Lamassu

thumb|Lamassu at the [[Iraq Museum, Baghdad|alt=Pair of stone lamassu sculptures with human heads and winged bull bodies displayed in the Iraq Museum in 2018]]

Lama, Lamma, or Lamassu (Cuneiform: , ; Sumerian: lammař; later in Akkadian: lamassu; sometimes called a lamassuse) is a Mesopotamian protective deity. In some writings, it is portrayed to represent a goddess. A less frequently used name is shedu (Cuneiform: , ; Sumerian: alad; Akkadian, šēdu), which refers to the male counterpart of a lamassu. Lamassu represent the zodiacs, parent-stars or constellations.

Goddess Lama

The goddess Lama appears initially as a mediating goddess who precedes the orans and presents them to the deities. 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.

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 when they occupied the area, as were those in the Mosul Museum.

Terminology

thumb|Cast from the original in Iraq, this is one of a pair of five-legged lamassu with lion's feet in [[Berlin|alt=Ancient Assyrian lamassu sculpture with five legs and lion's feet]]

Lamassu represent the zodiacs, parent-stars, or constellations.

Mythology

thumb|The lumasi in [[Gate of All Nations, Persepolis|300px|left|alt=Stone lamassu sculptures at the Gate of Nations in Persepolis, Iran]]

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

thumb|Insignia of the [[Tenth Army (United Kingdom)|British 10th Army|alt=Military plaque showing lamassu insignia]]

thumb|Seal of [[United States Forces – Iraq|alt=Military seal featuring lamassu design]]

thumb|Insignia of the [[SAVAK of Iran|alt=SAVAK insignia featuring lamassu symbol]]

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

Goddess Lama

Terminology

Mythology

In modern culture

Games

Gallery

See also

Citations

General references

External links