Iraq Announces Discovery of Largest Assyrian Winged Bull in Mosul

Iraq Announces Discovery of Largest Assyrian Winged Bull in Mosul
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Iraq’s Minister of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities, Ahmed Fakak al-Badrani, announced on Friday the discovery of the largest Assyrian winged bull ever found, standing nearly six meters tall, inside the royal hall of King Esarhaddon’s palace behind the Nabi Yunus Mosque in Mosul.

The minister said excavation teams also identified the layout of the throne room, a key feature of the Assyrian empire, and found indications of smaller replicas of the winged bull at the palace gates. The discovery adds significant historical and archaeological value to the site.

Ruwaid Mowafaq, head of Nineveh’s Antiquities Inspectorate, noted that one bull had been uncovered in the 1990s, while the recent dig revealed the second. Plans are underway, in cooperation with Germany’s Heidelberg University, to establish a museum linking Assyrian heritage with the Islamic history of the Nabi Yunus Mosque.

Archaeologist Peter Nicholas of Heidelberg University added that the mission also unearthed inscribed clay tablets from the reigns of kings Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, and Ashurbanipal, along with artifacts taken during Assyrian campaigns in Egypt and the Levant.