THE CAPPELLA PALATINA IN PALERMO: AN ICONOGRAPHICAL SOURCE TO BE READ

EN LIEU OF LACKING TEXTS

Author(s): GIOVANNI M. D'ERME
Source: Oriente Moderno , 2004, Nuova serie, Anno 23 (84), Nr. 2, KUNST UND
KUNSTHANDWERK IM ISLAM 2. BAMBERGER SYMPOSIUM DER ISLAMISCHEN KUNST
25. - 27. JULI 1996 (2004), pp. 401-416
Published by: Istituto per l'Oriente C. A. Nallino

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 GIOVANNI M. D'ERME
(UniversitA degli Studi di Napoli, "L'Orientale")

THE CAPPELLA PALATINA IN PALERMO:

AN ICONOGRAPHICAL SOURCE TO BE READ
EN LIEU OF LACKING TEXTS

The purely formal approach to the study of Muslim art has sometimes pro
duced many drawbacks and led to gross mistakes even in the attribution of
important monuments: for instance, the Zisa and the Cappella Palatina in Pal
ermo have been and are still normally considered as specimens of Fatimid art,1
though some occasional doubtful considerations may be read here and there.2
The key to the solution of such problems is in my opinion to orient our re
search so as to arrive at a viable understanding of the true way of thinking of large
portions of Muslim intelligentsia, especially in the important period of the Early
Middle Ages when the intellectual exchange between the rising Latin-German
Europe and the Near East was particularly intensive. A recent work of mine3 may
perhaps be useful in getting to the point. Taking advantage of some temporary scaf
folding, I had the occasion to examine closely and with some ease the muqarnas
work of the Cappella Palatina ceiling in Palermo. Then and later while reflecting
over the extensive photographic record of the images carried out on that occasion, I
was vividly struck by the "Persian aura" which effused from the monument. I am
no art historian and that feeling wasn't based on the formal aspects of the rich ico
nography but rather on a more diffuse, and yet still indefinable, cultural setting.
When I found enough time to return with some seriousness to this perplexing feel
ing , I was forced to admit that my first intuition could be supported by factual

1 - It is the well known initial hint by A. Pavlovskij ("Decoration des plafonds de la Chapelle
Palatine", Byzantinische Zeitschrift, II (1893), p. 361-412) which was thereafter accepted and
backed by Richard Ettinghausen ("Painting in the Fatimid Period. A Reconstruction", Ars
Islamica, IX (1942), p. 112-124), Ugo Monneret de Villard {Le pitture musulmane al soffitto
della Cappella Palatina di Palermo, Roma, 1950), V. Lucien Golvin ("Les influences orientales
dans l'architecture palatine en Sicile a la periode normande; le probleme de la 'Cuba' de Pa
lerme", in Studi in onore di Ugo Monneret de Villard, 1881-1954, II. 77 mondo islamico (Rivista
degli Studi Orientali, LIX/1-4, Roma, 1985, p. 117-133), and others.
2- Francesco Gabrieli, Umberto Scerrato, Gli Arabi in Italia, Milano, 1979, caption fig. 43;
Ernst J. Grube, "La pittura islamica nella Sicilia normanna del XII secolo", in La pittura in
Italia. LAltomedioevo, ed. Carlo Bertelli, Milano, 1994, p. 416-431 (p. 419).
3- Giovanni M. D'Erme, "Contesto architettonico e aspetti culturali dei dipinti del soffitto
della Cappella Palatina di Palermo" [it was in course of print at the time of the Symposium
and by now it has been published in Bollettino d'arte, 92 (1995), p. 1-32].

