Statue from the Nabu Temple

721 BC - 705 BC
Gypsum
Khorsabad
151.2 cm x 45.3 cm x 38 cm (base)
A11808

Oriental Institute Museum

Artifact Description

Statue from the Nabu Temple

This is one of two statues that flanked a doorway in the forecourt of the temple of Nabu, the god of writing and scribes. It is likely that the figure is that of a god, embodying the life-giving and life-sustaining forces of fresh water. Here, four streams of water flow out of a small vessel that he holds in his hands.

Collected by

Gordon Loud (in charge of excavations at Khorsabad)
Excavated by The Oriental Institute 1932-1933

Multimedia

The Ancient City of Khorsabad
Dr. Gil Stein, Director of the Oriental Institute, discusses the importance of the ancient capital city of Khorsabad in this video.

What is Conservation?
Ever wonder what a conservator does? Oriental Institute Museum conservator Laura Laura D'Alessandro tells you all about her job in this video.

Web Links

Highlights from the collection of the Oriental Institute Museum; Statue

Images from the photographic archives of the Oriental Institute Museum; Statue

Suggested Readings

Frankfort, H. and H.A., John A. Wilson, and Thorkild Jacobsen. Before Philosophy: The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1946.

Parpola, Simo. Letters from Assyria and the West: The Correspondence of Sargon II, Part I. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press, 1987.

Reade, Julian. Assyrian Sculpture. London: The British Museum, 1983.

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