Mosques and Aniconism Midterm

hijra

Prophet Muhammad’s migration from Mecca to Medina

The Umayyad Period

• 661-750

• Spain through North Africa, Greater Syria, Perisa, and edge of Oxus river (border of Central Asia)

• NOT friends with the Byzantine Empire

• ‘Abd al-Malik (r. 685-705)

• Center is Jerusalem, Damascus

• exist in collab with Christianity and Judaism

• Islam is just getting started

The ‘Abbasid Period

• 750-1258

• Large dynasty with little mini ones throughout

• North Africa, Holy lands of Greater Syria, Persia, Oxus river border, center is Iraq

• New city Baghdad! Establish as brand new Islamic city, not having to work around ancient holy cities

the shahada

• Muslim profession of faith

• fundamental base of Islamic art and Islam itself

• “There is no God but Allah alone,” Muhammad is the messenger of God

• shows up on coins at the start of the Umayyad period — transmitting the new Muslim faith in a place where they’re the minority via something that changes hands easy

common characteristics of Islamic art

• vegetal/natural motifs

• geometric and repetitive patterns

• Arabic inscriptions (the shahada or parts of the Qur’an)

• no figuration in public spaces, but okay in private/royal spaces

Mihrab

• prayer niche in a mosque

• doesn’t have anything in it

• indicates the direction of prayer to Mecca and the Kaba

• located on the qibla wall

Iwan

• vaulted hall, 3 walls with open courtyard

• image is Arch of Khusraw

• responds to Sassanian architecture (early 6th century — 530s)

• Sassanian architecture with mud bricks

Chahartaq / Zoroastrian Fire Temple

• 4 arches

• Sassanian, pre Islam, 3rd century

• Dome around central fire altar — inspires domes around other central structures later

• fire worship — hierarchical scale of fire attendants shows up later

Senmurv!

• Sassanian mythical creature

• composite animal with dog head and wings

• popular Sassanian myth, present in later Islamic art

Prophet Muhammad dates

570-632 CE

• late 6th century, early 7th century

• start of Islam

Four Righteous Caliphs dates

632-661 CE

• ‘Uthman b. ‘Affan — 644-656

  • the Qur’an is finally codified under his rule, about 20 years after death of Muhammad

  • remember 650 CE ish!!!

The Dome of the Rock

• years: started 691-2 CE

• Temple Mount, Jerusalem

• patron: ‘Abd al-Malik

• earliest body of Qur’anic inscriptions on public shrine

• purpose still unknown but suggestions:

  • Muhammad ascended to heaven and the rock at the center has his footprint (the Mi’raj) — imitates the Christian martyria in the area, center altar with dome

  • Competition with the Hagia Sophia being revived in Byzantium

• octagonal space, 2 circumambulation spaces with columns, interior is decorated with Umayyad mosaics — responds to Byzantine basillica churches in Italy and across to Turkiye

  • inscriptions of Qur’anic verses — some addressing the Christian population and how Jesus is not the son of God but is accepted, the Shahada, date of creation and patron

  • mosaics of Byzantine and Persian royal jewels/crowns — a take on no figuration, represents the relationship between the Umayyads and the other empires in the area (jewels of Sassanian kings, Justinian like we see at Ravenna — mosaic artists from the Mediterranean were hired)

    • triumph over the empires

  • the natural world (plants, vegetal motifs, meant to look like an image of the Garden of Eden), build up maps of cities and houses (possibly nearby cities or places under Umayyad rule), nearby river

    • vines coming out of vases is a motif seen in Byzantine mosaics, these just don’t have birds or other animate beings

The Umayyad Caliphate dates

661-750 CE

• Spain, North Africa, Greater Syria, Persia, through to the Oxus river/border with Central Asia

• Capital city of Damascus — in part with previous Jewish and Christian influence

• Important rulers

  • ‘Abd al-Malik — 685-705

  • ‘Ibn al-Zubayr — 680s to death in 692

    • ‘Abd al-Malik’s rival in Mecca

  • Al-Walid I, son of ‘Abd al-Malik 705-715

spolia

parts of old architecture in ruins used to create new structures

• The Dome has Roman corinthian column spolia — the leafy one

Mosaic in the inner dome of the Dome of the Rock

• Sassanian winged crown — symbol could only be Persian/in response to seeing Persian iconography

• worn by the Khusraw

Hypostyle mosque

• big during the Umayyad period!!

