Item Size:  18" High     Type:  Wall Plaque

Material:  Casting Stone, with Antique Stone Finish

Original:  From Assyria, 865 B.C.E.

Current Location of Original:  Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The relief depicts an eagle-headed winged protective spirit that was part of Assyrian belief and was known as an “Apkallu” spirit. The eagle-headed being touches traditions and beliefs that go back thousands of years in Mesopotamia, when similar images of terracotta would be buried under doorways or set up at the entrances of palaces and temples. Their supposed magical strength was used to frighten away evil-wishing demons. In this representation, the eagle-headed being carries a bucket and a cone used to sprinkle, presumably, water from the bucket for purification. Across the body runs the so called “standard inscription” of King Ashurnasirpal, which records some of the King’s titles and achievements, and is repeated on many of his stone reliefs.