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A SHORT NOTE ON A SO-CALLEDISKANDAR DHU’L-QARNAYN IN A BACTRIAN PAINTING

Matteo Compareti

he archaeological area of Old Termez covers many hectares comprising different sites identi-fied by their proper names given since the first Soviet excavations (Fig. 1). The investigations

are at present continued by a Franco-Uzbek team with very interesting results.1 The findings com-prise also some of the most better-preserved specimens of Bactrian paintings not yet completelystudied (nor published) and several inscriptions. The subjects of those paintings pertain to thesphere of Buddhist religion although many Iranian elements can be identified.

The so-called Iskandar Dhu’l-Qarnayn image

One painting from the Buddhist monastery of Fajaz-tepe recently published in a Japanese book isextremely interesting. In that scene it is possible to recognise parts of a person wearing a crown em-bellished with ram horns. Despite the lack of any specific inscription, according to E. Rtveladzethere would be enough evidence to identify that person with Alexander-Iskandar Dhu’l-Qarnayn.2In his opinion, the curved horns should be considered an incontrovertible evidence for an associa-tion with those Hellenistic coins and gems where the Macedonian conqueror is represented as pro-tected by the Egyptian god Amon whose attribute is a ram’s horns (Fig. 2).3

1 Leriche, Pidaev 2008.2 Rtveladze 2002, fig. at p. 166.

3 The literature on this subject is considerable. Among themost recent publications, see Arnold-Biucchi 2006, Dah-men 2007.

T

«parthica» · 12 · 2010

Fig. 1. Map of the site of Termez (after http://www.explo-guide.com/Kara-Tepe-Termez).

96 Matteo Compareti

Some time before, K. Tanabe and K. Maedahad published a photo where it is possible to dis-cern some more details unless the fragmentarystate of the painting (Fig. 3).4 It is very clear thatthe person wearing the horned crown has a nim-bus behind his head and does not appear alonebut together with at least another figure, mostlikely bearded.

Another interpretation was given by F.Grenet who, in a short note, considered it ascene of a presentation of offerings to the Bud-dhist monastery by a female attendant.5 Thatidentification was suggested to him by her sub-jected position next to the horse (supposedly belonging to her husband) and the object in herhands.

In Islamic literature the image of ‘horned A -lexander’ (Iskandar Dhu’l-Qarnayn) is very com-mon, being the subject of one of the most quoted Suras of the whole Quran (xviii:83-98).6Alexander is represented very often in Islamicbook illustrations although, curiously enough,he is never depicted with the two horns men-

tioned in the texts.7 In the case that Rtveladze’s identification could be considered correct, then itwould be really an amazing discovery. Regrettably, it does not seem to be the case.

On the occasion of a very recent Russian Conference (November 2008), Frantz Grenet confirmedto me that, in his opinion, the identification of that Bactrian painting with a portrait of Alexanderthe Great is even less convincing in the light of the complete lack of a figural tradition in the Iran-ian world connected with the horned Macedonian conqueror both in Islamic and pre-Islamic arts.Furthermore, that person in the Fajaz-tepe scene does not display any trace of moustache or beard.In his sketch, Rtveladze reproduced what could be intended to be a pair of sideburns. However, ifcarefully observed, those elements appear to be most likely curls which are represented very oftenon the face of women on the whole Asiatic territory during a long period. They can be observed,for example, in the mural paintings from the stupa at Miran (probably 3rd century ce), in the TarimBasin, and in the fragmentary paintings from Samarra (9th century), not far from Baghdad.8 Onelast point could suggest that the identification with a woman should be correct: close to her leftshoulder, a particular earring formed by four striped smaller cylinders can be recognized. Its colouris strongly contrasting with the white nimbus in the background. Sasanian sovereigns can be rep-resented as wearing earrings but not that big and much less elaborated.

Bactriana was ruled for approximately one century (between c. 225 to c. 350) by the Kushano-Sasa-nians, cadets of the Sasanians of Persia who submitted the entire region just around 221-223.9 Ex-actly as the Sasanians did before, they produced a series of important silver gilt dishes with repre-sentations of their ruler – or, anyway, a relevant figure during a hunt – who, at least in one platekept in the State Hermitage, is wearing a crown embellished with ram’s horns (Fig. 4). As alreadyobserved, this ruler has always a beard. Unfortunately, none of these dishes have been excavated

4 Tanabe, Maeda (eds.) 1999, fig. 156. I wish to thank Et-suko Kageyama for sending me a good image of this painting.For a study on the Fajaz-tepe paintings: Al’baum 1990.

