The Painting of the Six Kings at Quṣayr 'Amrah

Author(s): Oleg Grabar

Source: Ars Orientalis , 1954, Vol. 1 (1954), pp. 185-187
Published by: Freer Gallery of Art, The Smithsonian Institution and Department of the
History of Art, University of Michigan

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4628994

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NOTES

THE PAINTING OF THE SIX KINGS AT "der maler, der fur al-Walid I in Qusair 'Amra
QUSAYR 'AMRAH arbeitete, hat ganz naiv den Sasaniden des
The now greatly damaged painting of the urbildes beibehalten, trotzdem der nicht mehr
six rulers in the Umayyad desert bath of in die zeit passte." 6 The six kings are not the
Qusayr 'Amrah has for a long time been the kings of the earth described by Yaqut, but each
subject of controversy among scholars. If we one represents a specific phase of Umayyad his-
except the fantastic interpretation by Kara- tory. We shall try to show that this painting
bacek in Musil's publication of the building, is an illustration of a Umayyad idea, part of
two explanations of the famous painting are which was borrowed from the Sasanians, but
to be found. One group of scholars, from which was adapted to the Umayyads' histori-
Max van Berchem 1 to Creswell,2 explains the cal situation.
representation of the six rulers as a symbol A line from a poem attributed to Yazid III
of the defeated enemies of Islam. Herzfeld,3 ibn al-Walid, one of the last Umayyad caliphs,
on the other hand, has suggested that we who reigned briefly during the year 744, intro-
see here a Umayyad copy of the Sasanian duces an idea which perhaps can explain the
representation of the "Kings of the Earth," painting of Qusayr 'Amrah. It is found in
as there was one, described by Yaqiit,4 near Mas'fzdi 7 and reads as follows: VI A
Kermanshah. Z)ki; U s9 L; 5 99 a 9< y "I am the
The first explanation is inadequate, be- son of Kisra and my father is Marwan and
cause in both Sasanian and Byzantine art, the Qaysar is my grandfather and my grandfather
iconography of the defeated enemies shows is Khaqan." This verse implies a new con-
specific traits absent in Qusayr 'Amrah,5 and cept: Yazid asserts his right to the throne
one cannot imagine that the Umayyad rulers through an imagined ancestry. The Umayyad
had, at that time, developed their own iconog- caliph-the verse may have been written be-
raphy of that subject. Herzfeld's explanation fore Yazid became caliph, but he had always
seems to rely too much on the theoretical ser- been ambitious and eager to occupy a throne
vility of Umayyad artists in assuming that to which he believed he had rights 8.jS the
descendant and the heir of the kings who, at
' M. van Berchem, Au pays de Moab et d'Edom,
one time or another, had been defeated by the
Journal des Savants, n. s., 7eme annee (I909), pp.
293-309,363-372,40I-411.
Arabs. They are his ancestors.
2 K. A. C. Creswell, Early Muhammedan archi- The concept of a "Family of Kings" was
tecture, London, I932, VOl. I, pp. 263-264. not an original one with the Umayyads. Stud-
3 E. Herzfeld, Jrchiologische Parerga, Orienta-
lische Literaturzeitung, vol. 22 (I919), pp. 254-255; 6 Herzfeld, op. cit., p. 235.
and Die K6nige der Erde, Der Islam, vol. 2I (I933), 7 Mas'adi, Murui al-dhahab, ed. and tr. C. Bar-
pp. 233-236. bier de Meynard and A. Pavet de Courteille, Paris,
4 Yaquit, Mu'jam al-bulddn, ed. F. Wiustenfeld, I86I-I877, vol. 6, P. 32. The same text is found in
Leipzig, I866-I873, vol. 4, p. 70. Tabari, Annales, ed. M. de Goeje, Leiden, 1885-
5 For Sasanian examples, see, for instance, A. U. I889, vol. 2, p. I874. It was mentioned by F. Ga-
Pope, ed., A survey of Persian art, London-New brieli, l-Walid ibn Yazid, il califfo e il poeta, Rivista
York, I938, VOl. 4, p. I55. For Byzantine examples, di Studi Orientali, vol. I5 (I935), p. I9.
see A. Grabar, L'empereur dans l'art byzantin, Paris, 8 Inasmuch as he was the son of the Sasanian prin-
1936, pls. 4, I2, 23, and in the text, passim. cess Shahaf rid. See Gabrieli, Op. cit., footnote 7.

