Assyrian Protective Spirit, Nimrud (Illustration)

Illustration

by Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin
published on 28 August 2017

This alabaster bas-relief depicts a standing human-headed genie or sage; this is Apkallu, a protective spirit which protects the Assyrian king as well as the palace and its inhabitants against evil demons. He wears a diadem with a rosette (instead of a horned helmet) and has two pairs of wings. The left hand holds a bucket. Neo-Assyrian Period, 9th century BCE. From the North-West Palace of Ashurnasirpal II at Nimrud, Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq. (Pergamon Museum, Berlin, Germany)

About the Author

Associate Professor of Neurology and lover of the Cradle of Civilization, Mesopotamia. I'm very interested in Mesopotamian history and always try to take photos of archaeological sites and artifacts in museums, both in Iraq and around the world.

License

Uploaded by Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin, published on 28 August 2017 under the following license: Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.

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