علیرضا طاهری

“Animal drawing in row” has been important and a widely-used style in Mesopotamia, as well as in Persia which is mainly depicted on pottery and metals. This style is also depicted on Greek pottery. The question is: How did “animal drawing in row” affect Greek pottery art. In terms of mythological stories and mythical creatures, this style is close to Greek traditions therefore it had been warmly welcomed and applied by Greek artists. These effects could have also occurred due to enormous trade between Greece and its colonies on the one hand and Syrian, Phoenician, Mesopotamian and Persian civilizations on the other. The purpose of this study is to compare this method in some of Iranian pottery discovered from Marlik, Hasanlu, Elamite and Achaemenid civilization, to Greek pottery. The research method is descriptive-comparative. On pottery and metal vessels, this technique starts with single drawing row, and ends with multi rows. The number of rows in most cases depended on the size and the surface of vessel or pot.

Muslims believe Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), riding an extraordinary creature, started his spiritual Night Journey known as Miraj (Ascension of Muhammad (PBUH) to heaven). Detailed description of this miraculous event is presented in many textbooks called ‘Miraj Nameh’. One most well known example is Shahrokhi's, composed in Herat School and is kept in National Paris Library. Extraordinary and supernatural creatures are illustrated in some miniatures in this book which are specified with particular and strange appearances. This article aims to study various aspects of wonderful creatures in Mir Heydar's manuscript of Miraj Nameh based on the appearance and application. The manuscript is a unique collection of thaumaturgic illustrations depicted to describe the fantastic locations like heaven, hell, purgatory and weird creatures whom Prophet Muhammad PBUH visited in his Ascension. As various studies and conclusions demonstrate, illustrated creatures can be divided into some distinct groups based on appearance, body formation, and visual characteristics as: ‘animal human’ and ‘human- animal’ combinations, ‘Giants’, ‘multi body organs’, ‘animal or human- plant’ combination, and ‘human- half’ combination. The origin of the weird locations and creatures presented in the textbook should be searched in mythological culture and fictions. Applied research methodology is descriptive. Data gathering method is library information one.

The Mesopotamian mythology represents a variation of monsters and hybrids. Among them, the fantastic creatures in the composition of the animal and the man are very important; it is about the "man-animal". What attracts our interest; it is the composite creature, the "man-bull", because of its diverse aspect, as well as its symbolic characteristic. On the other hand, we notice one of the very practical figures and very renowned, "Master of animals", it is appreciated as much as all the Mesopotamian regions represented it in their arts. Problematic: what types of the "man-bull" had most importance in Mesopotamia? Which is the relationship enters the "man-bull" and "Master of animals"? What physical evolution arose during the transformation of the "man-bull" to "Master of animals"? Hypothesis: there is doubtless a narrow relation enters the "man-bull" and "Master of animals ", as regards the symbolizing character to be able to it and their appearances in vertical position. Mesopotamia represents a particular character of the real or fantastic animals, which spread towards the other parts of the country; it is about the representation of animals in vertical shape.