The lion-bodied, human-headed and eagle-winged sphinx is a fantastic figure, also called a dream or myth creature, a hybrid anatomy that is neither human nor animal, but has features of both. Since ancient Egypt, it has had an important place in the repertoire of fantastic creatures of ancient cultural circles such as Syria, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Persia, Greece and Rome. It symbolized the union of bodily and spiritual power, the sun god Ra, divine power, royal dignity, sanctity, wisdom and prudence. The center of this study, in which the traces of the intercultural change it has undergone since the Great Sphinx of Giza, the oldest known example, will be briefly traced, will be the depictions on the Seljuk period tile and ceramic, which are the important stops in the iconographic journey of the sphinx figure. The sphinx depictions of the period were examined by classifying them according to the stylization features of the figure and the iconographic scenes in which it took place. The "single sphinx depictions" seen on tiles and ceramics are discussed together with the stylization features of the figure as well as interaction sources and parallel examples in other branches of art. The examples of the Great Seljuk ceramics that we identified in themes such as the monarch -throne, hunter-cavalry, forest-themed hunting scene, musicians and palace entertainments, in which the sphinx takes place, are evaluated in terms of the symbolic meaning of the sphinx and composition scheme in these scenes under the title of "sphinx depictions in iconographic scenes". In this context, the differ-ences between the Anatolian and Great Seljuk depictions of the sphinx figure in tiles and ceramics produced between the 12th and 13th centuries are revealed.
Primary Language | Turkish |
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Journal Section | Research Articles |
Authors | |
Publication Date | May 16, 2022 |
Acceptance Date | March 27, 2022 |
Published in Issue | Year 2022 |