Lamassu
Template:Short description Template:Italic title Template:Redirect Lama, Lamma, or Lamassu (Cuneiform: Template:Cuneiform, Template:Smallcaps; Sumerian: Template:Smallcapslammař; later in Akkadian: lamassu; sometimes called a lamassuse)<ref>Kriwaczek, Paul. Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization, p. 37.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web
}}</ref> is an Assyrian protective deity.<ref name="GL109" />
Initially depicted as a goddess in Sumerian times, when it was called Lamma, it was later depicted from Assyrian times as a hybrid of a human, bird, and either a bull or lion—specifically having a human head, the body of a bull or a lion, and bird wings, under the name Lamassu.<ref name="GL109" /><ref name="Livius.org">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In some writings, it is portrayed to represent a goddess.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> A less frequently used name is shedu (Cuneiform: Template:Cuneiform, Template:Smallcaps; Sumerian: Template:Smallcapsalad; Akkadian, šēdu), which refers to the male counterpart of a lamassu.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Lamassu represent the zodiacs, parent-stars or constellations.<ref name="ReferenceA">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="ReferenceB">Template:Cite book</ref>
Goddess LamaEdit
The goddess Lama appears initially as a mediating goddess who precedes the orans and presents them to the deities.<ref name="GL109"/> 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).<ref>"The deity which we have here called the Babylonian Goddess has been identified as the goddess Lama thanks to an inscription found at Uruk. Agnes Spycket has discussed the textual references to this interceding deity, and the way she is represented in art." Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> This opinion is commonly followed and in artistic terminology these female figures are generally referred to as Lam(m)a.<ref name="GL109">Template:Cite book</ref> From Assyrian times, Lamma becomes a hybrid deity, half-animal, half-human.<ref name="GL109"/>
- 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 - Brussels
- Cylinder seal MET DP-12499-010.jpg
Cylinder seal showing the representation of a devotee (center) by goddess Lamma (left), to Ishtar (right). Babylonian, Template:Circa–17th century BC, Metropolitan Museum of Art
- 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.
IconographyEdit
From Assyrian times, lamassu were depicted as hybrids, with bodies of either winged bulls or lions and heads of human males.<ref name="GL109"/> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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, walk, and in earlier versions have five legs, as is apparent when viewed obliquely. Lumasi 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.<ref>Frankfort, 147–148</ref>
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."<ref>Frankfort, 147–148, 148 quoted</ref> 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.
TerminologyEdit
Lamassu represent the zodiacs, parent-stars, or constellations.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="ReferenceB"/> 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".<ref name="Livius.org"/>
_from_Nimrud_2.jpg){kind=link}
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.Template:Clarify These monumental statues were called aladlammû or lamassu which meant "protective spirit".<ref name="Livius.org"/>Template:Clarify In Hittite, the Sumerian form Template:Smallcaps 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
MythologyEdit
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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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 cultureEdit
Template:Too many examples 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.Template:Citation needed
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.Template:Citation needed
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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
GamesEdit
Lammasu [sic] 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.Template:Citation needed
Lammasu appear in the Magic: The Gathering trading card game as the white card Hunted Lammasu<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> in the Ravnica expansion, as well as the white card Venerable Lammasu found in the Khans of Tarkir expansion.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In the Games Workshop miniatures wargame, Warhammer Fantasy Battle, the Lamasu was a mount for the Chaos Dwarf army. It has since returned as part of the Storm of Magic expansion release.Template:Citation needed
In the video game Heroes of Might and Magic VI, the lamasu [sic] is a recruitable elite creature of the necropolis faction (undead).Template:Citation needed
A Lamassu appears in Prince of Persia 3D at the end of the Floating Ruins level, where the prince rides on it to the Cliffs. It is also appears in the ending of the game, where the Prince and Princess ride it to an unknown destination.Template:Citation needed
GalleryEdit
- 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 Gates of Balawat
- Winged Human-headed Bulls.JPG
The British Museum – human-headed winged bulls from Dur-Sharrukin
- 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
- Human-headed Winged Bulls Gate Khorsabad - Louvre 01a.jpg
Louvre – human-headed winged bulls from Dur-Sharrukin
- Louvre room 229-Khorsabad-19676 AO0004.002.jpg
Louvre – human-headed winged bulls, sculpture and Reliefs from Dur-Sharrukin.
- Louvre room 229-Khorsabad-27841 AO004.001.jpg
Louvre – human-headed winged bulls and reliefs from Dur-Sharrukin, in their wider setting of reliefs
- Human-headed Winged Bulls Gate Khorsabad - Louvre 02aa.jpg
Louvre – human-headed winged bulls and reliefs from Dur-Sharrukin
- 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
- Lammasu2.jpg
Detail, University of Chicago Oriental Institute. Possibly gypsum, Dur-Sharrukin, entrance to the throne room, Template:Circa
- Reverse of the Lamassu.jpg
Cuneiform script on the back of a lamassu in the University of Chicago Oriental Institute
- 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
- Seal of United States Forces - Iraq.svg
Seal of United States Forces – Iraq
- British 10th Army Plaque.JPG
Insignia of the British 10th Army
- SAVAK.svg
Insignia of the SAVAK of Iran
- Parsi Fire Temple Entrance FORT MUMBAI.jpg
The entrance of a fire temple in Fort Mumbai displaying a lamassu
- Head of lamassu. Marble, 8th century BCE, from Assur, Iraq. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul.jpg
Head of lamassu. Marble, eighth century BC, from Assur, Iraq. Museum of the Ancient Orient, Istanbul.
- 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, Iraq, seventh century BC, the British Museum
- 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, Iraq, ninth century BC, the British Museum, London
- Ասորիների ցեղասպանության հուշահամալիր, Երևան.jpg
Lamassu on an Assyrian Genocide memorial in Yerevan
See alsoEdit
- Mythological hybrid
- List of hybrid creatures in mythology
- Anzû (older reading: Zû), Mesopotamian monster
- Apis, Ancient Egyptian religion deity anthropomorphic bull
- Buraq, Islamic mythological human torso-equine body hybrid
- Centaur, Greek mythological human torso-equine body hybrid
- Cherubim, Abrahamic religious celestial human-winged hybrid
- Chimera, Greek mythological hybrid monster
- Enlil, ancient Mesopotamian deity: patriarch deity of supreme universal strength
- Griffin or griffon, lion-bird hybrid
- Harpy, Greek mythological hybrid human torso-bird body hybrid
- Jinn, pre-Islamic Arabian celestial beings, human-winged hybrid
- Kamadhenu, Hindu bovine goddess
- Lakhmu, Akkadian deity also known as Lammasu
- Lamashtu, ancient Mesopotamian female demons
- Manticore, Persian sphinx-like creature
- Mermaid, Europen, Asian and African folklore, female human torso-fish tail hybrid
- Minotaur, Greek mythology: bull-man hybrid
- Pamola, the Abenaki-origin indigenous American "winged-moose" spirit protecting Mount Katahdin
- Pegasus, winged stallion in Greek mythology
- Sharabha, Hindu mythology: lion-bird hybrid
- Simurgh, Iranian mythical flying creature
- Sphinx, mythical creature with lion's body and human head
- Thunderbird, mythological bird-like spirit in North American indigenous peoples' mythology
- Yali, Hindu mythological lion-elephant-horse hybrid
- Ziz, giant griffin-like bird in Jewish mythology
CitationsEdit
General referencesEdit
- Frankfort, Henri, The Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient, Pelican History of Art, 4th ed 1970, Penguin (now Yale History of Art), Template:ISBN