Assyrian protective lions

Human heads, lions’ bodies and wings come together in these protective figures. Their scale belongs to a palace entrance. The pair once flanked a threshold in the Northwest Palace of Ashurnasirpal II, an Assyrian king at Nimrud. Think about the effect of approaching a ruler through an entrance watched by such figures. The human, animal and winged forms gave the guardians powers beyond an ordinary creature. Their protective role also shaped the public image of the palace and of the king inside it. The pair belongs to the group displayed in Rooms 6a and 6b. Other Assyrian guardians have different animal bodies and come from other sites, so the Nimrud lions need to keep their own history. These figures introduce Ashurnasirpal II’s palace. He was a different ruler from Shalmaneser III of the Black Obelisk and from Ashurbanipal, whose lion-hunt cycle is also in the Museum. Let the combined forms and their original place at a doorway guide your first reading.