Lamassu

Goddess Lama

The goddess Lama appears initially as a mediating goddess who precedes the orans and presents them to the deities. The protective deity is clearly labelled as Lam(m)a in a Kassite stele unearthed at Uruk, in the temple of Ishtar, goddess to which she had been dedicated by king Nazi-Maruttash (1307–1282 BC). It is a goddess wearing a ruffled dress and wearing a horned tiara symbolizing the deity, with two hands raised, in sign of prayer. Agnès Spycket proposed that similar female figures appearing in particular in glyptics and statuary from the Akkadian period, and in particular in the presentation scenes (common especially in the Paleo-Babylonian era) were to be considered as Lam(m)a. This opinion is commonly followed and in artistic terminology these female figures are generally referred to as Lam(m)a. From Assyrian times, Lamma becomes a hybrid deity, half-animal, half-human.

File:Lamma Goddess, Iraq, Isin-Larsa period, 2000-1800 BC, bronze, baked clay - Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago - DSC07287.jpg|Lamma, protective winged deity, Sumerian Isin-Larsa period (2000–1800 BC)|alt=Bronze and baked clay statuette of winged protective goddess Lamma from ancient Iraq File:Lammasu.jpg|Lamassu, Neo-Assyrian Empire, . Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, University of Chicago|alt=Stone sculpture of human-headed winged bull from Neo-Assyrian period. File:Statuette en cuivre déesse Lama - Isin-Larsa.jpg|Statuette of the goddess Lama, probably made in a workshop on the outskirts of Mesopotamia. Isin-Larsa period (2000–1800 BC). Royal Museums of Art and History|alt=Copper statuette of goddess Lama from Isin-Larsa period File:Cylinder seal MET DP-12499-010.jpg|Cylinder seal showing the representation of a devotee (center) by goddess Lamma (left), to Ishtar (right). Babylonian, –17th century BC, Metropolitan Museum of Art|alt=Ancient Babylonian cylinder seal showing devotee presented to Ishtar by goddess Lamma File:Stele of the protective goddess Lama MET DP-1556-001.jpg|Stele with inscription showing the protective deity Lam(m)a, dedicated by king Nazi-Maruttash to goddess Ishtar, from Uruk (1307–1282 BC). Metropolitan Museum of Art|alt=Stone stele with carved relief showing protective goddess Lama with inscription

Iconography

From Assyrian times, lamassu were depicted as hybrids, with bodies of either winged bulls or lions and heads of human males. The motif of a winged animal with a human head is common to the Near East, first recorded in Ebla around 3000 BC. The first distinct lamassu motif appeared in Assyria during the reign of Tiglath-Pileser II as a symbol of power.

Assyrian sculpture typically placed prominent pairs of lamassu at entrances in palaces, facing the street and also internal courtyards. They were represented as "double-aspect" figures on corners, in high relief. From the front, they appear to stand, and from the side, they walk. In earlier versions, they have five legs, as is apparent when viewed obliquely. Lamassu do not generally appear as large figures in the low-relief schemes running round palace rooms, where winged genie figures are common, but they sometimes appear within narrative reliefs, apparently protecting the Assyrians.

The colossal entrance figures were often followed by a hero grasping a wriggling lion, also colossal in scale and in high relief. In the palace of Sargon II at Dur-Sharrukin, a group of at least seven lamassu and two such heroes with lions surrounded the entrance to the "throne room", "a concentration of figures which produced an overwhelming impression of power". They also appear on cylinder seals. Notable examples include those at the Gate of All Nations at Persepolis in Iran, the British Museum in London, the Louvre in Paris, the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the University of Chicago Oriental Institute. Several examples left in situ in northern Iraq were destroyed in the 2010s by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant when they occupied the area, as were those in the Mosul Museum.

Terminology

Lamassu represent the zodiacs, parent-stars, or constellations. They are depicted as protective deities because they encompass all life within them. In the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, they are depicted as physical deities as well, which is where the lamassu iconography originates, physical representations or embodiments of divine higher principles associated with specific celestial origins. Although lamassu had a different iconography and portrayal in the culture of Sumer, the terms "lamassu", "alad", and "shedu" evolved throughout the Assyro-Akkadian culture from the Sumerian culture to denote the Assyrian-winged-man-bull symbol and statues during the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Eventually, female lamassu were identified as "apsasû".

The motif of the Assyrian-winged-man-bull called Aladlammu and Lamassu interchangeably is not the lamassu or alad of Sumerian origin, which were depicted with different iconography. These monumental statues were called aladlammû or lamassu which meant "protective spirit". In Hittite, the Sumerian form is used both as a name for the so-called "tutelary deity", identified in certain later texts with the goddess Inara, and a title given to similar protective deities.

Mythology

The lamassu is a celestial being from ancient Mesopotamian religion bearing a human head, symbolising intelligence; a bull's body, symbolizing strength; and an eagle's wings, symbolizing freedom. Sometimes it had the horns and the ears of a bull. It appears frequently in Mesopotamian art. The lamassu and shedu were household protective spirits of the common Assyrian people, becoming associated later as royal protectors, and were placed as sentinels at entrances. The Akkadians associated the god Papsukkal with a lamassu and the god Išum with shedu.

To protect houses, the lamassu were engraved in clay tablets, which were then buried under the door's threshold. They were often placed as a pair at the entrance of palaces. At the entrance of cities, they were sculpted in colossal size, and placed as a pair, one at each side of the door of the city, that generally had doors in the surrounding wall, each one looking toward one of the cardinal points.

