DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0115
PORTAL-FIGURES FROM NIMROUD.
83
At Nimroud the ponderous portal guardians, one of which is now in the
British Museum (Fig. 42), sometimes have the body of a lion, with its cruel
claws and angry tail, but the head of a man, perhaps the portrait of Assur-
nazir-pal himself. A horned cap covers this head, delicately shaped ear-rings
hang from the fully human ears, and the long hair and beard are laid in fault-
lessly regular curls. From the shoulders springs a strong wing ; and, over the
chest, feathers lie with the same precision as is seen in the stiff ringlets. The
girdle about the body of the monster is given with great regard to decorative
Fig. 42. Portal Guardian from Nimroud British Mu
effect, in the peculiar twist of knot and tassels, and finished with extreme
punctiliousness. Sometimes this lion-man monster has arms, and holds in one
an animal, and in the other a blossom. Usually these figures look outward to
all approaching the gate, but sometimes curiously twist their heads to the side,
and gaze at each other from across the passage. Very often they have, instead
of the body of a lion, that of a bull, —an instance of which is to be seen in the
British Museum. In that case the ears are large and ox-shaped, and the band
around the belly is lacking. Throughout the details of hair, feathers, and
muscles in these bull-formed figures, there is the same primness met with in
the lions. Before one small building at Nimroud, as a great exception, these
83
At Nimroud the ponderous portal guardians, one of which is now in the
British Museum (Fig. 42), sometimes have the body of a lion, with its cruel
claws and angry tail, but the head of a man, perhaps the portrait of Assur-
nazir-pal himself. A horned cap covers this head, delicately shaped ear-rings
hang from the fully human ears, and the long hair and beard are laid in fault-
lessly regular curls. From the shoulders springs a strong wing ; and, over the
chest, feathers lie with the same precision as is seen in the stiff ringlets. The
girdle about the body of the monster is given with great regard to decorative
Fig. 42. Portal Guardian from Nimroud British Mu
effect, in the peculiar twist of knot and tassels, and finished with extreme
punctiliousness. Sometimes this lion-man monster has arms, and holds in one
an animal, and in the other a blossom. Usually these figures look outward to
all approaching the gate, but sometimes curiously twist their heads to the side,
and gaze at each other from across the passage. Very often they have, instead
of the body of a lion, that of a bull, —an instance of which is to be seen in the
British Museum. In that case the ears are large and ox-shaped, and the band
around the belly is lacking. Throughout the details of hair, feathers, and
muscles in these bull-formed figures, there is the same primness met with in
the lions. Before one small building at Nimroud, as a great exception, these