Although astrology, fortune-telling, the use of amulets and other superstitious practices are frowned upon by Islam, they have been used throughout history for a variety of purposes, as Theresa Thompson discovers in a new exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum.
The sumptuously illustrated pages of a horoscope with images of planets and the signs of the zodiac on a rich blue and gold decorated background represent the moment of birth of Prince Iskandar ibn ‘Umar Shaykh (1384-1415), the grandson of the great Turco-Mongol ruler Timur, or Tamerlane (1336-1405).
This natal chart was drawn up in 1411 in Shiraz (in today’s Iran) at the prince’s request by his court astrologer Mahmud ibn Yahya ibn al-Hasan al-Kashi. It shows the position of the planets across the heavens at the precise moment when Prince Iskandar was born on 25 April 1384. Horoscopes were usually cast at the time of birth, but Iskandar was 27 when this one was made. Why was that?
The reason, according to Dr Francesca Leoni, Curator of Islamic Art at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, was that it was essentially an act of propaganda. ‘He is using his personal horoscope as a tool in the larger exercise of power,’ she says. ‘Iskandar saw himself as the rightful heir to Tamerlane, in spite of his late grandfather’s support for his brothers. He was very ambitious. He manipulated the horoscope.’
Dr Leoni, whose exhibition Power and Protection: Islamic Art and the Supernatural is currently on show at the Ashmolean, goes on to explain, ‘At this time Iskandar was consolidating his territorial expansion. By making an official horoscope, which was itself a privilege of rulers, and by manipulating the position of the planets that governed royalty, he is showing that the sky is supporting his political ambitions.’
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