OM, XXIII n.s. (LXXXIV), 2, 2004, p. 401-416

? Istituto per l'Oriente C. A. Nallino - Roma

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 402 GiovanniM. D'Erme

details of the iconography and, moreover, by the general pattern of the iconology.
First, I realised that quite a number of the more than seven hundred and
fifty figurations were models not to be found in any part of the vast area which
stretches between Iran (and above all its easternmost regions) and Sicily. These
paintings - usually the most important in the Cappella's figural apparatus - are
to be found exclusively in Iran and Sicily. Time bars the listing of the Cappella's
numberless minor points of contact and analogy which were discovered by a
more careful investigation, but I shall mention at least some of them. This is the
case of the so-called apotheosis scenes, two figures in which two big haloed and
eared birds (types, of griffins) be in evidence, into an almond shaped contour
depicted on their chests, a man, in one case, and a woman, in the other. Apart
from Sicily, it is possible to find iconographically comparable figures only on
Iranian vessels, mirrors or cloths dating back to late-Sasanian or proto-Islamic
periods.4 The same can be said about the paintings, looming in the Cappella
Palatina just above the site of the royal throne, representing the Sun and Moon
chariots, which appear to be a very rare and rather unique motif m the whole of
Islamic art. Again, a similar model can be found only among the objects pro
duced in Iran around the 7^ and 8tn century A.D.5
Perhaps the most striking features, however, are those pertaining to the icono
logical facets. Already the Sun and the Moon chariots of the Norman aula regis
present a clear ideological coherence with the typical structure of the crowns of
the Sasanian kings, although the dualistic form of thinking which is at the root
of both is enriched and underlined by a series of other images. Two paintings
show a couple of wrestlers, one white and one black, and while in the first paint
ing it is the white one who wins, in the second it is the black one who prevails.
Lions struggling against snakes appear several times and every time the snake en
velopes the lion in its own snares and bites it, but the lion holds the snake's body
in its jaws and seems to be on the point of truncating it in two pieces. Again, no
one seems to be victorious. The theme finds its full exposition in a pair of iden
tical paintings where a puzzling figure confronts us: two lion bodies, one tan
coloured and the other light yellow, stem from a single head.
The underlying philosophical conception - really proper of Iran and absolutely re
pugnant to the monistic orthodoxy of Islam - appears so insistendy repeated and
stressed in several ways to strengthen the early feeling about the Persian aura of the Si
cilian monument. Moreover, the dualism which transpires from the Cappella's paint
ings leads to a more pregnant understanding of this Iranian doctrine which is far re
moved from current interpretation. This current form is a purely theological one,
where the moral issue must be paramount and leads to an irreconcilable opposition
between the two Principles of Being, to a dramatic struggle between Good and Evil.

4- W. Hauser, Ch. K. Wilkinson, "The Museum's Excavations at NIshapur", Bulletin of the Metro
politan Museum of Art, 371A (1942), p. 83-119 (p. 101-102), fig. 32; A. S. Melikian-Chirvani, Is
lamic Metalwork from the Iranian World, 8?h-l&h Centuries, London, 1982, p. 141, fig. 47; M.-Th. Pi
card-Schmitter, "Scenes d'apotheose sur des soiries provenant de Raiy", Artibus Asiae, 14 (1951), p.
306-341; L. Vanden Berghe, B. Overlaet (eds), Splendeurdes Sassanides, Bruxelles, 1993, cat. no. 74.
5- Vanden Berghe, Overlaet, Splendeur, cat. no. 66.

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 The Cappella Pala tin a in Palermo

Fig. 1 - Islamic art. Painted wood. Monocephalic couple of lions.

Cappella Palatina, Palermo

In the realm of wisdom, however, this isn't absolutely necessary and Ferdow
si's Sdhndme bears full evidence of this. In fact, in this work all the important
kings and champions of Iran are born from the mixed union of a "solar" father
{i.e. parentally connected to princely ancestors) with a "lunar" mother {i.e. paren
tally connected to evil ancestors). Though the Poet avoids explicit and poten
tially dangerous wording, the harmonious coexistence of both Principles into
one person and not the crippling choice of only one of them is indeed consid
ered the true secret of greatness.6 What I at first judged as an abated form of du
alism resulted instead to be its truest and most radical formulation.
It was this theoretical framework rather than formal and purely esthetical cri

6 - On this topic it may be useful to read a paper of mine: "II Signore dell'anima e della sapienza.
Lo Sahname di Ferdowsi come danesname", in M. Bernardini, F. Cresti, M. V. Fontana, F. Noci,
R. Orazi (eds), L drco difango che rubb la luce alle stelle. Studi in onore di Eugenio Galdieriper ilsuo
settantesimo compleanno, Roma 29 ottobre 1995, Lugano, 1995, p. 99-116.

