Winged genie

Over the tunic is an ankle length fringed shawl that covers the near leg, wraps around the body and drapes the left shoulder, with the end hanging down the back to the waist.

They were closely associated with the god Enki: During the antediluvian age humanity was "covered" or more commonly referred to as the great flood, and the inhabitants were purified and roamed the earth as invisible spirits.

Other references[citation needed] describe the apkallu as purified humans that were sent by the ruler god Marduk to Apsû, the underground sweet water realm of Enki / Ea.

Other interpretations place the pine cone as an object known as a mu-li-la, and in conjunction with the pail, is used to avert evil forces whether real or supernatural.

[1](p 23) Winged genii co-existed with numerous other mythological hybrids in the Early Iron Age art of Assyria and Asia Minor.

They influenced Archaic Greece during its "orientalizing period", resulting in the hybrid creatures of Greek mythology such as the Chimera, the Griffin or Pegasus and, in the case of the "winged man", Talos.

The orientalizing period has its origin in Early Iron Age (9th century BC) Crete, where bearded and winged figures clearly inspired by Assyrian templates are found engraved in bronze bowls and other artefacts.