12,399 views

, 8 tweets, 4 min read

But ... what about those '#handbags' these Neo-Assyrian eagle-headed temple-protectors are carrying around all the time? 🤔

Despite what popular TV shows want to make you believe, we actually do have an idea about these things - thanks to actual written historic sources ...

This handbag .... it's a bucket!

Those eagle-guys are actually carrying around a bucket (Akkadian: "#banddudû") and, in the other hand, a purifier ("#mullilu"), pine or cone, to carry out specific rituals - we actually also know from historic texts.

"The #cone appears only when the figure in question carries a #bucket (...) The value of the cone must in some way be dependent on the value of the bucket."

(F. A. M. Wiggermann, Mesopotamian Protective Spirits: The Ritual Texts, Groningen, 1992, p. 67.)

"The texts indicate that the #bucket contained holy water effectuating 'release'. As was proposed before, the dependent #cone 'purifier' (mullilu) held in the right hand activated the holy water: it was a sprinkler."

(Klengel-Brandt, Rittig, CAD M/1l 189a).

Hm, okay. But ... what about all those other ancient depictions of #handbags everywhere in the world?

They all look the same! Aren’t they showing the same mysterious thing? What about these, huh? 🤔🧐

Let me ask back: Are these images really depicting the same thing ... or are we only thinking they do because they share what we recognize a similar shape?

How many ways are there to e.g. put a handle onto something you want to carry around?

Here‘s another example of apparently related shapes - but since I‘m familiar with their cultural background (and, well, drew them), I’m able to recognize that while bucket, handbag, and padlock share a similar silhouette - really are completely different things in reality. 🤷🏻‍♂️😉