Lamassu

This piece of beautiful architecture is a five legged lamassu with lion's feet. A lamassu is an Assyrian protective deity, often depicted as having a human's head, a body of an ox or a lion, and bird's wings. In some writings, it is portrayed to represent a female deity. A less frequently used name is shedu which refers to the male counterpart of a lamassu. The Lammasu or Lumasi represent the zodiacs, parent-stars or constellations. Large lamassu figures up to nearly 5 metres high are spectacul