tinted fingertips hold a large crescent-shaped
mitted through the Ṣābian cult of the moon-god
moon The centrally facing figure is flanked on
at Ḥarrān41 whose cult flourished well into the
either side by two small attendants 35 The com-
Islamic period Farès associates the lunar figure
position is encircled by two confronted dragons
with the content of the text, which he construed
whose bodies are knotted at the four cardinal
to be a prophylactic or talismanic device rein-
points; at the top the heads, with curved horns,
forced by healing powers associated with serpents
wrinkled snouts and wide-open jaws revealing
against the evil powers of disease in ancient Mes-
tongues with bifid tips, extend beyond the cir-
opotamian and Graeco-Roman beliefs 42
cumference, while the slender coiling tails form
The iconography of the Pseudo-Galen double
an additional loop before tapering to a point at
miniature has been studied by Guitty Azarpay,
the base The corners of the composition are fil ed
who identified the depiction of the dragons jux-
with four winged figures, of presumably honorific
taposed with the anthropomorphic lunar emblem
and celestial significance,36 that hold up the
as eclipse dragons, the head and the tail of al-
medallion The central figures and the four fram-
jawzahar 43 This argument is strengthened by the
ing figures are distinguished by a halo
fact that a partial solar eclipse did occur in the
The central frontally rendered figure, possibly
a symbolic personification of the planet Moon
Near East on 29 Rabīʿ al-awwal 595/28 January
(al-qamar), was a popular motif at this time
1199, a date which corresponds with that of the
37 and
one that was “generally invested with astrological
completion of the manuscript, indicating that the
and semi-magical significance ”38 The now
representations on the double miniature were
destroyed thirteenth-century Sinjār Gate of Mosul
intended as apotropaic devices against the poten-
was decorated with a relief portraying a figure
tial astrological threats imminent at the very time
holding up a crescent moon 39 The emblem
of its production 44 yet rather than associating
ap pears to have been of some importance since
the imagery of al-jawzahar, portrayed with the
it is shown on the coinage of Badr al-Dīn Luʾluʾ
personified moon emblem, with the actual occur-
as well as on coins of other rulers of Mosul and
rence of a solar or lunar eclipse, Pancaroğlu sug-
Sinjār (between 585 and 657/1189 and 1258) and
gests, as proposed earlier by Farès, that the
of Saladin (Mayyāfāriqīn, 587/1191) 40
depiction has in fact a wider meaning and, more
In his monograph on the manuscript, Bishr
precisely, may also be semantically linked with
Farès perceives the lunar emblem as Nin-gal, the
the contents of the manuscript 45
“Great Lady” and divine consort of the moon-god
Although probably being a pseudo- epigraphical
Sīn, whose attribute was the crescent, and pro-
original Arabic work by an anonymous author,
poses that the iconographic expression was trans-
the text of the Kitāb al-diryāq is falsely attributed
35 Azarpay (1978, pp 364–5) relates the lunar personifi-
fig 22 The lunar figure was interpreted by scholars as the
cation to Graeco-Roman and Byzantine traditions in which
emblem of the city of Mosul as well as the coat of arms of
the Moon is female, which, she suggests, is generally perpetu-
Badr al-Dīn Luʾluʾ (whose sobriquet was “new moon” or
ated in depictions of the symbol in Islamic art On the female
“full moon of religion”) Rice (1957, pp 321–2) however
nature of the Moon in Roman astrological imagery, see also
has disputed this association on the basis that the motif
Markel, 1995, p 83, in contrast to it generally being thought
was not restricted to Mosul; cf Ettinghausen, “Hilāl ii – In
of as male in Indian mythology, idem, pp 32–8 and n 33 (for
Islamic art,” EI² III, 379a
an exception see, idem, p 152); Pingree, 1964–5, p 250 The
40 Such as the copper coinage of the Zangid rulers
henna-tinted fingernails and tips of the fingers and toes of
of Mosul, ʿIzz al-Dīn Masʿūd I ibn Mawdūd (576/1180–
the figure clearly identify her as female See also the depic-
589/1193) (cf What the Coins Tell Us, 2009, p 32, 15722 and
tion of female moons on a late twelfth-century Tell Minis-
15719) or Nāṣir al-Dīn Maḥmūd ibn Masʿūd (616/1219–
style bowl, now preserved in the Paris, Musée du Louvre,
631/1234) (dated 627/1229; American Numismatic Society;
Département des Antiquités orientales, Section Islamique,
cf Ettinghausen, “Hilāl,” EI² III, 379a, fig 4) See also Lane
inv no OA 7872 L’Etrange et le Merveil eux en terres d’Islam,
Poole, 1877, nos 529–33, 567–9, 589–92 The lunar emblem
2001, p 232, cat no 159
is also shown on the coinage of the ʿAbbasid caliph al-Nāṣir
36 Azarpay, 1978, p 366, n 19; Pancaroğlu, 2001, p 163
(577/1181–620/1223); Hauptmann von Gladiss, ed , 2006,
37 See, for instance, on twelfth- and thirteenth-century
p 106, cat no 12
metalwork (Saxl, 1912, p 164, fig 10; Pope and Ackerman,
41 Farès, 1953, pp 22–4, 26–7, 33
eds , 1938–9, repr 1964–81, vol 6, pls 1327, 1331) and
42 Idem, pp 29–33
minia ture painting (e g al-Qazwīnī, ʿAjāʾib al-makhlūqāt,
43 Azarpay, 1978, pp 363–74, and eadem, 1991, pp 1–10
Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod Arab 464, rea-
44 Eadem, 1978, pp 363–74 . On the apparent discrep-
lised during the author’s lifetime in Wāsiṭ in 678/1279–80;
ancy of the choice of representing a lunar eclipse when in
Saxl, 1912, fig 8)
fact it was a solar eclipse that had occured, see Pancaroğlu,