5 Marshak, 2006, n. 21.6 On the Sura xviii see Campanini 1986; Dall’Oglio

1993, 101-119, 293-335. On the image of Alexander in Islamic literature in general: Boyle 1977, De Polignac 1982.

7 Idem 1984, Scerrato 1995.8 The fragmentary paintings from Miran have been pub-

lished in Bussagli 1963, figs. at pp. 18, 25. For Samarra, seeOtto-Dorn 1964, figs. 31, 35. The detail was recently consid-ered in Baer 2004, 6-10, figs. 3-4, 10-11.

9 De Blois 2006. On the (still disputed) chronology of theKushano-Sasanians: Carter 1985, Cribb 1990.

Fig. 2. Gem representing Alexander the Great(National Archaeological Museum, Naples.

After Catalogue Rome 1995, cat. n. 119).

On a so-called Iskandar Dhu’l-Qarnayn in a Bactrian painting 97

during scientific excavations and all the hypotheses about their origin and chronology are based oncoins and texts related to post-Kushan Bactriana.10 It is not excluded that the plate is actually Sasan-ian to be dated to Shapur II (309-379) period: as it will be discussed below, this sovereign had also acrown embellished with ram’s horns.

The situation is more complicated since the rulers of another mysterious Central Asian people,the Kidarites, used similar crowns.11 Also the chronology of the Kidarites is not completely well-known but it is possible to state that they ruled Bactriana between the end of the Kushano-Sasani-ans (c. 360) and their last recorded embassy to China in 477.12

It is extremely arduous to propose any chronology for the Fajaz-tepe painting although it seemsto be excluded the Kushan period (1st-3rd century) because of the crowns with ram’s horns whichnever appears on the coins of those rulers. There are then other religious factors to be consid-ered. Even though other faiths were spread in Bactriana during the Sasanian domination, it sounds

10 Carter 1983, pl. 53; Tanabe 1989, 51-60, and 2001, 179-182, fig. 24.

11 See for example Göbl 1987, fig. 18.12 Grenet 2002, 205-209.

Fig. 3. Sketch of the Fajaz-tepe mural (Termez. After Tanabe, Maeda eds. 1999, fig. 156).

98 Matteo Compareti

very strange that an image of Alexander-Iskan-dar would appear in a territory under Persiandomination. In fact, Alexander was condemnedin Zoroastrian literature of the Sasanian periodas one of the worst sinner and enemy of theIranians.13

Mazdean divinities (yazata) wearing hornsabove their heads are not known. There is justone Choresmian stone capital from Sultanuiz-gad (Northern Uzbekistan, not far from Nukus)considered to be dated to 4th century where it ispossible to observe a bull with human head resembling some reliefs from Persepolis.14 Despite the clear supernatural characteristics of thismonster, it is very difficult to identify it specifically with any yazata: this is possibly a late use of anancient Mesopotamian motif introduced in that Central Asian region through the Achaemenids.

Parallels in Sasanian art

The Sasanians absorbed the Kushano-Sasanians possibly under Shapur II (309-379) around 350.15Shapur is also mentioned in a famous passage mentioned by Ammianus Macellinus as wearing acrown embellished with golden ram’s horns during the siege of Amida in 359. It is not excluded thatthe adoption of that kind of crown was started under Shapur II because of contacts with theKushano-Sasanians or the Kidarites: on this point different opinions exist.16 Apart from the originof such a crown, it is worth noting that Ammianus report should be considered correct. In fact, anewly found coin of Shapur II has been recently published where it is possible to observe that Sasan-ian sovereign wearing a crown embellished with ram’s horns as well.17

These observations make even more complicated any attempt of a chronological proposal forthe Fajaz-tepe mural painting. Some Sasanian objects, once more not coming from controlled excavations, could shed some light on this problem. A first object is an inscribed seal from the

13 Gnoli 1995, Gignoux 1997.14 Culture and Art of Ancient Uzbekistan 1991, cat. n. 312.15 Carter 1985, 253-266; Göbl 1987; Cribb 1990, 165-171,

and 2007.

16 Tanabe 1997.17 Gyselen 2004, cat. n. 212. Cf. Lerner 2009, 221-222.

Fig. 4. Silver plate kept in theState Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

(after Trever, Lukonin 1987, pl. 14:7, detail).

Fig. 5. Seal impression(National Library of France, Paris.After Gyselen 2006, cat. n. 156).