• rows and rows of columns facing the qibla wall

• modeled after Muhammad’s house in Medina (the 1st Mosque) ~630 CE

• usually more square with a courtyard for ablutions fountain/etc. in the middle

• space with more columns is typically the prayer area

• used exclusively in Egypt and Persia at first (think the Temple of Amon in Luxor and the audience hall in Persepolis)

Mosques of Al-Walid, son of ‘Abd al-Malik

Ruling years: 705-715 CE

• Al-Aqsa Mosque, Temple Mount in Jerusalem (709-715 — think last 5 years of rule)

  • mosque on the same plaza as Dome of the Rock

• Reconstruction of the Mosque of Medina (Muhammad’s house) (706-710)

  • expanded a now pilgrimage site to accommodate more people — removed the family’s rooms and built around Muhammad’s burial site

• Great Mosque of Damascus (706, major commission of his time)

  • created on an already sacred plot of land similar to Temple Mount— called a Temenos

The Great Mosque of Damascus

• Umayyad, 706 CE

• patron: Al-Walid I, ‘Abd al-Malik’s son

• congregational Friday mosque (BIG important one!) — enlarged the OG

• hypostyle hall with 3 rows of columns facing the qibla wall (more columns, more space to accommodate people)

• dome and Roman-esque arcade before the columns

• site in Damascus is a holy site (like Temple Mount)

  • Syrian storm god, then Roman temple to Jupiter, Christian church to John the Baptist

    • use of spolia, more for aesthetic quality instead of purely political

    • rare domed structure inside with relics of J the B

• style follows both Muhammad’s house and Royal Byzantine palace

• expansive bunching of mosaics

  • gold background, large river near Damascus (the Barada), urban and natural landscape like the Dome

    • buildings in that city map style, panoramic view of nearby towns in receding perspective)

City mosaic in the Great Mosque of Damascus

• very similar to the city mosaics in the Dome of the Rock

• based on the Madaba Mosaic Map in the Church of St George in Jordan

  • 6th century!!!!

  • inscriptions include Greek, Persian, and Arabic

Umayyad Palaces in the 1st half of 8th cent

• combo of Roman, Byzantine, and Sassanian art style

• theme: kingship and royal pastime

  • representation of Umayyad caliph and princes

  • representation of ideal ruler and/or King Solomon

  • Structure

    • large square building with towers filled with rubble

    • space around central courtyard

    • contains a mosque and bathhouse

    • decorated with sculpture, mosaic, and paintings

Qasr Kharana — 710 CE

• “road palace” — inn for travelers

• patron: Al-Walid

• Qasr — “palace”

  • “Qa” — big A sound, big palace

  • “Qu” — little u sound, little palace “cutie”

Qasr Mshatta

• Jordan, early 8th century

• patron: Al-Walid II

• limestone carvings, friezes of repetitive motif

  • vine scrolls, geometric patterns, symmetry → fundamentals of Islamic art

• Wall remains are at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, as gifted by Ottoman Sultan to Emperor Wilhelm II

Qasr Mshatta wall carvings

• triangles with rosettes, lacy flora, some animals

  • Roman mosaic theme of animals drinking from a vase

  • mythical creatures — Senmurv (Persian winged animal), gryphon (Greek myth), Pegasus, Centaur (Greek and Roman myth)

    • Senmurv shows exposure to Persian influence

    • Islam conquered lands with both Greek and Persian/Zoroastrian tradition

• only 1 human figure in the Berlin fragment

  • looks at the animals below

  • likely Greek myth of Orpheus taming the animals with music — did the myth mean the same to the Islamic tradition as it did in Greek time? or did he get a new story

    • very popular myth in Roman times!

• Right side of the wall — no animal or figuration, just vegetal and vase reliefs

  • this section of the wall holds the qibla wall

Khirbat al-Mafjar reliefs

• Jericho, Palestine, 8th cent

• construction start under Hisham, other son of ‘Abd al-Malik (720s) but is unfinished during an earthquake in 749 CE

• Khirbat — “ruins”

Khirbat al-Majfar bathhouse

• largest and most decorated compared to other rooms

• likely the first place built and only one used

Khirbat al-Mafjar Caliph relief statue

• 8th century, Hisham

• lifesize royal figure carving found above the facade of the bathhouse, likely flanked by two smaller guard figures or attendants

• royal figure standing above lions → pair of lions under ruler is Sassanian

• shows either a good king in the image of King Solomon, or depicting Solomon himself — hope is to be a good king

  • textual and material evidence that the baths were named in reference to Solomon (The One Ring — Solomon is such a just king that he can control demons with a ring and uses them to heat his bath

