Eeallexikon der
Assyriolo
und
^rderasiatischeri Archäologie
Begründet von Eßeling und B. Meissner
fortgeführt von E. Weidner und W. von Soden
herausgegeben von D.O.Edzard
unter Mitwirkung von P.Calmeyer • J.N. Postgate • W. Röllig W. von Soden • M.Stol ■ G.Wilhelm
Band 8 • 3./4. Lieferung
Miete - Moab
1994
Sonderdruck
Walter de Gruyter- Berlin • New York
Mischwesen. B. Archäologie. Mesopotamien; s. a. Löwenadler, Löwendrache, Löwenmensch und Menschenlöwe.
j 1. Introduction. - z. Chronology. - j 3. Icon-ographic types. - § 4. Additional remarks.
§ i* Introduction (cf. also A § 2. b).
Hybrid figures are common in the art of the ancient Near East in all but the earliest (prehistoric) periods. They may combine elements of two or more animals or of human and animal. In historical periods, at least, when textual sources exist, they seem normally to represent either evil supernatural beings or, more usually in fact, beneficent creatures intended to counter evil (see A, and cf. E.Ebeling, Apotropaeen, RIA I 120-122). In these circumstances, the idea behind introducing elements of different an-
imals was probably to combine the most awesome or powerful features of a number of predominant creatures so that the resulting amalgam would be the more effective in challenging malevolent forces (as suggested, e.g., by C.J.Gadd, The Assyrian Sculptures, British Museum [1934] 14, and by T.Kendall, Boston Museum Bulletin 75 [1977] 49). As A. H. Layard* puts it: "They could find no better type of intellect and knowledge than the head of a man; of strength, than the body of the lion; of ubiquity, than the wings of a bird" (Nineveh and Its Remains [3i849/50] I 70), "the union of the greatest intellectual and physical powers" (ibid., II 460). Certain combinations were especially popular. Lion-headed beings, for instance, often have upright ears, perhaps those of a donkey (although the textual base for this,
MISCHWESEN. B
247
cited by Green 1986 b, 150, and Wigger-mann 1986, 296, has since been discredited); they also tend to have avian attributes, such as a bird's tail or, especially, talons. A modern distinction is sometimes drawn between 'demons', depicted in art as human-bodied, and 'monsters', which are animal combinations on all fours (E. Porada, in: Farkas et al. 1987, 1).
In stark contrast to the animal divinities of ancient Egypt, gods and goddesses in Mesopotamia and the rest of the Near East were almost always depicted anthropomor-phically (cf. Ebeling, Anthropomorphismus, RlA I 113-114), but on occasion they also might have some attributes of animal or vegetal origin or of the elements. In this category we might place not only partly ani-malian deities like La-tarak, Pazuzu and Lamastu 3.3, 7, to, 11) - deities because their names are written with the divine determinative - but also some of the major and minor gods pictured on Akkadian period cylinder seals (cf. R. M.Boehmer 1965), for example the common motifs of Ea with streams of water issuing forth from his body, or Samas or his attendant gods with flames or rays emerging from the shoulders, or of the boat-god (30), or the rarer case of a god or goddesses with vegetation stalks growing from the body (as on H.Frankfort, CS PI. XXk, from Ur). Furthermore, some otherwise fully anthropomorphic gods or demi-gods are sometimes included in the category of Mischwesen on account of their often having wings (?i). Such deities may be referred to in modern literature as 'genies' or 'genii'.
Though usually themselves anthropomorphic, many deities had their distinctive beasts, and are shown in art together with them or standing upon them (Fig!\). Goddesses were usually associated with apparently natural animals (such as the lion of Inanna/Istar, dog of Gula, or donkey of Lamastu); gods more usually had hybrid beasts, although Samas in NA art of the 7th cent. BC rode a horse (cf. U.Seidl, RlA III 487; P. Calmeyer/U. Seidl, Eine friihurartai-sche Siegelsdarstellung, AnSt. 33 [1983] 103-114 [113-114]). In these circumstances, the distinction between 'natural' and 'hybrid'
is modern and somewhat artificial. Nevertheless, in line with convention, this article is largely restricted to the latter. In certain cases, however, it is a difficult distinction to make. The horned snake basmu (26), for instance, is generally referred to by modern writers as a "mythological creature" (e. g., in CAD B 141) or "mythical snake" (e.g., Reade 1979, 40); yet the mildly venomous snake cerastes cerastes, distinguished by its pair of often projecting scales on the brow, actually exists in the Middle East and is said to be the commonest viper of the Mesopo-tamian plains (cf. M.Latifi, The Snakes of Iran [1991] 85, 128, PI. 3:5; A. E.Leviton et al., Handbook to Middle East Amphibians and Reptiles [1992] 112-113, 2.06-207, Pis. 20-21). Again, the 'hero' figure with long, usually curly, hair (1), though not strictly speaking a hybrid figure, is usually considered along with Mischwesen because of his often 'wild' appearance and because of his association in art with animals and genuine hybrids, especially the bull-man (j). Most hybrid figures and 'genies' are to be seen both with and without wings; in some cases we know that the winged and wingless versions of a figure were known by the same name (cf. A ^ 5).
In the view of Th.Jacobsen (The Treasures of Darkness [1976] 128-129), theri-omorphic forms were the original conceptions of deities in Mesopotamia, but had given way to anthropomorphising tendencies, the theological conflicts being reflected mythically in battles between gods and monsters. His specific case in point is a scene which he interprets as the conflict between Ninurta and Anzu (cf. 2j), which he characterises as the anthropomorphic god fighting his own animalian form. To this Wigger-mann retorts (1986, 278) that even if this should be the case for Anzu, it cannot be so for other monsters. He notes that Ninurta also defeats the basmu-snake (26), which can hardly have been another theriomorphic form of the god. Nor can the content of the Anzu myth be derived from a theological conflict concerning the form of the god, so the evidence for such a conflict is lacking. J. van Dijk, drawing on parallels in Germanic myths, regards Mesopotamian monsters as
248
MISCHWESEN. B
essentially relics of a prehistoric mythology (Lugal [1983] I 10-19). Conversely, Wigger-mann argues that they are "(among) the simple beginnings of a new mythology yet to be structured" (1986, 278). Yet the process drew upon hybrid forms of ancient (and diverse) origin, adding new forms created on analogy with the old, and so developing new groups of monsters and demons with new or adapted mythical narratives.
I 2. Chronology.
For Mischwesen in the pre-Achaemenid art of Mesopotamia and Iran, E. Porada has proposed, mostly on the basis of seal designs, a rough chronological division into five main phases of development; namely (l) the beginnings of hybrids in the Late Ubaid and Uruk periods; (2) the glyptic art of the Akkadian period, characterised by the apprehension and punishment of nefarious demons; (3) the OB period, when beneficial elements may balance malevolent ones; (4) Mittanian, Kassite and MA art, which saw a change from human-centred scenes to a proliferation of animal hybrids; (5) NB art, which produced images of a number of individual demons in horrifying form (in: Far-kas et al. 1987, 1-2).
From at least the MB period - if not earlier (cf., e.g., J.Black, The Slain Heroes -Some Monsters of Ancient Mesopotamia, SMS Bulletin 15 [1988] 19-25) - Mesopo-tamian monsters and demons began to be presented as groups, featuring in mythical narratives (cf. Green, Visible Religion 3 [1984] 83-86). By the first mill. B.C. a clear and restricted repertoire of commonly portrayed Mischwesen had developed, including newly 'invented' types supplementing those of more ancient origin. At some stage a number of these creatures became associated with groups of constellations bearing some resemblance to them. According to C. B.F. "Walker (Cuneiform [1987] 27), all the signs of the zodiac can be recognised on stamp seal designs of the Hellenistic period.
