“Among world rulers two believers and two Stories of the Prophets (Qisas al-anbiya᾿), written by var-

idolators. . . . The two believers were Ibn ious authors in the eleventh and twelfth centuries) and
Da ud and Dhu al-Qarnayn. The idolators the divination albums Book of Omens (Falnamah).2 The
were Nimrod and Bukhtnassar.”1 episodes chosen for illustration are similar in the var-
ious texts, but their visual treatment varies somewhat
three Visual images of Iskandar, as Alexander the Great was according to the literary genre. Moreover, in the pro-
known in the Islamic tradition, illustrate stories of cess of translation-cum-interpretation of the individual

Picturing the either historical or epic nature, and their iconography

conveys ideas about the role of kingship and the source
of its legitimacy. A king is evaluated by two criteria:
scenes from verbal description to visual depiction, each
artist newly fashioned the already known episodes in

Archetypal King: his duties and performance as a leader responsible for

the security and the welfare of his citizens, and his

Iskandar in
relationship with the deity. In Islamic lands, the first
criterion as applied to Iskandar generally followed the
pre-Islamic sources faithfully, while the second, his

Islamic Painting spiritual standing, was developed in Islamic literature

in a unique way. Persian didactic poetry, with its mysti-
cal or clearly Sufi aspects, presents Iskandar as a seeker
of truth and a traveler on a spiritual path, in addition to
Rachel Milstein his image as a conqueror, savant, and discoverer of new
worlds. This distinctive, multifaceted cultural image
of a philosopher-king was introduced by authors, art-
ists, and patrons into a variety of genres by means of an
unusual variety of episodes.
In Islamic painting, which flourished in Iran, the
Ottoman Empire, and Moghul India from the late thir-
teenth century to the seventeenth century (with certain
local continuations in Iran and north India), illustra-
tions for Iskandar’s romance adorn the following texts:
the Compendium of Chronicles (Jami al-tawarikh) by
Rashid al-Din Tabib (ca. 1247–1318) and Hafız-i Abru
(d. 1430); the Iranian poetic epic Shahnamah by Abu
al-Qasim Firdausi (940–1019 or 1025) and its Otto-
man derivation, the Book of Alexander (Iskandarnamah)
by Ahmadi (d. 1413); the mystically inclined Book of
Glory (Sharafnamah) and Book of Fortune (Iqbalnamah)
by Nizami Ganjavi (1141–1209), and The Alexandrian
Mirror (A᾿inah-yi Iskandari) by Amir Khusraw Dihlavi
(1253–1325); the Sufi texts The Seven Thrones (Haft
Fig. 3-1. Khamsa. Folio 282 recto: Iskandar Hunts in Eastern
awrang) by Abd al-Rahman Nur al-Din Jami (1414–
Turkistan. Author: Nizami Ganjavi. Ink and pigment on thick
1492) and The Gathering of Lovers (Majalis al- ushshaq) cream paper, Shiraz, June 1560. NYPL: Spencer Pers. Ms 51.
by Gazurgahi; and the popular religious genre known as Checklist no. 23.

48 49
 accord with the contemporary context, and to a lesser Iskandar in the Early Iranian Tradition
degree with his personal predilection. Therefore, if we
want to gain a general sense of Iskandar’s iconography The iconography of Iskandar appears at the beginning
in Islamic painting, it would be best to locate the illus- of Persian painting, when, for the first time in the his-
trations in their historical framework. tory of Islamic art, historical and epic treaties were
A review of Iskandar’s depiction in the various adorned with narrative illustrations. But already under
political centers and painting schools shows that, along the Mongol Ilkhanid rule of greater Iran (1256–1353),5
with local or contemporary preferences, additions, and the differences between the ideological intentionality
differences of interpretation, certain illustrated epi-
sodes appear again and again. This is especially true of
the recurrent representations of battles (fig. 3-2), the
slaying of monsters and dragons, hunting (fig. 3-1), and
enthronement and banquets (fig. 3-3, fig. 2-4)4 —in
all of which Iskandar’s images resemble those of other
kings. However, the majority of the scenes in his illus-
trative cycle are not only unique but also different in
kind from those of other kings. For example, instead
of receiving diplomatic delegations in his palace or tent,
Iskandar is depicted visiting other monarchs, often
outside the borders of his empire, as in China or India
(fig. 2-4). These episodes emphasize him not only as
a cosmocrator but also as a wanderer. Moreover, his
countless trips on the land and by sea, which often
attest to his philosophical curiosity, include mysteri-
ous experiences in strange places, such as his encounter
with the prophet Ilyas and the mythological Khidr in
the Land of Darkness (see below). Iskandar’s travels
also bring him to the Ka ba in Mecca, a destination that
sets him, as a Muslim, apart from other ancient kings.
This religious quest, together with his encounters with
philosophers, Brahmins, and other hermits, make the
iconography of Iskandar’s life unique, and thus a match
for painters’ desires to create new iconographic and
compositional schemes.

