The Iconography of Pre-Islamic Women in Iran1
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Iranica Antiqua, vol. XXXVI, 2001 THE ICONOGRAPHY OF PRE-ISLAMIC WOMEN IN IRAN1 BY Aurelie DAEMS Introduction: Ever since the beginning of mankind, women and their symbolic signifi- cance have always played a changing role in all religions and cultures. Undoubtedly the same goes for pre-Islamic Iran. From anonymous and crude fertility symbols also, their iconography never ceased to evolve towards more elegant and refined portray. The changes that the depictions of women underwent were — as past research informs us — more often linked with social and cultural developments than with the individual inspirations or caprices of the artists that brought them to life. The purpose of this paper is to summarise the known media and themes in which women were depicted in Iran from prehistory to the Sasanian period2. It is by no means complete and surely will need further comple- tion, critiques and research, as excavations and publications regularly pro- duce new evidence. Although several scholars have written important papers on aspects of female iconography in Iran3, a full chronological 1 This paper is a résumé of my MA-Thesis, which I finished in May 1998 at the Uni- versity of Ghent, under the supervision of Professor Haerinck. It concerned the catalogu- ing of all female iconography known throughout pre-Islamic Iran. This catalogue was created to elaborate or recognise some patterns in pre-Islamic Iranian female iconography, as well as to attempt to bring forward some interpretations regarding the status of women in pre-Islamic Iran. Since writing your first article is not a sinecure, I am very grateful to Professor Haerinck for guiding me towards my first steps in archaeological reporting and for giving me advice concerning the content and division of this paper, the structure and the drawings. I should also like to thank Dr. St. John Simpson of the Western Asiatic Department of the British Museum, for reading this paper, giving helpful comments and for correcting my writing where necessary. 2 Since this paper only comprises pre-Islamic Iranian female iconography, no com- parisons or links will be made with the female iconography of other Near Eastern territo- ries. 3 Boucharlat & Haerinck (1994), Broman Morales (1990), Eygun (1992), Ghirshman (1963b, 1968a, 1970b), Gignoux & Gyselen (1989), Goldman (1991, 1997), 2 A. DAEMS report on this topic is still lacking. However, scholars and students seeking new evidence in this paper will be disappointed since our aim is to assem- ble and review all that is known and to add some personal reflections where appropriate. As the available information has been distilled to a summary, it is impossible to describe and discuss all artefacts known. We shall therefore illustrate this study with typical items and give more detailed bibliographical information about additional pieces in footnotes. But before we plunge into this varied subject, let us touch on some problems that occurred during the composition of this paper. A first major problem is the fact that several works discussing human iconography did not mention the genus of the illustrated characters. This was particularly the case for cylinder seals, which is obvious seen the shape of this medium, but equally acted as a brake on our research about female every- day activities4. An equally important problem is that often no provenance was mentioned or known for some iconographically very interesting objects. The correct classification in time of the depicted women could be slowed down because of the different, sometimes complicated chronolo- gies used in Iranian archaeology. The latter also involved different or vague dates proposed for one object. Something not to neglect at all is that part of Iran’s pre-Islamic history is based upon material evidence that are forgeries or “artefacts whose only demonstrable provenience is an antiquity dealer’s shop”5. Nevertheless, we cannot simply neglect all these items, having been intertwined in Iranian Archaeology for so long. However, scepticism towards their archaeological and narrative value remains essential. Therefore, some ‘dubious’ pieces will be discussed in this paper, but we will always mention them as being doubtful. Another hindrance was the fact that none of the objects or illustrations studied Herrmann (1977, 1983), Lamberg-Karlovsky & Meadow (1970), Lambert (1979), Maléki (1961), Mochiri (1985), Mousavi (1990), Negahban (1968, 1979, 1984), Peck (1969, 1992), Porada (1980), Seidl (1986), Spycket (1980, 1986, 1992a, 1992b, 1995), Stève (1989), Sumner (1972, 1974), Trümpelmann (1981), Voigt (1983), Wulsin (1932), … 4 This does not mean that women had no part in everyday activities, but “la glyptique, à laquelle il faut se reporter pour trouver ces figures féminines ne présente bien souvent que des effigies d’adorantes et déesses;(…) le petit format des cylindres limite les détails que l’artiste réserve plus volontiers aux attributs divins” extract from Maléki (1961, p. 25). Also, in literature, certain female figurines were too often classified as goddess, priestess or idol with no specific reason. This slowed down our research about pre-Islamic women in Iran. For more reading about these “questionable items” see the separate bibliography at the end of this article. 