38 Azarpay, 1978, p 364
2001, p 164
39 Sarre and Herzfeld, 1920, vol 2, pp 213–5; Azarpay,
45 Pancaroğlu, 2001, p 164
1978, p 365, fig 3; Hauptmann von Gladiss, ed , 2006,
the dragon and the magico-medical sphere
173
to the second-century physician Galen with the
(“Sources of Information on the Generations of
commentary of yaḥyā al-Naḥwī (John the Gram-
Physicians”), that according to Galen’s account:
marian/Johannes Grammatikos or Johannes
Asklepios is represented holding in his hand a
Philoponus) of Alexandria ( c 490–565),46 and
carved staff with branches, made from the marsh
credited to the most renowned scholar of the
mallow tree … Upon it, there is represented a
translation movement, the Nestorian Christian
long-lived animal, wound [i e , coiled] around it
Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq al-ʿIbādī ( c 192/808–264/877) 47
– a snake 51
It is a literary “hybrid”48 comprising the biograph-
He explains that the association of Asklepios with
ical sketches of nine classical physicians – among
the serpent is due, firstly, to:
whom are the physicians Galen (Jālīnūs),
Andro machus the younger (Andrūmakhus
the fact that the snake is a sharp-sighted animal
al-Qarīb al-ʿAhd), who together with his father
which is much awake and never sleeps Thus the
student of the craft of medicine must not be
was active at the court of the Roman emperor
detracted by sleep, and he must possess the keen-
Nero, and the early fourth-century Philagrios
est possible mind in order to be able to warn
(Aflaghuras) – their theriac recipes as well as
(his patients) in advance of present (conditions)
their vitae, followed by a section on snakes and
and (those) likely to arise in the future 52
their classifications and further medicinal reci-
He offers a further explanation, namely that the
pes 49
serpent has a long lifespan, perhaps possessing
In the third painting of the Paris Kitāb al-
eternal life and hence that:
di ryāq, Philagrios is shown in the process of pre-
paring an antidote in a large vessel placed on a
those who employ the craft of medicine are able
stand over a fire which is fanned by his assistant 50
to live long … This animal – the snake – sloughs
off its skin, called by the Greeks “old age ” Like-
The onlookers comprise men and women of dif-
wise people by employing the craft of medicine,
ferent age groups Seated at the lower right corner
are able to slough off old age, the result of disease
of the scene, an emaciated figure clad only in a
and regain health 53
loincloth, probably the patient, gestures to a
dragon depicted just below the physician The
Other medieval Arabic sources record that
Askle pios’ staff was wreathed with entwined
creature has large, wide-open jaws and its body
serpents and, moreover, that Agathodaimon
is composed of two intertwining serpent coils It
(Aghāthūdhī mūn), who was considered a great
may thus represent an ingredient in the prepara-
authority in the occult sciences, was Asklepios’
tion of the antidote, as indicated in the account
teacher 54
of Andromachus the younger that is given in the
In spite of their dangerous or even life-threat-
text, discussed below . Alternatively, the entwined
ening qualities, serpents have long been consid-
coils may represent the caduceus-like staff, a
ered to have medicinal benefits against a variety
symbol that was known in the medieval Islamic
of afflictions and, as stated in the account of
world Writing in the thirteenth century, the phy-
Andro machus the younger included in the text
sician Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa (599/1203–669/1270)
of the Kitāb al-diryāq, were an essential ingredi-
records in his dictionary of over 380 biographies
ent in the theriac, into which he “added many
of physicians, ʿUyūn al-anbāʾ fī ṭabaqāt al-aṭibbāʾ
drugs and made a single theriac … [he also]
46 Meyerhofer, 1932, pp 1–21
52 Idem, p 70 and n 72 The denomination drakōn is
47 Cf Ullmann, 1970, p 49; Johnstone, “Summ,” EI 2 IX,
thought to be derived from the Greek word derkomai, “to
872a; Pancaroğlu, 2001, p 156 and n 9; Kerner, 2004, p 167
see” (see also Porphyrios, De Abstinentia, III 3,8); the sacred
48 Kerner, 2007, p 25
serpent is said to be the guardian of the temple of Asklepios
49 In addition to the two frontispiece miniatures there are
because it is the most watchful of animals; according to
nine text miniatures and a set of illustrations of serpents and
Cornutus, Lucius Annaeus, “snakes are symbols of Athene,
plants that have a direct bearing upon the content of the text
because they look frightening and are vigilant and sleep
Farès, 1953, pls VII–IX: portraits of physicians of antiquity,
little” ( Theologiae Graecae Compendium, 20); similarly, it is
XI–XVI: themes and anecdotes treated in the text, XIX: a
associated with Asklepios because of its ability to self-rejuve-
table of serpents, XVII–XVIII: specimens of plants See also
nate, to discard age, as well as its vigilance; because patients
Moulierac, 1996, p 101; Kerner, 2004, pp 3–4 and n 3
require attentive care ( Theologiae Graecae Compendium, 33)
50 Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Ms Arabe 2964, p 15
53 The Greek gerās (“old age”) is also used to denote the
Colour reproductions in À l’ombre d’Avicenne, 1996, p 156,
cast-off skin of snakes Rosenthal, 1956, pp 70–1 and n 76
cat no 87, bottom, and Pancaroğlu, 2007, p 26, fig 12
54 Ullmann, 1972, p 176 and n 6; Plessner,
51 Rosenthal, 1956, pp 67–71
“ Aghā thū dhīmūn,” EI² I, p 247a
174