Fig. 3-2. Khamsa. Folio 342a recto: Iskandar Fights against the Fig. 3-3. Khamsa. Folio 266 recto: Iskandar Being Served Kay
Russians. Author: Nizami Ganjavi. Ink, opaque watercolor, and Khusraw’s Magical Goblet (jam-i jahan-bin). Author: Nizami
gold on glazed Arabic paper, Iran, 1562. PUL: Islamic Manu- Ganjavi. Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper, Iran, 1445.
scripts, Garrett no. 79G. Checklist no. 25. NLI: Ms. Yah. Ar. 1000. Checklist no. 18.

50 51
of the historical record and epic genres—one cosmo-
politan and universal, the other national—reflect the
suppleness of Iskandar’s image as a man for every sea-
son. He plays the role of a world conqueror, ideal king,
curious scientist, philosopher, mystic, and prophet.
At the start, then, having been converted to Islam
at the end of the thirteenth century, the Ilkhanid rul-
ers constructed their new image as legitimate scions
of the ancient Iranian and Muslim dynasties. This
political and cultural move is reflected in the growing
number of written, copied, and illustrated versions of
the manuscripts of the Compendium of Chronicles (Jami
al-Tawarikh)6 and the Shahnamah in the Ilkhanid capi-
tal of Tabriz, in Shiraz, the capital of the Iranian Inju
dynasty (1304–57), and in an as-yet unidentified center
of the Mongol sultanate.7 The compendium of histories
entitled Jami al-Tawarikh was composed by the grand
vizier of three Mongol Ilkhanid rulers, Rashid al-Din
Tabib, a man of many talents, and a rationalist histo-
rian, who not only recounted the history of nations and
dynasties from China to Christian Europe, but who
also made innovative use of written and oral sources
from the various national and religious entities. His
unique approach, which resulted in depictions of dif-
ferent groups as seen through their own eyes, could not
have developed in a cultural center other than the cos-
mopolitan Ilkhanid capital.8 No wonder, then, that the
only illustration dedicated to Iskandar in the Compen-
dium of Chronicles shows him as a discoverer, riding to
the Land of Darkness in the unknown northern part
of the world.9 Under the supervision of the rationalist
author, darkness was faithfully depicted as a land cov-
ered by heavy clouds; later painters simply colored the
background sky in black (fig. 3-8). Clouds, however,
can also be associated with heavenly qualities, as we
will see below, and thus in the iconography of Iskandar’s
funeral (fig. 3-4), two layers of interpretation exist: one
immediate and natural, the other symbolic and only
hinted at.
Another attitude characterizes the far larger
cycle of illustrations found in fourteenth-century man-
uscripts of the national Iranian epic, the Shahnamah.
52
This text, which conserves the cultural heritage of
the people conquered by the Mongols, was adopted
by the alien conquerors even before their conversion
to Islam, no doubt as a manifestation of their decision
to become a legitimate local dynasty. Such reasoning
also explains why the story of Iskandar, a foreigner
who became an Iranian shah and the founder of a
local dynasty, assumes such unusual importance in
the Ilkhanid manuscripts. In later periods of Islamic
painting, however, according to Robert Hillenbrand’s
survey, “the entire Iskandar cycle was very frequently
omitted altogether from the illustrative programme,
and even when it was not ignored, it was tolerated only
in a very cursory fashion.”10
The earliest and so-called small Shahnamah man-
uscripts, which were produced between 1300 and 1335,
exhibit Iskandar’s various facets as a perfect king. He
wins wars, kills monsters, receives diplomatic delega-
tions, and visits foreign kings; he administers justice and
builds an impregnable metal wall against the barbaric
people of Gog and Magog, who endanger the survival of
Muslim communities in the Far East. The iconographic
sources for the paintings in these early manuscripts are
still debatable; some scholars point to the lack of ear-
lier illustrated Shahnamah manuscripts, while others
conjecture, based upon textual sources, that medieval
copies with narrative cycles existed before the turn of
the fourteenth century.11 One fact is undeniable, that
certain Shahnamah stories depicted upon ceramic tiles
decorated Ilkhanid palaces and embellished vessels
from the twelfth century at the latest, following models
from the pre-Islamic, Sasasnid period.12 However, the
iconographic schemes in the early Shahnamah manu-
scripts were all individual creations, as can be deduced
from the great variety in details.13 These variations, the
fruit of rich imaginations and genuine appreciation of
imported artifacts and fashions, can be seen, among
other elements, in the depictions of foreigners as well as
various ethnic and religious groups.
Another surprising subject, to be repeated often
in the royal Great Mongol Shahnamah, is the death of
kings and heroes. The tragic effects of these events, the
turbulence and national mourning, are usually repre- cycle as the images of the Ilkhanid dynasty, has iden-
sented by depictions of funeral processions, as in the tified in each of the paintings a reference to the actual
very popular iconography of “Iskandar Attends the deeds of individual rulers.19
Dying Dara” (fig. 2-5) and in the frequent depiction The dense composition of “Iskandar’s Visit to the
of Iskandar’s funeral (fig. 3-4).14 The highly expressive Brahmins,” depicted in a style that recalls the achieve-
illustration in figure 3-4 indicates the progression of ments of the early Italian Renaissance, reunites two
the funeral by cropping the end of the bier with the
frame of the painting on the right. Two mourners, who
seem to accompany the procession, crouch in agony
over the bier, and two others anticipate its arrival. All
four reveal their emotional state by wearing blue—a
color of mourning—or tearing at their garments and
hair. The men at the far left and right, who still wear
their headgear, probably represent members of the
higher echelon; notably, the brocaded gown of the fig-
ure on the left indicates a high Mongol affinity. The
variations in the figures’ dress demonstrate that all
social classes participated in the tragic event. Perhaps
not only humans mourned, but the universe itself, as
may be symbolized by the golden cloud above the bier.
Elements of nature in Ilkhanid painting occasionally
play an active role as metaphors of a great calamity,15
and the presence of clouds in the sky above the figure
of a great man indicates the heavenly source of his royal
charisma or his prophetic light.16
The Great Mongol Shahnamah
The royal Great Mongol Shahnamah, the most luxurious,
ambitious, and artistically complex fourteenth-century
copy of this text, was probably produced for Abu
Sa id Bahadur Khan (1316–1335), the last Ilkhanid
ruler.17 Scholars generally agree that the illustrations
in this manuscript consciously refer or react to politi-
cal events of their time, thus serving the propaganda of
the Ilkhanid patron or, conversely, calling his attention
to precarious alliances at his court. Oleg Grabar and
Sheila Blair noted that the subjects of the illustrations
in the Great Mongol Shahnamah revolve around the
Fig. 3-4. Shahnamah. The Funeral of Iskandar. Author: Abu
following themes: royal legitimacy, death and mourn-
al-Qasim Firdausi. Ink, opaque watercolor, gold, and silver on
ing, human frailty, and divine revelation.18 Abolala paper, Iran, probably Isfahan, ca. 1330–40. MMA: 1974.290.34.
Soudavar, on the other hand, in reading the illustrative Checklist no. 34.
53

