Semantic Analysis of Two Paintings of Firdausi Shahnameh: An Analysis of the Cultural Semiotic Model

Firdausi Shahnameh has been illustrated more than any other literary work in the history of Persian paintings. So far, many studies have been carried out on these historical paintings of Shahnameh. Most of these studies have been formalistic and have been considered to be merely representational works of written text. Those studies have been focused on form, performing techniques and style classification.  Another aspect has been the field of semantics and their aim has been to obtain the semantic signification of these images by usage of Iconology or Semiotics. This research that stay on second group, Tow paintings about Alexander story from Firdausi Shahnameh have been chosen one of them related to Mongol period and another one is from Safavid period. This legendry story is about a neighbor nation that asked help of Alexander to assist against the Yajoj and Majoj    –a wild people- who rushing to their territory every time, at least Alexander in cooperation with them, built a steely barrier against the aggressors. According to subject of this story which focus on social and political relations between sovereign, people and neighboring nations; Social visual semiotics has been applied to analyze the pictures. Social visual semiotics is a method to get image's meanings, in social function concept. In this way, the composition is used to interpretation the semantic signification not aesthetics. In order to explain the meaning, it will be referred to external factors of the text such as, the cultural, social, political, and the other contexts too.  Eventually, we want to consider how the image in relation to the dominant discourse becomes a mean of power. Governors in order to legitimize and stabilize their power, utilized the propaganda in different ways, Of course art was the one of important media for propaganda. On the other hand, Persian painting, artworks were created with time and result in high costs; Therefore artist was always in need of a powerful patron. In other words, the Persian painting was the court art, resulting in the formation of attitudes and desires of the dominant power that had affected. For example,  Painters at both picture, apply the rhetoric devices in best way to show their sovereign instead of Alexander in metaphorically format. Findings of present article state that these paintings that are located contiguous the written narrative of the Shahnameh have independent synthetic and is not only added to the text; Also in their terms had have social functions. In fact, Results from studying this paintings showed that these pictures which are diachronic and intersemiotics translations of the written narrative of the Shahnameh in the rejection and attraction process of translations own up, those aspects of Alexander character that were desired. Scene selection and composition pattern were the targeted choices at the aim of transmission ideological message of producers of the text in order to legitimize and stabilize its power. Both of the pictures reproduce the same mythological story, but, by the difference between the selections of the visual signs and the composition, each of them proposes a different discourse that is agree with the patron's aims.