5 Muscarella, 1977, p. 155. THE ICONOGRAPHY OF PRE-ISLAMIC WOMAN IN IRAN 3 could be directly studied, as our only available resources for the study of women in pre-Islamic Iran were photographs and drawings, the latter not always being scientifically correct. Some major works however, remained extremely helpful manuals throughout the whole of our research6. But let us start where it all began… 1. Neolithic: 8th millennium — mid 6th millennium BC During Iran’s Neolithic phase, two iconographic themes depicting women seem to have been represented. The first are the naked figurines, which occur the most. The second ones represent maternal figurines. Four Neolithic sites have up to now brought up evidence for the pro- duction of naked female figurines. The first one being Ganj Dareh, fol- lowed by Tepe Sarab near the Zagros Mountains, Zaghe and Hajji Firuz Tepe. Although most of the 8th – 7th mill. BC clay7 figurines from Ganj Dareh are very abstract, all 113 anthropomorphic figurines known are said to be female. These figurines could either be made out of a single lump of clay8 modelled at different parts to show some body features (fig. 1), or on the contrary be composite because of the use of appliquéd clay strips to accentuate the breasts or the belly, thus giving an indication for pregnancy (fig. 2). As with the following figurines from other Neolithic sites in Iran, these statuettes lack proper limbs or a head. When preserved the head is represented either as a cone, formed by the lengthening of the upper lump of clay or as a bird’s head with a long fine nose9. Tepe Sarab has given light to eight groups of terracotta figurines with human forms. Three of these groups10 dating to the late 7th-early 6th mill. BC consist of female torsos, simple forms and composite forms made of different body parts. Several of these body parts were put together correctly after excavation to compose two well-preserved female figurines11 (fig. 3-4). Both of them lack arms or a proper head. Lengthening the upper lump of clay created — 6 Here we should especially like to mention the works produced by Spycket (1981, 1992a). Both ‘ catalogues’ remained very reliable guides throughout our study of Western Iranian female iconography. 7 Due to the accidental burning of Ganj Dareh level D, where these figurines come from, all figurines became terracottas (Eygun, 1992, p. 109). 8 With or without a separate clay socle to support them (Eygun, 1992, p. 111). 9 Eygun, 1992, p. 113. 10 The five other ones are said to be male or abstract because of the lack of sexual characteristics (Broman Morales, 1990, p. 11). 11 Broman Morales, 1990, Pl. 6, fig. d & e. 4 A. DAEMS as in Ganj Dareh — a long small cylinder which formed the face12. Some of the body parts, mostly the buttocks and the legs, have visible traces of nail incisions, which might represent some sort of clothing or even tat- toos13. Because of their heavy body contours, these “Venus from Sarab” are said to be pregnant. The Zaghe figurines are a little more recent in time. Two types of undoubtedly female figurines were found in a so-called Painted Building attributed to the late 7th – early 6th mill. BC and inter- preted as a religious centre. The pregnant women are one type of which seven examples are published14 (fig. 5). A second type is formed by one maternal figurine15 (fig. 6). As in Sarab, the Zaghe figurines are all seated, with legs slightly spread. Whereas in Sarab the emphasis is laid on the heavy breasts and buttocks, the figurines from Zaghe were less worked out but had been given a protruding belly, thus accentuating maternity or fer- tility. Nail incisions occur on some of these figurines as well and arms or a head are also missing. The painted Hajji Firuz statuette can be dated to the mid 6th mill. BC16, which makes it the latest figurine to occur in Neolithic Iran. In comparison to the figurines from the former two sites this Hajji Firuz statuette has finer but more abstract body contours and is standing (fig. 7). It is also the earliest Iranian figurine upon which traces of paint appear. The elongated parts of clay next to both legs have been incised with rather regular dots and might represent a sort of skirt. As with the Sarab figurines, the head was reproduced as a small cylinder. 2. Chalcolithic: mid 6th millennium – late 4th millennium BC 2.1 Naked figurines: During the Chalcolithic period of Iran, the tradition of naked female fig- urines continues.