Iconographic Analysis of "Auj ibn Anaq" Character in the Illustrations of the Qazvini’s Aja'ib al-Makhluqat

One of the important characters represented in the visual versions of Aja'ib al-Makhluqat is the character Auj ibn Anaq. A very tall and huge man who was born at the time of Adam, lived for 3500 years and was alive at the time of Noah's flood in such a way that Noah's flood and the water of the seas reached his knees. In addition to these descriptions of the historical character and the religious themes related to him, numerous images of Auj ibn Anaq can be seen in the pictorial versions of Qazvini's Wonders of Creatures.
In each of the illustrated editions of the Aja'ib al-Makhluqat, in the section related to strange creatures, and generally at the end of the chapter, an image of a tall creature is drawn, sometimes carrying a large rock or stone, and sometimes occupying the entire surface of the image; rather, this character has found its way into the historical texts of the Islamic period. Sometimes Auj ibn Anaq’s greatness is emphasized, and sometimes his battle with prophet Musa and carrying a large stone on his shoulders. Auj ibn Anaq is also one of the legendary characters rooted in the Bible (Old Testament). Using the iconographic analysis method and the iconographic transformation approach, this article tries to examine the hidden aspects of the images of Auj ibn Anaq in connection with the text and to search for the missing links of meaning not only in the image separately, but also in the connection of the images with the different texts. This research aims to obtain the hidden layers of meaning related to the narration of Auj ibn Anaq, historical texts, horoscopes, and other visual versions. Based on this, the main question in the current research is that in the pictures of Auj ibn Anaq, what differences does the visual description of Auj ibn Anaq show with his textual description and how are these differences reflected in the pictures? For this purpose, by using the iconographic analysis method, the motifs in the paintings of Auj ibn Anaq were examined in connection with the written texts. The method of analysis in this article is iconographic transformation, which is considered as one of the important aspects of iconography. Also, the method of collecting information in this study is based on library research and the statistical population of the present study includes nine pictures from the illustrated versions of Qazvini's Aja'ib al-Makhluqat. One picture from the manuscript of Balami's History is available in the Freer Gallery, one picture from the manuscript of Jame al-Tawarikh in the Edinburgh Library, three pictures are from one of the pictorial manuscripts of horoscopes in the Dresden and Topkapi collections in Istanbul, and one picture of the pictorial manuscript of Zobdeh al-Tavarikh in the Museum of Islamic Art in Istanbul. The images in this research were obtained through the websites of museums and archives. The method of analysis in the present research is as follows: based on the theme of the image (carrying a stone on one's shoulders, catching a fish from the water, the staff of Prophet Moses on the ankle of Auj ibn Anaq's foot), all the visual items in the versions of Aja'ib al-Makhluqat were selected and described, then examples of the same themes depicted in other illustrated versions (such as Falnameh, Jame al-Tawarikh, Tarikh Tabari, etc.) have been selected and analyzed. The necessity and importance of this article is that it achieves a deep understanding of the content of the paintings of the Islamic period by using a scientific and reliable method to analyze the paintings of the Islamic period. The findings indicate that the transfer of this character through the religious narratives of the Bible to the creatures of the Qazvini’s Aja'ib al-Makhluqat has faced changes and transformations over time, and the ancient Persian texts and especially the Avesta text play an important role in the revival of the character of Auj ibn Anaq in the Islamic period. In the study of transformations of Auj ibn Anaq in the images of the Islamic period, two examples of transformations, one of the transformations of carrying a stone and the other of living in the sea and catching fish from the water, were examined, which express the hidden concepts in the images of Auj ibn Anaq through astrological texts. Furthermore, the revitalization of the Avesta theme in the images of Auj ibn Anaq is evident through literary descriptions.