It is more than 2,700 years old, but, from wings to hooves, it is remarkably well preserved: a statue of a “lamassu”, an Assyrian winged bull, made of alabaster and of enormous dimensions, was discovered in Iraq by a mission led by a French archaeologist, AFP and Agerpres reported.

“The attention to detail is incredible,” enthused Pascal Butterlin, a professor of ancient Near Eastern archeology at the University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, who led the mission, made up of European and Iraqi archaeologists.

As proof: the feathers that make up the wings are basically similar to us, as are the hooves of this “hybrid creature between animal and man,” explained the archaeologist who, together with his colleagues, discovered this “lamassa” buried in the ground, half of October

The statue is missing only the head, “stolen in the 1990s by looters”, then restored, cut into pieces by Iraqi customs before arriving at the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad.

The dimensions of this “lamassa” are impressive: it measures 3.8 meters by 3.9 meters and weighs 18 tons, made entirely of alabaster.

“I have never excavated something so big in my entire life,” said Pascal Butterlin. “Usually only in Egypt or Cambodia are excavated such huge objects!” – said the French archaeologist.

The troubled history of an Assyrian statue

Made during the time of the Assyrian king Sargon II, whose reign was between 722-705 BC, the statue was placed at the entrance to the city of Khorsabad, located about 15 kilometers north of modern-day Mosul in northern Iraq.

In Mesopotamian mythology, “he was one of those monsters who were dominated and tamed.” They are placed at the entrance to the city to protect it. This is undoubtedly one of the last giant bulls that were brought to Khorsabad before the site was discontinued in the era of King Sargon II.

Already mentioned by the French archaeologist Victor Plas in the 19th century, this “lamassu” was not documented until the 1990s, when it was “excavated” for an “emergency intervention” by the Iraqi authorities.

This was the moment when he was beheaded and kidnapped by treasure thieves. But the biography of this “lamassa” from Khorsabad also resonates with the modern history of Iraq.

In 2014, when the terrorist organization “Islamic State” attacked the north of the country, the village where the statue was located was abandoned by its inhabitants. The latter knew of the statue’s existence and “protected and hid it” before fleeing, Pascal Butterlin said.