In modern culture

The British 10th Army, which operated in Iraq and Iran in 1942–1943, adopted the lamassu as its insignia. A bearded man with a winged bull body appears on the logo of the United States Forces – Iraq.

A man with a bull's body is found among the creatures that make up Aslan's army in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis. He appears at the Stone Table, challenging the White Witch "with a great bellowing voice". In the film Alexander (2004), lamassu are seen at the Ishtar Gate in Babylon. In the Disney film Aladdin (1992), a gold lamassu can be found in the scene where Aladdin and Abu enter the cave in the desert to find the lamp.

Michael Rakowitz, a Northwestern University professor of Art Theory & Practice, won a Fourth Plinth commission to recreate the Lamassu that stood in Nineveh, Iraq, from 700 BC until it was destroyed by ISIS in 2015. Rakowitz's sculpture was displayed in London's Trafalgar Square from 2018 to 2020.

The lamassu is also often used as a representation of Assyrian culture by the modern Assyrian people, and use it to pay homage to their ancient ancestry.

Games

Lammasu and shedu are two distinct types of good-aligned creatures in the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, with lammasu having the bodies of winged lions and shedu depicted as human-headed winged bulls.

Lammasu appear in the Magic: The Gathering trading card game as the white card Hunted Lammasu in the Ravnica expansion, as well as the white card Venerable Lammasu found in the Khans of Tarkir expansion.

Gallery

File:A pair of lamassus from the Throne Room, Room B, of the North-West Palace at Nimrud, Iraq, 9th century BC. The British Museum.jpg|The British Museum – human-headed winged lions and reliefs from Nimrud with the Balawat Gates|alt=Pair of Assyrian lamassu sculptures built into an arched doorway, displayed in British Museum File:Winged Human-headed Bulls.JPG|The British Museum – human-headed winged bulls from Dur-Sharrukin|alt=Pair of human-headed winged bull sculptures from Dur-Sharrukin in British Museum File:BM; RM8 - ANE, Nimrud Palace Reliefs 75 South + East Wall (S) ~ Central Palace of Tiglath-pileser III (744-727 B.C) + Full Elevation & Viewing South.1.JPG|The British Museum – human-headed winged lion and bull from Nimrud, companion pieces in Metropolitan Museum of Art|alt=Gallery view of Nimrud palace reliefs with lamassu sculptures File:Human-headed Winged Bulls Gate Khorsabad - Louvre 01a.jpg|Louvre – human-headed winged bulls from Dur-Sharrukin|alt=Monumental lamassu sculptures from Khorsabad displayed in Louvre File:Louvre room 229-Khorsabad-19676 AO0004.002.jpg|Louvre – human-headed winged bulls, sculpture and reliefs from Dur-Sharrukin|alt=Museum gallery showing lamassu and relief panels from Dur-Sharrukin File:Louvre room 229-Khorsabad-27841 AO004.001.jpg|Louvre – human-headed winged bulls and reliefs from Dur-Sharrukin, in their wider setting of reliefs|alt=Wide view of Louvre gallery with lamassu and Assyrian reliefs File:Human-headed Winged Bulls Gate Khorsabad - Louvre 02aa.jpg|Louvre – human-headed winged bulls and reliefs from Dur-Sharrukin|alt=Lamassu sculptures with surrounding relief panels in Louvre File:Human-headed winged lion (lamassu) MET DP252320.jpeg|The Metropolitan Museum of Art – human-headed winged lion and bull from Nimrud, companion pieces to those in the British Museum, London|alt=Lamassu sculpture from Nimrud in Metropolitan Museum File:Lammasu2.jpg|Detail, University of Chicago Oriental Institute. Possibly gypsum, Dur-Sharrukin, entrance to the throne room, |alt=Close-up detail of lamassu head from Oriental Institute File:Reverse of the Lamassu.jpg|Cuneiform script on the back of a lamassu in the University of Chicago Oriental Institute|alt=Cuneiform inscription on reverse side of lamassu sculpture File:Cylinder Seal, Achaemenid, modern impression 05.jpg|Modern impression of Achaemenid cylinder seal, fifth century BC. A winged solar disc legitimises the Achaemenid emperor, who subdues two rampant Mesopotamian lamassu figures|alt=Modern impression from ancient cylinder seal showing lamassu figures File:Parsi Fire Temple Entrance FORT MUMBAI.jpg|The entrance of a fire temple in Fort Mumbai displaying a lamassu|alt=Fire temple entrance with lamassu sculpture File:Head of lamassu. Marble, 8th century BCE, from Assur, Iraq. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul.jpg|Head of lamassu. Marble, eighth century BC, from Assur. Museum of the Ancient Orient, Istanbul|alt=Marble lamassu head fragment from ancient Assur File:Head of a lamassu from the palace of Esarhaddon, from Nimrud, Iraq, 7th century BC. The British Museum.jpg|Head of a lamassu from the palace of Esarhaddon, from Nimrud, seventh century BC, the British Museum|alt=Lamassu head from Esarhaddon's palace File:Lamassu from the Throne Room (Room B) of the North-West Palace at Nimrud, Iraq, 9th century BC. The British Museum, London.jpg|Lamassu from the Throne Room (Room B) of the North-West Palace at Nimrud, ninth century BC, the British Museum|alt=Complete lamassu sculpture from Nimrud throne room File:Ասորիների ցեղասպանության հուշահամալիր, Երևան.jpg|Lamassu on an Assyrian Genocide memorial in Yerevan|alt=Modern memorial featuring lamassu sculpture in Yerevan

Citations

General references

References

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