different episodes (fig. 3-5). This combination was a
recurring practice in medieval Christian painting, and
to a certain extent in Sasanid and Islamic decorated
vessels, but is practically unknown in the Persian art
of the book. Adel Adamova refers to it as “an archaistic
Fig. 3-5. Shahnamah. Recto: Taynush before Iskandar (?) (right)
and Iskandar’s Visit to the Brahmins (left). Author: Abu al-Qasim
Firdausi. Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper, Iran, Tabriz,
ca. 1330–40. AMSG: S1986.105.1. Checklist no. 19.
54
feature, evidently derived from narrative wall paint-
ings.”20 Dressed in the royal combination of red and blue,
Iskandar is seen riding against a background of rocky
mountains, in the left part of the composition. The
path he follows leads to a brick chapel sheltering two
dark-skinned men, apparently Hindu Brahmins. On
the right, seated under a flowering tree against the blue
sky, a ruler clad in white over red is encircled by seven
men. Scholars agree that the left side depicts Iskandar’s
journey to the land of the Brahmins in search of their
wisdom. Indeed, these savant hermits will give him a
lesson about the futility of an ambitious life in quest of
material gains and engaged in struggles for power.
The interpretation of the right side is less unani-
mous; Soudavar does not directly identify the subject
and states only that the “courtly gathering on the right
is unrelated to the surrounding Shahnama text”; he
offers a less than convincing proposal that the scene
was probably meant to evoke Timur Khan’s delibera-
tion on a complex jewelry transaction.21 Other scholars
suggest that the episode probably depicts Iskandar with
Taynush, son of the wise Queen Qaydafah. The young
man was convinced by the world conqueror to aban-
don his plans to avenge the death of his father-in-law,
King Fur of Hind, whom Iskandar had killed. However,
based upon the order of episodes in Firdausi’s text, this
identification is uncertain since in this case Iskandar is
depicted deliberating with two men on his left, one of
them young, the other one old.
Full of imagination and touching upon the always
fascinating topic of strange or monstrous creatures, the
story about Gog and Magog corresponds with other,
earlier legends about mythical heroes’ struggles with
demonic powers. Whether the very first Iranian kings
or King Solomon, these exemplary monarchs subdued
demonic animal embodiments of evil and chaos in
the created world. Along with their constant struggle
against disorder, these mythic kings built the corner-
stones of civilization by teaching humanity to make
handicrafts, to use tools, and to erect constructions. In
Firdausi’s poem, Iskandar is credited with innovation
of the mechanical, fire-spitting horses that decided
the campaign against King Fur of Hind, and that were
rightly commemorated in one of the more extraordi-
nary illustrations of the Great Mongol Shahnamah (see
fig. 2-15).22 Iskandar of the Muslim version shares with
the philosopher king and prophet Sulayman (King
Solomon) the art of monumental construction and the
spiritual ability to employ demons as builders.
The Timurid and the Safavid Periods
Following the downfall of the Ilkhanids and the con-
quests of Timur (Tamerlane, r. 1370–1405), the ruling
powers, their ethos, and the major cultural and artistic
trends in Greater Iran gradually distanced themselves
from the cosmopolitan mixture of ideologies, which
had strong Chinese and nomadic currents.
Under the reign of the Timurid sultans (1370–
1506) in eastern Iran and their Turkman opponents
(the Kara Koyunlu, 1375–1468, and the Ak Koyunlu,
1378–1501) in the west, the steppe-type of charismatic
leadership and laws were gradually replaced by Islamic
reasoning and religious devotion. The age of dramatic
heroism in literature and art gave way to ethical ques-
tioning, romantic poetry, and paintings with strong
mystical and Sufi overtones.23
In Herat, capital of the Timurid dynasty, under
the rule of Shahrukh Mirza (r. 1405–1447) a short-
lived revival of what is the now called Historical Style
of painting was intended to reproduce the dramatic
power and solemnity of Rashid al-Din Tabib’s Com-
pendium of Chronicles. The result of this somewhat
artificial tendency is seen, for example, in the stiff and
emotionless figures that play a static role in the episode
of Iskandar and the dying Dara, in Hafiz-i Abru’s his-
torical compendium. This style quickly disappeared in
favor of the romantic and humanistic manner, which
better fitted the new trend of spiritual and moralistic
literature. Artistic evidence of contemporary cultural
currents is found in the dwindling number of illus-
trated Shahnamah manuscripts, whose place was
occupied by Nizami’s Khamsa and, under its influence,
The Alexandrian Mirror (A᾿inah-yi Iskandari) of the Sufi
Amir Khusraw Dihlavi. The later part of the fifteenth
century attests the growing influence of the Sufi sheikh
Abd al-Rahman Nur al-Din Jami, whose The Seven
Thrones was illustrated in a growing number of copies,
including a magnificent volume produced under the
Safavid rule of the following century. Jami’s presence in
Herat, together with the artistic leadership of the Sufi
painter Bihzad, produced some of the most symboli-
cally charged compositions, which are also among the
most beautiful Persian paintings ever created. Under
Bihzad’s brush, great kings and heroes, such as Iskan-
dar, Timur, and his own patron Sultan Husayn Bayqara,
assumed human proportions and characteristics, while
simple, anonymous soldiers were granted individuality.
In this context, the philosophers in Iskandar’s entou-
rage played a growing role, as their king’s journeys on
land and by sea were interpreted as stations in his Sufi
path toward spiritual elevation.
Nizami’s Khamsa was also popular under the
Turkman rule in western Iran, where, in addition to the
royal workshop in Tabriz, a cheaper “commercial school”
was responsible for an almost mass production of cop-
ies of the Shahnamah and the Khamsa for patrons of a
lesser social rank. Despite their minute details of the
romantic beauty of nature, the “bazaar” paintings, small
and summarily executed, recall the rigid and impassive
depictions of the earlier Historical Style in Herat.
At the beginning of the sixteenth century, Iran
was reunited by the Shi ite and Sufi Safavid dynasty,
whose sons based their royal charisma both on the
saintly image of their eponymous founder, Sheikh Safi
al-Din, and on their alleged Iranian origins. The con-
struction of their Iranian national identity is reflected
in the patronage of the most luxurious Shahnamah,
that of Shah Tahmasp.24 The 258 magnificent illus-
trations of the now dispersed manuscript were painted
at the royal workshop of Tabriz in the first half of
the sixteenth century, by order of the founder of the
dynasty, Shah Isma il, for his crown prince and later
successor. In size, in the vast scope of the iconograph-
ical cycle, and in its emphasis on royal grandeur and
heroism, this manuscript is matched only by the Great
55

