to determine the long-necked mythical creature
is also reproduced in Süslü, 1987, p 644, pl 119, ill 27
with long agape snout and forelegs It was identified by Der
(wrongly identified as coming from Ani and as preserved in
Nersessian (1945, p 88) as a griffin; the description mis -
the Historical Museum, yerevan)
202
takenly confuses the attribution of the lion and the standing
It is noteworthy that while the wall paintings are
man with the griffin and the rider; however on account of
very faint, the overall composition could still be clearly dis-
its very long sinuous neck and the excessively long wide
cerned when the present writer visited the church in October
open mouth with what appears to be a projecting tongue, it
2008 (which is probably due to the fact that this particular
might represent a dragon Eadem, 1945, pl X 1 (photograph
church is hardly ever visited) Thierry (1972, pp 258–63;
represented mirror-inverted); Thierry, 1987, p 365, fig 199
eadem, 1984–5, pp 293–302, esp pp 300–2, fig 88, pl 156a;
the dragon in scenes of combat
107
portrayal, of the equestrian warrior saints, a sig-
pictorial symmetry but rather aimed at reinforc-
nificant characteristic, as will be seen in what fol-
ing its potent benefit Hence the visual symme-
lows, introduced to augment and reinforce the
try of the dragon-fighters was also intended to
intended effect, making the paired dragon-fighters
bring into play the belief in a double protection
a doubly potent emblem Here a unique feature
through the agency of its essential meaning, the
is added to the symmetrical composition of the
triumph of good over evil 208 yet while the influ-
two horsemen in that they direct their spears at
ence of the Iranian symbolic repertoire is certainly
two horned dragons which are entwined around
felt in the symmetrical composition of horsemen
the “trunk” of a central tree-like composition
and the tree-with-serpents, it is represented here
(fig 104) 203 Portrayed with frontally rendered
in a Christian context The motif therefore may
curved horns, globulous eyes and long open muz-
allude, just like the much later above-discussed
zles whose slightly bulging tops are demarcated
miniature from the Yachakhapatum, or a book
by small wrinkles and which exhibit the lupine
of homilies, of 1216 illustrated at Skevra monas-
characteristic of the steppe dragons, the dragons’
tery in Cilician Armenia (fig 44), to the subject
heads come to face the horses’ heads The equines
of the serpent and the fruit-bearing tree in Para-
do not prance or rear up on their hind legs, but
dise Hence, the representation may be seen as
pose heraldically with one foreleg raised Nicole
a compound motif linking the dragon-fighting
Thierry sought to explain the composite aspect
horsemen and the tree-with-serpents
of the iconography by the fact that Cappadocia
Comparable symmetrical imagery of two con-
served as a large military encampment from where
fronted equestrian warriors also flanking a large
Byzantine troops, among whom were large mer-
stylised tree with curling foliage is found on a now
cenary contingents, in part of different nomadic
lost stone relief plaque (extant only as a drawing)
origins,204 went to wage war against the Persians
from a church in Ani Mounted on caparisoned
and later against the Arabs The influence of the
horses with large saddle blankets, the horsemen
mercenary troops was also felt in the progressive
again mirror each other’s actions yet instead
adaptation of military techniques and equipment
of directing their weapons at serpents entwined
of a “Turanian cultural community,” which some-
around a tree as in the early, possibly seventh-
times occurred directly or through Parthian or
century, Cappadocian wall paintings at Mistikan
Sasanian mediation 205
kilise, the warriors plunge their long lances down
The depiction is in the tradition of widely em -
the upturned throats of the dragons whose pros-
ployed symmetrical Sasanian imagery exemplified
trate bodies are arranged in three loops under the
in the third-century investiture relief of Ardashīr
horses’ hooves (fig 105) 209 The depiction in the
I at Naqsh-i Rustam with the equestrian scene
Ani relief thus follows more common visual con-
of Ardashīr facing Ahura Mazdā whose horses’
hooves are shown to trample, respectively, the
ventions current both in Christian and Muslim
head of a dead enemy and the serpent-wreathed
contexts
head of Ahriman (fig 86b) 206 This conceptual
In another Cappadocian wall painting, found
pairing aspect is also found on different media,
above the vestibule door of the late ninth- or tenth-
notably on Sasanian and Sogdian textiles 207 Here,
century funerary chapel known as yılanlı kilise
too, the pairing of the iconography was presum-
(“serpent church”) in the Ihlara valley, paired
ably not purely intended to create the effect of
warrior saints thrust their lances into the gaping
207
eadem, 2002, no 13) dates this painting as early as the
See for instance Otavsky, 1998, figs 65, 68, 83–8,
seventh century, a date that Walter (2003, p 125 and n
97–9, 103, 104, 106, 108–111; also, the zandaniji silk with
99) cautions as perhaps being too early It is of note how-
the scene of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac from Moshchevaya
ever that in a late sixth-century church, dedicated to Saint
Balka Belenitskii, 1980, p 228, line drawing at the upper
George, at Zindanönü, near Çavuşin, traces remain of a
right; Jerusalimskaja, 2000, p 98, fig 11
208
fighting warrior saint, identified by an inscription as Saint
Pancaroğlu, 2004, pp 153–4 See also Henry Maguire’s
George (only the upper section featuring the upper body
discussion (1994) on the significance of regular repetition of
of the saint holding a long lance and the frontally repre-
geometric designs in early Christian floor mosaics and tex-
sented head of his horse remain, so it is unknown what he
tiles as protective devices
209
is spearing below)
Strzygowski, 1918, pp 287–90, fig 329, drawing after
203 Cf Thierry, 1999, p 242, drawing 4, and eadem, 2002,
Brosset, 1860, p 33, text, pl XXXVII The church is dated
p 124; Walter, 2003, p 56, fig 27
622 and Josef Strzygowski suggests a contemporary dating
204 Cf Darkó, 1948, pp 85–97, esp pp 90–1
for the relief; however Marie-Félicité Brosset, who recorded
205 Cf idem, 1935, pp 443–69, esp pp 463–9 See Thierry,
the relief in his Ruines d’Ani published in 1860 (after a draw-
1972, pp 263 and n 67 with further references
ing by M Kästner), believed that it could not have been
206 Ghirshman, 1962, p 132, fig 168
carved earlier than the Islamic conquest in 1072
108