ENCIRCLING INSCRIPTIONS IN EARLY PERSIAN ARCHITECTURE: THOUGHTS ON MOVING, READING, AND LOOKING
The use of monumental inscriptions is, of course, commonplace in Islamic architecture. This holds true for the religious and secular architecture of the Persian-speaking lands. One popular epigraphic strategy involved the creation of text bands that ran around the interior or exterior walls, effectively encircling the building with words. Many examples of this practice can be found, for example, on the courtyards, domes, and minarets of Saljuq, Ilkhanid, Timurid, and Safavid structures.
These text bands were more challenging to design and suggest that their format held meanings that supplemented the explicit messages conveyed the words themselves. If the writing is to be decoded, encircling inscriptions require the viewer to move around the structure. Although encircling inscriptions are employed in Islamic architecture from the late seventh century onwards, they only become relatively common in Persian-speaking areas from the eleventh century onwards.
This paper examines the reasons for the late adoption of this epigraphic strategy and seeks out the potential sources for this practice in Byzantine and Armenian architecture. The final section of the paper offers speculative thoughts about how the directionality imposed by texts might have affected practices of viewing in portable media and the arts of the book.
PROF. MARCUS MILWRIGHT
Marcus Milwright is British Academy Global Professor in the Department of History of Art, University of York and professor of Islamic art and archaeology at the University of Victoria, Canada. His research focuses on the art and archaeology of the Islamic Middle East, labour and craft practices in the urban environment, and cross-cultural contacts in the Medieval Mediterranean.
He has created the Crafts of Syria, Crafts of Iraq, and Talking about Art websites. His books include: An Introduction to Islamic Archaeology (Edinburgh, 2010), The Dome of the Rock and its Umayyad Mosaic Inscriptions (Edinburgh, 2016), The Queen of Sheba’s Gift: A History of the True Balsam of Matarea (Edinburgh, 2021), A Story of Islamic Art (Routledge, 2023). He has edited Encounters: Medieval Islamic History in 50 Objects (Routledge, 2025) and co-edited (with Evanthia Baboula), Made for the Eye of One Who Sees: Canadian Contributions to the Study of Islamic Art and Archaeology (McGill/Queens University Press, 2022). He is co-editor of Brill’s series, Arts and Archaeology of the Islamic World. He is currently working on monographs dealing with an early Islamic architectural frontispiece from Sanʿaʾ and the metalworking traditions of the Middle East during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
26 February 2026, 5 – 6.30 pm UK Time
Online Lecture on Zoom