Fig. 3-6. The Seven Thrones (Haft awrang). Folio 34 recto: Iskandar
Travels in the Land of Darkness. Author: Abd al-Rahman Nur
al-Din Jami. Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper, Shiraz,
August 7, 1565. MLM: MS. M.467. Checklist no. 30.
56
Mongol Shahnamah, thus highlighting the relatively
lesser importance of the theme of national royalty
during the Timurid and Turkman fifteenth century.25
Unlike the Great Mongol Shahnamah, Iskandar’s saga
appears only twice in the great Safavid manuscript. But
in addition to the Book of Kings, the same royal work-
shop produced illustrated manuscripts of ethical and
mystical texts that had been favored a century earlier
and fitted well the Sufi identity of the Safavids, at least
at the beginning of their reign. We therefore find a
variety of illustrated copies of the Khamsa, along with
a few copies of The Seven Thrones by Jami (fig. 3-6).
During the second half of the sixteenth century, all the
art centers of Safavid Iran produced Shahnamah man-
uscripts for members of the military and bureaucratic
elites. But toward the turn of the seventeenth century,
a new trend developed in Isfahan, favoring the supple
or sometimes rounded figures of young and tempting
courtiers rather than the hard, emotionless heroes
of the glorious past. In this last phase of pre-modern
Persian painting, there are no large and crowded com-
positions of epic events; their place is taken by a few
figures set in lovely scenes of nature.
The Death of Dara
The shift from epic to emotional is clearly attested by
a comparison between early fifteenth-century com-
positions of Iskandar attending the dying Dara, the
most popular episode in the entire Iskandar illustrative
cycle, and those produced in the sixteenth century. The
illustrations of this subject, one of the most frequently
depicted in both the Shahnamah and the Khamsa man-
uscripts, demonstrates how the two texts share generic
compositions, and how various periods and schools
interpret the same texts in different ways. Only two
paintings of this episode in fourteenth-century versions
of the small Shahnamah are known: one depicts Iskandar
attending his dying enemy;26 while the other shows the
two traitors who murdered their king being hanged by
Iskandar’s order.27 In a scene from the Freer and Sack-
ler galleries (fig. 2-6), one of the commanders holds the
two traitors attached to a rope. Hence, by combining the
two episodes in a single scene, the painter shifted the
focus of the event from heroism and kingship to sin and
retribution, a theme that better suited the growing spir-
ituality of the Timurid age. This sense of political ethics
was replaced during the sixteenth century by a variety of
emotional sentiments and a focus on the transfer of regal
rights from Dara to his young opponent, due to become
his son-in-law and successor.28
The individual illustrations vary in such details as
the helmets or crowns, royal robes or armor, and beards
or beardless faces.29 In this manuscript, Iskandar’s
young age is exaggerated and the excited spectator-
soldiers wear helmets but no armor. In another late
version, one of the most beautiful expressions of this
episode, the traitors and even the soldiers have disap-
peared from the scene, leaving the stage to civilians
struck by sorrow, one of whom tears his robe according
to the customs of mourning.30 Iskandar, in this painting,
is depicted with a crown; Dara with a standard Islamic
turban. Thus, the iconographic tradition of a heroic
myth with its ethical implications comes to an end, as
it is transformed into an emotional drama, perhaps
against a backdrop of moralistic conceptions of earthly
power struggling against the power of death.
Iskandar in the Land of Darkness
One of Iskandar’s most meaningful and spectacular
adventures was his journey to the Land of Darkness,
from where, as a scientist and discoverer of worlds,
he planned to collect unknown materials, and where
he hoped to find the source of eternal life. His hopes
thwarted and his quest put to shame, Iskander faces