On a so-called Iskandar Dhu’l-Qarnayn in a Bactrian painting 99 National Library of France (Paris) dated to 4thcentury embellished with the portrait of aSasanian lady in profile wearing the ram’s horns(Fig. 5). It was observed that her husband ismentioned in the inscription and he could bemost likely identified with the Sasanian shahan-shah Shapur III (383-388).18

There is then a silver dish now part of theWalters Art Gallery (Baltimore) where it is pos-sible to observe a royal couple sitting on pillowsduring a banquet (Fig. 6).19 The metalwork isconsidered to be provincial Sasanian dated to6th-7th century. Its details are definitely notcanonical Sasanian like the crowns that theywear and, in fact, the one of the lady has ram’shorns. Even if the figure in the metalwork ismore stylized, it is possible to recognize a crownvery similar to the one in the seal decorated witha string of pearls and flying ribbons. In the exactpoint where the ribbons are attached to thecrown there is a three-dotted element, probablyreproducing a vegetal motif, and above the two horns there is another vegetal element which isprobably a tulip in the dish and a leaf in the seal. Moreover, both women have a curl of the samekind already observed in the painting from Fajaz-tepe coming out from the horned crown justabove the visible ear. These elements seem to be typical characteristics of the crowns worn by ladiesthat had to call immediately to the mind of the observer the identity or, at least, the gender of thatperson who should be safely identified with a woman.

Although the crown worn by that person in the Fajaz-tepe painting is not so rich in details anyhypotheses for its dating should consider all these elements.

More Bactrian specimens and their parallels in different cultural milieu

The excavations of Bactrian sites in ex-Soviet Union and in Afghanistan suffered very often of someinaccuracy in their chronological conclusions. In fact, they were dated mainly to the Kushan peri-od in a first moment. The collapse of Soviet Union caused also other problems and still now manyof the paintings from Termez have been presented just as descriptions or in rare publications.20

This is, for example, the case of another site of the area of Termez, Zar-tepe, where an interest-ing fragmentary painting was found. Its subject is a very well-known one that was widespread fromIndia through the Iranian world being possibly rooted in Buddhist jatakas: a big bird flying with anaked lady in its claws (Fig. 7).21 The bird is most likely a Bactrian version of Garuda, the vehicle(vahana) of the Indian god Vishnu, and it is reproduced also on Sasanian metalwork and seals.22 Thehigher part of the bird in the Zar-tepe painting is completely lost and also the figure of the lady is

18 Gyselen 2006, cat. n. 156; Betti 2008, 554-562.19 Harper 2000, pl. 26.20 During my last visit to Uzbekistan in October 2006,

many of these paintings were at display in the Historical Mu-seum of Uzbekistan in Tashkent in a room with very poorlight and it was impossible to take good pictures or to preparean accurate sketch. For one of the most up-to-date works onpre-Islamic Central Asian paintings, see Silvi Antonini 2003.

21 Reutova 1986; Azarpay 1995, 105; Kato, Pidaev (eds.)2002, fig. 53 at pp. 36-37; Pidaev, Reutova 2008.

22 In the higher part of an early 8th century Sogdian paint-

ing from Penjikent (sector xxii), Marshak recognized the fig-ure of a giant bird transporting a lady in its claws and holdinga snake in its mouth. Marshak realized that the image had aclear parallel in Buddhist art but he was also aware that thesphere at Penjikent was Iranian so, an identification with theChamrush bird that is mentioned in the Avesta in associationwith Apam Napat (possibly represented in the same painting)seemed more appropriate: Marshak 1990, 308-309, fig. 16.The painting is very damaged in that point and it is extreme-ly difficult to see anything precisely, even in the original paint-ing at present kept in the Hermitage Museum.

Fig. 6. Silver plate kept in the Walters Art Gallery,Baltimore (after Harper 2000, pl. 26, detail).

100 Matteo Compareti

very damaged although it is possible to discernher breast and scarf (another element often rep-resented in the Indian version of such a story, es-pecially in Gandhara),23 and other interestingdetails such as the fishes that seem to swimaround Garuda. It is not possible to say anythingabout the head of the giant bird which was em-bellished with a nimbus: small portion can bestill observed in the reconstructions proposedby Pidaev and Reutova such as the part of whatis probably the snake that, as it is well known,Garuda usually eats.24

The comparison with the Sasanian plate keptin the State Hermitage dated to 6th-7th century (Fig. 8) could be a valid help for the reconstruc-tion of the Garuda in the Zar-tepe mural since they both share common elements like the curl onthe external part of the wings. In the specimen from Zar-tepe this is visible right in the point wherethe painting is broken. Another interesting detail is the kind of pectoral belt on the body of Garu-da: it is very clearly represented in the mural and it is seems to be confused with the hair of the la-dy in the Sasanian plate.

