Table Of ContentMONSTERS AND DEMONS IN THE ANCIENT
AND MEDIEVAL WORLDS
PAPERS PRESENTED IN HONOR OF EDITH PORADA
The Franklin Jasper Walls Lectures
Franklin Jasper Walls, who died in 1963, bequeathed his residuary estate to
The Pierpont Morgan Library to establish a lecture series in the fine ans,
iconography, and archaeology, with the provision that the lectures be
ultimately published in book form.
Throughout his life, Mr. Walls was interested in the fine arts and in the
study of art history. When the Association of Fellows of The Pierpont Morgan
Library was organized in 1949, he became one of the founding members. He
was panicularly concerned with the Library's lecture program, and served
on the Association's Lecture Committee. Without ever revealing his testa
mentary plans, he followed with keen attention the design and construction
of the Library's new Lecture Hall, completed a few months before his death.
The essays printed here are the tenth series of the Franklin Jasper Walls
Lectures to be published and the second series on an archaeological subject.
The first series in archaeology, Ancient Art in Seals, published in 1980, was
based on three illustrated lectures by Pierre Amiet, Nimet Ozgii~, and John
Boardman.
The symposium on demons and monsters, as well as the accompanying
exhibition, were both initiated by Charles Ryskamp, the Director of The
Pierpont Morgan Library. The symposium was organized by Ann E. Farkas,
Prudence 0. Harper and Evelyn B. Harrison; the exhibition, by Edith Porada
and William M. Voelkle. Both the symposium and the exhibition sought to
demonstrate the connections of ancient Near Eastern art and thought with
those of later periods.
Publication of this book has been aided by a generous grant to The Pierpont
Morgan Library from the Trust of Natalie P. Webster in honor of Edith Porada.
MONSTERS AND DEMONS
IN THE ANCIENT
AND MEDIEVAL WORLDS
PAPERS PRESENTED IN HONOR OF
EDITH PORADA
EDITED BY
ANN E. FARKAS, PRUDENCE 0. HARPER
AND EVELYN B. HARRISON
VERLAG PHILIPP VON ZABERN · MAINZ ON RHINE
XV, 114 pages of text, 54 plates with 66 drawings and 101 photographs
CIP-Kurztitelaufnahmed er DeutschenB ibliothek
Monsters and demons in the ancient and medieval worlds :
papers presented in honor of Edith Porada / ed. by
Ann E. Farkas ... -
Mainz on Rhine : von Zabem, 1987.
ISBN 3-8053-0912-0
NE: Farkas, Ann E. [Hrsg.]; Porada, Edith: Festschrift
© 1987 by Philipp von Zabern, Mainz am Rhein
ISBN 3-805 3-0912-0
Alie Rechte, insbesondere das der Obcrscu:ung in fremdc Sprachen, vorbchalten. Ohne ausdriickliche Genehmigung
des Verlages ist es auch nicht gestattet, dieses Buch oder Teile daraus auf photomechanischem Wege (Photokopie,
Mikrokopie) zu vervielfliltigen.
Printed in West Germany by Philipp von Zabem
All rights reserved
Contents
Charles Ryskamp Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VI I
List of Illustrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IX
Edith Porada Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Henry G. Fischer The Ancient Egyptian Attitude Towards the
Monstrous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Erica Reiner Magic Figurines, Amulets, and Talismans . . . . . . . . . . 27
Wilfred G. Lambert Gilgamesh in Literature and Art: The Second and First
Millennia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Donald P. Hansen The Fantastic World of Sumerian Art; Seal Impressions
from Ancient Lagash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 3
Machteld J. Mellink Anatolian Libation Pourers and the Minoan Genius . . 65
John Boardman 'Very Like a Whale' - Classical Sea Monsters . . . . . . . 73
Peter H. von Blanckenhagen Easy Monsters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Dale Bishop When Gods Become Demons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
William M. Voelkle Morgan Manuscript M. 1001: The Seven Deadly Sins
and the Seven Evil Ones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1O 1
Plates I-LIV
Foreword
The papers presented here in honor of Edith Porada were first given in somewhat different
form as lectures at The Pierpont Morgan Library in April 1983. We felt that it was appropriate
to celebrate Dr. Porada's career as scholar, teacher, and curator with these lectures and a
book on a subject which has long interested her and should lead to further study. During
the lectures and discussions new insights were gained and the ideas formulated then will
continue to encourage research in the obscure and fascinating field of the mysterious,
demonic, and monstrous in the ancient and medieval world.