prophecies of his death, especially from Israfil, the
angel who will announce the beginning of the end of
the world. The sound of Israfil’s trumpet, according to
Islamic popular moralistic tales, will bring forth the
barbarians of Gog and Magog, who will then break
down Iskandar’s wall, spread out across the world, and
cause the cataclysm of the apocalypse.31 The story of
the Land of Darkness thus brings to a close the circle
of Iskandar’s life, and as such is prone to various lev-
els of interpretation. Rashid al-Din Tabib, in text and
illustration, refers to this journey as a scientific inquiry;
Firdausi emphasizes the impossible quest for eternal
life; Nizami and Jami take it as an allegory of the mys-
tical Path; and popular religious literature focuses on
Muslim spiritual aspects.
In the illustrations for the Shahnamah that date
to the fourteenth century, the story of the wall against
Gog and Magog was at its peak in popularity, while the
episode immediately preceding it, Iskandar’s journey to
the Land of Darkness, was almost ignored. The three
known illustrations that indirectly relate to this jour-
ney depict the king’s encounter with Israfil, a subject
appropriate to Firdausi’s theme. In one simple com-
position, Iskandar is seen climbing a mountain, on top
of which the seated angel holds a long trumpet, his
instrument to announce the day of doom.32 Images of
this prophetic encounter were painted in copies of both
the Shahnamah and the Khamsa during the following
century until, probably not before the late sixteenth
century, the story was sometimes combined with Iskan-
dar’s search for the Source of Life, large and complex
compositions (fig. 3-6). 33 Israfil, in most of the illus-
trations, is situated on top of a mountain;34 in figure
3-7, his huge figure, facing a tiny image of Iskandar, is
half-standing on a mountain, half-hovering against
the blue background of the sky. The king’s men, many
more than recounted in the texts, are spread across a
vast landscape of valleys and hills; their identification
with the Land of Darkness is clear from their dark-
green and blue coloring, and from the torches carried
by the soldiers. At the heart of this dark region, at the
bottom of the composition, the mythological prophets
Khidr and Ilyas, their heads surrounded by prophetic
halos of gleaming light, fill their drinking vessels with
water from the source of eternal life. The presence of
the two prophets, together with Israfil and a talking
bird perched on a tree between the angel and Iskandar,
is the result of a process of mutual borrowing, adapta-
tion, and amalgamation between the paintings of the
Shahnamah and the Khamsa, in which the illustrative
57
 components are inspired by the poet’s words.35 Complex
compositions are, however, rare, as more often a single
episode sufficed, such as Iskandar following Khidr (fig.
3-8). Unusual combinations do appear in Iran under
Qajar rule, such as Ilyas and Khidr drinking from the
Source of Life together with the talking tree, who tells
Iskandar that his path has come to an end.36 An inter-
esting and unusual combination appeared in 1583 in
The Genealogy (Silsilanamah) by Luqman, an Ottoman
album of mythological figures, the alleged forefathers
and archetypal models of the Ottoman sultans.37 In the
lower part of the illustration, Iskandar, far larger than
all the others, is enthroned in the image of an Ottoman
sultan, save for the crown on his head, instead of a glob-
ular turban. A sinner who is brought to the presence of
the king signifies the concept of justice, the source of
royal legitimacy for the dynasty, which, unlike its Safa-
vid opponents, had no saintly figure as an eponymous
founder. In the upper part of the composition, which
in all the other folios is conceived as a heavenly domain,
Khidr alone, accompanied just by his horse, fills his
drinking vessel from the water of life. How should the
beholder of this painting understand the combination
of the two scenes? Perhaps the image is meant to sug-
gest that a ruler who imposes justice in his kingdom
earns eternal fame.

