Hell’s paintings filled with Jewish, Muslim, and African monsters torturing humans.

Evidence

Although Turkish figures, typified by light skin and turbans, were commonly featured in Renaissance depictions of Christian martyrs, black Muslims make appearances as well. It is likely that this character is the Black Turk, a character as connected to the devil, much like his predecessor, the Black Saracen. In some cases, this character was identified as a “Moor,” a word used as a general descriptor for all Muslims. Black Muslims were often featured in scenes that portrayed the devil. Following the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, there was a parade featuring a Black African as Charon, the ferryman who transported souls to Hades, as well as the occupant of the boat, an Ottoman, both symbols of Islamic damnation. — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 268 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Dog-headed men served medieval art as both Jew and Muslim monsters of evil; Muslim monsters occupied map edges alongside other monstrous races.; Renaissance art linked black Muslims directly to the devil and damnation — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 268 (+2 more)

Related

• Renaissance art linked black Muslims directly to the devil and damnation (similarity 0.89)
• Medieval painters depicted Muslims and Jews torturing souls in hell (similarity 0.87)
• Medieval art populated hell with Jewish, Muslim, and African monsters (similarity 0.86)
• Muslim monsters were depicted as cannibals who ate their enemies. (similarity 0.84)
• Medieval art and text conflated Jews and Muslims into a single Saracen body (similarity 0.84)
• The dark-skinned Muslim monster persisted from medieval iconography into American imaginations (similarity 0.83)
• Muslim males in Gothic horror are framed as essentially evil, deviant, and child-murdering (similarity 0.83)
• Medieval Christians classed non-Egyptian Africans with Saracens as monstrous races (similarity 0.82)
• Medieval art and literature literally placed Muslims in hell as demons (similarity 0.81)
• Dog-headed men served medieval art as both Jew and Muslim monsters of evil (similarity 0.81)
• Torturers’ animalization of detainees mirrored the medieval monster image of Muslims (similarity 0.81)
• Dark skin signified sin and the devil in Christian theology from the fifth century. (similarity 0.80)
• Blackness itself, not monstrosity, signified Muslim evil in medieval imagery (similarity 0.80)
• Medieval demons most often appeared as blackened men, Ethiopians, or Indians (similarity 0.80)
• Medieval Muslims were cast as dog-headed men, demons, and Antichrist figures (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Renaissance art linked black Muslims directly to the devil and damnation #corroborates (0.80) — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 268
• Muslim monsters occupied map edges alongside other monstrous races. #expands (0.75)
• Dog-headed men served medieval art as both Jew and Muslim monsters of evil #corroborates (0.70)
• Muslim monsters were depicted as cannibals who ate their enemies. #exemplifies (0.65)
• Muslim males in Gothic horror are framed as essentially evil, deviant, and child-murdering #expands (0.60)