西王母龙虎座造型源于西方考

Tracing the West Origin of the Queen Mother's Formative Dragon and Tiger Flanking Throne

西王母龙虎座是西南地区西王母图像的一个重要组成部分,其造型的主要特征为西王母端坐在龙虎连体神兽座上,这与中国北方发现的类似造型的其他神兽座相似,有着共同的渊源。这种两神兽胁侍一女神的图像题材在青铜时代晚期及铁器时代早期已流行于西亚的伊朗和高加索地区,稍晚时期流行于中亚以及中国北方草原地区。通过比较研究可以发现,这些题材的内容及其传播的轨迹都与游牧民族密切相关;此外,西王母神兽座的造型与中国以西地区女神图像的一致性表明,这一造型可能与西方的女神崇拜有直接关系,或者说汉人至少在表现形式和神化手法上借用了西方的传统。

The Dragon and Tiger flanking throne is one typical image of the Queen Mother in the Southwest China in the East Han Dynasty. The throne is a mythical animal with two heads at each side. One is that of the dragon and the other of tiger. In the north China there are also the same type of the Queen Mother＇s Thrones but with different mythical animals. They may have the same origin. In west Iran and Caucasus region this symmetrical formative image was very popu lar from the late Bronze Age to the early Iron Age, and later also in the Central Asia and nomadic region of the North China. This motif and its distribution are closely related with the nomadic people. The similarities between them reveal that the legend of the Queen Mother has something to do with the Western Goddess, or at least the Han people borrowed the west tradition of portraying and apotheosizing a Goddess.