Here we can review only the most common and identifiable creatures of various periods.
§ 3. Iconographic Types (cf. also A $7)-
fig.i
§ 3.1 Long-haired 'hero'. A figure known to art historians as the "Nude Hero", "Wild Man" or (due to an incorrect identification) "Gilgames" is a stock type in Mesopotamian art from ED II—III onwards and is found latest in early Islamic art. A one-eyed variant may be known as early as the Uruk period (CANES, no. 4). The figure has a long beard and long hair, usually with exaggerated curls, most often six (or four) in number. He is often shown naked apart from a girdle and perhaps occasionally a cover for the genitals. In the animal 'contests' of ED II—III seals he is seen holding up, or holding off, a pair of lions (e.g., CS, Pis. XIm; XIII a) or is flanked by ruminants whom he embraces (e.g., ibid., Pis. XIIIcf; XIVd). In such scenes he may represent the protector of cattle against the attacks of wild lions. On Akkadian period seals he is a guardian figure, often shown holding a flowing vase or ring-headed post (German Bugelschaft). The usual number of curls from this time onwards - six - is probably due to assimilation with a different 'hero' figure of ED glyptic shown with large loop-curls, by ED III invariably six in number. The close association of the Nude Hero with the bull-man begins in ED III, apparently inherited from yet another type of 'hero' shown with a pair of cephalic projections, probably locks of hair on either side of a shaven scalp (cf. CS, P-59)-
Lahmu ("Hairy") is the name of a protective and beneficent deity, originally associated with Enki/Ea, later with Marduk. At least by the NA period, the long- or curly-haired 'hero' was the standard iconography for depicting this god and figurines of the deity in this form were used as apotropaic foundation deposits (Wiggermann 1983, 90-
MISCHWESEN. B 249
105; 1992, 164-166; cf. Rittig 1977, 51-58). However, because the figure was a stock type, its use in art was not, apparently, straightforward. Sometimes the figure could replace the more usual image of Humbaba (12) in scenes of his murder (W.G. Lambert, in: Farkas et al. 1989, 45), or the type could be transformed into one of the hybrid types, such as the scorpion-man (4) (e.g., C.H. Gordon, Iraq 6 [1939] 27 no. 85; A.Moort-gat, ZA 48 [1944] 39 Nr. 40), or altered in various other ways, for instance by having its legs merging into the bodies of animals (e. g., snakes on "Ward, SC no 275 or Plions/ Pbirds an unpublished Akkadian period cylinder seal in Birmingham Museum, inv. no. A 1877-1982).
P.Amiet, RA 50 (1956) 114, 118-123; ^. i960, 169-173. - R.M.Boehmer, Held, R1A IV 293-302. - Frankfort, CS, as index s.v. "Hero (naked hero)", esp. pp.60, 67. - Heidenreich 1925, 1-16. -Kolbe 1981, 89-108. - W.G.Lambert, The pair Lahmu-Lahama in Cosmology, Or. 54 (1985) 189-202. - Offner 1960, 175-181. - Reade 1979, 38. -Rittig 1977, 51-58, 213-215. - Unger 1927, 205-209. - Van Buren 1933, passim, esp. 12-15; "J. 1947, 312-332. - "^iggermann 1983, 90-105; id. 1992, 164-166.
y 3.2 Bird-man. A figure human above the waist and with the hindquarters, tail and talons of a bird. This creature is commonly shown on cylinder seals of the Akkadian period, when he is presented to Ea. The scene has been related by some to the myth of the bird Anzu, who stole the "tablet of destinies" (not the "tablets of destiny", as commonly misquoted in art-historical literature), but was eventually slain by Ninurta. The earliest extant version of the story dates to the Old Babylonian period, but the story evidently originated earlier since there is reference by Gudea to the Imdugud (Anzu) as associated with Ningirsu/Ninurta. In the Sumerian version of the myth, moreover, it
is Enki (Ea) from whom the tablet is stolen and returned, although in the Akkadian version it is Enlil. It may well have been a Sumerian version of the myth that was current in the Akkadian period, so there is no need, with Lambert (Iraq 28 [1966] 70), to dismiss a connexion with the bird-man iconography on the grounds that Ea would not figure so prominently. However, in the narrative, Ninurta kills the bird and there is no mention of any imprisonment, so the iconography does not parallel the later myth perfectly. Moreover, there are other fundamental objections to the identification, in particular the absence of the bird-man in the official iconography of Lagas, and ^"iggermann has proposed an alternative tentative identification of the figure as Enmesarra. However, he too is not described as a bird-man (see A 5 1).
Amiet 1952, 149-167. - Barrelet 1970, 213-251. -Edzard 1965, 101 "Zu". - Frankfort, Iraq 1 (1934) 1-29; id., CS, pp. 132-137. - Fuhr-Jaeppelt 1972. -Unger 1927, 201. - Van Buren 1933, 41-50; id. 1953. 47-58-
j 3.3 Bull-man. Bulls and lions which are natural in form but quasi-human in posture are found among the fabulous beasts in 'heraldic groups' in the so-called 'proto-Elamite' glyptic art of north-western Iran. They have been interpreted as personifying "des puissances elementaires chargees de la stabilite du monde" (Amiet, Glyptique2 [1980] 132-133). The repertoire of figures has been thought to have been inspired by contemporaneous representations in Mesopotamian art (Amiet, Glyptique susienne des origines a l'epoque des perses achemenides, MDAI 43 [1972] 42-43), but neither the bull in human pose nor human-taurine hybrids of any kind are yet known in the art of that period (for the themes of Uruk IV-VI seals, cf. Moort-gat, MVAG 40/3 [1935] 78).
MISCHW
7ESEN. B
The figure of the 'bull-man', with human head and torso but taurine horns, lower body and legs, first appears in the ED II period, when it is found on the majority of seals (CS pp. 46-47). Commonly it is paired with the 'hero' with curls (i). The bull-man remained a popular figure in art until the Achaemenid period (cf. D. Stronach, Pasar-gadae [1978] 69, Pis 59, 60a). Kusarikku (Sumerian gud-alim), probably the name for the extinct bison, became the term for the bull-man ("w iggermann 1992., 51-5Z, 174-179).
P.Amiet, RA 50 (1956) 117-118. - Edzard 1965, 101. - Frankfort, CS, as index s.v. "Bull-man", esp. pp.64-67. - Kolbe 1981, 135. - B.Lands-berger, Sandal (1948) 96. - Reade 1979, 40. - Rit-tig 1977, 98-103. - Seidl 1989, 175-176. - E.Un-ger 1927, 214-215. - Van Buren 1933, 15-16. -Wiggermann 1992., 174-179.
% 4
§ 3.4 Scorpion-man (and scorpion-woman). The 'scorpion-man' (Akk. girtablullu) is shown in art as a human-bodied, bearded human-headed creature with the hindquarters and talons of a bird, a snake-head penis and a scorpion's tail; he may or may not have wings. The figure first occurs in unequivocal form on a cylinder seal of the Akkadian period (Amiet, in (ed.) E. Porada, Ancient Art in Seals [1980] Fig.II-20). It is next seen on the impression of a cylinder seal on a MA tablet (J. N.Postgate, Iraq 35 [1973] PI. XVa.b). The type became common, however, only in NA and NB times (some references collected in Green 1985, 75n). It is last found pictured in the impression from a stamp seal on a Seleucid period tablet (Wallenfels 1989, no. 201). The antecedents of the figure probably lie in the representations of a scorpion with humanoid head and arms in third mill. B. C. glyptic art (Digard 1975, II, 122-123), which Seidl (1989, 170 Anm. 124, Typ 1) regards as es-
sentially the same figure as the more elaborate and more human-looking type portrayed on a roughly contemporary (Ur I / ED III) shell plaque from the front of a bull-lyre from Ur (C. L. Woolley, UE II [1934] PI. 105).
