Monumental sculpture of a raptor

Based on the reconstruction by the excavators [of the Tell Halaf ecavations at the beginning of the 20th century], the roughly 5-feet-tall monumental sculpture of a raptor stood on the large terrace in front of the palace entrance, probably on top of a column with a stepped base. The foliated capital on which the bird perches would, in that case, have been attached to the column by means of a tenon. We can only speculate about the sculpture’s function: perhaps it was intended to deny the forces of evil entry to the palace, or perhaps it was installed as a symbol of the weather god in connection with his cult there. Its disproportionately large head, telescope-like eyes, which once featured colored inlays, and distinct beak lend the bird an odd presence. Its forbidding appearance, which was doubtlessly intended, nowadays seems almost grotesque, prompting Max von Oppenheim to compare it with Wilhelm Busch’s unlucky raven, Hans Huckebein.