Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Master's Theses Graduate School 2015 The hP ysical and the Divine: Images of Inebriation in Medieval Islamic Art of the Umayyads From the 7th to the 11th Century Leslie Anne Schepp Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons Recommended Citation Schepp, Leslie Anne, "The hP ysical and the Divine: Images of Inebriation in Medieval Islamic Art of the Umayyads From the 7th to the 11th Century" (2015). LSU Master's Theses. 2420. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses/2420 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Master's Theses by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE PHYSICAL AND THE DIVINE: IMAGES OF INEBRIATION IN MEDIEVAL ISLAMIC ART OF THE UMAYYADS FROM THE 7TH TO THE 11TH CENTURY A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in The School of Art by Leslie Anne Schepp B.A., Centenary College of Louisiana, 2010 May 2016 This thesis is dedicated to my beautiful mother, Susan Schepp, who always inspired me to be my best self, who taught her children that failure is impossible if you have given your best, and whose tireless pursuit of education led me to do the same. Each day with you was an incredible blessing and each day without you is heartbreaking. And to the next generation of Schepps, my nephews, Jacob and Luke. I hope we can encourage Susu’s same love of learning and perseverance in you. !ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first like to thank Dr. Myrsini Mamoli for her patience, honest feedback, and confidence that I could finish this thesis. I am incredibly grateful. I would also like to thank Dr. Matthew Savage whose own passion for Islamic Art encouraged me to pursue this topic. I wish to express my sincere appreciation to my committee members Lisa West, Dr. Elena Fitzpatrick Sifford and Dr. Darius Spieth for their editorial contributions. My father, Rodney Schepp, and my sister, Amy Schepp, deserve credit in this endeavor if only for the long-winded and selfish conversations we’ve had about my thesis. Finally, I would like to thank my fellow graduates, Alicia Ridout, Glauco Adorno, and Tania Innis for their constant support and friendship. !iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................iii ABSTRACT ..............................................................................................................................vi INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................................1 A Brief History of the Rise of Islam and the Umayyad Caliphate ..................................1 The Art and Architecture of the Umayyads: the archaeological record........................... 5 The Literary Sources........................................................................................................ 6 Contribution of the Thesis ...............................................................................................7 Outline of the Thesis ........................................................................................................8 CHAPTER 1: DRINKING IN PRE-ISLAMIC NEAR EAST ................................................9 Sumer ...............................................................................................................................9 Egypt ...............................................................................................................................17 The Assyrian Empire ......................................................................................................20 The Achaemenid Persian Empire.................................................................................... 23 The Hellenistic Kingdoms in the Near East and Egypt ..................................................29 The Roman Empire in the Near East ..............................................................................34 Late Antiquity and the Byzantine Empire in the Near East ............................................38 The Sassanian Empire .................................................................................................... 42 Conclusions..................................................................................................................... 45 CHAPTER 2: EARLY ISLAMIC ART: THE LITERARY SOURCES ..................................47 The Qur’an on the promise of wine and drinking in the afterlife ...................................47 The Hadith on the Prohibition of Wine in Earthly Life ..............................................49 Wine in Early Islamic Poetry ..........................................................................................52 Conclusions..................................................................................................................... 54 CHAPTER 3: PARADISIACAL IMAGERY AND WINE IN RELIGIOUS ART OF THE UMAYYAD CALIPHATE .....................................................................................................55 The Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem ................................................................................55 Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem ..........................................................................................64 Great Mosque of Damascus ............................................................................................66 Conclusions..................................................................................................................... 68 !iv CHAPTER 4: SECULAR ART OF THE UMAYYAD ELITE ..............................................70 Qasr Mshatta, Jordan ......................................................................................................71 Khirbat al-Mafjar, Jordan ...............................................................................................74 Qasr Amra, Jordan ..........................................................................................................78 Mad"nat al-Zahr#’, Spain ................................................................................................81 Decorative Arts, Mad"nat al-Zahr#’, Spain .....................................................................83 The Pyxis of al-Mugh"ra .................................................................................................84 Pyxis of Ziyad al-Aflah .................................................................................................86 Pamplona Casket ............................................................................................................87 Conclusions..................................................................................................................... 89 CHAPTER 5: UMAYYAD INFLUENCES IN LATE ISLAMIC ART.................................... 90 The Abbasids ..................................................................................................................90 The Fatimids ...................................................................................................................92 The Normans in Sicily ....................................................................................................94 Conclusions..................................................................................................................... 97 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSIONS ..............................................................................................98 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................102 VITA ......................................................................................................................................107 !v ABSTRACT The holy text of Islam, the Qur’an, frequently refers to wine both praising and condemning the substance. Within the confines of earth, wine is prohibited because of its intoxicating nature. Believers who imbibe wine reaching an inebriated state separate themselves from God by failing to heed his law. However, for those believers righteous enough to enter the ideal, pastoral, paradisiacal afterlife, wine is not only permitted, but a great reward from Allah. In Paradise, the righteous will lounge on soft, supple couches, and will be served copious amounts of wine from goblets of silver and glass by beautiful, immortal youths. This description of Paradise provides an image of pleasures not typically afforded to believers of a religion that developed in an arid desert region. Both the religious and the secular realms of early Islamic art thus explore the act of wine drinking and the pleasures of Paradise. Religious Islamic art conveys the notion of Paradise as a means to attract converts to Islam who otherwise live in less than pleasurable conditions. Following an aniconic style, Islam’s religious art illustrates the verses of the Qur’an, providing a visual image to believers of the fertile garden, promised by God awaiting them in the afterlife. The secular realm of Islamic art also employs iconography referring to paradise, but does