واکاوی نمودهای عجایب نگارانه در متون پهلوی و مانوی در عصر ساسانی و سه سده نخست پس از اسلام در ایران

Abstract
Statement of the Problem
The tradition of depicting natural, strange and mixed creatures is rooted in archetypes. On the one hand, it manifests man's approach to the unconscious, dreams and imagination, and on the other hand, it guides the mind to think about other elements of the transcendental and unknown worlds; We come across these imaginary creatures in almost every corner of the world. Throughout the history of Iran, the art and culture of this land have witnessed various transformations. Political, economic, and cultural interactions, and in many cases, the invasions of foreign peoples, have brought about significant changes to the customary traditions and practices of Iranians in every era. Since the arrival of the Aryans in ancient Iran and the establishment of the three major ethnic groups, the Medes, Persians, and Parthians, in various regions of this land, due to the diversity of their ethnic and cultural backgrounds, which extended from Europe to Siberia, the Middle East, and India, the maturation, formation, and spread of beliefs, cultural traditions, and myths began to increase. These modern transformations, in combination and amalgamation with what the early inhabitants of Iran possessed, led to the creation of a set of cultural, artistic, legal, ritual, and literary elements that, despite these changes, produced a rich and solid chain that continued throughout the millennia that followed. Through this process, the creations in the field of visual arts, such as sculptures, stone carvings, buildings, reliefs, murals, illuminated manuscripts, textiles, and the like, are observable and readable as crystallization and embodiment of this cultural institution. One of the prominent features of Iranian visual arts is the reliance on myths and religious and ritual foundations. Therefore, the topics addressed in religions and religious rituals have been widely illustrated for the sake of clarification for the followers and as commemorative aspects.
The approach of rulers and the prevailing tastes in shaping the artistic contexts of each era have had a significant impact; however, the spirit governing the artistic works based on intellectual and belief contents has always endured. This trend has also manifested itself in the post-Islamic eras in the form of illustrations in manuscript and industrial arts. One common characteristic between Iranian texts and artworks is the attention to the depiction of supernatural beings and wonders. The creation and representation of imaginary and strange creatures in Iranian visual arts take on various forms. The ways in which visual elements are used in the structure of these creatures, apart from the artistic traditions of each era, are influenced by specific content sources that each artist, in turn, inspired his perspective and imaginative mind. The continuation of this historical tradition is known today as "wonderology" in the term and is depicted in various forms in Iranian art, such as embossed patterns, voluminous works, fabric patterns, images, and illustrated manuscripts.
Purpose of research
Explore the imaginative and wonderology approaches in the art and literature of Sasanian Iran, based on pre-Islamic intellectual, religious, and mythological traditions.
Research question
"What are the influential factors on the representation of wonders in the literature and art of the Pahlavi and Manichaean eras in the Sasanian period and the early Islamic centuries?"
Necessity and Significance of research
It includes aspects such as understanding the tradition of representing and illustrating wonders during an important period before and after the arrival of Islam in Iran and a better comprehension of the interrelationship of form and content in the studied texts in this research.

Research Method
This research is of a fundamental nature and employs a descriptive-analytical method, gathering information from library sources, electronic documents, and utilizing the holdings of museums, to analyze the interpretive data extracted from textual samples and artworks of the mentioned eras. Data analysis is conducted qualitatively through the extraction of concrete samples and their classification into various categories and classes of texts and artworks, such as historical periods, artistic methodology, visual aesthetics, textual criticism, and related theoretical discussions. The theoretical foundations of this research subject, with a case study of the texts and art of the Sasanian era and the early Islamic centuries in Iran, encompass topics related to the iconography of the research's discussed images, the hermeneutics of literary and historical texts and their translation into images, the typology of mythical creatures and figures, and textual studies of Iranian myths in the pre- and post-Islamic eras, to reach a synthesis between ancient Iranian art and Islamic Iranian illustrative tradition.
Conclusion
This research asserts that the tradition of wonderology in the art and literature of Iran, due to its reliance on cohesive foundations such as the power of mythology, symbolism and cryptic symbolism, anthropomorphism, and religion, as well as the various intertextual contents and stylistic influences, has a continuous and patterned chain from the pre-Islamic era to the early centuries following the introduction of this faith in Iran.