The Queen of the Night. Dieser Artikel ist nicht verfügbar.The Queen of the Night

This large Old Babylonian plaque, found in southern Iraq, was made between 1800 and 1750 B.C., and probably stood in a shrine. Named the 'Queen of the Night', the mysterious figure could be the demoness Lilitu, known in the Bible as Lilith, or a Mesopotamian goddess. She wears the horned headdress characteristic of a Mesopotamian deity and holds two symbols of her divinity - a rod and ring of justice. Her long multi-coloured wings hang downwards, indicating that she is a goddess of the Underworld, and her legs end in the talons of a bird of prey, similar to those of the two owls beside her. This book explores the symbolism and history behind this beautiful and highly unusual clay relief.

Dominique Collon is curator of the Mesopotamian collections in the British Museum.