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 404 GiovanniM. D'Erme

teria that aroused my interest and triggered subsequent researches on the Sicilian
monument. Since every rational phenomenon must have a rational explanation,
it was not surprising to find the needed documentary evidence. As a matter of
fact the necessary information has been available for a long time. It can easily be
found in the pages of a true masterpiece of Italian historiography from the last
century, namely the ponderous Storia dei Musulmani di Sicilia (History of the
Sicilian Muslims) by Michele Amari, the solid foundations thereof were subse
quently proofed by the illustrious scholar Carlo Alfonso Nallino, whose detailed
work of control and revision left the book practically untouched. Reading it, we
come to know that the Muslim army which won Sicily over to Islam was made
up of a hard core of horsemen mainly consisting of men from Xurasan and by
an infantry corps furnished by the Berber tribe of Huwwarah. After the con
quest, the cavalry was stationed in Palermo, while the Berber tribesmen were in
Agrigento. Armed movements developed soon afterwards in Palermo aimed at
loosening the Sicilian bonds of allegiance to the Ifriqiya rulers, whether Aghlabid
or Fatimid. The leaders of such autonomist revolts all bear Persian names or nis
bas. So, we may conclude that the Persian element was well presented among
the citizens and, indeed, it seems to have been by far the most dominant one.
Thus, the soundness of the cultural approach appeared to be confirmed and the
Persian aura of the Cappella's paintings seemed to be more than a simple hunch.
Often the diffusion of artistic themes follows secret currents, not immedi
ately identifiable and more often than not spouting from unexpected and seem
ingly remote springs. Such is the case, indeed, of the twin-bodied one-headed
lion which appeared to be literally loaded with an ideological burden. Similar
specimens are unknown in Islamic art, even if they may be found in some Chris
tian monuments in Apulia, in Southern Italy, apparently built by Muslim skilled
workers. We can't find many similar images in classical antiquity either, apart
from a couple of examples: the Lions Gate at Mycenae, where the lion, however,
could have been conceived in that form only to fulfil the need to be perceived as
a full bodied animal from every point of observation, just like the much more re
cent four bronze lions which support the obelisk erected in the middle of St. Pe
ter's Square in Rome. To this we can add a figure portrayed on a Greek vessel7 and
a couple of harpies having a sole head.8 It has to be noted that the last mentioned
figure shows marked formal analogies with the one-headed leonine couple em
bossed on a golden plate which comes from the Ziviye hoard and is now kept at
the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Anyway, the originality of the Greek
figurations could be questioned in the light of the large diffusion of Iranian objects
of art even at a very early date.9 We have to look toward another area - the east

7- K. D. Barnett, "Ancient Oriental Influences on Archaic Greece", in The Aegean and the
Near Eastern Studies presented to Hetty Goldman, New York, 1956, p. 212-238, pi. XXI, fig. 3.
8- H. Payne, Necrocorinthia. A Study on Corinthian Art in the Archaic Period, Oxford, 1931,
pi. 52, fig. 12.
9- Several papers have been written on this argument. Mainly: S. Smith, "Two Luristan
Bronzes from South Arabia", in G. C. Miles (ed.), Archaeologica Orientalia in Memoriam Ernst

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 The Cappella Pala tina in Palermo 405

ernmost one - of that ancient world in order to find more specimens of that icon
and, what's more, they are specimens which are fully merged into a cultural con
text which bestows upon them the force of meaningful symbols.
I'm referring here to the zone from where a large number of bronze and silver ar
tefacts originated, namely the Luristan region in Iran. Of course we all know the
doubts and perplexities which are tied up with these objects, due to the fact that the
vast majority was bought from the art market and was not the result of scientific ar
chaeological expeditions. Nonetheless, in spite of this and the time gap which sepa
rates the earliest specimens from the more recent ones, and despite all the uncertainty
of the absolute dating of the lot10 and all the criticism recendy expressed even about
the authenticity of some of them,11 these objects keep a substantial iconological co
herence which cannot be overlooked and which cannot be considered simply as a cas
ual result of random forgery. Even if some specimens have actually been forged, such
inherent coherence claims for them to be copies of original pieces, and not the fruit of
fortuitous imagination. We are not interested in the vicissitudes of single objects (sev
eral of which, in any case, are surely authentic), rather we are concerned in the cultural
meaning of the total production and in this case the iconological analysis may well be
as sound a procedure of validation as the factual archaeological excavation.
With regard to the cultural environment in which the Luristan objects were
produced it may be useful to recall the words of some ancient Greek writers. For
instance in Eudemos from Rhodes (4^ - 3r<* century B.C.) the Aryans are said to
have acknowledged the supreme godhead in Time or Space "whereby - to cite
Eudemos - a good deity and an evil demon were separated or, according to oth
ers, Light and Darkness before these"; and Aristossenos tells us that Pythagoras
learned from Zaratas (apparently Zoroaster) that Light and Darkness were the
constituent principles of the world, male the first one and female the second, and

