This bas-relief from Khorsabad was drawn by French artist Henri Faucher-Gudin, who illustrated for Gaston Maspero. It shows an eagle-headed genie. According to the ancient Assyrians, a genie was a non-human protective figure. Here the genie is shown with two wings, an eagle head adorned with a feather headdress, and a curved beak with a long tongue. The genie is depicted sprinkling water on a tree (the nodules on the right belong to the tree) with what is probably a pine cone. Perhaps it is fertilizing the tree and perhaps the tree is symbolic of the tree of life. Khorsabad is the present-day name for Dur-Sharrukin, the Assyrian capital at the time when Sargon II ruled Assyria from 722-705 B.C., which lies in northern present-day Iraq.
Légende

This bas-relief from Khorsabad was drawn by French artist Henri Faucher-Gudin, who illustrated for Gaston Maspero. It shows an eagle-headed genie. According to the ancient Assyrians, a genie was a non-human protective figure. Here the genie is shown with two wings, an eagle head adorned with a feather headdress, and a curved beak with a long tongue. The genie is depicted sprinkling water on a tree (the nodules on the right belong to the tree) with what is probably a pine cone. Perhaps it is fertilizing the tree and perhaps the tree is symbolic of the tree of life. Khorsabad is the present-day name for Dur-Sharrukin, the Assyrian capital at the time when Sargon II ruled Assyria from 722-705 B.C., which lies in northern present-day Iraq.

Crédit

Photo12/Universal Images Group/Ivy Close Images

Notre référence

UMG25A01_185

Licence

Droits gérés

Format disponible

52,4Mo (2,1Mo) / 28,9cm x 45,5cm / 3412 x 5370 (300dpi)

Mots clés

century eagle-headed figure Khorsabad Dur Sharrukin protective genie Henri Faucher Gudin Faucher Gudin Gaston Maspero Assyrian genie Assyrian genii Assyrian myth Assyrian mythology tree of life Sargon II Assyriology ancient Assyria ancient Iraq Assyria 700s B C 8th century B C century

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