The plate kept in the Hermitage has constituted a problem for many student of Iranian art sincethe time of its discovery. Despite Trever and Lukonin accepted an identification of the scene on theplate as proposed by Duchesne-Guillemin according to a passage from the Avesta,25 many scholars(especially Russian ones) expressed different opinions. Lukonin himself recognized the scene in theplate as a representation of the equinox because the two small naked figures in the inferior part arecarrying a bow and an axe: these are clear symbols for day and night.26 From his identification, it iseasy to deduce that, in a first time, he had considered the giant bird as a solar symbol.

It is not possible to exclude that the big bird in the plate is sharing some elements with the Sen-murv/Simurgh of Iranian mythology. In fact, the most obvious candidate to represent the Senmurvin pre-Islamic Persian art is a fantastic bird exactly as it can be observed in illustrated manuscriptsof the Ilkhanid period. Marshak’s theory about the presence of the plants flanking the giant bird as

23 Azapay 1995.24 Pidaev, Reutova 2008: figs. 2-3.25 Ibidem, 103; Marshak 2002, 144-146.

26 Lukonin 1977, 195. Also Marshak seemed to have ac-cepted such an interpretation or part of it: Marshak 2002,144-146.

Fig. 7. Sketch of the Zar-tepe mural(Termez. After Kato, Pidaev eds. 2002, fig. 53).

Fig. 8. Silver plate kept in theState Hermitage Museum

(after Trever, Lukonin 1987, pl. 58:22, detail).

On a so-called Iskandar Dhu’l-Qarnayn in a Bactrian painting 101a clear reference of the Tree of Many Seeds is so strengthened.27 There is also some textual evi-dence in at least one Sogdian version of the Buddhist Mahaparanirvanisutra where, in the place ofGaruda, is mentioned a divine creature called synmrÁ, that is to say Senmurv.28 There are somemore eloquent cases: in the ancient Syriac version of the Kalila wa-Dimna – which, as it is wellknown, was a translation of the Indian Pañcatantra through Middle Persian – the name of the kingof birds is not called Garuda but Simur[gh]. Moreover, in the Arab version by Ibn al-Muqaffa (8thcentury), in place of the Garuda there is the ‘anka.29

One could just speak of common elements but not of a precise identification since the persontransported by the bird in the Sasanian plate is a woman and so she can not be identified with Zalof the Shah-Name who is always represented as a white-haired boy in Persian paintings of the Is-lamic period. Women kidnapped by the Senmurv appear in some comments to the Koran possiblyrooted in the Iranian tradition.30 Moreover, the woman in the plate seems to offer some food to thebird. An Armenian version of the story of a person transported by a giant bird who needed to befed because of the long journey could explain also the attitude of the lady in the Sasanian plate aspresenting some fruits to the Garuda/Senmurv.31 As it was discussed on several occasions by Scar-cia,32 the figure of Zal is intimately connected with the Iranian god of time, Zurvan, who repre-sents another complicated aspect of pre-Islamic Iranian religion. Keeping in mind Scarcia’s idea, itseems correct to consider the two small naked figures below the giant bird in the plate as symbolsof day and night as already suggested by Lukonin, with the only exception about the bird itself that– in our opinion – should be better identified as a symbolic representation of time. Possibly, thescene in the Hermitage plate was based on a myth or legend (possibly Iranian) which is unfortu-nately not found in direct written sources. Marshak thought about a very similar hypothesis and,in fact, he was not completely satisfied with Trever and Lukonin’s interpretations.33 Since the im-age of the giant bird holding a woman was known also in Sogdiana (as it was already observed innote 22), it is worth remembering that a swan was most likely the vahana of Zurvan who was associated in Sogdian Buddhist literature with Brahma. This latter Hindu god had as his proper vahana the swan, called in Sanskrit hamsa.34 So, the association with Zurvan seems to be very ap-propriate.

The appearance of that scene in Bactrian art represents a further evidence in support of the iden-tification given by G. Azarpay for the plate kept in the Hermitage: a rare example of an Indiantheme transferred to Sasanian Persia. However, as it often happens on these occasions, the artistswho borrowed it possibly identified that image according to something rooted in the local culture(interpretatio iranica) also because, before being transferred to Persia, the motif passed through other Iranian lands like Bactria-Tokharistan. From an historical and political point of view this isvery likely since the Sasanians controlled for long periods Bactria where Buddhism and many otherIndian religious elements had been accepted already during the Kushan period (1st-3rd centuries) oreven before.

