lamassu

Japanese: lamassu
lamassu

...Then, this kind of being (the bull-shaped monster) was inherited by the art of Akkad, Assyria, and Achaemenid Persia. Its most perfect form was a pair of winged bulls with human faces that decorated the gates of Assyrian palaces. They are called lamassu or lamastu in Akkadian, and are said to be statues of spirits in charge of evil, good fortune, and fertility. They represent transcendental power and magic by combining a human (head), which symbolizes intelligence, an eagle (wings), the king of birds, and the body of a bull, which is a typical livestock representing fertility and wealth (and sometimes a lion, the ruler of the desert)....

*Some of the terminology that mentions "lamassu" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

Japanese:

…以後,このような存在(牡牛形怪人)はアッカドを経て,アッシリア,アケメネス朝ペルシアの美術に継承された。その最も完成した形態はアッシリアの宮殿の門を飾っていた一対の人面有翼牡牛像で,アッカド語でラマッスlamassuないしラマストゥlamastuと呼ばれ,僻邪,吉祥,豊穣をつかさどる精霊の像といわれる。これは,知性を象徴する人間(頭部),鳥の王たるワシ(両翼),豊穣・富を代表する家畜の典型的存在たる牡牛の身体(ときには,さらに砂漠の支配者たるライオン)を合成することによって,超絶的な威力・魔力を表象している。…

※「lamassu」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典|株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第2版について | 情報

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