Iskandar in Ottoman and Indian Painting

The Muslim world of the sixteenth to the eighteenth cen-

tury was divided by three great sultanates: the Safavids
in Iran, the Ottomans throughout the Mediterranean,
and the Moghuls in India. Each had its distinct ethos,
administrative practices, and visual languages, but all of ing in all these kingdoms drew in the beginning upon
them shared, in different ways and to different degrees, the achievements of the Persian art schools, but from
common cultural origins—influenced by European art, the very start the choice of illustrated texts was specific
to which they added local traditions. The art of paint- to each of the political and geographical entities. It is

Fig. 3-7. Shahnamah. Iskandar Encounters the Angel Israfil. Au-

thor: Abu al-Qasim Firdausi. Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on Fig. 3-8. Shahnamah. Iskandar and Khidr on Horseback. Author:
paper, probably Turkey, 1562–83. AMSG: S1986.256. Checklist Abu al-Qasim Firdausi. Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper,
no. 32. Iran, Shiraz, ca. 1590–1600. AMSG: S1986.272. Checklist no. 29.

58 59

no surprise, then, that the Turkish text the Book of
Alexander, composed by Ahmadi, was one of the earli-
est illustrated manuscripts in the Ottoman Empire.38
The manuscript in figure 3-9 was copied in Shiraz in
Fig. 3-9. Book of Alexander (Iskandarnamah). Folio 106 verso:
Iskandar Fights a White Dragon in Sind. Author: Taj al-Din Ibra-
him ibn Khidr Ahmadi. Ink opaque watercolor, and gold on paper,
1519. NLI: Ms. Yah. Ar. 1114. Checklist no. 20.
60
1518–19, at the Sufi center of Mawlana Husam al-Din else, these paintings, even if miniature, resemble mod- king as accompanied only by his horse and groom, or
Ibrahim, only two or three years after the production ern European posters, and their means to transmit servant. The painter did not know, or ignored, the fact
of an illustrated copy from Amasya.39 The paintings in messages are likewise clear, direct, and often forceful. that animals are not allowed inside the holy site, and
these rather damaged manuscripts are dedicated to the In one unusual and improbable episode depicted he employed the generic iconography of kingship that
various manifestations of heroism, on the battlefield in these manuscripts, Iskandar is shown visiting the developed during the reign of the Grand Moghul Shah
and against monsters. During the sixteenth century, Ka ba in Mecca (see fig. 2-13)—the pilgrimage of a Jahan (1628–58) and that spread, in exaggerated forms,
the most brilliant period of the Ottoman dynasty, court pre-Islamic monarch to the holiest Islamic shrine. It
artists developed their particular style of historical is likely that the patron wished to emphasize the role
Fig. 3-10. Khamsa. Folios 290 verso, 291 recto: Iskandar Destroys
painting to depict in a most realistic manner the glori- of his archetypal predecessor in spreading and pro-
the Fire Temple. Author: Nizami Ganjavi. Ink, opaque watercol-
ous conquests of the empire.40 tecting Islam.42 Against the background of the later or, and gold on paper, Kashmir, 1798. NLI: Ms. Yah. Ar. 1019.
Within the Indian sphere, after sporadic Persian paintings, the Indian illustration depicts the Checklist no. 12.
experiments to encourage book illustration by local fif-
teenth-century Muslim patrons, among which can be
found two paintings of Iskandar,41 the first real school of
painting was founded by the Moghul sultan Humayun
(r. 1540–56) and his son Akbar the Great (r. 1556–
1605). Under Akbar’s personal oversight, a prolific
workshop steadily shifted from their Safavid roots to a
unique melting pot reflecting the influences of Persian
art, Indian sultanates, and European styles. The new
mixture, naturalistic under the impact of the Western
Baroque but executed with exquisite tiny brushstrokes