Herzfeld, Locust Valley-New York, 1952, p. 203-207; K. R. Maxwell-Hyslop, "Urartian

Bronzes in Etruscan Tombs", Iraq, XVIII (1956), p. 150-167; B. Goldman, "The Asiatic An
cestry of the Greek Gorgon", Berytus, XIV (1961-63), p. 1-22; C. Hopkins, "The Sunny Side
of the Greek Gorgon", ibid., p. 25-35; O. W. Muscarella, "The Archaeological Evidence for
Relations between Greece and Iran in the First Millennium B.C.", The Journal of the Ancient
Near Eastern Society of Columbia University, 9 (1977), p. 31-58. The old writing by S. Smith,
"Assyriological Notes. The Face of Humbaba", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (July 1926),
p. 440-442, should be reconsidered in the light of the elements given by E. E. Herzfeld, Iran
in the Ancient East, London, 1941, p. 154-155, and fig. 275.
10-Largely diverging indications may be read in: Mostra darte iranica - Exhibition of Iranian
Art, Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, Milano, 1956, p. 55-100; and R.
Ghirshman, Perse. Proto-iraniens, Medes, Acheminides, Paris, 1963, p. 41-84; the doubts unfor
tunately cannot be solved by the confusing tables annexed to E. F. Schmidt, M. N. van Loon,
H. H. Curvers, The Holmes Expedition to Luristan, 2 vols, Chicago, 1989. A detailed and per
haps too severe discussion of this argument was carried out by O. W. Muscarella, "The Back
ground to Luristan Bronzes", in J. Curtis (ed.), Bronzeworking Centres of Western Asia c. 1000
539 B.C., London-New York, 1988, p. 33-44.
11 - Above all, by O. W. Muscarella, "Unexcavated Objects and Ancient Near East Art", Bib
liotheca Mesopotamica, VII (1977), p. 153-207; and id., "Surkh Dum at The Metropolitan
Museum of Art; a Mini-Report", Journal of Field Archaeology, 8/3 (1981), p. 327-359.

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406 GiovanniM. D'Erme

that in the interior of the world two gods existed, heavenly and earthly respec
tively.12 The dualistic concept referred to by these ancient sources, it must be
noted, is an ontological and not a theological one and it corresponds perfectly to
the ideological purport of the Palermitan twin-bodied bicoloured lion. In Luris
tan art we find telling correspondences to this cultural environment, both from
an iconographical and an iconological point of view.
To begin with, on the surfaces of two bronze pins we find the same Palermi
tan motif, i.e. the twin-bodied lion.

Fig. 2-Luristan art. Bronze disk pin (de

tail). Monocephalic couple of lions. Pri
vate Collection, Paris

In order to properly understand the iconology we must take into considera

tion other Luristan artefacts. Perhaps the most important from this point of
^^^^^^
Fig. 3-Luristan art. Bronze disk pin.
Monocephalic couple of lions and tree of
the life. National Museum of Iran, Tehran

view is the silver plaque of the Cincinnati Museum.

Fig. 4-Luristan art. Silver plaque, embossed. Cosmogony. Cincinnati Museum

12-M. L. West, Early Greek Philosophy and the Orient, Oxford, 1971; the reference is to the
Italian edition: La filosofia greca arcaica e TOriente, Bologna, 1993, p. 65.

