Northern Iraq, Neo-Assyrian, 811-783 BC
From Nimrud (ancient Kalhu)
Limestone
H. 182.8 cm
Excavated by H. Rassam
ANE118888
This is one of a pair of guardian deities who stand in an attitude of attendance. The figures originally flanked a doorway in the temple of Nabu, an important god of writing, at the Assyrian capital of Kalhu (modern Nimrud in northern Iraq). The cuneiform inscription carved around the body of the attendant states that the figures were dedicated to Nabu by the local governor, on his own behalf and on behalf of the king Adadnirari III (r. 811-783 BC) and of the queen mother Sammuramat (who was remembered in the later Greek period as the legendary queen Semiramis). The inscription ends with the request that the reader should "trust no other god". The statues were discovered in 1854 by Hormuzd Rassam who was excavating at Nimrud on behalf of the British Museum. According to his account, there were two pairs of statues, the other two were uninscribed and carried basins but these have not survived.
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