Glazed Brick Representing a Birdman

7th century B.C.; Mesopotamian, Neo-Assyrian Period; Glazed terracotta. The walls of Assyrian palaces and temples were sometimes adorned with glazed terracotta decoration. A tradition for using glazed brick as wall adornment began in the Ancient Near East during the 13 century B.C. in southern Iran. The Birdman, a magical creature, appeared first in the 3rd millennium B.C. as a mischievous being who was bound and brought before the gods. By the late Neo-Assyrian period, his role is less clear: here he seems beneficent, his arms raised to support, in all probability, a winged sun-disk, the symbol of divinity. Text and images courtesy The Detroit Institute of Arts.