As attendants of Samas, a pair of scorpion-men are often shown standing beneath and supporting the solar winged disc, and it may also be such a pair whose heads are sometimes shown above the wingtips of the disc (for both features together on a Neo-Assyrian seal, cf. CS, Pl.XXXIIIe). These pairs are always bearded males, but ritual instructions for the making of apotropaic foundation figurines prescribe a "male and female" pair (KAR 298 Rs. 8: Rittig 1977, 158, 167 = P. Hibbert, in: Kolbe 1981, 196, 204; cf. Wiggermann 1992, 52), recalling the scorpion-man and scorpion-woman who guard the gate of Mount Masu*, where the sun rises and sets, in the Gilgames Epic (IX ii-iv). No example of the 'scorpion-woman' in art has yet been identified (but cf. the mermaid, 22).
Edzard 1965, 100. - Green 1985, 75-82. - Kolbe 1981, 79-83. - Frankfort, CS, 198-199, 202, 210, -Reade 1979, 39. - Rittig 197"7, 78-79 [but her "Genius mit Skorpionstachel" figurine is probably a lion-humanoid j]. - Unger 1927, 201-202. - Wiggermann 1992, 52, 143-144, 180-181.
fig-5
j 3.5 Lion-humanoid. This apotropaic figure known in Kassite (Seidl 1989, 41-42, Nr. 64, Abb. 10, cf. p. 176 = Basmachi, Treasures of the Iraq Museum, Baghdad 1976, Fig. 128 [wrongly regarded as scorpion-tailed by Kolbe 1981, 134]), NA (Kolbe 1981, 132-136, 217-218; Green 1985, 77; Wiggerman 1992, 173) and Seleucid period art (Wallenfels 1989, no. 197) is human above the waist but with two lion's legs and lion's hind-quarters, including a curled-over lion's tail. It seems to have been a late crea-
MISCHW
tion along the lines of the bull-man (?) and scorpion-man (4), The name in Akkadian seems to have been uridimmu (contra Reade 1979, 40: urmahlullu); this could be translated „mad lion" (Wiggermann 1992., 50-51).
Green 1985, 77. - Kolbe 1981, 132-136. - Reade 1979, 40. - "Wiggermann 1992, 50-51, 172-174. [The figurine discussed by Rittig 1977, 78-79 and 218, is probably a lion-humanoid rather than a scorpion-man.]
fig. 6
j 3,6 Lion-demon. A human-bodied hybrid figure with the head of a lion, upright (perhaps donkey's) ears and the talons of a bird is present in Mesopotamian art from the OB period (and with more leonine features from the Akkadian period) until the Persian conquest, when it passed into the art of the Achaemenids (examples collected in Green 1986b, 155-232). It is last seen on an impression from a Seleucid period stamp seal (Wallenfels 1989, no. 195). The demon most often (and always in the first mill. B.C.) raises one hand with a dagger and holds in the other, lowered, hand a mace. Its torso is generally naked. Usually it wears a short kilt, but when it is fully naked it has a curly lion's tail.
At least for the NA and NB periods, the type can be certainly identified as the apo-tropaic ugallu "big weather-beast" or "big day" (Wiggermann 1992, 169-170; Green 1986 b, 153-154). In art it is often associated with an anthropomorphic smiting god, thought by Wiggermann to be Lulal (1992, 63-64; cf. Green 1986b, 155).
On OB seals, however, the lion-demon often holds a man upside down by one leg, and is associated with the 'god with scimitar', probably Nergal. It has been suggested therefore that at this early time the creature represents an attendant upon the underworld god, and is a bringer of disease (CS, pp.167, !75> 2-02-; L. al-Gailani Werr, Studies
'ESEN. B 251
in the Chronology and Regional Style of Old Babylonian Cylinder Seals, BiMes. 23 [1988] 13).
E. Braun-Holzinger, RIA VII 100-102, s.v. Löwenmensch; cf. Unger, RIA II 114-115, s.v. Dämonenbilder. - Green 1986b, 141-254 [principal literature listed p. 152], with minor additional note in Iraq 50 (1980) 167-168. - Wiggermann 1992, 169-172.
Nergal's staff or scimitar often has a lion's head, or rather the head of a lion-demon, with upright ears. The double lion-headed standard is probably also a symbol and attribute of Nergal; this sometimes appears to have the heads of lion-demons rather than natural lions.
U.Seidl, RIA III 488, s.v. Göttersymbole und -attribute, id. 1989, 157-163. - F. Pomponio, 'Löwenstab' e 'Doppellöwenkeule'. Studio su due simboli dell'iconografia mesopotamica, OrAnt. 12 (1973) 183-208.
fig-7
§ 3.7 Lion-garbed figure (La-tarak*?). This creature of NA art is a human-looking figure cloaked in a lion's pelt, with full lion's head, and carrying a whip (Lowenmensch*). Some have regarded the type as invariably a dressed-up man (R.S.Ellis, in: M. de J.Ellis (ed.) 1977, 73-78; J. E. Reade, Iraq 34 [1972.] 96), and there seems little doubt that on occasion the figure is human (cf. R. D.Barnett/ M. Falkner, The Sculptures ... from the Central and South-west Palaces at Nimrud [1962] Pis. I—II). However, since the type is found as one of the group of NA apotropaic foundation figurines (Rittig 1977, 110-112), it is likely to be a supernatural being, sometimes imitated in rituals. It has been suggested by Wiggermann that the figure is the god La-tarak (1992, 64). It is possible that this god's name is connected with a word for "whipping" (suggestion of J. Black; cf. AHw. s.v. tardku(m)).
E.Braun-Holzinger, R1A VII 99-100, s.v. Lowenmensch. - R.S.Ellis, 'Lion-men' in Assyria, in: Ellis
252 MISCHE
(ed.) 1977, 67-78. - E.Klengel-Brandt, FB 10 (1968) 36-37. - Kolbe 1981, izi-12.3. - Madh-loom 1970, 80, 109. - Rittig 1977, 105, 110-112.. -M. Rutten, RA 40 (1945/46) 99-ioz. - E.^ eidner, Die Reliefs der assyrischen Könige, I (= AfO Beiheft 4, 1967) 156-157. -     iggermann 1991, 64.
lf|u %8
5 3.8. Fish-garbed figure. The 'fish-garbed man' is a bearded human figure shown as if wearing the full body of a fish, the fish-head drawn over the scalp above the human face, the fish-body with caudal and dorsal fins hanging like a cloak. The figure first occurs on cylinder seals of the Kassite period (D. M.Matthews, Principles of Composition in Near Eastern Glyptic of the Later Second Millennium B.C. [1990] nos. 142-144, 196) and was very common in NA and NB art (e.g., E.Williams Forte, Ancient Near Eastern Seals ... Mrs. William H. Moore, Metropolitan Museum [1976] nos. 39-40, 54). Probably from the Assyrian reliefs and wall paintings (references collected in Green 1983, 9022), the figure passed into the early monumental art of Achaemenid Persia (Stronach, Pasargadae, 68-69, Hs. 59, 60b). It is last found on stamp seal designs of the Seleucid period (B.Buchanan, in G.J.P. McEwan, OECT 9 [1982] 19-20, nos. 30, 40; Wallenfels 1989, nos. 186-194).
