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Winged human-headed bulls of Nineveh: Genesis of an iconographic motif

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

V. Danrey
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More than one hundred monumental sculptures of winged human-headed bulls have been identified among the remains of Assyria's capitals, of which around forty come from Nineveh. When these ancient Mesopotamian stone giants re-emerged they became a symbol of Neo-Assyrian power. This article aims to study the genesis of these emblematic figures by looking at the earliest iconographic examples. This genealogical development will lead us to consider the etymology and iconographic transcriptions of the Akkadian terms traditionally associated with the figures of winged human-headed bulls, and to ponder their evolution in the various fields of artistic production.

Forty-three colossal sculptures of winged human-headed bulls have so far been discovered in Nineveh: two at the Nergal gate, a few fragments from the Bit Nakkapti and around forty monumental sculptures in the remains of Sennacherib's Palace. Situated on each side of the main gates, these figures guarded the city and palace entrances. They were carved from monolithic limestone blocks and completed after they had been set up either in gateways, in which case the head is in line with the body, or in the alignment of the walls flanking the entrances, with the head turned at an angle of ninety degrees. Botta suggested that these colossi had originally been surmounted by a straight lintel; however, Place's excavations in Khorsabad revealed the existence of brick arches built above some of the gates. Although they played a real functional role due to their position, their presence does not seem to have been architecturally indispensable because other entrances with similar dimensions were not strengthened in this way. Consequently, it would be better to speak of an “active façade”.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 66: Nineveh. Papers of the XLIXe Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Part One , 2004 , pp. 133 - 139
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 2004 

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Footnotes

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ArchéOrient, Lyon

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