• human figure in princely character in a secular space of the palace complex

Khirbat al-Mafjar ladies

• attendants or court dancers/attendants

• found beneath the caliph figure

• long skirts, no top, jewelry, flowers, dark hair, beauty

  • echo of Mediterranean fertility deities and classical Arabic er@tic poetry — think venus of Willendorf

Lion Gazelle Mosaic at Khirbat al-Mafjar

• floor of the bathhouse were mosaics

• likely patrons are either Hisham, son of al-Malik (720s-40s) OR al-Walid II (740s)

• lion and gazelle motif — maybe love poetry, lover lady is the antelope

Qusayr Amra

• Jordan, mid-early 8th century

• patron: al-Walid II when he was a baby prince

• murals! not mosaic

• representations of female dancers like the attendants at Khirbat al-Mafjar

• central image — enthroned prince with attendants, looks similar to standing caliph relief at Khirbat

  • hierarchical scale

  • likely allegorical representation of Solomon or the ideal of the caliph as the perfect king

• right wall → wrestlers/court entertainment, 6 Kings (kings from Sassanian tradition, Byzantine emperor, king of Ethiopia, king of Spain, emperor of China, ruler of Turkic peoples

  • everyone gestures to a panel → al-Walid with his scribe?

Transition of coins

Sassanian coins → Arab Sassanian (added Arabic/Quranic script, kept the zoroastrian fire temple and Sassanian shah with his crown)

Arab Byzantine coins → gold coins with 3 rulers of Byzantine empire and cross on the back, new shift removed the horizontal bar of the cross to make it not a cross

reform under ‘Abd al-Malik → around 696 → kept byzantine motif of 3 rulers and cross structure w/o bar, added arabic inscription of shahada

• around 695 → created one ruler with non-cross on the back, likely depicts the caliph with a sword. arabic inscriptions of the shahada and when the coin was minted

official coin of Islam after al-Malik → all epigraphic (no figures), Islam is the state religion, Arabic is the language of administration

• shahada phrase → god is the only god, and quranic phrase → rejecting Jesus as son (important for interacting with Christian hands, coins travel easy)

aniconism

anti-figuration or icons, fundamental aspect of Islam

• mosaics in churches were pixelated bc they had people and animal figures

• tesserae, church of the Lions (6th century)

• churches could still be used — accepting of christianity, just needed to iconoclast

The ‘Abbasid Caliphate

720-1258 (last half of the period)

• North Africa across to Oxus river, expanded more into Turkiye

• focus point of life shifted to Iraq instead of Greater Syria

• lack of Roman spolia, things now made with mud brick — significantly less remaining today than from the Umayyads

• little sub dynasties throughout (Fatimid, Ayyubid, Seljuqs and Seljuqs of Anatolia)

Baghdad—the Round City

• 762

• patron: Caliph al-Mansur

• based on the 3rd century Sassanian round city of Firuzabad

  • divided into geometric sectors circled around the congregational mosque and palace

  • gates face major cities and are named for them

  • palace or central building had a green dome with a statue of a horseback rider

Samarra, Abu Dulaf

• 836 CE

• patron: Caliph al-Mutasim

• architectural chunks of decoration

  • style A: shows continuity of late-antiquity motifs (5 lobed vine leaves)

  • style B: geometric and abstract shapes like the yin/yang

    • ‘Abbasid artists found the shape, but what did it mean to them? Trade with China is evident in greensplash stoneware found nearby

  • style C: repetition of abstract geometric themes, covers the entire wall, and all symmetrical

    • also includes decorative wall niches found in early Sassanian reliefs/carvings

Noh Gumbad Mosque

• Afghanistan

• 9th century

• likely the oldest early Islamic building in Afghanistan

  • located out in the fringes of the empire but the decorative motifs of the center reach and influence architecture

• also decorated with paisley motifs that are very Buddhist

Jawsaq al-Khaqani Palace

• Samarra, 830s

• figurative murals of princely pleasures and royal lifestyle

Two Dancers mural at Jawsaq al-Khaqani

• pouring wine, dancing, holding fruits

• even though the Qur’an says not to drink wine, people still did as celebration

  • Khamriyyat — wine poetry

• represents banquets and social life

Great Mosque of Samarra

• Samarra, 847-861

• patron: Caliph al-Mutawakkil

• large spiral minaret directly across from the qibla wall (these became popular in the ‘Abbasid period")

• Ziyada/storage space ring around the complex

‘Abbasid Minarets

• tall, usually on the central axis of the mosque

• spiral staircases for the prayer caller to walk up and call everyone to prayer

• usually sectioned with decorative horizontal friezes — helps the human eye construct how tall these actually are

• spread across the empire out to the fringes