guided by lyric fantasy, brilliantly portrays the rich cul-
tural mélange of the Moghul sultanate. Equally new,
the rich scope of subjects covers classical Persian poetry,
translations from the Sanskrit of Hindu mythologies,
contemporary Moghul history, and actual portraits
of the royal court and exotic visitors from around the
world. In this variety, the figures of the Iranian epic
lost favor, but Iskandar, who visited and was active in
India, retained his popularity from the time of Akbar
to that of later Islamic provincial schools, especially
in Kashmir. After the peak of naturalism under the
patronage of Akbar’s successor, Jahangir (r. 1605–27),
Moghul painting gradually developed a new schematic
and decorative style that nevertheless preserved a sense
of realism. When this painting style was introduced to
other regions and courts—Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh—
each reacted by developing a distinctive combination
of realism and convention. Moghul paintings are often
characterized by large figures and flat architecture,
painted in broad patches of color. More than anything
61
through the other royal courts in the following centu-
ries.43 This poster-like painting, then, focuses upon the
image of the conqueror who freed the Muslim shrine
from pagan hands. The same spirit is reflected in a
somewhat later painting, a rare if not unique depiction
of Iskandar burning the temples of the Zoroastrians, a
subject that probably had a certain resonance in India
(fig. 3-10).
An interesting element in the painting of the
Ka ba is the bird’s-eye view of the Holy Mosque with
Iskandar, next to it, depicted en face (see fig. 2-13).
The ocher square represents the entire precinct of
the mosque, surrounded by a wall with gates and tall
minarets, and the black Ka ba at its center. Even more
surprisingly, the entire precinct is surmounted by a typ-
ically Indian globular dome. The painting is a bizarre
combination of two views—one from the side, and
the other from above. The bird’s-eye view of the Ka ba
mosque was known in Islamic art already in the tenth
century, but it only became popular in twelfth- and thir-
teenth-century pilgrim certificates, and even more so in
sixteenth-century Ottoman paintings, when maps and
depictions of urban landscape were in vogue.44 In India
the schematic depiction of architecture became a genre
in its own right, and often combined various perspec-
tives, turning the paintings into conceptual diagrams of
geographical and social realities.
In conclusion, our short survey of the Iskandar
story in Islamic painting shows how, regardless of style
and quality, the image of the foreigner who became a
Persian shah, the conqueror who turned into a prophet,
could be depicted in a thousand and one ways, to
express a variety of political and moral ideas, just as any
successful symbol should.
62
1 A saying attributed to Ibn Qutayba and to Wahab ibn Munab-
bih. Ibn Qutayba, Kitab al-ma arif (Cairo, 1969), 32, II, 2–3,
cited in Soucek 1993, 114. Other versions and sources of this
popular saying are mentioned in Rubanovich 2004, 366 n151.
2 Milstein, Rührdanz, and Schmitz 1999, 148–51. For the Fal-
namah, see Bağcı and Farhad 2009.
3 An extensive although preliminary list of the Shahnamah il-
lustrations, according to subject, was prepared by Norgren
and Davis (1969). A fuller list is in the wonderful Cambridge
Shahnama Database Project website: http://shahnama.caret.
cam.ac.uk.
4 Melikian-Chirvani 2007, 180–81, pl. 16.
5 For the Mongols in Iran, see Melville 2003, 37–73; Masuya
2003, 75–103. The first phase of Persian book painting is best
described in Adamova 2008, 1–29; Akimushkin 1979, 93–120;
Hillenbrand 2003.
6 Blair 1995; Rice 1976.
7 Baghdad is suggested in Simpson 1979, 32–23. Other scholars,
while accepting this attribution, have proposed the possibility
of northern Iran for certain manuscripts and added Isfahan or