It is now nearly fifty years since Dr. Porada first became associated with the Morgan
Library. In 1956 she was made Honorary Curator of Seals and Tablets at the Library, where
she has held most of her seminars for Columbia University. She is now the Arthur Lehman
Professor Emeritus of Art History and Archaeology; at her retirement in 1981 from Colum
bia, a professorship in ancient Near Eastern art history and archaeology was named for her.
She is as active as ever in her curatorial work at the Library in addition to continuing to
teach. She has produced a generation of scholars scattered over the United States, Europe,
and the Near East who are already leaders in art and archaeology in universities and mu
seums throughout a large part of the world. Their loyalty to Edith Porada is extraordinary;
they are the finest tribute to her.
In 1948 the Morgan Library showed for the first time its collection of engraved Near
Eastern seals, tracing the development of Mesopotamian art from the fourth millennium B. C.
to the fourth century B.C. The beauty of the engraving was dramatically revealed in en
larged photographs of the impressions which were displayed with the seals and their plasticine
impressions. In the same year the collection of seals was definitively published in a volume
catalogued by Edith Porada in collaboration with Briggs Buchanan. In recent years more
than ever there has been a great interest in iconography. For the ancient Near Eastern field,
the carved seal stones constitute the only extensive iconographic material which remains.
We are deeply indebted to the scholars who have contributed these papers, to Priscilla C.
Barker for her work on this book, to Barbara Porter for editing Edith Porada's bibliography,
to Ann E. Farkas and Evelyn B. Harrison for their help with the symposium, and, above all,
to Prudence 0. Harper for her involvement in every aspect of the project. This book is a
labor of love from all of us for Edith Porada.
Charles Ryskamp
Director
The Pierpont Morgan Library
List of Illustrations
Plate I 1 Tuthmosis IV as a falcon, Karnak temple (drawing from photograph)
2 Predynastic two-headed turtle, cosmetic palette. Metropolitan Museum
of Art
3 Protodynastic double bull, from so-called Hunters' Palette in the Brit
ish Museum (drawing from photograph)
4 Protodynastic double lions from cylinder seals (after Kaplony)
Plate II 5 Narmer Palette from Hieraconpolis (Cairo Museum, after Quibell)
6 Representation of the Seth animal from early Old Kingdom tomb at
Saqqara (after Margaret Murray)
7 Fantastic animals of the desert, Middle Kingdom tomb at Beni Hasan
(after Newberry)
8 Protodynastic griffin (detail from cosmetic palette in the Ashmolean
Museum)
Plate III 9 Amenophis III as griffin depicted on the King's chair (detail from
Theban tomb, after Davies)
10 Facsimile wall painting of tame griffin by Norman de G. Davies from
Middle Kingdom tomb at Beni Hasan. Metropolitan Museum of Art
11 Middle Kingdom nursing cup from Lisht. Metropolitan Museum of
Art
Plate IV 12 Middle Kingdom lion-woman from Ramesseum at Thebes (Manchester
Museum, after Quibell)
13 Middle Kingdom lion-woman from El Lahun (from Petrie)
14 Middle Kingdom magical knife of ivory (fragment in the Louvre, after
Legge)
15 Leonine figure from Sahure temple, Abusir, Fifth Dynasty (after
Borchardt)
16 Dancing lion-man on chair of Sit-Amun from tomb of Yuya and
Tuyu, Thebes (after Davies)
Plate V 17 Statue of Tueris, Dynasty XXVI. Cairo Museum
18 Magical stela of Dynasty XXX. Metropolitan Museum of Art
X List of Illustrations
19a Queen of Punt, detail of Dynasty XVIII scene depictingHatshepsut's
expedition to Punt in her temple at Deir el Bahri (Cairo Museum, after
Davies);
19b Sketch on ostracon showing the same figure, possibly dating to the
Ramesside Period (Berlin Museum, after Schafer)
Plate VI 20 Procession with rhinoceros from temple relief at Armant of the New
Kingdom (after Myers)
21 Detail of "Botanical Garden" from Festival Temple of Tuthmosis Ill
at Karnak
22 Detail of "Botanical Garden" from Festival Temple of Tuthmosis III
at Karnak
23 Middle Kingdom scene showing "Life and Power" preparing offerings,
in tomb at Qau (after Petrie)
