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.
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 , which lies in northern present-day Iraq.
Size: 3412px × 5370px
Photo credit: © Ivy Close Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: .., 700s, 8th, ancient, assyria, assyrian, assyriology, century, dur, eagle-headed, faucher, figure, gaston, genie, genii, gudin, henri, ii, iraq, khorsabad, life, maspero, myth, mythology, protective, sargon, sharrukin, tree
