A Note on the Assyrian "Goat-Fish", "Fish-Man" and "Fish-Woman"

A Note on the Assyrian "Goat-Fish", "Fish-Man" and "Fish-Woman"Author(s): Anthony GreenSource: Iraq, Vol. 48 (1986), pp. 25-30Published by: British Institute for the Study of IraqStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4200248 .

Accessed: 12/06/2014 18:59

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

British Institute for the Study of Iraq is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access toIraq.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.89 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 18:59:25 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=bisi

http://www.jstor.org/stable/4200248?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


25

A NOTE ON THE ASSYRIAN "GOAT-FISH", "FISH- MAN" AND "FISH-WOMAN"

By ANTHONY GREEN

In their recent edition of inscribed material from Fort Shalmaneser at Nimrud, Dalley and Postgate (1984: No. 95, pp. 159 f., P1. 22) have published and discussed a text recording the measurements, apparently in preparation for their covering in gold leaf, of statues for a temple of Nabu, probably the Nabu Temple at Kalhu itself. As extant, "face B" begins with the dimensions for the statue or statues of the uridimmu (UR.ID[IM?]), which is probably to be identified as an upright figure with human head, arms and torso but the lower body and legs of lion, a type known in the Assyrian period on the palace reliefs and among the apotropaic foundation figurines (Wiggermann, in press: ? VII C 5; cf. Green 1985: 77, with Fig. 1 and Pls. XIIIb, XIVa, b).

The next section (11. 10 ff.) concerns statues of the suhurm0Su, or "Goat-fish" (literally "Carp-goat"), and kulullu, "Fish-man". As Dr. Dalley points out, these creatures are known among the apotropaic figurines and named in the appropriate rituals (Dalley and Postgate 1984: 162, n. to 11. 15-19; citing Rittig 1977 for the figurines). An example of the Goat-fish omitted from Rittig's catalogue is shown on Plate V; its inscription (er-ba tat-mu u ma-ga-ru), corresponding to the form prescribed in KAR, no. 298, rev. line 5 (Gurney 1935: 70 f.; Rittig 1977: 157, 167)' proves the identity as the suhurmdsu (cf. Rittig 1977: 188 f., ? Ib.2; 206; Green 1983: 93, n. 54; Wiggermann, in press: ? VII C 10 b). The mention of statues of the type in the Nimrud text is a significant testimony to their original presence in the repertoire of Assyrian monumental art, for which no examples are now known (notice their absence in the review by Kolbe 1981), although an example is to be found on one face of a ninth(?)-century smaller-scale stone altar from Nineveh (Plate VIa), and statues of the creature appear to be depicted on a Middle Assyrian (Fig. 1) and post- Assyrian (Plate Xc) seals. This fact further supports the apparent identical, or at least very close, repertoires of apotropaic figures as foundation figurines and in monumental sculpture (Green 1983).

Fig. 1

' Cf. also Hibbert apud Kolbe 1981: 196, 204, read- ing er-ba tas-mu-u ma-ga-ru, which is incorrect because, as Wiggermann notes (in press: ? II A 2), BM 74119, in the ritual for the purification of a new house (his Text IV/ 1,

Fig. 17), breaks up the inscription: 2' [... u a-mu] 2' u ma-ga-r[i].



