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Ghafarpouri S, Samanian S. (2026). Systematic Review and Qualitative Meta-Analysis on “Lion and Sun” Motif Studies. Parseh J. Archaeol. Stud.. 9(34), 337-357. doi:10.61882/PJAS.1011.780.1
URL: http://journal.richt.ir/mbp/article-1-1011-en.html

 Abstract
The motif of “Lion and Sun”, which has become an important visual-culture discourse in recent years, has always been questioned and was the subject of scholarly inquiry regarding its origin and meaning, and different analyzes of the motif have been offered. However, it appears that the literature on the subject has not been able to resolve the prevailing disputes and there are still a great deal of divergent viewpoints and disagreements over motif. In order to resolve the equation of these conflicts, one must first know the quality of previous studies and the degree to which it can be relied upon as a source for new studies. The aim of this research is to evaluate the quality level of studies and find their advantages and disadvantages. Every study that has directly addressed the motif “Lion and Sun” as well as other studies in which there are texts concerning the motif, printed or gray sources, has been subjected to a systematically review and meta-analyze. A total of 150 studies were examined using specific search techniques in Persian and English search databases like Google, Web of Science, Noormags, Irandoc, etc. (without a time limit). Following a screening process using predefined criteria, 27 studies were chosen for qualitative meta-analysis. The results of the qualitative meta-analysis are expressed using tables and distribution and frequency charts. The findings of this meta-analysis demonstrate that a significant portion of all studies have referenced earlier works and quoted earlier speeches in their publications, without conducting the essential study and investigations. Additionally, it was found that research on motif has stagnated for 20 years, which needs investigation and pathology in its place.
Keywords: Lion and Sun, Qualitative Meta-Analysis, Screening Studies, Searching Strategy.

Introduction
The number of depictions of “Lion and Sun” on the national flag of Iran or coins and other works of art from the Qajar to the Pahlavi period has made it become an important visual-cultural discourse. This discourse, with its continued presence in Iranian art and culture and role-playing as a national-patriotic symbol and finding a way to political and social issues, has caused the history of the presence and the meaning of it in Iranian art to be questioned and researched, and different analysis has been made on it. Be provided. It seems that the texts written about it have not had reliable results and there are various opinions about it. In the meantime, the connection of socio-political powers with cultural symbols and signs creates serious conflicts in people’s lifestyles, so that the simplest cultural actions may be involved with the most complex layers of political, economic, and social structures. This research, by rereading the studies done on the motif, tries to contribute, however little, in clarifying this cultural issue to achieving a new way of understanding the issue. The main goal of this research is to analyses the qualitative level of the studies conducted on motif, which is done to answer the question of to what extent and how can these studies be cited. Firstly, it is necessary to know what research has been done so far regarding the motif, what research elements and components they have, and what strengths and weaknesses should be considered in them. Finally, the expected results of this research are reaching a conclusion from the qualitative evaluation of the studies conducted and showing the gaps and research needs in this field.
The present research is practical in terms of purpose. Data collection is done in a documentary way from library sources and the data analysis method is a systematic review and then a qualitative meta-analysis. For this purpose, studies focusing on the research question are identified and reviewed in Prisma’s instruction, and the results are combined, statistically analyzed, and qualitatively evaluated. The statistical population of this research is all studies related to the motif, including articles, books, theses, and gray texts. After a systematic review of 150 studies, 27 studies were selected for qualitative meta-analysis. SPSS was used to draw graphs.

