Introduction

Serpents, animals that can move without legs and disappear from people’s sight every winter for hibernation, were usually considered monsters that had supernatural powers or connections with evilness in the Middle Ages. One of the most interesting descriptions of serpents in Medieval texts is the story of Zahhak in the 11^th century Iranian epic Shahnameh about the pre-Islamic history of Persia: Zahhak, a tyrant king who rules Iran for a thousand years, has two black snakes grown from his shoulders after the devil Eblis kisses there. In this passage, serpents are linked with devil and the evilness of King Zahhak. Manuscripts of Shahnameh completed in later time, such as the Turkman Shirazi work “Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Ms. or. fol. 4255” and Demotte Shahnameh from the Ilkhanate peropd, have marvelous illustrations, known as “Iranian miniature”, depicting King Zahhak with two snakes on each of his shoulder. In another Medieval text, the Greek Romance Kallimachos & Chrysorroi from the Late Byzantine period, the marvelous castle of the dragon who imprisoned and tortured the heroine Chrysorroi, is guarded by fierce serpents. Thus, unlike many other monsters, serpents in Medieval West were always regarded as evil beings depending on more powerful figures or monsters like King Zahhak in Shahnameh and the dragan in Kallimachos & Chrysorroi; however, in other cultures like the Medieval Chinese one, serpents were strong and powerful divine beings who were ancestors of humankind. Paintings of Fuxi and Nyuwa, the first parents of human beings in a serpent form, like the one preserved in Xinjiang Museum, were popular during the 8^th century in China.

Illustrations and paintings can provide a visual depiction of the serpents in the texts and help the audience to have a direct feeling of how these monsters were treated differently in different cultures. The small serpents on King Zahhak’s shoulders that could not be seen in detail in the illustrations on the manuscripts “Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Ms. or. fol. 4255” and Demotte Shahnameh show the dependency of serpents in the Iranian culture, and the serpents’ thickness and strength shown in the 8^th century painting discovered in a tomb in modern-day Xinjiang show the high status of serpents in Medieval Chinese ideology.