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 i86 NOTES

ies by Ostrogorsky, Holtzmann, D6lger, and a "spiritual" relationship between the basileus
others ' have shown the intricacies of the and the other rulers. In the Shah-nameh, the
"spiritual" ( rvpartLKo6S) family relationship be-
emperor of Byzantium is said to have written:
tween the rulers of the world (1-'Kva) and the "Rfim is to you (another) Iran, and Iran is to
common father of all, the basileus of Constan- you like Ruim; why make a distinction between
tinople. But it is not from Byzantium that the these countries? The Khaqan of China and
Umayyads took over the concept as we find it the king of India also hold from you their
embodied in the line quoted by Mas'uidi and thrones and their crowns. The whole wisdom
on the wall of Qusayr 'Amrah, because, how- of the time is in the king of kings and the
ever old the idea may be,'0 at the court of Qaysar has no power but through him." 13
Constantinople it had a religious overtone The "immediacy" and actuality of the depend-
which was unthinkable in Islam. Furthermore, ence of the world's kings on the Persian
its usage was essentially diplomatic and politi- emperor also appears in a passage from Mus-
cal. It did not become an artistic theme at the tawfi al-Qazwini: "Anuishirvan erected a plat-
court of Constantinople, but only at the courts form, measuring one hundred ells square, and
of the dependent rulers." here at a great banquet the emperor of China,
If we turn to the Persian tradition, as it is the Khaqan of the Turks, the Rajah of
embodied in such writers as Qazwini, Mas'iidi, India, and the Caesar of Rome, all kissed his
Ferdowsi, and Tha'alibl, we find, first of all, hand." 14 Mas'iidi lists all the gifts brought
a greater degree of universality than in Byzan- to the court of Aniishirvan by "the kings of
tium. While the Byzantine hierarchy of states India and of Sind, of the North and of the
comprised essentially the successors of the South," on the occasion of the marriage of the
Roman Empire, Christian states, and immedi- Persian emperor to the daughter of the
ately neighboring states, the Persian tradition "Khaqan, king of the Turks." The king of
stresses the relationship of rulers from China China, the king of India, and the king of
to Byzantium.'2 It also goes further than the Tibet ( ?), all call Khosrow their "brother." '5
Byzantine conception, which only recognized These examples were known to the Umay-
yads. The emphasis on an actutal relationship
9 G. Ostrogorsky, Die byzantinische Staaten- was more likely to appeal to the still rather
hierarchie, Seminarium Kondakovianum, vol. 8
uncouth Umayyad princes than the spiritual
(1936), pp. 4I-6I; K. Holtzmann, Der Weltherr-
schaftsgedanke des mittelalterischen Kaisertums ....
concept of the Byzantines. Furthermore, while
Historische Zeitschrift, vol. I59 (I939), pp. 25I- they were more or less constantly at war with
264; F. D6lger, Die "Familie der K6nige" im Mit- the Byzantines, the Umayyads had at their dis-
telalter, Historisches Jahrbuch, vol. 6o (I940), pp. posal all the remnants of the ancient Sasanian
397-420. empire they had conquered; and they were im-
10 See, in particular, D6lger, op. cit., p. 420.
"- Ostrogorsky, op. cit., pp. 59-60, for examples 13 Ferdousi, Shdh-ndmeh, French tr. by J. Mohl,
and further bibliography. Paris, I876-78, vol. 6, P. 418. The title "King of the
12 For instance, the story about the three seats World" appears in many passages throughout the
prepared to the left, to the right, and back of the book: vol. 6, pp. 142, 154,. 173, I79, etc. . . . For
throne of Khosrow, for the king of China, the king another significant passage in the same line, see ibid.,
of Byzantium, and the king of the Khazars, as found pp. 151-I52.
in G. Le Strange and R. A. Nicholson, Farsndmeh of 14 Hamd Allah Mustawfi al-Qazwini, Nuzhat
Ibn al-Balkhi, London, I92I, p. 97. Also see A. al-qulub, tr. G. Le Strange, London, I9I9, vol. 2,
Christensen, L'Iran sous les Sassanides, 2d ed., Copen-
p. io6.
hagen, 1944, pp. 4II-4I2. 15 Mas'iidi, Op. cit., II, pp. 200-203.

