Apkallu: Did you mean...?

In order to protect the household, this protective figure (apkallu or sage) would be buried beneath the floor in groups of seven. This figurine represents a wise man dressed in a fish-cloak sent by the god Ea to impart knowledge to humans...

Alabaster bas-relief detail showing the head of a male Apkallu or protective spirit. Neo-Assyrian Period, 865-860 BCE. This is a detail of Panel 1, which was lining door “a” of Room T, the North-West Palace at Nimrud, modern-day Iraq. (The...

Alabaster bas-relief detail showing an Apkallu holding a chaplet. Neo-Assyrian Period, 865-860 BCE. Detail of Panel 20, Room I, the North-West Palace at Nimrud, modern-day Iraq. (The British Museum, London)

Fragment of an alabaster bas-relief depicting a head of a human-headed Apkallu wearing a horned helmet. From the North-West Palace of Ashurnasirpal II at Nimrud (ancient Kalhu), Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq. Neo-Assyrian Period, 865-860 BCE...

Alabaster bas-relief detail showing an Apkallu holding a flowering branch. Neo-Assyrian Period, 865-860 BCE. Detail of Panel 2, Room Z, the North-West Palace at Nimrud, modern-day Iraq. (The British Museum, London)

This alabaster bas-relief depicts a human-headed and winged man, Apkallu or Sage, carrying a goat. He wears a sandal carries a goat with his left arm and what appears to be a palm branch in his right hand. Note the prominent muscular and...

In order to protect the household, these protective figures (apkallu or sage) would be buried beneath the floor in groups of seven. From Nimrud, Northern Mesopotamia, Iraq. Neo-Assyrian Period, 900-612 BCE. (The British Museum, London)

Alabaster bas-relief detail showing the head of an Apkallu, a protective spirit. Neo-Assyrian Period, 865-860 BCE. Detail of Panel 6, Room G, the North-West Palace at Nimrud, modern-day Iraq. (The British Museum, London)

Alabaster bas-relief detail showing an Apkallu holding a flowering branch. Neo-Assyrian Period, 865-860 BCE. Detail of Panel at Door C (number 2), Room S, the North-West Palace at Nimrud, modern-day Iraq. (The British Museum, London)

This fragmented alabaster bas-relief depicts an Assyrian Apkallu, a protective spirit or genie. The striking features are that he is bare-headed (he does not wear a horned helmet or diadem) and his four wings, all of them, appear en face...