Kashan for others; Komaroff and Carboni 2003, fig. 180.
8 Hillenbrand 2003, 169.
9 Reproduced in Rice 1976, 83.
10 Hillenbrand 2012, 438.
11 Marianna Shreve Simpson (1979, 324–25) concludes that their
iconography was innovative and hence invented for these early
fourteenth-century manuscripts. Adel Adamova (2008, 4–5)
subscribes to the other option.
12 Simpson 2013, 72–77; Adamova 2008, 5; Gonnella and Rauch
2011, 160–75.
13 Hillenbrand 2003, 163.
14 Swietochowski 1994, 67–127.
15 A striking example of this effect, in the Great Mongol
Shahnamah, is seen in the low and heavy clouds above the bro-
ken trees in the illustration of Rustam killing Isfandiyar. In Is-
fandiyar’s funeral, clouds hang from the sky, wherein cranes—
probably a materialization of the deceased’s spirit—are seen
flying. Another example from the same manuscript is the pres-
ence of the sun in front of clouds in the scene of Faridun greet-
ing Iraj and seeing his coffin. Grabar and Blair 1980, 70–71, pl.
7; 98–99, pl. 21; 100–101, pl. 22; Komaroff and Carboni 2003,
123.
16 Clouds as a mark of heavenly favor appear in the two illustra-
tions of the Prophet Muhammad in al-Biruni’s Chronology of
Ancient Nations (Kitab al-athar al-baqiya) from Tabriz, 1307,
Edinburgh University Library, MS Arab 161, fols. 161r and
162r, reproduced in Komaroff and Carboni 2003, 136–37.
17 Grabar and Blair 1980; Soudavar 1996; Adamova 2008, 12–
26; Hillenbrand 2012, 79–110.
18 Grabar and Blair 1980.
19 Adamova 2008.
20 Ibid., 19.
21 Soudavar 1996.
22 Adamova 2008, fig. 21; Komaroff and Carboni 2003, fig. 160.
23 The most complete introduction to the Timurid arts and their
ideological background is Lentz and Lowry 1989.
24 Canby 2014.
25 Hillenbrand 2012, 55–59.
26 Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, fol. 94r; see the Cam-
bridge Shahnama Project, http://shahnama.caret.cam.ac.uk.
27 The Cama Shahnama, K. R. Cama Oriental Institute, Mumbai;
for a reproduction, see the Cambridge Shahnama Project.
28 For an example from Shiraz, ca. 1575, see Robinson 1976, 327,
pl. III.
29 For a notable version, see Uluç 2006, 106, 118, 161, 243, nos.
53–54, 67, 111, 184.
30 Khamsa manuscript from Qazvin, Pierpont Morgan Library,
New York, MS 836, fol. 61v, reproduced in Schmitz 1997, cat.
12, pl. 10.
31 Milstein, Rührdanz, and Schmitz 1999, 148–50.
32 See, for example, the Cama Shahnama (see note 27 above).
33 A similar combination is seen in an Osmanli translation of the
Shahnamah, from 1621, at the Oriental Institute Library, St.
Petersburg, MS Or 1378, fol. 204r; for an illustration, see the
Cambridge Shahnama Project. The mountain on the right is
painted black, signifying the Land of Darkness, and a bird on a
tree beside Israfil is another sign of Iskandar’s approaching end.
34 A particularly nice Shahnamah illustration from 1480–90, in
Malik National Library and Museum, Teheran, MS 5986, is
reproduced and discussed in Robinson 1991, 53–54, fig. 17.
35 For example, a mid-fifteenth-century Khamsa illustration at the
Royal Asiatic Society, London, MS 246, fol. 293r; see Robinson
1991, p. 25, no. 8; Bürgel 1995, 8.
36 For a lacquer work, which probably served for fortune-telling,
from Iran, ca. 1800, see Motamed 1993, pl. 152.
37 Topkapı Sarayı Museum, Istanbul, H. 1321, fol. 24v; see
Stchoukine 1966, pl. LVIII.
38 Bağcı 1999, 111–25. The author, to whom I am indebted for
the information concerning the Yah 1114 manuscript, is due to
publish a book about the illustrated copies of this text.
39 Bibliothèque National de France, Paris, turc 309; see Stchou-
kine 1966, nos. 45–46, pls. I–II.
40 Fetvacı 2013.
41 Robinson 1976, 129–219, and 173, III.205, 206.
42 Simpson 2010.
43 For example, an equestrian portrait of Kunvar Anop Singh of
Mewar, ca. 1777, in Guy and Britschgi 2011, 179, pl. 96.
44 Aksoy and Milstein 2000, 101–34; Milstein 2001, 326, pl. 9.
63