26 ANTHONY GREEN

Another face of this altar appears to show an unusually winged version of the Fish- man (Plate VIb), who is better known from the reliefs of Sargon II's palace at Khorsabad (Albenda 1983: Pls. (VII:) 10, (VIII:)13) (see Plate VIIIa), although the type is again omitted from consideration by Kolbe (1981). As Dr. Dalley notes (Dalley & Postgate 1984: 162), the outer gate of the Nabu Temple at Nimrud was indeed found to be flanked by stone statues of the Fish-man (Plate IX), usually attributed, on analogy with those on the Khorsabad reliefs and that upon a bronze door-band from the same site (Loud and Altman 1938: P1. 49:20 = Kolbe 1981: Taf. XV:2) to Sargon's reign (Mallowan 1957: 18; Oates 1957: 32 f.; Mallowan 1966: I, 235; cf. Madhloom 1970: 100), although the possibility that they were made for Adad-nirari III has also been considered (Mallowan 1966: I, 235). As Dalley notes, "they should probably be interpreted as generally apotropaic, rather than specially associated with Ea as suggested by Mallowan, because we have no evidence for Ea in connexion with the Nabu Temple". Reade (1979: 40), in fact, suggested that the less well preserved of these "Fish-men" might actually be a statue of the Goat-fish, but close personal examination of the piece, still in position at Nimrud, seems to preclude this, the stone being unbroken where we should expect to see the kneeling goat-legs (cf. Plate IX with Plate V), and the new Nimrud text would appear to suggest that the statues of Goat-fish and Fish-men were themselves in pairs rather than paired with each other. Similarly, Reade suggests (loc. cit.) that the pair of foundation figurines in the Lowie Museum in Berkeley, the one of a Fish-man, the other of a Goat-fish (Lutz 1930: Pls. 5-6 = Rittig 1977: Nrn. 9.1.3, 10.1, Abbn. 37- 38 = Green 1983: P1. XV = Tomabechi 1984: Nos. 46-47, Pb. V:25-26), were "surely found together", yet each may rather have been found with another of its own type, since two more such figurines, little known and still omitted from Rittig's (1977) catalogue, do exist (Plates V, VIIIb).2 Such an arrangement would be in keeping with the ritual prescription (KAR 298, rev. 11. 4 ff. = Rittig 1977: 157 f., 167 = Hibbert apud Kolbe 1981: 196, 204). In Assyrian and Babylonian glyptic art, moreover, a pair of Fish-men (e.g. Ward 1910: 217, Figs. 657, 659, 661; 227, Fig. 690; cf. those listed by Unger 1957: 71, Nrn. 2-4) would seem to be at least as common as a Fish-man and Goat-fish together (to the separate examples noted by Unger 1957: 71, Nr. 5, and Seidl 1968: 179, Nr.J 2 a, can be added e.g. Moortgat 1966: Nr. 725; Bleibtreu 1981: 84 f., Nr. 103), although the two figure-types were obviously closely associated. A pair of Goat-fish is, admittedly, rare, but is known, and in a very pertinent context (Fig. 1).

Parenthetically, it may be worth noting that the Nineveh altar also appears to show a figure of the Bull-man (Plate VIIc), a type again otherwise now unknown in Assyrian sculpture (and also omitted from Kolbe 1981), although the discovery of remnants of full-scale reliefs showing the type are recorded in one of Rassam's field reports (quoted by Barnett 1976: 42). The Akkadian name of this figure was kusarikku, literally "Bison" (Wiggermann, in press: ? VII C 6 b; cf. CAD 8 (K), 584;

2 In the distribution of foundation figurines from Assur in collections around the world, they were almost invariably made-up into artificial "sets" of comparable pieces of differing types, with no correspondence with the groups in which they must originally have been

found. See eventually Green, in prep. Two further figurines of the Fish-man are now in Berlin (Klengel- Brandt 1968: 32; Tafn. 9:7, 10:2 = Rittig 1977: 94 if., Nrn. 9.1.1-2).



A NOTE ON THE ASSYRIAN "GOAT-FISH I, "FISH-MAN 27

AHw I (A-L), 514; but cf. Boehmer 1965: 43). The final face of the altar (Plate VIId) shows the girtablullu' or "Scorpion-man" (cf. Wiggermann, in press: ? VII C 7; Green 1985: 75 ff.).

