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)

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