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 The Cappella Palatina in Palermo 407

Here we can see a central figure provided with a bell-shaped body. An ithy
phallic and bearded male head protrudes from the top while an uterine female
head is visible in the centre of the "bell". From the shoulders of the figure two
characters emerge and receive the tribute of the baresman from two ranks of
human beings: bearded men on the right and prosperous women on the left.
Small palmettes separate the male figures, while a single rosette stays on the fe
male field, followed by smaller figures, perhaps children. The scene depicted on
this plaque has been generally considered as the representation of the moment
when Zurvan created Ahura Mazda and Ahriman, on the model of the well
known Manichaean myth. Here we come to a very delicate point. This interpre
tation is in my opinion absolutely disconnected from the event depicted on the
object. No creation episode may be detected there, but rather an exhaustive on
tological manifestation.13 What the central figure is doing is introducing himself
to the observer, revealing to him a fundamental truth. His message states that
Being is double in itself and this is clearly conveyed by the androgynous nature
of the central figure, the origin of everything. Ahura Mazda and Ahriman, the
characters emerging from his shoulders, are only the mythical hypostases of the
two constituent Principles of Being, male and female, as in the Aristossenos'
writings. Their orderly separation gives origin to the cosmos, out of the primeval
uncreated chaos, which is the eternal and metamorphic cyclical force. This con
clusion draws on a simple consideration: it is hardly a sound method, at all, to
explain ancient and badly known theories by lending to them the features of
more recent and familiar ones. It is preferable to go the other way around. As

13 - A short but penetrating paper by J. de Menasce ("Reflections sur Zurvan", in A Locusts

Leg. Studies in honour ofS. H. Taqizadeh, London, 1962, p. 182-188) contains several notewor
thy considerations. Even if "inevitably" tailored - at least in part - on the traditional theologi
cal approach to the oriental philosophy they appear to be most stimulating and can be usefully
and diffusely reported here: ? Zurvan ne se situe pas au meme niveau d'etre et de representati
on que les principes createurs, Ohrmazd et Ahriman, et n'a pas la meme fonction qu'eux?.
Resorting to a revealing parallelism, the Author states that in Indian myths we can find ? un
indetermine primordial [...] anterieur non seulement aux dieux createurs mais a l'etre et au
non-etre, a la mort et a la non-mort, anterieur surtout a la creation secondaire, celle de notre
monde, le monde d'Ohrmazd dirait un iranien [...] Or cette multivalence latente et originelle
[...] est toute differente d'un rapport essentiel aux realites concretes et visibles, qui est le pro
pre des dieux createurs ?. Referring to the ? ambivalence du temps total ou divisible ? proper of
Zurvanism, de Menasce points out that ?l'usage de l'Avesta, tres reduit et appauvri, suggere
qu'il s'agit d'une conception ancienne ?. A few lines later he touches a vital spot, adding that
? Zurvan, presidant au temps qu'il symbolise, on voit maintenant qu'il peut fort bien etre pre
mier sans etre createur ?. In my opinion, however, the most important statement perhaps refers
to the original Iranian dualism, about which de Menasce holds that ?le mythe de Zurvan ne
contredit pas le dualisme en tant qu'il le laisse subsister (et meme qu'il le runs to death) pour
tout ce qui est du domaine de la creation ?, that is to say that the ontological aspects are the
paramount ones in the Zurvanite conception and that there they play a typical antinomic and
synergic role. In other words, Zurvanism runs to death one of the forms of dualism, viz. the
one which commands a choice to be made; and it strengthens another form of this conception,
viz. the one which describes the Being as inherently composed of two parts, neither of them to
be excluded or condemned.

