Introduction

One of the many monsters in The Shahnameh is the dragon that Sekandar battles. Upon this meeting, Sekandar comes to understand the vast differences in strength between monsters and humans. Despite this, Sekandar realizes that even a beast with unmatched strength such as the dragon still has weaknesses that humans can exploit.

Chosen Passage:

“Sekandar said, ‘Tomorrow, see that no one takes him any food.’ When the time for his meal had passed, the dragon stood on the mountain slope breathing fire, and Sekandar ordered his troops to shoot a storm of arrows against him. The foul dragon exhaled fire and caught a few men in the blast. Sekandar had the war drums beaten, and the dragon drew back in fear from the echoing drums. The sun rose in Taurus, and the meadows resounded with the song of larks. When it was again time for the dragon to be fed, the king chose a number of men from his army and gave them money to buy five cows. He killed the cows and skinned them, leaving the hide attached to their heads. The hides were then filled with poison and oil and inflated; prayers were said and the cows were passed from hand to hand up the mountainside. The king approached the dragon and saw that he was like a huge dark cloud: his tongue purple, his eyes blood red, and fire issuing continuously from his maw. The soldiers rolled the cows down toward the dragon, their hearts anxious to see what he would do. Immediately, the dragon descended on the carcasses like the wind. He ate them, and the poison spread throughout his body, bursting his intestines and forcing its way even into his brain and feet. For a long time he beat his head against the rocks in desperation, and the army released a hail of arrows against him. The mountainous monster sank to his feet, and his body finally succumbed to the arrows. Leaving the creature’s body where it lay, Sekandar quickly led his troops out of that area” (Ferdowsi, The Shahnameh, 683).

The chosen passage from The Shahnameh is in the chapter named, “Sekandar Reaches a Land Where the Men Have Soft Feet and Kills a Dragon.” The passage describes Sekandar’s first encounter with the dragon upon which he understands the dragon’s true strength. Both parties retreat ending in a stalemate. Soon after, a second attack commences only after poisoning the dragon’s meal of cows. The dragon is described to be severely weakened which allows Sekandar to finish it off with a hail of arrows. The chosen artifact is a miniature from The Queen Mary Apocalypse (London, The British Library, Royal 19 B XV, fol. 22v). It portrays five men wielding various weapons battling a multi-headed dragon while an angel flies above. The text and artifact have strong correlations. They both portray the power of the dragon and show arrows being an highlighted theme. The arrow is the mode that Sekandar uses to finish off the dragon and this is a prominent detail in the artifact as it is the only weapon actively wounding the dragon.