ing up serpent staffs with the process of firemak-
reads as Robes of Light) lost by Adam and Eve
ing 47 yet the figure grasping staffs entwined with
at the Fall but regained through baptism which
serpents and topped by birds or stellar symbols
is understood eschatologically as re-entry into
could indeed represent a mythical giant holding
Paradise 53 Hence the scene may be understood as
what might perhaps represent abbreviated visual
depicting the robed Adam not only as ruler over
formulae of a vegetal motif characterised as the
the world54 but as an image of one who through
“Tree of Life” with serpent motif 48
Christ has discovered the state of divine wisdom
This interpretation gains weight through a
and glory 55
depiction on a floor mosaic discovered in the nave
In sum, it may be noted that Adam, the first
of a church at Huarte, located fifteen kilometres
of men of the biblical creation myth, is repre-
north of Apamea in present-day Syria, and dated
sented just like Gayūmart, the mythical first
by inscription to the years 472 or 487 49 On the
man of the Mazdean creation myth, between
central axis of the pavement close to the sanctu-
two slender elongated plants around which coil
ary is the large frontally rendered figure of Adam,
serpents whose heads are oriented towards the
identified by an inscription above his head He
central figure On the late fifth-century Huarte
is portrayed as fully clothed and enthroned on a
mosaic the association of the cedars in the para-
backless raised platform, leaning against a cush-
disical setting with the Tree of Life is apparent,
ion, and holding an open book in his left hand,
whereas on the seventh-century stamp seals the
while extending the fingers of his right hand in
staff-like motifs may presumably represent abbre-
a gesture of speech Importantly, he is framed by
viated visual formulae; the addition of the birds
two slender cypress trees around each of which is
or stellar symbols at the apex of these verticals
coiled a serpent, its head oriented towards Adam’s
give further substance to this interpretation 56 It
head, the open jaws revealing bifid tongues Adam
may thus be postulated that both depictions por-
is surrounded by a variety of tame beasts and birds
tray a central figure flanked on either side by a
set amidst flowering vegetation indicating that
serpent-entwined Tree of Life motif Ackerman
the setting is the primordial Paradise before the
has moreover noted an astronomical association
Fall (fig 117) 50 Since the image does not accord
for the imagery on the stamp seals 57
with the book of Genesis – Adam being repre-
The conventional medieval Islamic represen-
sented not naked but clothed, enthroned and
tation of rulership features enthroned figures
reading a book – Henry Maguire has proposed
flanked by dragon-headed or dragon-entwined
reading this paradisical scene not in a literal but
staffs; the iconography occurring predomi-
a spiritual sense as allegory 51 Precedent for such
nantly on mid-eleventh to thirteenth-century
an interpretation is found in the notion of the
silver-inlaid metalwork produced in the greater
Robe of Glory, which is commonly found in the
Khurasan region (figs 113–116) Since these are
writings of the early Syriac fathers and ultimately
often framed by a disc with pointed rays, Eva
derives from early Jewish sources 52 The imagery
Baer has interpreted them as artistic formulae of
is repeatedly used in the hymns of the fourth-
princely or royal images transposed in a sense to
century Syriac writer Ephrem, deacon in Edessa
a cosmic setting, and as emblematised luminaries,
and Nisibis, who equates the white robes of those
or panegyrical visual expressions of the “heav-
baptised with the Robes of Glory (which he also
enly ruler,” which sometimes have an astrological
47 Wenzel, 2005, pp 140–58
52 Ephraem, Hymni de Paradiso and Section 2 of
48 For the imagery of the “Tree of Life,” see also the dis-
Commnetarium in Genesium, tr and ed Brook, 1990, pp 31,
cussion in chapter 9, part a It may be notable to repeat here
67, 226–7
James L Sauvé’s view (1970, p 181) on this time-honored
53 Idem, pp 31, 66–74, 94, 112, 226–7
symbol: “Indo-European mythology is a pan-cultural Eur-
54 “God said…have dominion…over every living thing
asian phenomenon, and those studies that overlook the ‘tree
that moveth upon the earth…” (Genesis 1:28) In the Chris-
of life,’ or dismiss it as marginal or incidental in importance,
tian Syriac Meʿārath gazzē 2 11–25 (Cave of Treasures, tr and
must fail to evaluate properly, or even approximately, many
ed Budge, 1927, p 34) God gave Adam power over all beings
aspects of some Indo-European religions and mytholo -
55 Maguire, 1987, p 368, n 23, and p 372, ns 34, 38 In
gies ”
post-exilic Judaism, Midrash and Judeaeo-Christian tradi-
49 Canivet, M T and P , 1975, pp 49–70; Maguire, 1987,
tion the figure of the enthroned Adam is seen as the source
p 367
of supernatural wisdom, see Fodor, 1976, pp 166–7
50 Canivet, M T and P , 1975, p 61 and fig 3; Maguire,
56 Of note may be the parallel given by the Greek poet
1987, p 367 For similar motifs of a tree and serpent with an
Pindar of the drakōn Typhon who supports the column of