27 Azarpay 1995, 103. All the problems concerning theSenmurv are now collected in Compareti 2006. For some un-usual representations of the Senmurv in Islamic manuscriptswhich do not appear yet to be influenced by the Chinesephoenix, see Swietochowski, Carboni 1994, 33, 47, 71, 82 (Iwish to thank Maria Vittoria Fontana who sent me the imagesof this source which was not available to me when I wrote mypaper on the Senmurv).

28 Compareti 2006, 189-190. I wish to thank SimoneCristoforetti for his kind suggestions and comments on thisproblem through the anticipation of his researches on theSenmurv and other Iranian motifs which he found in Persianwritten sources (cf. Cristoforetti, Scarcia forthcoming;Compareti, Cristoforetti forthcoming).

29 De Blois 1998.30 Amoretti Scarcia 1968, 34-35. The Senmurv is con-

sidered to be a she-bird in Persian literature and, in fact, it is

represented together with its cubs waiting in the nest in Is-lamic illustrated books: cf. Compareti 2006: fig. 3. Further-more, in the Hermitage plate, the giant bird has two parallelslines coming from behind the head resembling the braids ofthe woman that it is transporting: could this be identified as ahint to its female nature? The bird is also wearing a pearlednecklace although it is very difficult to establish which jewelwas more appropriate for women or men in the Iranianworld: cf. the earrings worn by Sasanian kings in several met-alwork.

31 Trever 2005, 167-168. Also the lady in the Zar-tepe mu-ral painting is probably offering some food to the bird withher left hand: Pidaev, Reutova 2008, 94.

32 Scarcia 1965 and 1968.33 In his opinion, the lady carried by the giant bird could

have been the Daena: Marshak 2002, 146.34 Grenet 2005, 125.

102 Matteo Compareti

If the idea just expressed is right, one couldwonder why the Persian borrowed the image ofthat giant bird with all its religious connectionsfrom abroad. Many studies have been devoted tothe influence of Sasanian art on neighbouringcultures35 albeit also the opposite situation iswell attested. In Late Antiquity, the adoption ofthe Indian religious iconography prevailedamong Iranians exactly as it happened beforewith many Hellenistic and Mesopotamian elements (and not only in Persia).36 It is worthinsisting that this phenomenon continued alsoafter the coming of Islam and, in fact, the Mongol Ilkhanids imported into Persia Chinesemodels giving to the Senmurv the shape of thefenghuang/phoenix.37 More than thirty yearsago Bausani already wrote that the ancient Ira-nians were adverse to script in general.38 So, al-so their religion could be considered as original-ly aniconic: for this reason their iconographicrepertoire was probably poor or it was not con-sidered prestigious enough for divine represen-tations.

The date proposed for the Bactrian painting atZar-tepe (4th-5th century) makes it one of theearliest specimen of this kind of representationsso spread in the ancient world and well-knownin Islamic art as well.39 Despite Garuda repre-sentations in the Buddhist cave paintings atQyzyl (in the Tarim Basin) are very common,there is at least one specimen from cave 118 sty-listically very close to the Zar-tepe painting un-der discussion if it was not for the giant bird re-sembling a parrot and not a bird of prey (Fig.9).40 Its chronology (6th-7th century) does allowto think about a possible borrowing from India

through the lands where Iranian Buddhism was professed.In the Tibetan funerary complex at Dulan (Qinghai Province, China), a fragmentary textile re-

cently reconstructed in a Chinese publication was embellished with a giant bird holding a stylizedhuman figure very similar to the Hermitage plate decoration: in particular, it is possible to observethe nimbus, the curl on both wings and the ear of the bird (Fig. 10). According to its excavators,Dulan should be dated to 8th-9th centuries and, most likely, that is the chronology of the textile

35 Schippmann 1993.36 The adoption of the Indian religious iconography to

represent Iranian divinities is now discussed in Compareti2009, 107-109. Despite the presence of very clear Indian ele-ments as already observed above, the image of Garuda kid-napping the nagini was related also to the eagle of Zeus andGanymede according to iconographical canons rooted inclassical art and spread quite early (1st century ad) also inCentral Asia as, for example, at Begram: Azarpay 1995, fig. 17.It is worth noting that also Harpocrates could have been represented riding a duck in Roman-Egyptian art exactly as

some figures of Eros: Török 1995, cat. nos. 85, 88 pls. xlvii-xlviii. A bronze statuette representing Harpocrates accord-ing to another iconography was found just at Begram: Tissot2006: 283 (K.p.Beg.712.452). So, it seems that also the classical component was probably constituted by different divineiconographical traditions.

