Graeco-Roman and Byzantine traditions in the miniature of the Arab Middle Ages

Abstract

A comparative analysis of the Middle Eastern art monuments from different epochs urge the assumption upon us that colourful murals, reliefs and mosaics of palaces, religious and public buildings, just as the illustrated Greek, Latin and Syrian scrolls and codes, created in distant and recent the Western Asia pre-Islamic past or in the early centuries of the Caliphate, served as a kind of breeding ground for the development of a new art form for the Islamic world – a book miniature. In the works of monumental art of the city-states of pre-Islamic ancient Syria and Mesopotamia, traits are found that allow us to see in the heritage of the different art cultures of the ancient and early medieval Mediterranean and the non-Mediterranean Hellenized East not only a cradle, but also schools of Greco-Roman and Early Byzantine miniatures that complement and decorate texts of the ancient manuscripts. With the absorption of these regions by the Caliphate and the development of the medieval Islamic civilization, these schools, next to the vivid and developing art of Byzantium, became sources of knowledge and skill for the designers of Arabic manuscripts. The design of Greek, Latin and Syrian codes, along with the illustrations in the text, inspired the inclusion in the Arabic manuscripts of the frontispiece with the "portrait" of the author (or authors) of the book, and 'the dedication picture' – that were the separate miniatures glorifying the patron or the crowned addressee of the book in allegorical form. Over time, the style of Arabic manuscripts had lost the visible connection with both Greco-Roman and Byzantine prototypes. However, the acquisition of their own stylistic devices, methods and norms did not mean either a final deviation or a complete denial of lessons of the classical book painting. In one form or another, their contribution in Medieval Near Eastern arts was also manifested in the later illustrated Arabic manuscripts, although now at most they were oriented toward the models and ideals of Iran and Eastern Asia.