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The Brooklyn Museum

Collections: Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Middle Eastern Art




Winged Genie

Winged Genie. Iraq, from Nimrud (Kalhu), Northwest Palace, Room L. Neo-Assyrian Period, reign of Ashur-nasir-pal II, circa 883–859 B.C. Alabaster, 93 1/16 x 80 13/16 in. (236.3 x 205.3 cm). The Brooklyn Museum, Purchased with funds given by Hagop Kevorkian and the Kevorkian Foundation, 55.147

This is one of twelve massive panels, carved in relief and originally brightly painted, from the palace of King Ashur-nasir-pal II at Kalhu (just north of modern Baghdad); see the long-term installation Assyrian Reliefs. Though this figure appears at first to be a heavily muscled human, he is revealed as a supernatural being by his wings and by his horned helmet. The association between horns and divine or semidivine beings had a long history in the ancient Middle East, going back at least as far as the Akkadian Period (circa 2371–2230 B.C.). Such symbols also helped people to recognize the figures portrayed on the walls of palaces and temples.

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