In Akk. the figure is known as apkallu "sage" (Wiggermann 1992, 76) and the type is related to the Babylonian tradition of seven "old sages from before the Flood" (E. Reiner, Or. 30 [1961] 9, with references; cf. also JJ. A. van Dijk, SSA, 2056; and references cited by Wggermann 1992, 77). The Seven Sages are doubtless the origin of the eight fish-monsters from Oannes to Odakon mentioned by Berossos as having in succession emerged from the sea and taught the arts of civilisation to humankind. Berossos describes Oannes thus:
Its entire body was that of a fish, but a human head had grown beneath the head of the fish and
ESEN. B
human feet likewise had grown from the fish's tail. It also had a human voice. A picture of it is still preserved today. S. M. Burstein, The Babyloniaca of Berossus, SANE 1/5 (1978) 155.
For Hellenistic art this may have been the accepted identity of the fish-garbed figure.
T. S. Kawami, A Possible Source for the Sculptures of the Audience Hall, Pasargadae, Iran 10 (1971) 146-148; id., The Date of the Fish-garbed Men from Assur, FB 16 (1974) 9-13. - Reade, 1979, 38-39. - Rittig 1977, 94-96, 114-215. - Kolbe 1981, 14-30. - ^."iggermann, 1992., as index A s.v. apkallu: fish-apkallu, esp. pp. 76-77.
%• 9
j 3.9. Griffin-demon. A human-bodied figure with bird's (probably eagle's) head and wings first occurs on cylinder seal designs of the Middle Assyrian period, usually in hunting scences (e.g., O.Weber, Altor. Siegelbilder, AO 17/18 [1920] Abb.47, Nr. 354a; B.Parker, Iraq 39 [1977] PI.XXVII 7) or as an apotropaic figure in association with the 'sacred tree' (e.g., A.Moortgat, ZA 48 [1944] 35, Abb. 31; CANES no. 609; Parker, Iraq 39, PI. XXIX 32B). The type has possible antecedents on an impression of an ED III seal from Susa (Porada, Alt-Iran [1962] 31, Fig. 13; so the comment on origin by Wiggermann 1992, 75, needs modifying) and on impressions of an Old Hit-tite and an OB seal, as well as possible analogues in Mittanian art (Parker/Mallowan 1983, 33, 35 Figs.6-7). The figure became very popular in NA art, especially of the ninth century B.C. (Kolbe 1981,14-30, 212-Z14). Room I of the North-West Palace of Assurnasirpal II at Nimrud was dominated by bas-reliefs depicting kneeling 'genies' and standing griffin-demons flanking 'sacred trees' (S.M.Paley/R.P. Sobolewski, The Reconstruction of the Relief Representations and their Positions in the Northwest-Palace at Kalhu (Nimrud), II, BagF 10 [1987] 1-29, Pis. I-II). The NB figure (e.g., Rollsiegel,
MISCHWESEN. B 253
Nr. 600) is probably borrowed from Assyrian art. The creature in art is well-known in many areas of the Near East in the late second millennium and first half of the first millennium B.C. (cf. Madhloom 1970, 105-106). After the seventh century B.C. , the figure is rarely seen, although it occurs on seals of the Seleucid period (SJTallenfels 1989).
Although the origins of the figure are not Babylonian, in the Neo-Assyrian period figures of this type were explained as representations of the Babylonian Seven Sages (ap-kallu) (Tiggermann 1992, 75-76), and groups of figurines of them, often seven in number, were used as foundation deposits to protect houses and palaces (cf. 8) (Rittig 1977, 70-77). This is an interesting case of a comparatively recently introduced figure being attributed the name, and no doubt some of the traditions, of a figure of more ancient literary tradition.
In modern archaeological writing the griffin-demon is sometimes known as "Nis-roch", because Layard* (wrongly) related the type to the Biblical account of the death of Sennacherib in the temple of that god (2 Kings 19; 2 Chron. 32; Isa. 37; Tobit 1), whom he interpreted as Ninurta*, a deity supposedly with certain bird-like characteristics (Layard, Nineveh and Its Remains3, I, 64; II, 458-459).
Frankfort, CS, pp. 202-203. - Kolbe 1981, 14-30. -Madhloom 1970, 105-106. - M. E.L. Mallowan, Iraq 16 (1954) 86-93. " M.E.L. Mallowan/L, G. Davies, Ivories from Nimrud 1949-1963, II (1970) 50-51. - Parker Mallowan 1983, 32-39. - Reade i979> 39- - Rittig 1977, 70-77, 215-216. - Unger 1927, 211. - Wiggermann 1992, as index A s.v. "apkallu: bird-apkallu", esp. p. 151, with additional references.
1 3.10. Canine-headed demon {Pazuzu)*. The god Pazuzu is represented in NA and NB art as having a canine-looking face with
abnormally bulging eyes, a scaly body and the talons of a bird. His close association in art (though not in available texts) with Lamastu (11) led to his being used as a counter to her evil: he is shown forcing her back to the underworld. Amulets of Pazuzu were therefore placed in buildings or, often in the form of his head only, were hung around the necks of pregnant women (since among Lamastu's victims were unborn and newly born babies).
Green 1985, 75-82. - B.K. Ismail, Ein Pazuzu-Kopf aus Ninive, Sumer 30 (1974) 121-128. - C. Frank, MAOG 14/2 (1941} 15-23. - P.R.S. Moo-rey, A Bronze 'Pazuzu' statue from Egypt, Iraq 27 (1965) 33-41. - H.V.F. Saggs, Pazuzu, AfO 19 (1959/60) 123-127. - Unger, R1A II 114, s.v. Damonenbilder. - V.Yfilson, Levant 7 (1975) 94.
53.11. Lion-demoness (Lamastu*). The evil goddess Lamastu is described as having the head of a lion, the teeth of a donkey, naked breasts, a hairy body, hands stained (with blood?), long fingers and finger nails, and the feet of Anzu, that is, a bird's talons. Thus, in the ninth to seventh centuries B.C., she is depicted on the so-called 'Lamastu plaques' of metal or stone which show her being forced back to the underworld by Pazuzu (10). Here she is depicted also with upright ears which resemble those of a donkey. A piglet and a whelp suckle at her breasts; she holds snakes in her hands. Like other deities she has her distinctive animal, a donkey, and her boat, in which she floats along the river of the underworld. Although Lamastu is iconographically a female counterpart of the lion-demon (6), the two figures appear to have no particular connexion.
W. Farber, RlA VI 439-446, Lamastu; cf. Unger, R1A II 114, s.v. Damonenbilder. - ^.Fauth, Istar als LowengSttin und die lbwenkopfige Lamastu, ^"O 12 (1981) 21-36. - C.Frank, MAOG 14/2 (1941) 4-15- - H.Klengel, Neue Lamastu-Amu-lette aus dem Vorderasiatischen Museum zu Berlin und dem British Museum, MIO 7 (1959/60) 334-355; id., "V eitere Amulette gegen Lamastu,
2-54
MISCHWESEN. B
MIO 8 (1963) 24-2.9. - F.Thureau-Dangin, Rituel et amulettes centre Labartu, RA 18 (1921) 161-198. - Unger 1927, 204-205. - "STiggermann, La-maštu, dochter van An, in: M.Stol, Zwangerschap en Geboorte (1983) 95-116; id. 1992, xiii.
fig. 12
§3. iz. Hideous-faced demon (Huwawa / Humbaba*). Sumerian Huwawa / Akkadian Humbaba, perhaps a form of the Elamite god Humban, appears in the Gilgames stories as the guardian of the Cedar Forest, appointed by Enlil. He was killed by Gilgames and Enkidu.
In art, Humbaba is typically portrayed as a human-bodied figure with lion's claws for hands, a monstrous face, long hair and whiskers. Clay plaques and seals of the second and first millennia B.C. depict his killing by Gilgames and Enkidu: they pin him down with their feet while one of the heroes cuts off his head with a sword. Often in such scenes the standard iconography of Humbaba is replaced by that usual to Lahmu(i). Babylonian models of the face of Humbaba (ranging in date from the Old Babylonian to the Neo-Babylonian periods) were sometimes connected with divination, but may have usually been apotropaic.