The final section of "face B" of the Nimrud tablet refers to statues of a creature called kuliltu, which Dalley interprets as "Fish-woman", noting that this "seems preferable to a translation as 'dragonflies' ", although "a representation of one is still unknown" (Dalley & Postgate 1984: 162, n. to 1. 28). She notes, however, that an apotropaic ritual prescribes figurines of the girtablulluz in male and female form (KAR no. 298, rev. 1. 8: see Gurney 1935: 70 f.; Rittig 1977: 158, 167; Hibbert apud Kolbe 1981: 196, 204. Cf. now Wiggermann, in press: Text I,1. 187). The "Fish-woman" may well be represented, however, in Late Assyrian and Babylonian glyptic art. A previously unpublished Assyrian cylinder seal (Plate Xa) shows a Fish-cloaked human figure or apkallu (for this identification cf. recently Rittig 1977: 215; Kolbe 1981: 15, 20 if.; Green 1983: 89; Green, in press; Wiggermann, in press: ? II A 4 B III) and a "Fish-man" flanking the sacred tree; behind the latter is a similar, but beardless, probably female, figure, who may well be the "Fish-woman". The same bearded and beardless pair are known on a Late Babylonian stamp seal (Plate Xb).3

Acknowledgements

Plates V and VIIIa were photographed by M. M. Chuzeville and are reproduced by kind permission of M. P. Amiet, Conservateur en Chef des Antiquites Orientales du Musee du Louvre; the Goat-fish figurine of Plate V was first brought to my attention by Dr. Pauline Albenda, to whom I am most grateful. Plates VI-VII and Xa-b were photographed by the British Museum Photographic Service and are reproduced by courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum. Plate Xc is published by courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum. I should like to thank Drs. Stephanie Dalley and Frans Wiggermann for providing me with copies of their respective manuscripts ahead of their publication.

Catalogue of Illustrations

Figure 1. Ass 18771 bv = VAT 15468. Ht. 2-6 cm. Cylinder seal impression on a Middle Assyrian clay tablet from Assur. Statues of the suhurmd?u before

a temple facade? After Moortgat 1944: 43, Abb. 45b. Also reproduced by Muller-Karpe 1980: [IV] 3, Taf. 109: A 5;

cf. text ibid. [IV] 1, 76. Photograph: Moortgat 1944: 43, Abb. 45a. Variant drawing: Andrae 1938: 111, Abb. 50. Cf. also Seidl 1968: 179, Nr. H 1 a; Reade 1979: 40.

Plate V. AO 10884. Ht. 10; L. 15 cm. Foundation figurine of a suhurmdSu, probably from Assur, rather camel-like in appearance, a pair

with Iraq 45, P1. XVa? Beige sun-dried clay, with original coating of black wash. On the left side, a one- line inscription: er-ba ta?-mu u ma-ga-ru, "Come in, favourable hearing and compliance!" (cf. above, note 1).

Previously unpublished.

Plates VI-VIH. BM 1930-5-8, 218. Ht. 42 cm; top 20 cm square. Limestone altar from Nineveh, site of palace of Assurnasirpal II, grid-square A, 7 ft below 1929 site

datum. Upon each of its faces an apotropaic figure: (a) suhurmdau, (b) winged kulullu', (c) kusarikku (Bull- man), and (d) winged girtablullu', the last three each with both hands raised in the air, palms upturned.

Previously published (line-drawing): Thompson (and Hutchinson) 1931: P1. XXVI, p. 83.

'Dr. Dominique Collon has drawn to my attention a likely representation of the Fish-woman, rather than

Fish-man, on an Old Babylonian cylinder (Collon 1986: No. 119).



28 ANTHONY GREEN

Plate VIIIa. AO 19890. Ht. of figure 25-5 cm. Detail of a kulullu on a limestone relief slab from facade n of Sargon II's palace at Khorsabad. Detail previously published: Albenda 1983: P1. (VIII:)3. The full slab published: Botta 1849-50: I,

P1. 34; cf. V, 100 ff.; Longperier 1854: No. 35; Pottier 1924: No. 44, P1. XX a droite, pp. 86 f.;Jeremias 1929: 155, Abb. 92; Strommenger 1964: P1. 229 [good photo.]; Albenda 1983: Pls. (I:)2, (IV:)6-7, B; pp. 5 f. Cf. Unger 1927: 197, ? 4; 1957: 70. For the position, see Botta 1849-50: I, P1. 29; Albenda 1983: P1. (IV:)6-7. b. IM 3337. Ht. 9.7; L. 12 cm.

