To study the evolution of Harpy motif in Iranian art (from pre-historic to contemporary ages)

The compound creatures have a close relationship with mythological thoughts; in fact, they are born by the mythicizing soul of the human who was against a boundless and unknown nature. Primitive humans who hadnt any weapons except thought and imagination against the greatness of the avenger nature, were under their protection; the compound creatures are the product of the imagination which protected the human from the fear arising from inability against the nature and gave him the powers so that he wasnt subdued by the nature spiritually. This motif as the compound creature of the human-bird has been connected to the ancient myths and is continued with a specific form and different concepts over time; Harpy was drawn as the carrier of the dead to the other world in pre-historic ages. The motif and the concept of Urartian art which came into Iranian art, chose another path in the historical ages and due to the influence of Assyrian culture, the motif of a winged man and the gods with two wings and four wings was grafted on to the mythical and divine concepts. However, the form of a winged human was changed into Harpy shape (a human's head and a bird's body) and was distinct with spiritual and divine concepts. In the contemporary periods, it was combined with some mental concepts of the artists except its traditional concepts. In all these centuries, it remained in the form of a powerful motif with a rich concept and was often used in metal working decorations, enamel potteries, Lustrewares (a type of pottery with a metallic glaze), Kubachi wares and crockery. Harpy motif in relation to the horrible and unknown world of the death entered Iranian art in the pre-historic ages; but in the following, it was changed due to Iranian culture based on its conditions in each period. Of course, the changes of the concepts are seen more than the forms of the motifs; the details such as the body type and related decorations such as hats have been changed more in the scope of the form and structure and the general form of human - bird has been maintained. This paper tries to investigate the origin and evolution of Harpy role in Iranian art. Since one of the components of the Iranian contemporary art is the reference to the traditional motifs and the mentioned motif is known as one of the introducers of the Iranian traditional art in today's art, it is necessary to find its roots and to learn more its implications. This paper aims at studying the form and the concept of this motif in the different ages and arts in Iran. The results of the study show that the role of Harpy gives the variable concepts by maintaining its original form in the various ages but it has always been associated with the spiritual and divine concepts due to the nature of its existence (human-bird).