Amiet i960, 169-173. - \v .G.Lambert, Gilgamesh in literature and art: the second and first millennia, in (ed.) Farkas et al. 1987, 37-52. - Opificius 1970, 286-292. - D.Opitz, Der Tod des Humbaba, AfO 5 (1929) 207-2. - S.Smith, The Face of Humbaba, AAA 11 (1924) 107-114. - C.^ilcke, R1A IV 530-535, Huwawa/Humbaba.
fig. 13
§ 3.13. 'Bes'. The Egyptian god Bes or Bisu, an apotropaic deity, god of recreation,
was represented as a dwarf with bowlegs, oversized head, goggle eyes, protruding tongue, bushy tail and usually a large feathered crown as headdress. A very similar figure is found widely in Syria, Palestine, Assyria and Babylonia in the first millenium B.C. (cf. V.Wilson, The Iconography of Bes with particular reference to the Cypriot evidence, Levant 7 [1975] 77-103; cf. for a NA example M. E.L. Mallowan, Nimrud and Its Remains [1966] II, 436 Fig. 361), as well as in the Greco-Roman world (cf. Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae, III/ 1, 98-112, s.v. "Bes"). Since "Bes" is not, however, mentioned in cuneiform sources, the god must have been known in the Near East by some other name, possibly Pessú (see A § 1).
The iconographic type may be related to the so-called 'bowlegged dwarfs' appearing on Mesopotamian seals of the ninth-tenth century B.C.,which D.Collon suggests are "probably itinerant dancers and musicians" (First Impressions [1987] 151). These figures may be original pessu (A 5 i)-
V. Wilson, Levant 7 (1975) esp. pp. 83, 87, 94.
fig. 14
§ 3.14. Lion-headed eagle. This is one of the earliest animal hybrids, first occurring on cylinder seals of the Uruk period, common in Early Dynastic art and still found in the Neo-Sumerian period. It disappears from art after the Ur III period. It represents the mythical bird Imdugud (Anzu). Cf. 25.
E. A. Braun-Holzinger R1A VII 94-97, Lowenad-ler, with literature; cf. "Anzu", RIA Nachtrage. -Fuhr-Jaeppelt 1972. - Th.Jacobsen, Treasures of Darkness (1976) 128-129. - E. Porada, in: CRRA 38 (1992) 69-72, and V. Lukonin Memorial Seminar (British Museum, 1991) (1993) 44-53-
fig. 15
MISCHWESEN. B
2-55
j 3.15. Scorpion-tailed bird-man. A figure with a human head, the full body, legs and talons of a bird and a scorpion's tail is found in Kassite, NA, NB and Seleucid period art (some references collected by Seidl 1989, 169-170; for a Seleucid stamp seal impression see Wallenfels 1989, nos. 199-200). The Akkadian name of the creature is unknown. Edzard has suggested girtablullu "scorpion-man" (1965, 100). Wiggermann, however, regards the being as distinct from that of 4 - for the two creatures are found together on the throne of Mullissu on the Maltai* rock-carvings (Fig. 1) - and that it cannot, therefore, have also been a girtablullu (1992, 144). On the other hand, Wiggermann himself admits two iconographically distinct forms of the basmu (26).
Edzard 1965, 100. - Seidl 1989, 170-171. - P.Tos-canne, Sur la figuration et le symbole du scorpion, RA 14 (1917) 187-203. - Unger 1927, 201.
I 3A6. Winged bull. From the OB period onwards the bull is usually associated with a god whose attribute of forked lightning identifies him as a weather god, in Assyria the god Adad. On some Mittanian and Middle Assyrian seals an otherwise natural bull is given wings.
U. Seidl, RlA III 487; ead. 1989, 146; 193. - Unger 1927, 214.
§ 3.17. Human-headed bull and lion. A human-headed winged or wingless bull is a common motif in Mesopotamian art from ED III (e.g., CS, PI.XIIb) through to NB times, and was taken over also into the art of the Achaemenid Empire (e.g., S.Moscati, Persepoli [1980] PL 5). Monumental sculptures of man-headed bulls and lions carved in the round were particularly employed in the Neo-Assyrian period (and similarly in Achaemenid times) as gateway guardians. Such figures adorned the palaces of the more important Assyrian kings from As-
surnasirpal II to Esarhaddon (Kolbe 1981, 1-14); as suggested by D.Stronach (pers. comm.), their absence from the North Palace of Assurbanipal at Nineveh was possibly due to the non-availability of large enough blocks of stone by that time. In smaller scale art, a woman-headed lion or lioness is also seen (e.g., on details of embroidery on Assurnasirpal reliefs: Layard 1853, I PI.44: 3.5.8). Both the male and female human-headed lion are sometimes referred to in modern literature as a 'sphinx'. Barnett has suggested that either form was known in Akkadian as kuribu (A Catalogue of the Nimrud Ivories [1975] 86), while Reade thinks that the female type is an apsa-situ (1979, 42). The more usual identification of the human-headed bulls and lions with figures called by the Assyrians alad-lammü (or lamassu and sedu, perhaps denoting respectively the anthropomorphic and animalian elements or paired figures) is also possible (see B.J.Engel, Darstellungen von Dämonen und Tieren in ass. Palästen ... [1987] 99), although many difficulties remain over the use of these terms (RIA VI 446-453). The idea that the human-headed bull was the kusarikku (B. Landsberger, Fauna, 93) has found little acceptance, while the term is now known to apply to the bull-man (3) (Wiggermann 1986, 310).
J.V. Canby, Iraq 33 (1971) 39-40. - A. Dessene, Le sphinx, etude iconographique des origines a la fin du second mill. (1957). - Frankfort, CS, as index s.v. "Human-headed bull" and "Human-headed lion". - Kolbe 1981, 1-14. - B.Landsberger, Fauna, 93. - Rittig, RIA VIII, Menschenstier. - W. von Soden, Die Schutzgenien Lamassu und Schedu in der babyl.-assyr. Literatur, BagM 3 (1964) 148-156. - Viggermann 1992, 79, and as index A s.v. sedu, esp. p.95.
j 3.18. Man-headed bull. A rather different man-headed winged or wingless bull shown on second and first millennium seals
fig-
17
fig. 18
256 MISCHWESEN. B
being attacked by two men is certainly, as demonstrated independently by Opificius and Lambert, the "Bull of Heaven" slain by Gilgames and Enkidu. In at least one instance, published since these studies, the outraged goddess Istar herself appears, attempting to restrain the two heroes (Collon, First Impressions, no. 858).
W.G.Lambert, in: A.Farkas et al. 1987, 37-52. -Opificius 1970, 286-192.
fig. 19
§ 3.19- Centaur. A figure human above the waist with, below, the body and all four legs of a horse, is seen on kudurrus and on Kassite, MA and NB cylinder seals (some references collected by Seidl 1989, 176-177). It also occurs on Babylonian stamp-seals of Seleucid date (e.g., Buchanan, in: McEwan, OECT 9, p. 18, nos. zz, Z5). Sometimes the creature has the tail of a scorpion. The human part is often shown armed with a bow or club, hunting other animals. As is known from astronomical texts, in the Hellenistic period the creature represents the god Pabilsag (C. B. F. Walker, pers. comm.; for the archer as Pabilsag, cf. van Dijk, Lu-gal ..., I 10).
P.Calmeyer, R1A V 569-570, Kentaur. - Seidl 1989, 176-178. - Unger 1927, 199-200.