Foundation figurine of a kulullu, almost certainly from Assur (accessions register: "confiscated at Shergat"), a pair with Iraq 45, P1. XVb? Beige sun-dried clay, with original coating of white plaster; traces of black paint applied directly to the clay. On the left side, a one-line inscription, which has been published only in (German and French) translation: "Come down, wealth of the mountain! Enter, prosperity!" (cf. ri-da hi-sib s'adf (KUR-i) er-ba mesl-ru-u on Rittig 1977: 94 f., Nr. 9.1.2).

After Stucky et al. apud Strommenger 1979: No. 141. Also published: Stucky et al. apud Strommenger 1977: 174, No. 141 (showing right side of figurine), and in other editions of this exhibition catalogue. Cf. Khalesi 1966: Fig. 162; Tomabechi 1984: 29, No. 46, n. 1 (wrongly referring to the piece as unpublished).

Plate IX. In position at Nimrud, within a recess flanking the main entrance (from "Shalmaneser Street") into the Ezida Temple. Hts. of figures as ext. 80 cm; stone bases 170 x 50 cm; upon mud-brick platform 40 cm in height, plastered and coated in bitumen.

Pair of limestone statues in the round of the kulullu, heads and hands broken. Attributed to the reign of Adad-nirari III or Sargon II (?).

Previously published (distant photograph): Mallowan 1957: P1. IV, pp. 6, 8, 16 ff.; Mallowan 1966: I, 234 f., P1.-fig. 198. Cf. Oates 1957: 32 f.; Madhloom 1970: 99 f., P1. LXXV:2; Reade 1979: 40; Wiggermann, in press: ? VII C 9 e, 10 e. For the position, see Mallowan 1966: folder, plan VI = I, 232, Fig. 194; cf. isometric ibid. I, 233, Fig. 195.

Plate Xa. BM 134770. Ht. 2 6; di. 1-3 cm. Late Assyrian cylinder seal depicting a "sacred tree" flanked by an apkallu in fish-skin, holding a cone

and bucket, and a kulullu and kuliltu(?). Quartz. Previously unpublished.

b. BM 119918. 2 5 (ext.) x 2 5 x 2 5 cm. Late Babylonian stamp seal depicting a kulullu and kuliltu(?); streams flow from a vase at top left; top

centre, a crescent. Previously published: Van Buren 1933: P1. XX:70, p.. 116, with earlier references cited in n. 3, to

which may be added Munter 1827: Tab. 11:18, p. 139. Cf. also Unger 1957: 71, Nr. 2; Unger 1966. c. Brooklyn Museum 77.52.3. Ht. 2 65; di. 1 35 cm.

Late Babylonian (or possibly early Achaemenid ?) cylinder seal depicting a worshipper(?) before divine images, including the suhurmasu surmounted by a crook. Brown chalcedony.

Previously unpublished. Cf., without the suhurmd?u and crook, Porada 1948: No. 781.

BlbFlogr-"plzy

AHw. W. Von Soden, Akkadisches Handwdrterbuch. 3 Bd. (Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften). Wiesbaden.

CAD. The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Chicago. KAR. E. Ebeling, Keilschrifttexte aus Assur. Religidsen Inhalts. Funftes Heft. Zweiter Bd., 1 Heft.

(Wissenschaftliche Veroffentlichungen in der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft, 34). Leipzig, 1923 (repr. Osnabruck, 1970).

