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Islamic Ghazni: Epigraphic Memory and Material Culture

Thanks to its geographical position as a prosperous crossroad of Iranian, Central Asian and Indian region, Ghazni represents an evocative synthesis of the cultural achievements in the area. The city became the stronghold of the powerful Ghaznavid dynasty (10th-12th century), whose court was renowned throughout the Iranian world.
During the early Sixties’ (1957-1968), the Italian Archeological Mission in Afghanistan carried out many excavation campaigns and surveys in the area. Civil buildings, mosques, several cemetery areas, mausoleums and tombs were discovered, along with a large amount of valuable finds: marble architectural decorations, pottery, brickwork, stucco, metalwork and glass objects. Mission activities, abruptly ended due to the well-known dramatic political events, resumed in 2002.
The evidence so far collected points to the main feature of the site: an uninterrupted archaeological sequence and settlement continuity from the Buddhist period (2nd-9th century) to the modern age (19th century). Therefore the existing documentation constitutes an invaluable tool for the reconstruction of the Afghan heritage and an absolutely unique archaeological repository witnessing the cultural history of the town.
The Panel aims to offer an overview of the wide artistic production reflecting the cultural background of the city at different historical stages. Our approach is multidisciplinary, focusing on the results and state of research of four different aspects of the collected documentation, and moving from epigraphy and literary sources to the material culture.
The first paper will deal with the use of Persian language in monumental epigraphy, a practice connected to the poetic tradition developed at the Ghaznavid court.
The great number of late funerary monuments collected during the survey around the city, and their related epitaphs written both in Persian and in Arabic language will be discussed in the second paper.
The third paper will focus on the metalwork collection of the Rawza Museum (this Museum of Islamic Arts was set up in 1966 inside a Mausoleum in the area of Ghazni) showing the relationship between this local production and the Iranian tradition.
The last paper will deal with the huge amount of pottery unearthed in Ghazni, which is one of the main archaeological material finds attesting to the settlement continuity of the area.

Presentations

Persian Inscriptions from Ghazni: the Links with the Poetic Tradition
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This paper presents some preliminary analyses concerning Persian epigraphic documentation from Ghazni and its links with the poetic production. Within the large repertoire of Ghaznavid monumental epigraphy, official and religious texts are mostly executed in Arabic, although occurrences dating from the 11th century onwards attest to the epigraphic use of Persian, especially in poetic texts.
The most extraordinary example of this early epigraphic production in the Persian language is the monumental inscription originally located in the Ghaznavid royal palace. It was carved in floriated kufic in the upper part of a marble dado adorning the whole perimeter of the inner courtyard. The surviving sections of the inscription - first studied by Alessio Bombaci in 1966 - allow us to identify a versified poem in Persian (masnavi) praising the majesty of the Ghaznavid rulers, and their support for the Islamic faith. The author of this poem is unknown, but the themes and style are consistent with the tradition of Persian panegyrics developed at the Ghaznavid court from Maḥmūd’s reign onward. My current research compares the form and content of the Palace’s inscription to the poetic production of the same period in order to trace lexical and stylistic similarities between them. The result of this association of the epigraphic text with a particular literary circle could assist in dating the poem’s composition.
Other scattered evidence proves the correlation of the Persian language of this text with poetic texts occurring in 11th-12th centuries’ epigraphic production, such as a poetical epitaph in Persian carved on a tomb from Ghazni, and two versified foundation texts on Qarakhanid monuments in Central Asia. This tradition of adorning palaces and mausoleums with texts in Persian seems to have been established in the Eastern Islamic lands from the 13th century on, with inscriptions mostly executed in cursive script and derived from literary sources.
The attempt of drawing a parallel between Persian inscriptions from Ghazni and the poetry of the time is complicated by the particular nature and function of monumental texts in comparison to literary production proper. Yet this comparative study contributes to the better understanding of the function of Persian inscriptions in civilian buildings and in funerary monuments, as well as to the link between Persian poetry and royal patronage in Medieval Iran. My research would certainly define the Ghaznavid contribution to the development of the literary and artistic traditions in this region.

Shapes and Voices of Marble : Funerary Monuments from Ghazni (16th – 18th c.)
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A large number of late funerary monuments has been documented in the extensive cemeteries and burial areas spread around Ghazni (Afghanistan) and significantly enlarged after the 13th century Mongol invasion. Because of the war circumstances the country went through almost all of these monuments have disappeared. Therefore, this rich documentation became all the more valuable today.
The outcome of a local production with apparently no close parallel in the region, these tombs – dating from the 15th century onwards – are strongly related to the Ghaznavid tomb prototype (10th - 11th c.) the first and finest specimen being that of Sebuktigin (d. 387/997), founder of the dynasty.
Various and complex in shapes and decorations, these marble artifacts attest to a refined level of manufacture still extant in late times, displaying an outstanding local artistic longevity and originality. Nevertheless, as a preliminary comparison with contemporary funerary monuments from other Islamic regions proves, some interesting similarities can be traced with tombs coming from distant lands, thus showing some sort of ‘unity within diversity’ across the Islamic architectural funerary context which is worthy of further studies.
Through a discussion on the morphology and epigraphic features of these tombs – often displaying an interesting combined use of both Arabic and Persian – this paper presents this precious funerary documentation as evidence of the new phase of life the city witnessed after the Mongol invasion.
Although it had lost its political and cultural hegemony, Ghazni still retained its former glory and gained a new renaissance as a religious and pilgrimage centre: a trend generally common in most of the other Islamic Iranian and Central Asian regions in late medieval times.
A preliminary analysis of the epitaphs suggests that the deceased were mostly men bearing the titles of Imām, Darwish and Shayk. They were often religious and pious personalities: a further evidence of the wide diffusion of mystic brotherhoods in the region. Therefore, Ghazni late funerary monuments with their peculiar morphology and epigraphic content represent not only a fine artistic expression but also a useful instrument for the inquiry into the city’s social and historical background, during a period not well documented by the historical sources.

