A Narrative Analysis of the Story of Bijan and Manijeh Based on the Hero’s Journey and Greimas’s Actantial Model in Timurid and Safavid Paintings

Naghipour, Shokoofeh; Najarpour Jabari, Samad; Shirvani, Mohammad Reza

doi:10.22034/jlc.2026.576745.1826

A Narrative Analysis of the Story of Bijan and Manijeh Based on the Hero’s Journey and Greimas’s Actantial Model in Timurid and Safavid Paintings

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Shokoofeh Naghipour ¹

Samad Najarpour Jabari ²

Mohammad Reza Shirvani ³

¹ Art University of Isfahan

² Art University of Isfahan, Department of Calligraphy and Persian Painting

³ Art University of Isfahan, Department of Islamic Art

10.22034/jlc.2026.576745.1826

Abstract

The present study has been conducted with the aim of doing a comparative analysis of the scene of "saving Bijan from a well" in two paintings from the Timurid and Safavid periods, and assess the degree of their compliance of Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey model with the Algiras Julien Greimas's action model. This study seeks to respond to the question that the two paintings comply with the kind of visual standards in the models and the overlapping points of the two frameworks on reading the paintings. The method employed in conducting the study is based on observation, description and inference. The data include two paintings of the scene of saving Bizhan from a well from the eimurid and Safavid periods, extracted from two readings. The findings revealed that both paintings complied in terms of "the saving hand from beyond" in Campbell's model However, the Safavid painting complied further in terms of more details. In Greimas's model, too, the roles in both paintings were identified, however, in the Safavid painting, the actions relations were represented more dynamically. Furthermore, "the saving hand from beyond" was consistent with the helper's role, "the death world" with that of the anti-activist, and the "value object" with the ultimate blessing of return.

Keywords

Bijan and Manijeh,, Timurid Painting, Safavid Painting,, Hero&rsquo

s Journey, Greimas&rsquo

s Action Model

Subjects