Clay mask of the demon Huwawa

The grim face of Huwawa, legendary guardian of the Cedar Forest (modern Lebanon), is rendered on this clay mask as if made of coils. These represent the coils of a sheep’s intestines. The reason why is explained on the back:

'If the coils of the colon resemble the head of Huwawa, [this is] an omen of Sargon who ruled the land. If ...., the house of a man will expand. [Written by] the hand of Warad-Marduk, diviner, son of Kubburum, diviner.'

Warad-Marduk lived in the city of Sippar (southern Iraq), sometime around 1800–1600 BC. As a professional diviner, his job was to predict the future. The most common method for doing that in ancient Iraq was to study the shape and colour of the internal organs of a sacrificed sheep.

Each feature of the organs was thought to have meaning, a message from the gods. The features and their meanings were compiled in long scholarly reference works. It seems that in the course of his work Warad-Marduk saw a famous face in the intestines, rather like when people today see faces in clouds or burnt into toast.

Huwawa features in the 'Epic of Gilgamesh', where he is defeated by the mighty hero Gilgamesh and his companion, Enkidu. This story was told widely across the Middle East.

Warad-Marduk tells us that to see Huwawa in sheep guts is an omen of old King Sargon, who ruled about 400 years earlier. Sargon was the first to unite all of Mesopotamia, and was famous in antiquity as a powerful ruler. The omen is positive. In Mesopotamian tradition, Sargon is usually seen as a good king.