Islamic Metalwork from Ghazni: the Rawza Museum Collection
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This paper will illustrate one aspect of the material culture from Ghazni: the Islamic metalwork. In the early sixties Umberto Scerrato, who directed the Italian Archaeological Mission in Afghanistan for several years, was so far-seeing as to record the metalwork collections of Afghan museums along with the new pieces that came to his attention during the excavation campaigns. Thanks to this effort, we now have at our disposal a photographic documentation of extraordinary extent. One major collection is stored in Rawza.
The Rawza Museum was established in 1966 by the Italians in a highly evocative place. It stands on the Rawza hill, in the north-east end of Ghazni, close to the tomb of the great Ghaznavid ruler Mahmud. A historical building, the mausoleum dedicated to ʻAbd al-Razzaq was restored and chosen to house the Islamic Arts collection.
The metalwork collection counts more than 200 objects of different kinds - from trays to oil-lamps, from basins to bowls - and in various states of conservation. The study of such a vast material only through photographic documentation raises some difficulties of course, but it still testifies to the richness of metalwork-production in the area. The great majority of objects are in bronze and they seem to belong to a period from the 10th up to the early 13th century, thus including the golden age of Ghazni. It is clear that these objects were created to satisfy the refined taste of the royal dynasties and wealthy people who ruled Ghazni.
This collection represents a starting point from which to resume the research from a new angle: In fact the Islamic metalwork from Afghanistan has never been considered as a unified corpus so far. With the exception of a few pieces, almost all finds remain still unpublished.
The study of Afghan metalwork is still in its early stages, but such a rich body of material gives the opportunity to examine in depth an Islamic metalwork production from the eastern territories, in the context and in comparison with the more renowned Iranian production.
While observing these objects next to their Iranian equivalents, the strongest sensation is that of continuity: continuity in shapes, in the decorative themes, and in the epigraphic inscriptions. They share an evolutionary path within the regional area, but also show a significant preservation of ancient pre-Islamic Iranian models. Furthermore some interesting influences from Indian and Buddhist cultural heritage are also present.

Re-discovering Ghazni: New Data on the Pottery Corpus from Islamic Ghazni
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This paper focuses on the pottery brought to light during the excavations of the Italian Archaeological Mission at Ghazni, Afghanistan, between 1957 and 1966.
The sizeable quantity of collected shards comes from the royal palace and a dignitaries’ private residence, the so-called ‘house of the lustre-wares’.
A catalogue raisonné regarding the identified ceramic productions has been created; the study of the pottery has been also supported by archaeometrical analysis and information gathered from ethno-archaeological studies.
The chronological distance between the excavation campaigns, carried out more than 50 years ago, and the study of the archaeological material necessarily imply a number of difficulties affecting the study. Nevertheless this circumstance has allowed us to undertake the study of the pottery corpus with updated methodology. Furthermore, this study amply benefits from all the information and data obtained from parallel research carried out on other archaeological materials and documentation. Therefore, very interesting results have been achieved by matching the data.
The pottery study primarily helps to clarify some chronological aspects of the history of the palace and the ‘house of the lustre-wares’. The pottery corpus refers to a period between 11th and 16th\17th centuries.
On the basis of ceramic assemblages coming from archaeological contexts it is possible to suggest different phases of construction and occupation of the palace; the study could contribute to date the first foundation of the palace to a period earlier than the one initially proposed by the archaeologists. It’s possible to give more evidences regarding the date of the last occupation of the ‘house of the lustre-wares’.
The pottery study also underlines the change of function and use of the palace over the centuries.
Furthermore, the research provides new historical information about Ghazni and its role, trying to put it in a wider economical, social and cultural context. The collected data testify not only a local manufacture of ceramics, both glazed and unglazed, in Ghazni area, but also a development of technical skills achieved by local potters, especially in 11th-13th century. The good level of pottery production puts the Ghaznavid capital in an original commercial circuit.
Ghazni was also a vital economical centre involved in long-distance trading exchanges in a period at least between 10th and 13th centuries, as fine ceramic wares imported from Iraq, Iran, Central Asia and China demonstrate.