Albenda, Pauline, 1983. A Mediterranean Seascape from Khorsabad. Assur 3[/3], 103 if. Andrae, W., 1938. Das wiedererstandene Assur (Sendschr. der D.O.G., 9). Leipzig (2te. Aufl. Munchen,

1977). Barnett, R. D., 1976. Sculptures from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh (668-637 B.C.). London.



A NOTE ON THE ASSYRIAN "GOAT-FISH 5, "FISH-MAN 29

Bleibtreu, Erika, 1981. Rollsiegel aus dem Vorderen Orient: zur Steinschneidekunst zwischen etwa 3200 und 400 vor Christus nach Bestdnden in Wien und Graz. (Sonderaustellung der Agyptisch-Orientalischen Sammlung im Munzkabinett der Kunsthistorischen Museums in Wien). Wien.

Boehmer, R. M., 1965. Die Entwickling der Glyptik wdhrend der Akkad-Zeit. Berlin. Botta, P.-E., 1849-50. Monument de Ninive, I-IV: Architecture, Sculpture et Inscriptions, V: Texte. Dessin'e par

M. E.-N. Flandin. Paris. Collon, Dominique, 1986. Catalogue of the Western Asiatic Seals in the British Museum, Cylinder Seals, III:

Isin/Larsa and Old Babylonian Periods. London. Dalley, Stephanie and Postgate, J. N., 1984. The Tabletsfrom Fort Shalmaneser (Cuneiform Texts from

Nimrud, III). London. Green, A., 1983. Neo-Assyrian Apotropaic Figures. Iraq 45, 87 if. Green, A., 1985. A Note on the "Scorpion-man" and Pazuzu. Iraq 47, 75 ff. Green, A., in press. The Chronology and Identity of the Fish-cloaked Human Figure in Mesopotamian

Art. To be published in the papers of the XXXIIe Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, held in Munster, 8-12th July, 1985.

Green, A., in prep. "Unprovenanced" Assyrian Clay Foundation Figurines in an Assur-Style from Various International Collections.

Gurney, 0. R., 1935. Babylonian Prophylactic Figures and their Rituals. LAAA 22, 31 ff. Jeremias, A., 1929. Handbuch der altorientalischen Geistekultur. 2e. Aufl. Leipzig. Khalesi, Y. M. al-, 1966. Unpublished Clay Figurines in the Iraq Museum (Unpublished M.A. dissertation,

Department of History and Archaeology, University of Baghdad). Klengel-Brandt, Evelyn, 1968. Apotropaische Tonfiguren aus Assur. FuB 10, 19 if. Kolbe, D., 1981. Die Reliefprogramme religids-mythologischen Charackters in neu-assyrischen Paldsten: Die

Figurentypen, ihre Benennung und Bedeutung (Europaische Hochschulschriften, Reihe XXXVI II: Archaologie, 3). Frankfurt am Main u. Bern.

Longperier, A. de, 1854. Notice des antiquite's assyriennes. 3e ed. Paris. Loud, G. and Altman, C. B., 1938. Khorsabad, II: The Citadel and the Town (Oriental Institute

Publications, 40). Chicago. Lutz, H. F., 1930. Two Assyrian Apotropaic Figurines Complementing KAR. 298, Rev. 4-7. University

of California Publications in Semitic Philiology 9[/7], 383 f. Madhloom, T.A., 1970. The Chronology of Neo-Assyrian Art. London. Mallowan, M. E. L., 1957. The Excavations at Nimrud (Kalhu), 1956. Iraq 19, 1 ff. Mallowan, M. E. L., 1966. Nimrud and its Remains. 2 vols. and folder of plans and sections. London. Moortgat, A., 1944. Assyrische Glyptik des 12. Jahrhunderts. ZA 48 = nF 14 (1944), 23 ff. Moortgat, A., 1966. Vorderasiatischen Rollsiegel. Ein Beitrage zur Geschichte der Steinschneidekunst. 2e Aufl.

