The holy text of Islam, the Quran, frequently refers to wine both praising and condemning the substance. Within the confines of earth, wine is prohibited because of its intoxicating nature. Believers who imbibe wine reaching an inebriated state separate themselves from God by failing to heed his law. However, for those believers righteous enough to enter the ideal, pastoral, paradisiacal afterlife, wine is not only permitted, but a great reward from Allah. In Paradise, the righteous will lounge on soft, supple couches, and will be served copious amounts of wine from goblets of silver and glass by beautiful, immortal youths.
This description of Paradise provides an image of pleasures not typically afforded to believers of a religion that developed in an arid desert region. Both the religious and the secular realms of early Islamic art thus explore the act of wine drinking and the pleasures of Paradise. Religious Islamic art conveys the notion of Paradise as a means to attract converts to Islam who otherwise live in less than pleasurable conditions. Following an aniconic style, Islams religious art illustrates the verses of the Quran, providing a visual image to believers of the fertile garden, promised by God awaiting them in the afterlife.
The secular realm of Islamic art also employs iconography referring to paradise, but does so by adopting and adapting themes of banqueting and luxury developed in early civilizations of the Near East by the ruling and elite classes as a means to demonstrate power and privilege. Through an analysis and comparison of pre-Islamic art of the Near East, as well as both the religious and secular realms of early Islamic art, this thesis explores the ways The Umayyad Caliphate employed an ancient iconography in order to secure the caliphs reign as successor to the previous empires of the Near East.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-01192016-151705 |
| Date | 25 February 2016 |
| Creators | Schepp, Leslie Anne |
| Contributors | Spieth, Darius, Fitzpatrick Sifford, Elena, Mamoli, Myrsini, West, Lisa |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-01192016-151705/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached herein a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below and in appropriate University policies, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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