37 Compareti 2006.38 Bausani 1968, 138-141.39 Many specimens have been collected and commented

in Azarpay 1995.40 Howard 2009, fig. 14:18.

Fig. 9. Painting from Qyzyl cave 118 at Kucha(Xinjiang Uyghur’s’ Autonomous Province, China.

After Howard 2009, fig. 14:18, detail).

On a so-called Iskandar Dhu’l-Qarnayn in a Bactrian painting 103

too.41 The presence of such a theme among theTibetans should be probably considered as fil-tered through the Iranians who had contactswith them. The Sogdians appear to be the bestcandidates: they definitely knew the story of theSenmurv in connection with Rustam and hisfamily as it is narrated in the Shah-Name.

Among the paintings of the wooden ceiling inthe Cappella Palatina in Palermo (12th century)there is a late version of the Garuda/Sen-murv/‘anqa kidnapping a lady already trans-formed or, better, superimposed, to something else, possibly, even the ascension to heaven ofAlexander (Fig. 11).42 Many similarities can be noted in Islamic book paintings: in the copy of theRoyal Asiatic Society of Muhammad b. Zakarya Qazvini ‘Aja’ib al-makhluqat (ms no. 178, fol. 408a)there is an illustration of the giant bird called ‘anqa represented carrying a lady according to theusual iconography.43

Concluding remarks

All the images of giant birds considered above share very clearly common iconographical elementsthat, although re-elaborated according to their cultural milieu and the period of execution, couldpoint to the same model. Also the ascension to Heaven of Alexander was much exalted in Chris-tian legends but it is a subject sharing many elements with the king of Nimrud in the Talmud (thatis to say, in a Semitic sphere), Kay Kaus for the Iranians or the goddess Umay among the ancientTurks.44

It is curious that, in his identification of the Fajaz-tepe mural, E. Rtveladze considered plausibleits association with Iskandar Dhul’-Qarnayn without any iconographic support rooted in the cul-tural milieu where it was found (the Bactrian one, that is to say, Iranian) just relying on some Hel-lenistic hints borrowed from Egypt (the horns) while, in another painting coming practically from

41 Zhao 1999, 98, and 2005, 7:42.42 Gabrieli 1985, fig. 92; D’Erme 1995, pl. vii:b; Brent-

jes 2000, 170-171. 43 Robinson 1970, fig. 15.

44 Brentjes 2000, Abdullaeva 2009-2010. Early Muslimauthors had very clearly in their mind the association between Nimrud and Kay Kaus. See for example the Mojmalal-Tawarikh: Mohl 1841, 267.

Fig. 10. Sketch of a silk fragment from Dulan(Qinghai Province, China.After Zhao 2005, fig. 7:42).

Fig. 11. Sketch of the Cappella Palatina painting(Palermo, Sicily. After D’Erme 1995, vii.b).

104 Matteo Compareti

the same site (Zar-tepe is only 26 km northwest from Termez), there could be some iconographi-cal references to the ascension to Heaven and, consequently, to one of the most celebrated and rep-resented myths connected to Alexander.

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SOMMARIO

Jérôme Gaslain, Éléments de réflexion sur la conquête et l’occupation arsacides de la Mésopotamie(iie siècle av. n.è.) 9

Niccolò Manassero, Tamga-like images on sealings from Old Nisa 17Vito Messina, Jafar Mehr Kian, The Iranian-Italian joint expedition in Khuzistan. Hung-e

Azdhar: 1st campaign (2008) 31Maja Rzeplinska, Terracotta from Bijan Island 47Marco Moriggi, Varia epigraphica Hatrena 69Tadashi Tanabe, Diffusion of the Greek gesture of touching another’s chin with raised hand in the

East 81Matteo Compareti, A short note on a so-called Iskandar Dhu’l-Qarnayn in a Bactrian painting 95Vassif A. Gaibov, Gennadij A. Košelenko, Galina V. Trebeleva, Archaeological

Gazetteer of Afghanistan, Addenda, i, Herat Oasis 107Antonio Invernizzi, Tableaux persans. Récits et images de voyage à travers la Perse safavide 117

Gli autori di questo numero 151