1 3.Z0. Lion-centaur. The so-called lion-centaur of MA and NA art is a hybrid creature with a lion's lower body (including all four legs), and the head, upper body and arms and hands of a man. The creature's Akkadian   name   was   simply urmahlullu
"lion-man" (C.J. Gadd, in Barnett, Ashur-banipal, 40, PI.XX; independently, Ellis 1977, 74; cf. Wiggermann 1992, 181 [NB. Gadd in fact published earlier than Ellis]; Reade 1979, 41 wrongly suggests kunbu). The type seems to have been introduced only in the MA period, Wiggermann suggests (1992, 181) on the artistic analogy of the centaur (ip), and named along the lines of the more ancient girtablullu "scorpion-man" and kulullu "fish-man" (}.--)■ Apparently, representations of the urmahlullu were placed outside lavatories (Wiggermann 199Z, 86, 98), where the creature fended off the attacks of the demon mukil-res-lemutti "evil attendant" (for this demon, cf. A. L. Oppenheim, Dreams, 263; W. Farber, Saghulhaza mukil res lemutti, ZA 64 [a975] 87~95)- This demon may be represented by the lion with whom the lion-centaur is shown in combat on a MA cylinder seal (Rollsiegel, Nr. 581). Wiggermann connects this with §ulak*, a demon said to have resided particularly in toilets and described as taking the form of a lion (199Z, 98; cf. maskim* p. 455 1.). The two evil demons may therefore be associated or identical.
Barnett 1976, 40, comm. to PI.XX. - R.S.Ellis, in: (ed.) Ellis 1977, 74. - E. Klengel-Brandt, FB 10 (1968) 26-27, 36-37. - Kolbe 1981, 121-123. -Madhloom 1970, 98-99. - A. Moortgat, 2A 47 (1942) 67-68. - Reade 1979, 40-41. - Rittig 1977, 112-114. - Unger 1927, 199-200. - W.H.Vard, Seal Cylinders of "%'estern Asia (1910) 382. - wiggermann 1992, 181-182.
fig. 21
j 3.Z1. Griffin. Griffin (Greek gryphon) was the name used in mediaeval Europe, and today in studies of art, for a fabulous composite animal, typically having the body (winged or wingless), hind-legs and tail of a lion and the head and foreparts of a bird, usually an eagle. Probably originating in Syria in the second millennium B.C., the griffin was known throughout the Near East, including Mesopotamia, and in Greece by the fourteenth century B.C. (cf. A j 5).
MISCHWESEN. B
^57
The beast can be shown recumbent or seated on its haunches. The Near Eastern version has a crested head. The beak is often parted to show the curling tongue.
Apparently the creature had some specific religious function, being shown in the Near East among other beasts of gods and in the West in funerary art. It may have been magically protective, but its precise associations and functions in either the Near East or Greece are unknown. Wiggermann has tentatively suggested an identification in Mesopotamia with the creature known in Akk. as kurlbu (see A § 1).
A. M. Bisi, II grifone: storia di un motivo icono-grafico nell'antico Oriente mediterraneo ( = StSem. 13, 1965). - J. Borker-Klahn, R1A III 633-639, Greif. - T. A. Madhloom, More notes on the Near Eastern griffin, Sumer 2.0 (1964) 57-62. -K.R. Maxwell-Hyslop, Iraq 18 (1956) 154-157.
fig. 22
5 3.22. Merman and mermaid. A figure with the head, arms and torso of a man but with the lower body and tail of a fish exists in most periods of Mesopotamian art from its first known occurrence on a cylinder seal of the Ur III period (CCL II, no.A. 251; common in OB and Kass.: cf. Wiggermann 1992, 183, with references). In the MA period, for which no representations are known to us, it may have been displaced by the analogously composed lion-centaur (20), but if so it was revived as a popular figure in NA times (some references collected by Green 1983, 93" and 1986 a, 26; Wiggermann 1992, 183). Continuing into the Achaemenid (e.g., L.Legrain, PBS 14 nos. 804-806) and Seleucid (Wallenfels 1989, nos. 216-218) periods, this being is perhaps the prototype for the merman figures of Greece (cf. E.Buschor, Meermänner, SB München 1941, 2/1) and European mediaeval art and literary tradition. To the Assyrians, the creature was known simply as
kulullu* "fish-man" (Wiggermann 1992, 182-183).
Edzard 1965, 100. - Green 1986, 25-30. - Nk.G. Lambert, RIA VI 324, Kulullu. - Lutz 1930, 383— 384. - Madhloom 1970, 99-100. - J. Menant, Glyptique Orientale, II (1886) 49-50 = RHR 11 (1885) 295-296. - Reade 1979, 40. - Rittig 1977, 94-96, 214-215. - Unger, RIA III 70-71, Fischkentaur; id., R1V 4/2, 440, Göttersymbol; id. 1927, 197. - E. D. Van Buren, Or.23 (1954) 22-23. -Wiggermann 1992, 182-183.
Possibly on OB seals (Cat. ... III, no. 119) and on NA and NB seals (Green 1986, 27, Pl.Xa.b), an apparently female version of the figure (half fish and half woman) occasionally appears, and may be attested textu-ally as the kuliltu, "Fish-woman" (?).
Green 1986, 27. - Wiggermann 1992, 182; cf. S.Dalley/J.N. Postgate, CTN 3, 162, note to line 28.
fig- 2-3
3 3.23. Goat-fish. A creature with the head and forelegs of a goat and body of a fish is represented from Ur III through to Seleucid times (Seidl 1989, 178-179, lists references; for Seleucid stamp seal impressions see Buchanan, in McEwan, OECT 9, pp. 18-20, nos. 23, 24, 26, 33, 48; Wallenfels 1989, no. 217). Indeed, this figure even made its way, as Capricornus, into Roman art, especially of the Augustan period - Capricorn being the emperor's personal zodiacal sign (cf. eventually Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae, s.v. "Zodiacus"). The identification of the Mesopotamian creature with the being named suhurmasu "carp-goat" is proved by the caption on a kudurru and by the inscriptions prescribed in Assyrian rituals for foundation figurines of the type, which appear on actual examples (cf. Wiggermann 1992, 184, with references). Association with the god Ea is tex-tually attested (Wiggermann, loc. cit.) and alluded to in art by the frequent juxtaposition with the ram-headed staff (Seidl 1989, 180). However, the goat-fish could also be a general apotropaic figure, not attached specifically to any deity.
z58
MISCHWESEN. B
Edzard 1965, 100. - Lutz 1930, 383-384. - Reade 1979, 40. - Rittig 1977, 97. - U. Seidl, RIA III 489, s.v. Göttersymbole und -attribute; id. 1989, 178-181. - Unger 1927, 216. - Van Buren 1933, 77 et passim. - ^ iggermann 1992, 184-185.
fig. 24
§ 3.24. Lion-fish. A creature occasionally depicted on OB seals is a figure with the head of a lion and the body of a fish (e.g. Buchanan 1981, no. 912, "demonfish"). Its significance is unknown.
§ 3.25. Lion-griffin. The lion-dragon or lion-griffin is a winged lion with bird's talons (usually only at the hindlegs) and usually a bird's tail, sometimes the tail of a lion or of a scorpion (Braun-Holzinger, RlA VII 97-99 distinguishes a number of variants; probably they should be interpreted as having upright ears rather than bull's horns). Creatures of this type are represented from the Akkadian period down to the NB (some references listed by Seidl 1989, 181-185).
These representations include one on a bas-relief from the temple of Ninurta at Kalhu (Layard 1853, II, PI. 5). This has been interpreted as Tiamat (e.g., by Reade 1979, 43), but the creature is here clearly male. It may be a late form of Anzvi, in succession to that of 14 (so Jacobsen, Treasures of Darkness, 128), or perhaps a rendering of the monster Asakku, also killed by Ninurta. (However, van Dijk, Lugal ... I, frontispiece and pp. 20-21, regards a rare sun-headed Cyclops as the Asakku.) Wiggermann suggests that the lion-dragon is the umu nd'iru, "roaring weather-beast", the beast of the god Iskur/Adad, the bird-tailed variant of NA
art being identified with Anzu (1992, 185; cf. 1986, 323; see A 55 1, 7-2.5).