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 4o8 GiovanniM. D'Erme

Martin L. West pointed out, it is in the Manichaean doctrine that we actually

find many aspects stemming from earlier Iranian sources, dating back to at least
the 6th century B.C. The real point, however, is that it is impossible to use a
theological key to probe the mechanics of an ontological theoretical system. It
has to be added that the said author, regarding this and other similar icono
graphies, is not prone to see in them Zurvan. ^ However, it is West's own bril
liant intuition that Zurvan is a God of theoretical speculation and not one of
priestly cult,15 which leads me to uphold the view that the figure here discussed
must be identified as Zurvan.
The Cincinnati plaque must be viewed as a most archaic expression of the
dualistic mode of thinking peculiar to Iran, though not in the currently accepted
sense, and it conveys a lot of useful indications about the ideological substratum
of the pictorial cycle in Palermo. The usual acceptation of the term "dualism" is
a theological and moral one, while the meaning conveyed by the Luristan art
pertains to the structure of the whole Being, both physical and spiritual. It de
scribes what being actually is, not what morals command it to be. The scene de
picted on the silver object is intended to signify that the world and all its phe
nomena are always double, composed of two principles, the Bright and the Dark
one, and that both principles are necessary, since no single part of existence can
subsist if deprived of any of the two halves. The utmost wisdom, therefore, con
sists in the harmonious coexistence, nay the powerful synergy of the two aspects,
no matter what we call them: Reason and Emotion, Soul and Body, Male and
Female, etc. As anyone can see, it is a conception far removed from the tradi
tional acceptation of Iranian dualism which, in its theological form, is based
rather on the irreconcilable opposition of the two principles of Being. On the
contrary, this up to now unsuspected mode of thinking is an antinomic and
relativistic, dialectical and therefore a strikingly modern speculative system. It is
a worldly and sapiential conception, devoted to ontological problems and not to
ethics, which provides us with a reasonable framework into which it is possible
to couch smoothly the Sdhndme narratives, the ideological context of the Cap
pella Palatina, many of the zindiq opinions and even the Iranian theory of regal
ity where the king plays the role of the indispensable warranter of cosmic bal
ance. We ought not overlook a circumstance what is only seemingly secondary,
namely the fact that the already mentioned structure of Sasanian crowns is con
stantly based on the union of the solar corymbus with a crescent and that the un
derlying idea of the royal function appears to survive in the traditional regal ap
pellative of sdheb-e qerdn "master of the astral conjunction", well into Islamic
times. Neither can we disregard the fact that in the Shicite doctrine the Hidden
Imam holds a similar function: he is the vehicle of the creating light of God and
were this light to cease all of creation should perish. It should be added that, as I

14- West, Early Greek Philosophy, p. 73.

15- Ibid., p. 64.

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 The Cappella Paiatina in Palermo 409

have said on another occasion,16 it is even highly probable that this revised form
of dualism has to be considered as the much sought-after oriental model of ar
chaic Greek philosophy.
This basic concept of harmony and wisdom is repeatedly stressed in the Lur
istan bronzes, as it appears for instance exemplified by the following two figures.
In them Zurvan keeps declaring his two-fold nature, but they also lend them
selves to another consideration.

Ml k
Fig. 5-Luristan art. Bronze umbo. Zur Fig. 6-Luristan art. Bronze disk pin. Zurvan with
van with lions. Private collection, Basel goats. National Museum of Iran, Tehran

In the first figure, the two human rows of the Cincinnati plaque are substi
tuted by two lions, which thus come to represent the two fundamental cosmo
logical aspects. In the second figure, however, the lions' function goes a step fur
ther. Leaving two steinbocks to play their former role, the lions take the place of
Ahura Mazda and Ahriman, namely the two constituent principles of Being it
self. The substitutive role of the lions in acting as the symbols of the Two Prin
ciples is clearly stated and the conceptual relevance of the Palermitan twin
bodied lion thus receives a clarifying light.
As I have already said, many of the Cappella Palatina's paintings were poorly
read by the scholars and, in addition to the one we have just now discussed, oth
ers remain to be fully explained. One of these in particular may possibly be bet
ter understood if it is put in relation to an iconography typical of the Luristan
bronzes. In fact, the figures already seen, apart from the general influence they
surely had on future heraldry, are strongly reminiscent of another figure, the so
called "animal master" showing a man who either holds two beasts suspended,
or confronts them.

16-G. M. D'Erme, "Cosmos e caos nella ?gnosi iranica?", paper read at a meeting held in Naples
on June 7th-9th, 1996. [By now it has been published in the proceedings of the said meeting:
D. Armando, P. Fiori Nastro, F. Masini (eds), Fantasia di sparizione, formazione dell'immagine
e idea delta cura, Roma, 1997, p. 13-32].