Discussion
Of the 27 meta-analyzed studies, 9 studies are books (33%), 11 studies are articles (41%), 3 theses (11%), and 4 sources contain gray texts (15%).
The period of conducting studies in 6 studies related to the 1960s (22%), 4 studies before that (15%), 1 study related to the 90s (4%), 9 studies in the 2000s (33%), 7 studies were done in the 2010s (26%). It seems that in the 1970s and 1980s, no research was done on the motif.
Because most of the studies are related to the period before the 70s, the method of conducting research in them is often not stated correctly. But with the evaluation, the method was diagnosed in 15 studies as descriptive-historical (71%), and 6 studies as descriptive-historical-comparative (29%). In newspapers, data has been collected through quotations and interviews.
18 studies (67%) have a direct connection with the motif in the title, and 9 studies (33%) have mentioned it only in a part of their research.
Out of 27 studies, 6 studies (22%) were conducted abroad of Iran, 21 studies (78%) were conducted inside, 25 studies (93%) were conducted by Iranians and 2 studies (7%) were conducted by non-Iranians.
Almost from the 2000s onwards, citing previous studies instead of citing primary sources and works of art and objects increased. Before 2004, historical texts in 11 studies (26%), literary texts in 6 studies (14%), motif on coins in 10 studies (24%), motif on the flag in 9 studies (22%), and other works of art in 6 studies (14%) have been cited. These studies can be classified as primary studies and the research after that can be called follow-up studies using secondary sources.
In at least 18 studies out of all the studies, sources from the 60s and earlier have been cited. Minavi in 5 studies (12%), Kasravi in 11 studies (26%), Nafisi in 10 studies (24%), Nayernuri in 10 studies (24%), Zoka in 6 studies (14%) the most have been cited. This means that the data from these 5 studies (primary studies) has been replicated in follow-up studies. In 8 out of 27 studies, sources other than those mentioned in this research and other references are cited sporadically.
In all the meta-analyzed studies, words and terms related to the concept of “Lion and Sun” have been repeated, which are classified as follows:
Kingdom: power, king, Georgian princess
Astrology: Leo sign, Sun, Star
Religion: Shiite, Imam Ali, Prophet Muhammad, Lion of God, Shamsa
Mythology: Ahuramazda, Mehr, Mithra, Anahita, the guardian Lion of the temple
Mythological concepts were inferred in 10 studies (20%), religious concepts in 11 studies (21%), astrological concepts in 10 studies (20%), and kingdom concepts in 20 studies (29%).
The composition of the time of analyzed-studies and the concepts inferred by their authors is shown in the following table:

Conclusion
After reviewing the findings and after quantitative and qualitative analysis of the statistics, it was found that 37% of the studies were conducted before the Islamic Revolution in Iran. In the 1970s and 1980s, there was a stagnation in conducting studies, and since the 1990s, 63% of studies have been conducted. Among the 27 meta-analysed studies, only 67% of them have directly addressed motif, and the remaining 33% have devoted a part of their research to it. This result shows that there are still a few specialized studies, unlike the importance of motif in Iranian culture and art. In the studies before the Islamic revolution, historical texts were cited in 26%, literary texts in 14%, motif on coins in 24%, motif on flags in 22%, and other motif on works of art in 14%. Kasravi’s book is cited in 26% of all studies. After that, the books of Nafisi and Nayernuri have been cited in 24% of the studies. This means that the data from 5 studies before the Islamic revolution (primary studies) has been repeated in the studies after that (follow-up studies). In general, it can be said that 40% of all studies completely relied on sources before the Islamic Revolution which have been cited frequently. By respecting the efforts of previous researchers, regarding research pathology, it seems that the weak points of previous research have been repeated in subsequent studies and subsequent studies have not been free from the domination of previous and repetitive data. The concepts of motif mentioned in 27 studies were divided into 4 mythological, kingdom, religious, and astrological groups based on the keywords used in the study. Among all studies, 39% considered motif to be related to kingdom concepts, 21% considered religious concepts to be valid, and mythological and astrological concepts were considered in 20% of them. Mythological and religious concepts have been considered more from the 2000s onwards, and the concepts of kingdom and astrology have been almost important in all periods. The research method was identified as descriptive-historical in 71% of studies. Since the research method in historical studies is about a new subject, and in the past, the authors have not adhered to the use of scientific methods to write historical research, it can be safely said that none of the previous studies have been a scientific study in line with modern research methods in the present era and, despite the number of studies, the aforementioned works have serious weaknesses in terms of quality and methodology. On the other hand, the results of this research show that the socio-political conditions have marked stagnation in the study and research. As a result, the studies that have been done so far are rarely referable.