E. A. Braun-Holzinger, RlA VII 97-99, Lowen-drache. - Kolbe 1981, 71-77. - Seidl 1989, 181-187 (principal literature listed p. 181). - Unger 1927, 27. - E.D. Van Buren, The God Ningizzida, Iraq 1 (1934) 60-89 (72-~73)- - iggermann 1992, 185.
fig. 26
j 3.26. Horned snake. A snake with horns rising from the forehead is found on Kassite kudurrus (Seidl 1989, 155-156) and in NA art on palace reliefs (Reade 1979, 40, Pi. 6), cylinder seals (e.g., CS, Pi.XXXIV 9; Roll-siegel, Nrn. 680-681) and among foundation figurines (Rittig 1977, 122-123). The creature may be a genuine snake, Cerastes cerastes (cf. 5 i))- The iconographic type has been identified by \Ciggermann as the creature called basmu "poisonous snake" in Akk. (Sum. mus-sa-tur). The mythological traditions are obscure, but in NA art the figure was normally apotropaic.
Reade 1979, 40. - Rittig 1977, 122-123, 216-217. -Seidl 1989, 155-156. - Unger 1927, 212-213. " Wiggermann 1992, 168.
A variant horned snake with forelegs was apparently regarded as a different creature, but known in Akkadian by the same name, basmu, though for Sum. usum, and also known as usumgallu (Sum. usumgal). At one time one of the 'Slain Heroes' (cf. 28), it was later, when the snake-dragon (27) became Marduk's beast, transferred to various gods formerly associated with the snake-dragon (Wiggermann 1992, 167).
F.A.M. Wiggermann 1992, 168.
fig. 27
j 3.27. (Snake-)dragon. The snake-dragon, with horns, scaly body and neck, snake-like tail set upright, lion's forelegs and bird's hindlegs, is represented from the
MISCHWESEN. B
2-59
Akkadian dovn to the Seleucid period (some references collected by Seidl 1989, 187-191; Seleucid stamp seal impressions in Wallenfels, 1989; as zodiacal sign Hydra inscribed on Seleucid tablet: J.Oates, Babylon, rvd. ed. [1986] 189 Fig. 129). When it is a symbol it can represent a number of different gods. By comparing the figure depicted on the gates and processional way at Babylon (cf. R. Koldewey, Das wieder erste-hende Babylon, 5th. ed. [1990] 60-61, Abb. 31-32) with the description of the building operations given by Nebuchadrezzar II, Koldewey was able to identify with certainty the creature's Akk. name, now read mus-hussu* "the furious snake" (MDOG 19 [1903] 14-16). The complex mythologies and divine associations surrounding the creature have only recently been collected and explained (by Wiggermann 1992, 168-169; cf. A j 3.1 and Mushussu*). Originally an attendant of the snake-god Ninazu, in Esnunna it was 'inherited' by Tispak when he replaced Ninazu as city god in the Akkadian or early OB period, and in Lagas became associated with Ninazu's son Ningis-zida. Possibly after Hammurabi's conquest of Esnunna, the creature was transferred to the new national god of Babylon, Marduk, and to that god's 'son' Nabu. Sennacherib's conquest of Babylon brought the motif to Assyria, normally as the beast of the national god Assur. On Sennacherib's rock-reliefs at Maltai* (Fig. 1), however, the creature accompanies two different gods, Assur and another god, most likely, Nabu (identification suggested by Postgate, SAAB 1 [1987] 58; the association of the snake-dragon makes the suggestion likely, although the god does not carry a stylus as Postgate maintains, but the rod-and-ring only).
Edzard 1965, 100-10. - C.J. Gadd, The Stones of Assyria (1936) 185. - Kolbe 1981, 123-131. -Reade 1979, 40. - Rittig 1977, 114-116. - U. Seidl, RlA III 489; ead. 1989, 187-193 (principal literature listed p. 187). - Unger 1927, 213-214. - Wiggermann 1986, 293-294.
j 3.28. Seven-headed snake and (snake-) dragon. The 'Slain Heroes' were a group of monsters killed, according to a mythological tradition reaching back at least to Gudea
fig. 28
(and with mention of some of them much earlier), by the god Ningirsu, or in a variant version by Ninurta (A ^ 2.2, with references). One of their number is a seven-headed musmahhu "distinguished snake". As proposed by several writers (Frankfort, Van Buren, Landsberger, Heimpel, Cooper), this is almost certainly the snake (or 'hydra') with seven heads on seven long necks depicted in Early Dynastic art. A similarly se-venheaded "snake-dragon", sometimes shown about to be slain by a god (e.g., on engraved shell inlay: D.P.Hansen, in: Far-kas et al. 1987, PI. XVI 29), is another of the 'heroes', known asmus-sag-imin "seven-headed snake" (A $ 2.2).
D.P.Hansen, in: (ed.) Farkas et al. 1987, 60-61. -Wiggermann 1992, 153, 164 (with listed references).
fig. 29
j 3.29. Snake-god. Many Akkadian period seals show a god with human upper body and the lower body of a snake. Usually he carries a vase or a stalk of vegetation and he stands before an altar while receiving worship. He is often associated with the symbols of the crescent moon or star. Frankfort (CS, pp. 119-121) regards this god as a fertility aspect of Ningiszida. The type may rather represent the snake-deity Nirah or, perhaps more likely, Istaran* (see A S 3-1)'
D.Collon, Cat. ... II (1982) 90-91. - Frankfort, CS, pp. 119-121.
'1 3.30. Boat-god. On cylinder seals of the Early Dynastic and Akkadian periods, the
z6o
MISCHWESEN. B
fig V *
Collection of some of the many animals, animal hybrids and 'genies' depicted in Urartian metahvork. After T.Kendall, Urartian art in Boston: Two bronze belts and a mirror, Boston Museum Bulletin 75 {1977) 2.6-55 (52-53, fig. 18), where references are given.
MISCHWESEN. B z6i
boats which are shown conveying people or deities by river or canal are on occasion rendered with a prominent prow terminating in a human head, occasionally also with human torso and arms, with which the man-boat might actually row himself (e. g., Frankfort, CS, Pl.XIXe.f.). Since the human head is
sometimes crowned by a horned cap, it seems likely that the rendering is of a boat-god, or in effect, perhaps, an animation and personification of the boat of a god. The sun-god in particular is to be seen within his human-fronted boat - the god Sirsir? (cf. Landsberger 1950) - perhaps thought of as
z6z
MISCHWESEN. B
fig. 30
sailing the skies or river of the underworld. Wiggermann has suggested that the Boat-god is an antecedent of the constellation Hydra (A ^.j 2.4, 3.1).
Among the group of mythological characters known as the Slain Heroes (cf. 28) is one referred to as the magiltum-boat. However, it is not known which form this creature took.
P.Amiet, Or.45 (1975) V-18; 'd-> RA 71 (1977) 113-114. - Edzard 1965, 101. - Frankfort, Iraq 1 (1934) 3, 18-19. - B.Landsberger, ^ O 1 (1950) 362-366.
§ 3.31. Genies. A number of so-called 'genies' or 'genii' are found in Assyrian monumental and minor arts, often engaged in royal rituals (Kolbe 1981, 14-30). Some types wear the horned cap and so are presumably minor deities; others may be human. A male winged god, standing or kneeling, holds a bucket and cone and may be involved in the scenes of 'ritual' centred on the 'sacred tree'. A similar female figure holds a chaplet of beads (Kolbe 1981, 55-63); Reade suggests she may have "some link with" the goddess Narudu (1979, 36). It is possible, however, that these male and female figures might be covered by the Akkadian term aladlammu (cf. ly). A third figure carries a flowering branch, sometimes also a sacrificial(?) goat (Kolbe 1981, 30-50). Sometimes he wears the horned cap, and even when he does not he often has wings. Presumably, therefore, such figures are also
non-mortal; it has been suggested (by all authors cited below) that they might represent the Seven Sages in anthropomorphic form (ci.8). See also A T 1.