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4io GiovanniM. D'Erme

I think that they are nothing else than a variant of the traditional representation
of Zurvan. A metal sheet which contains four scenes seems to give enough evidence
of this because they represent a synchronous assortment of possible variations.
In the first scene we may see a central bearded character who holds in each of
his hands one of the upper legs of two standing lions in the by now usual gesture
of self-introduction. In the second the central figure grasps the throats of two
standing horned animals which are also confronted by two lions heads coming
out of his left and right shoulder. In the third, the flanking figures are both hu

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 The Cappella Palatina in Palermo 411

man but all three characters have the lower part of their bodies depicted as those
of an animal. In the fourth, at last, a differently headed male figure seems to grip
a dagger and be engaged in a struggle against two rampaging lions. I don't want
to venture into a more detailed analysis, which could well be possible, and in
stead will content myself with pointing out the unmistakable identity of the cen
tral figures of at least the first two scenes with Zurvan. Even if the god is no
longer androgynous, the general iconic situation appears in no manner different
from that of other objects, except apparently more archaic, as is the case, for in
stance, of the so-called finials. _

Fig. 9 ? Luristan art. Bronze finial.

Heeramaneck Collection, New York

In the specimen reproduced here a still hermaphrodite Zurvan holds two ani
mals in the traditional posture of self-introduction and self-declaration to the
observer. The dualism of this particular finial is somewhat exasperated as the
frontal heads are reproduced also on the verso of the object, just like in the Janus'
statues. So, the dualistic message runs along all the three planes of symmetry:
top-bottom, left-right, front-back.
These objects may, perhaps, be taken into account to solve the riddle of one
of the still unexplained Palermitan paintings, which shows a human figure who
appears to "climb" along two straps protruding upwards from the acephalous
necks of two beasts.

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412 GiovanniM. D'Erme

Fig. 10 - Islamic art. Painted wood.

Cappella Palatina, Palermo

A perhaps similar image is on a wooden panel from Fustat, but no other exam
ples are extant.17

Fig. 11 - Islamic art. Carved wood panel

from Fustat. Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo

In my opinion, the so-called "animal masters" must be considered as the ances

tors of these figures which undoubtedly possess a peculiar cultural connection to
the Iranian - and thereafter Islamic - theory of regality and were indeed in
tended to ornate important public buildings.
If we go back to the Cincinnati silver plaque, it is possible to elucidate a fur
ther interesting circumstance. There we noted that the male field was character
ised by the presence of some palmettes, while in the female field it was possible

17 - E. Pauty, Catalogue generate du Musee arabe du Caire. Les bois sculptes jusqu'a Tepoque ay
youbide, Le Caire, 1931, cat. no. 6878/1 recto. The description on p. 40 is: ? un personnage a
l'orientale, couronne, semble completer le corps de deux biches dont, par ailleurs, les tetes sont
reportees a l'extremite des queues ?.

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 The Cappella Palatina in Palermo 413

to note a single eight-petaled rosette. So the palmette appears to symbolise the

solar, male, heavenly principle, while the rosette labels the lunar, female, earthly
principle. This fact seems to be confirmed by other iconographies like the one,
which shows a woman in the act of giving birth to a child.

Fig. 12-Luristan art. Bronze disk pin. Parturient woman.

Private Collection, Paris

In the upper part of the pinhead we may see two palmettes turned upside down,
and in the inferior one we are confronted by two rosettes. The two floral motifs
again seem to cover the role of indicators of the two principles of Being.
This circumstance is highly interesting because it could lead to the conclu
sion that a very ancient religious and eschatological iconography, the Tree of Life,
could originally have nothing to do with an actual tree. Of course I'm not speak
ing about every possible tree-cult, which may have had then origins in very dif
ferent situations. Rather, I mean a particular conceptual formalisation of this
widespread sign,18 to be traced back to the peculiar form of Iranian dualism,
which seems to lie at the root of the Luristan culture.
In fact, if we go back to fig. 3 we may note that the upper part presents us
with a familiar image, except for the fact that the place of Zurvan has been taken
by a new symbol, consisting in the union of the male palmette and the female
rosette, clearly suggesting the original androgynous nature of the godhead. The
axis mundi is therefore conceived, though somewhat crudely, as the union of the
male and the female, namely the unquestionable and primary source of life, thus
stressing the factual and positive approach to the problems of human existence
in this archaic form of thought. The axis extends down to the inferior part of the

18 - A comprehensive survey thereof may be read in the relatively old but still useful scholarly
paper by G. Lechler, "The Tree of Life in Indo-European and Islamic Cultures", Ars Islamica,
IV (1937), p. 369-419, enriched by 148 illustrations.