Berlin. Muller-Karpe, H., 1980. Handbuch der Vorgeschichte, IV: Der Bronzenzeit. 3 Hfte. MIunchen. Munter, D. F., 1827. Religion der Babylonier: Dritte Beilage zur Religion der Karthager. Kopenhagen. Oates, D., 1957. Ezida: The Temple of Nabu. Iraq 19, 26 ff. Porada, Edith, 1948. Corpus of Ancient Near Eastern Seals in North American Collections, I: The Collection of the

Pierpont Morgan Library (Bollingen series, 14). Washington D.C. Pottier, E., 1924. Musee National du Louvre: Catalogue des antiqui'ts assyriennes. Paris. Reade,J. E., 1979. Assyrian Architectural Decoration: Techniques and Subject-Matter. BaM 10, 17 if. Rittig, Dessa, 1977. Assyrisch-babylonische Kleinplastik magischer Bedeutung vom 13.-16. -7h. v. Chr. (Miin-

chener Universitats-Schriften Phil. Fachbereich, 12. Munchener Vorderasiatisches Studien, 1). Munchen.

Seidl, Ursula, 1968. Die babylonischen Kudurru-Reliefs. BaM 4, 7 if. Strommenger, Eva, 1964. The Art of Mesopotamia. Photographs by M. Hirmer. London. Strommenger, Eva, 1977. (ed.) Der Garten in Eden: Sieben Jahrtausende Kunst und Kultur am Euphrat und

Tigris [various titles]. Mainz am Rhein. Strommenger, Eva, 1979. (ed.) Sumer, Assur, Babylone: 7000 ans de culture et d'art sur le Tigre et l'Euphrate

[various titles]. Mainz am Rhein. Thompson, R. C. and Hutchinson, R. W., 1931. The Site of the Palace of Ashurnasirpal at Nineveh,

excavated in 1929-30 on behalf of the British Museum. LAAA 18, 79 if.



30 ANTHONY GREEN

Tomabechi, Yoko, 1984. Catalogue of the Artifacts in the Babylonian Collection of the Lowie Museum of Anthropology (Bibliotheca Mesopotamica, 15). Malibu.

Unger, E., 1927. Mischwesen (Vorderasien). RLV VIII, 195 ff. Unger, E., 1957. Fischkentaur. RLA III (1957-71), 70 f. Unger, E., 1966. Der Beginn der Altmesopotamischen Siegelbildforschung: Eine Leistung der Osterreichischen

Orientalistik (Osterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften Philosophisch-historische Klasse, Sitzungsberichte 250/2). Wien.

Van Buren, Elizabeth Douglas, 1933. The Flowing Vase and the God with Streams. Berlin. Ward, W. H., 1910. Seal Cylinders of Western Asia (Carnegie Institution of Washington Publications,

100). Washington D.C. Wiggermann, F. A. M., in press. Babylonian Prophylactic Figures: The Ritual Texts (Ph.D. Dissertation,

Faculteit der Letteren, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam).



PLATE V

A1,~~~~~~~~~~Ak

Fonainfguieo_ uurdu(.2)



PLATE VI

40

:S



PLATE VII

N~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~N

.; .. ~~ ~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~...............

-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~C

|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _ _~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

___~~

! l~~~~



PLATE VIII

I ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~4

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _.

w~~~ ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . . ..... .....

_ .. .4 ..... . . ... .. ..~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.... .

4~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~. . .... ..^ . ..;

b.

Kulull on aI Cietn eiffo hraa n safudto iuie(.2).



PLATE IX

Limestoneasculptures of the kulullu from Nimrud (p 28)

b . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Limestone sculptures of the kulullu', from Nimrud (p. 28).



PLATE X

a. f

b.

____~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~... .. ..

C.W _

Apal,kllu,kllu ad uuml nsas(.2)



A Note on the Assyrian "Goat-Fish", "Fish-Man" and "Fish-Woman"

Documents

Transcript of A Note on the Assyrian "Goat-Fish", "Fish-Man" and "Fish-Woman"