Green 1984, 82-83. ~ Kolbe 1981, 14-63. - Reade 1979, 35-38. - Wiggermann 1992, as index A s.v. "apkallu: umu-apkallu".
5 4. Additional remarks.
At least by the NA period, an artistic repertoire of 'monsters' and 'demons' had developed which, despite varied origins, had a unity centred upon cosmological myths. They included figures long known in Me-sopotamian art and more recent creations along parallel lines, often with archaizing features to support their pretended antiquity (cf. Green, Visible Religion 3, 83—85). Although new types of figures were from time to time added, in certain periods in larger numbers than in others, the groups, and indeed the overall repertoire, remained very restricted. Outside Mesopotamia there is little evidence for such exclusive and 'rationalised' groups of monsters, although individual Mischwesen could become common features; animals and hybrids were associated with particular deities in Anatolia, Syria and Iran, and, as we have seen in $ 3, a number of Mesopotamian figures were absorbed into Achaemenid art. Most interesting for Mischwesen, however, is the art of Urartu. The Urartians took over a number of Assyrian animals and hybrids intact - the scorpion-man (4) and fish-garbed figure (8), for example, are known from apotropaic figurines from Urartian sites (references in Green 1985, 79). Probably, however, these figures were to some extent divorced from their Assyrian identities; we can hardly imagine, for example, that the Urartians should have been concerned about the ante-
fig. 31
The best preserved of four similar panels of rock reliefs at Maltai*, carved on the cliff-face on the southern side of the Dehok valley, by the road leading from Assyria to the upper Zab valley. The Assyrian king, probably Sennacherib, flanks a procession of seven deities upon their animals. After F. Thureau-Dangin, Les sculptures rupestres de Maltai, RA 2.1 (1924) 183-197 (187). For the beasts, cf. U. Seidl,
RIA III s. v. "Gottersymbole und -attribute."
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diluvian sages of Babylonian cities. Having thus adopted the idea of absorbing such creatures and disregarding, at least to some degree, their Mesopotamian background, the Urartians felt free to create a plethora of new hybrids which would have been inadmissible in Assyria or Babylonia (Figfß.). This much more extensive and inclusive repertoire of hybrids requires more detailed study, but the initial impression is that there was scant regard for the literary and theological 'legitimacy' required of such combinations in NA and NB art.
P. Amiet 1952: L'homme-oiseau dans l'art mé-sopotamien, Or.22, 47-58; id., i960: Le probléme de la representation de Gilgameš dans l'art, in: (ed.) P. Garelli, Gilgameš et sa legende, 169-173.
R.D. Barnett 1976: Sculptures from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh (668-627 B. C.). -M.Th. Barrelet 1970: Etude de glyptique akka-dienne: l'imagination figurative et le cycle d'Ea, Or. 39, 213-251. - R.M. Boehmer 1965: Die Entwicklung der Glyptik während der Akkad-Zeit {— UAVA 4). - B.W. Buchanan 1981: Early Near Eastern Seals in the Yale Babylonian Collection.
F. Digard 1975: Repertoire analytique des cylin-dres orientaux (3 vols., esp. vol.2, 115-135: Hybrides).
D.O. Edzard 1965: ^bMyth. I 19-139. - M. de J.Ellis (ed.) 1977: Mem. JJ. Finkelstein.
A. E. Parkas et at. (ed.) 1987: Monsters and Demons in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds. - I. Fuhr-Jaeppelt 1972: Materialien zur Ikonographie des Löwenadlers Anzu-Imdugud.
A.Green 1983: Neo-Assyrian apotropaic figures, Iraq 45, 87-96; id. 1985: A note on the 'Scorpion-man' and Pazuzu, Iraq 47, 75-82; id. 1986 a: A note on the Assyrian 'Goat-fish', 'Fish-man' and 'Fish-woman', Iraq 48, 25-30; id. 1986 b: BagM 17, 155-232.
L. Heidenreich 1925: Beiträge zur Geschichte der vorderasiatischen Steinschneidekunst.
D.Kolbe 1981: Die Reliefprogramme religiösmythologischen Charakters in den neu-assyrischen Palästen.
A.H. Layard 1853: Monuments of Nineveh. -H.F.Lutz 1930: Two Assyrian apotropaic figurines complementing KAR 298, Rev. 4-7, UCP 9/7, 383-384.
T. A. Madhloom 1970: The Chronology of Neo-Assyrian Art.
G. Offner i960: L'epopee de Gilgameš a-t-elle été fixée dans l'art?, in: (ed.) P. Garelli, Gilgameš et sa legende, 175-181. - R. Opificius 1970: Gilgamesh und Enkidu in der bildenden Kunst, Hundert Jahre Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie ... 2, 286-292.
B. Parker Mallowan 1983: Magic and ritual in the Northwest Palace reliefs, in: (ed.) P.O. Harper/ H.Pittman, Fs. Chr. K.Wilkinson.
J.E. Reade 1979: Assyrian Architectural Decoration: Techniques and Subject-matter, BagM 10, 17-49. - D. Rittig 1977: Assyrisch-babylonische Kleinplastik magischer Bedeutung vom 13.-6.Jh. v.Chr.
U. Seidl 1989: Die babylonischen Kudurru-Re-liefs: Symbole mesopotamischer Gottheiten (= OBO 87; enlarged edition of BagM 4 [1968] 7-200).
E. Unger 1927: R1V VIII 195-216, Mischwesen.
E.D. Van Buren 1933: The Flowing Vase and the God with Streams; ead. 1947: The guardians of the gate in the Akkadian Period, Or. 16, 312-332; ead. 1953: An investigation of a new theory concerning the bird-man, Or. 22, 47-58.
R.Wallenfels 1989: Sealed Cuneiform Texts from Hellenistic Uruk (Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University). - F.A.M. Wiggermann 1983: Exit Ta-lim! Studies in Babylonian Demonology, I, JEOL 27, 90-105; id. 1986: Babylonian Prophylactic Figures: The Ritual Texts; id. 1992: Mesopotamian Protective Spirits: The Ritual Texts (revised ed. of 1986).
A. Green
Misime. Mi-si-mek\ einer der von Eanna-tum von Lagas zerstörten Orte, wohl in Elam gelegen.
D.O.Edzard/O.Farber(/E.Sollberger), RGTC I und II s.v.; dort auch zwei Belege aus Verwaltungsurkunden vor und aus der Zeit von Ur III -unergiebig.
I.J.Gelb hat in AJSL 55 (1938) 73 eine Gleichsetzung mit Basime* (s.a. RGTC I und II s.v.) vorsichtig erwogen. Sie empfiehlt sich ohne sichere Belege nicht, da der verschiedene Anlaut unerklärt bliebe.
D.O. Edzard
Misini. Heth. Gott, der im Kult der Stadt Sapinuwa(?) in Gestalt einer silbernen Statue verehrt wird (dMi-si-ni-is KUB 38,7 iii 14) und u.a. mit dem Wettergott der Stadt und dem vergöttlichten Gebirge Ku-warri in einem Textabschnitt zusammengefaßt ist.
L.Rost, MIO 8 (1963) 193 f.
G.Wilhelm
Misir, Mizru, Musur, Musri III, Muzir
(kurMi-sir/si-ir,  kur-("™)Mi-iz-ri(-i), kur/Vfw-