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414 GiovanniM. D'Erme

pinhead and constitutes the focus of the twin-bodied lion, which appears more
and more confirmed in its peculiar and manifold meaning.
It is still in objects coming from Luristan that we may find what seems to be
possible evidence of the gradual evolution and stylisation of the same symbol
which may thus appear in form of a sort of leafy bush or else it may assume the
full form of a tree:

Fig. 13-Luristan art. Bronze disk pin. The Fig. 14-Luristan art. Bronze disk pin.
tree of life. National Museum of Iran, Teh The tree of life. National Museum of Iran,
ran Tehran

Another painting from the Cappella Palatina must be discussed here. It is a fig
uration to be seen in one of the little cupolas, which crown the ceiling, showing
three lions disposed in a circle and having only one head in common.
As can be seen, two lions are oriented anticlockwise while the third one goes
clockwise. This complex figuration may be interpreted in a way that confirms
the already seen Luristan iconology. The anticlockwise oriented lions represent
the original, chaotic state of the matter, when no distinction appears yet. This
couple is therefore an equivalent of the central androgynous figure we have seen
on the Cincinnati plaque and on several bronze pins. But we may consider an
other couple, formed by the clockwise oriented lion and that confrere of his,
which it gives its back to. So viewed, the two lions are departing from each other
and they may symbolise the metamorphic primordial scission shown by the fig
ures of Ahura Mazda and Ahriman on the Cincinnati plaque. Then, we may
pass on to the third couple, where the clockwise oriented lion is confronted by
the second anticlockwise oriented confrere, thus forming a figure strictly equiva
lent to the various one-headed twin-bodied lions we have already seen.
The complicated icon we have just now analysed may be considered as the
central and most telling symbol of the whole iconological range.

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 Fig. 15 - Islamic art. Painted wood. Monocephalic leonine triad.
Cappella Palatina, Palermo

What is of the utmost interest is the fact that this icon is also to be found among
the Luristan bronzes:

Fig. 16-Luristan art. Bronze disk pin. Leonine ^^^^^^^^^B^^^^^^^^H

triad. Musee du ^^^^^^^^^H^^^^^^^^^l

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416 GiovanniM. D'Erme

and that a very similar figure has been portrayed on a votive shield coming from
a /^-century B.C. Etruscan tomb.
It must be noted that the lions depicted in each of the three triads (the Pal
ermitan, the Luristani and the Etruscan one) appear to be constantly disposed in
the same manner - two lions oriented anti-clockwise and one clockwise.
Since no links may be reasonably supposed between the Italian archaeology
and the presumed Near Eastern forgers, the historical authenticity of the Luris
tan iconology, considered as a whole, is markedly strengthened.

Fig. 17-Etruscan art. Bronze umbo from

Caere, 7th century B.C. Museo Gregoriano,
Rome

Thus, we are in the presence of a richly productive theoretical system, the traces
of which can be found in a very wide range of cultural environments. The in
credible conservative power of Iranian thought has, indeed, kept a rich current
of ideas flowing from archaic antiquity to relatively more recent times. The
problem is that the inhabitants of the Iranian plateau, like many other civilisa
tions of that time, lacked any form of writing, in the usual sense of the term.
However, their way of thinking has been registered on a great quantity of objects
and these have to be decoded. This work isn't easy and yet it is feasible, but only
on condition that the works of art shall be considered for what they actually are,
a type of text, and that their formal study shall avail of the researches carried out
in other fields of the human sciences. Conversely, a skilful analysis of those
works can make up for the shortage of information on many periods or facets of
the cultural life of the past.
The mutual integration of artistic and literary texts may permit one to arrive
at a full and careful reading of the unquestionable conceptual unity of the picto
rial programme carried out at the Cappella Palatina which is liable to be consid
ered as perhaps the most complete statement of the elusive message preached by
those much loathed free-thinkers, i.e. the followers of Zurvanism.19

19-The necessity for such an integrated analysis has been furthermore stressed by the masterly
work by William Tronzo, The Cultures of His Kingdom. Roger II and the Cappella Palatina in
Palermo, Princeton (NJ), which has been published in the year following the Symposium, viz.
1997.

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