Sanat Tarihi Dergisi

Öz

In this study, illustrations of the epilogue from Suleymaniye Library classified as Fatih 4171 and Laleli 1991, which are dated 1422 to 1424, Persian copies of a cosmographic and geographic work Ajā’ib Al-Makhlūqāt wa Gharā’ib Al-Mawjūdāt by Qazwīnī (d. 1283) are researched. However, the manuscript has many illustrated copies from the 13th century to the 19th century which include depictions about different subjects from the superlunar sphere and the sphere of the Earth. Just some of the copies have illustrations in the epilogue section. In the meantime, there is some defiency or disarray among pages in the researched copies. The work generally includes four introductions, two articles and an epilogue. Both of the copies comprise illustrations of odd creatures different from the ordinary living beings in the epilogue section. The similarities and differences among the illustrations about oddly-shaped creatures from islands in various geographies, wondrous hybrid animals and weird beasts are presented. These strange creatures in the epilogue section of the work are found in three parts. The first part is about fabulous and unordinary tribes. This part includes firstly people of Gog and Magog with fangs, claws and animal hairs. The second one is Mensek people with human body and elephant ears, who lived in eastern side near Gog and Magog tribe. The third one is short people with large faces and dotted black skin, who lived in the mountains near the Iskandar’s wall. The fourth one is people of Zabec Island with wings and black, white, green skin. The fifth one is Sagsar people with dog head and human body, who lived in some islands of the Southern sea. The sixth one is people with two heads, multiple legs and bird sounds. The seventh one is elephant-like people with wings from jinn group, who lived on some islands. The eighth one is tall and blue-eyed horse-like people with human body and wings. The ninth one is female people with breasts, beautiful hair and sound. The tenth one is human-headed snakes. The eleventh one is people without heads, whose eyes and mouths are on their chest and who lived on some islands of China. The twelfth one is human-headed and big horned tortoises. The last one is Nasnas people who have only half a body and hop on one leg and lived in Yemen. The second part of the epilogue section is about strange, hybrid creatures from different kind of animals. The first one of this part is a cross-breed giraffe of a hyena, an antelope and a camel. The second one is a cross-breed of a horse and an onager. The third one is a cross-breed of a camel and a bukhti. The last one is a cross-breed of a man and a bear. The third part of the epilogue section is only about an oddly-shaped creature the giant Uj ibn Anaq, who lived in the time of Prophet Musa and Nuh. It is aimed to follow the iconographic tradition and the enrichment of the comparison in accompaniment with the illustrations from the earliest known Arabic copy of the manuscript dated to 1280.