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 NOTES 187

pressed by the wealth, the sophistication, the apparent or a parent of the actual ruler.18
organization, and the way of life of the dy- Could the patron of Qusayr 'Amrah not have
nasty they had defeated. And it is not nec- been Yazid ibn al-Walid, who for 20 years
essarily through artistic remnants that the was kept aside from the throne and away
Umayyads were introduced to Sasanian civili- from the centers of government, whose am-
zation and to Sasanian ideology, as few of the bition led him to participate in a plot against
leaders ever left Syria and Palestine except to al-Walid II, and who was well known for his
go on pilgrimage to Mekkah. It is reasonable pride in his Sasanian ancestry?
to assume that they became acquainted with OLEG GRABAR
Sasanian civilization also through literary
sources. This is confirmed by the fact that
THE SAMARRA MINT
many Umayyad caliphs enjoyed reading or
listening to history.16 More specifically we The purpose of this short article is t
know that in the year A.H. II3/A.D. 73I a vite the attention of historians (and of art
Persian book containing the description of torians in particular) to numismatic evi
every Sasanian ruler was translated into Ara- demonstrating that the commercial pros
bic by order of Hisham ibn 'Abd-al-Malik.'7 of Samarra, the famous temporary 'Abb
Keeping in mind this brief sketch of the capital, did not end with its abandonme
background of the concept of the "Family of the official residence of the caliphs at the
Kings," it seems possible to explain the Qusayr of the rule of al-Mu'tamid in 279 of th
'Amrah painting of the six rulers as the result rah (A.D. 892). The Samarra mint was ac
of an attempt by a Umayyad to adapt the until 34I A.H. (A.D. 953),1 and it is ther
Sasanian artistic theme of the "Kings of the evident that the markets, and presumab
Earth," gathered to pay homage to their over- workshops, of the city continued to flo
lord, to the concept of the "Family of Kings." for at least 6o years after the date comm
This latter concept was altered so as to imply accepted as the termination of the so-ca
that the Umayyad dynasty was the descendant "Samarra period." This point is of more
and heir of the dynasties it had defeated. than casual interest because of the emphasis
An interesting hypothesis presents itself on "Samarra ware" in art and archeological
at this juncture: J. Sauvaget has shown that chronology.
the epigraphical evidence found at Qusayr For many years it has been customary in
'Amrah seems to preclude its having been built writing of Samarra to speak of its occupation
for or by a caliph. But he suggests an heir in terms of "roughly half a century." Cer-
tainly this is correct insofar as caliphal resi-
16 Mas'fidi, op. cit., vol. 6, p. 32ff. Also seedence is concerned. The city was founded by
H. Lammens, Etudes sur le regne du calife. . .
al-Mu'tasim between 2I9 and 22I (A.D. 834-
Mo'awiya I, Melanges de la Faculte Orientale de
l'Universite St. Joseph, vols. 1-4, passim.
836) ,2 and it ceased to be the capital, officially
17 Mas'idi, Kitdb al-tanbih (Bibl. Geogr. Arab.,
18 J. Sauvaget, Remarques sur les monuments
ed. M. de Goeje, vol. 8), Leiden, I894, p. io6. It
Omeyyades I: chateaux de Syrie, Journal Asiatique,
may be suggested at this point that the extraordinarily
vol. 231 (1939), pp. 14-15.
tall woman to the right of the six kings, on the wall of
'See my brief note on this same subje
Qusayr 'Amrah, is another reminiscence of a Sasanian
review of Ernst Herzfeld's Geschichte der Stadt
tradition, for, in his description of the gifts sent by the
Samarra, Ars Islamica, 15-I6 (1951 ), p. 227, Note 2.
king of India to Anushirvan, Mas'uidi mentions "a
2 Herzfeld, op. cit., p. 9I. All the sources are
slave-girl seven feet tall" (Qjil r ,41* z i k. cited in Herzfeld's discussion.

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