Plate Vil 1 Two heroes killing a demon. Old Babylonian terracotta plaque. Staat
liche Museen, Berlin
2 Two heroes killing a demon. Seal impression on tablet from Nuzi
3 Two heroes killing a demon. Impression of a cylinder seal. The Pier
pont Morgan Library
4 Two heroes menacing a frontally-postured demon. Impression of a
cylinder seal. Medelhavsmuseet, Stockholm
5 Two heroes killing a bearded figure. Detail of a bronze relief vessel.
Museum filr Vor- und Friihgeschichte, Berlin (from Calmeyer)
6 Two heroes killing a demon. Impression of a N eo-Assyrian cylinder
seal 9th-8th c. B.C. Gorelick Collection
Plate VIII 7 Two heroes killing a demon. Impression of a Neo-Assyrian cylinder
seal, Assur, 8th-7th c. B.C. Staatliche Museen, Berlin
8 Two heroes killing a demon. Impression of a Neo-Assyrian cylinder
seal. British Museum
9a, b Terracotta plaques from Larsa showing the killing of a monstrous
figure, 20th-17th c. B.C.
10 Two heroes menacing a bearded frontal figure kneeling on one knee.
Secondary motif on an impression of a Mitannian cylinder seal c. 14th cen
wry 'B.C . 'B11t=~M1nu :~-eum
11 Two heroes menacing a bearded frontal figure on a seal impression
from Nuzi. 15th-14th c. B.C.
Plate IX 12 Two heroes killing a bearded monstrous figure kneeling on one knee.
One of the motifs on the relief decoration of the Hasanlu gold bowl, HAS
5 8-469, Musee Iran Bastan (from Winter)
13 Two heroes killing a bearded frontal figure. Relief from Tell Halaf.
Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore
14 Two heroes killing a third figure in a relief from Carchemish
15 Two heroes attacking a bearded, frontal figure. Center of a bronze
platter from N imrud
List of Illustrations XI
Plate X 16 Two figures with Egyptian royal headgear grasping a frontal figure.
One of the motifs in the reconstructed rim of a bronze platter from Nim
rud (from Barnett)
17 Two Egyptianizing heroes grasping a frontal figure. Ivory from Nim
rud
_18 Two heroes menacing a kneeling figure. Engraving on the side of a
conical seal with rounded top, Neo-Assyrian or Neo-Babylonian 7th or 6th
c. B.C. Drawing by D. Collon.
19 A god and his dog attacking a giant in a secondary scene on an im
pression of a Classic Syrian cylinder seal c. 18th c. B. C. Lands of the Bible
Archaeology Foundation
20 Hero and archer attack a monstrous figure. Drawing by D. Collon.
21 A demon attacked by a god and his minions in the upper register on
an impression of a Classic Syrian cylinder seal, c. 18th c. B.C. Drawing by
D. Collon.
Plate XI 22 A hero attacking with a scimitar a monstrous figure. Staatliche Mu
seen, Berlin
23 Two heroes overpowering a winged human-headed bull in a seal im
pression from Nuzi. Drawing by D. Collon.
24 Two heroes overpowering a winged human-headed bull in a Middle
Assyrian seal impression of the fourteenth century B.C. Staatliche Mu
seen, Berlin
25 Two heroes slaying a winged human-faced bull. Impression of a Bab
ylonian cylinder seal, 8th-7th century B.C. Musee du Cinquantenaire,
Brussels
26 Two heroes slaying a winged human-faced bull. Impression of a Bab
ylonian cylinder seal, 8th-7th century B.C.
27 Two heroes slaying a winged bull. Drawing by D. Collon of an impres
sion of a 9th century B. C. Assyrian seal.
28 Hero slaying a winged bull. Impression of a cylinder seal, second
quarter of the first millennium B.C. British Museum
Plate XII 2 Seal and impression, al-Hiba 3H52
3 Impression of seal. British Museum
4 Drawing of sealing. Fara VA. 6431 (from Heinrich)
5 Sealing. Ur U. 12296 (from Woolley)
6 Sealing with impression of seal of Akalamdug, Ur, U. 11825 (from
Woolley)
7 Sealing with impression of seal of Meskalamdug, Ur, U. 11751 (from
Woolley)
8 Impression of seal, Ur, U. 12374 (from Woolley)
Plate XIII 9 Drawing of sealing, al-Hiba 3H85a-f (by Anne Searight)
10 Drawing of sealing, al-Hiba 2H381 (by Anne Searight)
11 Drawing of sealing, al-Hiba 2H369 (by Anne Searight)
12 Drawing of sealing, al-Hiba 2H219 (by Anne Searight)
