Detail of a Winged Genie with a Horned Helmet Relief in the Brooklyn Museum, August 2007

Winged Genie With a Horned Helmet
Alabaster
Neo-Assyrian Period, reign of Ashur-nasir-pal II (circa 883-859 BC)
Iraq, Nimrud (Kalhu), from room L of the Northwest Palace
Accession # 55.147

Because most people in the ancient Near East could not read, artists developed symbols to help individuals identify the figures on palace and temple walls. As a sign of their supernatural essence, the human-headed genies in the reliefs from Ashur-nasir-pal II's palace all wear horned helmets. This association between horns and divine (or semi-divine) presence had a long history in the ancient Near East. Beginning in the Akkadian Period (circa 2371-2230 BC) artists used bovine horns as symbols of divinity, and biblical and archaeological evidence indicates that horned altars were common in Israelite religion.

Text from the Brooklyn Museum label.