Introduction: Iranian carpets, beyond their undeniable visual beauty and technical sophistication, embody profound layers of symbolic meaning in which every motif, color, and compositional arrangement may be understood as a carrier of ancient beliefs, collective memory, and sacred concepts rooted in mythological consciousness. The present study raises the question of how the relatively forgotten Henna Flower motif found in carpets of the Arak region may be interpreted through the mythological perspectives of Mircea Eliade. More specifically, it asks whether this floral image should be viewed solely as an ornamental device, or whether it preserves deeper symbolic meanings connected to ancient Iranian conceptions of sacred life, fertility, protection, and cyclical renewal. The research hypothesis proposes that meaningful correspondences exist between Eliade’s notions of the sacred, creation, and eternal return, and the mythological beliefs of ancient Iran, and that these correspondences can be traced in motifs such as the Henna Flower. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to identify the mythic associations of the motif and to analyze its semantic structure through Eliade’s interpretive framework.
Methods: This research adopts a fundamental and interdisciplinary approach and employs a descriptive-analytical methodology. Data were gathered through library-based study of mythological, historical, and art-historical sources, alongside field investigations involving observation of extant Arak carpets, interviews with local weavers and collectors, and documentation of motif variations. Comparative visual analysis was also used to examine formal relationships between the Henna Flower motif and related floral symbols in broader Iranian decorative traditions. Such a methodology enables the motif to be studied simultaneously as an aesthetic form, a cultural sign, and a bearer of inherited meanings.
Results: The findings demonstrate that the Henna Flower motif contains multiple layers of mythological significance. First, it evokes the image of paradise or the ideal garden, a central theme in Iranian artistic imagination from antiquity onward. In Iranian thought, the ordered garden symbolizes abundance, divine blessing, and the restoration of cosmic harmony. The blooming floral motif, placed rhythmically across the carpet field, may thus be read as a visual rendering of paradisal space.
Second, the motif carries meanings associated with protection and guardianship. Henna itself has long been linked in Iranian folk customs to blessing, celebration, and apotropaic power, especially in rites of marriage, childbirth, and transition. Its transformation into a woven motif suggests continuity between ritual substance and symbolic image, whereby the carpet becomes a protective surface within domestic life.
Third, the motif conveys the concept of renewal and rebirth. As a flowering form associated with growth, seasonal return, and regeneration, it resonates strongly with Eliade’s theory of the repetition of creation-the idea that through recurring symbols and rituals, communities symbolically return to the sacred time of beginnings. Each repetition of the motif across the carpet field may therefore be interpreted as a rhythmic reenactment of life emerging anew.
Conclusion: The Henna Flower motif should not be regarded merely as a decorative embellishment within the carpets of Arak. Rather, it constitutes a mythological-symbolic structure through which ancient conceptions of paradise, blessing, protection, and cyclical regeneration continue to speak in visual form. Read through Eliade’s theory of myth and sacred manifestation, the motif reveals how traditional Iranian carpets function as sacred visual texts in which art, memory, and cosmology are inseparably woven together. The study of such motifs not only enriches carpet scholarship but also contributes to a broader understanding of how traditional arts preserve metaphysical meanings beneath their ornamental surfaces. Moreover, the findings emphasize the importance of regional carpet traditions such as those of Arak, whose lesser-known motifs deserve renewed scholarly attention as repositories of intangible cultural heritage.