enthroned ruler or king, see Fodor, 1976, pp 159–60
the Etna on which perches the eagle of Zeus ( Pythian Odes 1)
51 Maguire, 1987, p 368
57 Ackerman, 1936, p 127
the dragon in relation to royal or heroic figures
117
character 58 An anecdote attesting to the astral
ciation which transposes the motif to a cosmic set-
qualities of the ruler in the face of the dragon is
ting – sometimes with an astrological character
noted by Ibn Bībī, the Rūm Saljuq chronicler, in
The pivotal role the dragon plays in these
which he metaphorically likens the meeting of
images will be further elucidated in the following,
the armies of the Khwārazm-shāh and the Rūm
concluding in a discussion of the time-honoured
Saljuqs to the day on which:
symbolism of the dragon-tamer
… in accordance to servile custom the King of the
Planets kissed the earth at the door of the King
Issuing and devouring
of the World and the encounter of the troops of
the War-Dragon unfurled the crimson and yel ow
The iconography of a human figure, sometimes
banner at the arena of the horizons 59
reduced to the image of a mask-like face, flanked
Luminary imagery is similarly used to describe
on either side by dragons, was one of “great sym-
the birth of Khurshīd shāh in one of the earli-
bolic potency” in the Central Asian world and
est Persian popular romances, the Kitāb-i Samak
beyond and existed in manifold variations 63 The
ʿAyyār, who throughout the story is portrayed
monsters not only frame the central motif but on
in terms of solar metaphors and is even named
account of their gaping jaws at first sight appear to
“king Sun ”60
threaten or perhaps even attempt to devour what
In sum, it may be stated that the visual tradition
they flank The possibility of the latter interpre-
of the medieval Islamic representation of rulership
tation will be discussed in the light of surviving
involves the imagery of a central figure flanked by
examples of this enigmatic imagery
serpent-dragons that top or twine around verti-
The motif is prominently recorded in the visual
cals which might carry a vegetal association that
arts of the Caucasus region, for instance on the
could distantly associate them with the Tree of
Armenian cathedral of the Holy Apostles in
Life motif as ultimate prototype Frequently the
present-day Kars erected by king Abas I between
vertical is shown only with a projecting dragon
930 and 943 in the adjacent secondary Bagratid
head This may thus present yet another example
kingdom of Vanand, near the border with eastern
of the visual conflation that was so pervasive in
Anatolia On the exterior of the drum above the
the medieval Central Asian world and beyond
blind arcades twelve ful -length figures are carved
It would be an example of a visual development
in low relief that in folk tradition are associated
that merges the figure of the dragon with that of
with the twelve apostles The figures have mask-
the staff in a unified whole The Tree of Life motif
like faces and are clad in long robes In what is
exhibited a remarkable persistence and popularity
perhaps a unique occurrence, some are shown to
in Near Eastern and Indo-European61 iconogra-
raise their bent arms upwards, others place their
phy which, as has been discussed above, could
hands on their chests, in what may have repre-
still be gauged in visual and textual sources of the
sented ritually significant gestures and may have
eleventh to thirteenth century, the period when
conveyed a canonical koiné 64 It is conceivable that
this imagery was employed with great regularity 62
the sequence of the movements played a role and
This supports the hypothesis that the prototype of
even al uded to a visual narrative 65 One of the fig-
the vertical may be sought in a vegetal composi-
ures is flanked by a tree-like vegetal composition 66
tion It is moreover notable that the central figure
Next to it is a figure with a looped serpent rising
often grasps with one or two hands the verticals
up at either side of his upper body, the heads
just below the point from which the dragon heads
oriented towards his ears Significantly, the figure
project To this may be added the luminary asso-
does not extend his arms towards the serpents but
58 Baer, 1981, p 14, and eadem, 1983, pp 259–68, 274
far into the shadow used to depict the death of Iskandar
See also the discussion on the astral transformation of the
( idem, vol 4, p 255, l 1849)
Sasanian throne in L’Orange, 1953, pp 37–47
63 Cf Russell, 2004, p 1169
59 Al-Awāmir al-ʿalāʾiyya, tr Duda, 1959, p 170
64 The folding of the arms was a deferential gesture
60 Gaillard, 1987, pp 124–5
known in the Iranised world since Zoroastrianism and was
61 Cf Janda, 2010, pp 320–2
used by Christians in prayer towards God; see Russell, 2004,
62 See also the close association of the tree with the Ira-
p 310 Cf Colledge, 1986, p 16
nian king in the Shāh-nāma account, for instance, the simile
65 For a line drawing of all twelve figures, see Thierry,
of the drying leaves of the tree of the Kayānids employed to
1978, p 47, fig 26
describe the death of Farīdūn (tr and ed Mohl, 1838–1878,
66 Idem, pl V 3
vol 1, p 209, ll 1128–129) or of the noble tree that stretches
118