Detail of a Eagle-Headed Genie Between Two Sacred Trees Relief in the Brooklyn Museum, August 2007

Eagle-Headed Genie Between Two Sacred Trees
Alabaster
Neo-Assyrian Period, reign of Ashur-nasir-pal II (circa 883-859 BC)
Iraq, Nimrud (Kalhu), from room F of the Northwest Palace
Accession # 55.156

Each genie in the reliefs exhibited here carries two knives tucked into his garment and in some cases a whetstone for sharpening the blades as well. Knives of this type are known to have been used from as early as the twelfth century BC. Their hilts were often inlaid with bone, ivory, bronze, or precious metal and and their scabbards were decorated with the heads of birds. The whetstones were also decorated with an animal head, often of a horse or a bull.

Text from the Brooklyn Museum label.