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100-585: In Jewish angelic hierarchy , cherubim have the ninth (second-lowest) rank in Maimonides ' Mishneh Torah (12th century), and the third rank in Kabbalistic works such as Berit Menuchah (14th century). The Christian work De Coelesti Hierarchia places them in the highest rank alongside Seraphim and Thrones . In Islam , al-karubiyyin "cherubim" or al-muqarrabin "the Close" refers to

200-403: A Hebrew word for "youthful" is due to Abbahu (3rd century). The Israelite cherubim are described as fulfilling a variety of functions – most often, they are described as bolstering the throne of Yahweh . Ezekiel's vision of the cherubim also emulate this, as the conjoined wingspan of the four cherubim is described as forming the boundary of the divine chariot. Likewise, on the " mercy seat " of

300-519: A belief in the existence of angels, including cherubim within the Jewish angelic hierarchy . The existence of angels is generally accepted within traditional rabbinic Judaism . There is, however, a wide range of beliefs within Judaism about what angels actually are and how literally one should interpret biblical passages associated with them. In Kabbalah there has long been a strong belief in cherubim,

400-416: A calf, shining like polished brass. Between the creatures glowing coals that moved between them could be seen, their fire "went up and down", and lightning burst forth from it. The cherubs also moved like flashes of lightning. In Ezekiel 10, another full description of the cherubim appears with slight differences in details. Three of the four faces are the same – man, lion and eagle – but where chapter one has

500-497: A male human head, the body of a lion or bull, and wings. They have heads carved in the round, but the body at the side is in relief . They weigh up to 27 tonnes (30 short tons). In 1847 Layard brought two of the colossi weighing 9 tonnes (10 short tons) each including one lion and one bull to London. After 18 months and several near disasters he succeeded in bringing them to the British Museum . This involved loading them onto

600-510: A man, a lion (on the right side), and ox (on the left side), and an eagle. The four faces represent the four domains of God's rule: the man represents humanity; the lion, wild animals; the ox, domestic animals; and the eagle, birds. These faces peer out from the center of an array of four wings; these wings are joined to each other, two of these are stretched upward, and the other two cover their bodies. Under their wings are human hands; their legs are described as straight, and their feet like those of

700-618: A new royal mansion of superior size, bigger than previous monarchs'. The kings of Assyria continued to be buried in Assur , but their queens were buried in Kalhu. Kalhu is known today as Nimrud because the archaeologists of the 19th and 20th centuries gave it that name, believing it was the legendary city of the biblical Nimrod , which is mentioned in the Book of Genesis. A grand opening ceremony with festivities and an opulent banquet in 864 BC

800-422: A single rigid leg, and the feet of each were like a single calf’s hoof; and their sparkle was like the luster of burnished bronze." In Ezekiel and some Christian icons, the cherub is depicted as having two pairs of wings and four faces, the hayyoth : that of a lion (representative of all wild animals ), an ox ( domestic animals ), a human (humanity), and an eagle ( birds ). Later tradition ascribes to them

900-590: A subject of debate. Mythological hybrids are common in the art of the Ancient Near East . One example is the Babylonian lamassu or shedu , a protective spirit with a sphinx -like form, possessing the wings of an eagle, the body of a lion or bull, and the head of a king. This was adopted largely in Phoenicia . The wings, because of their artistic beauty and symbolic use as a mark of creatures of

1000-470: A tradition attached to it, of a palace having been built there by Nimrod". However, the name became the cause of significant debate amongst Assyriologists in the mid-nineteenth century, with much of the discussion focusing on the identification of four Biblical cities mentioned in Genesis 10 : "From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, the city Rehoboth-Ir , Calah and Resen ". The site

1100-515: A traditional prayer naming four archangels , "To my right Michael and to my left Gabriel, in front of me Uriel and behind me Raphael, and over my head God's Shekhinah ['the presence of God']." On the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah , it is customary to call all the boys (in some synagogues, all the children) to the Torah reading and for the whole congregation to recite a verse from Jacob's blessing to Ephraim and Manasheh (Manassas) . May

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1200-587: A variety of physical appearances. Some early midrash literature conceives of them as non-corporeal. In Western Christian tradition, cherubim have become associated with the putto derived from Cupid in classical antiquity , resulting in depictions of cherubim as small, plump, winged boys. Cherubim are also mentioned in the Second Treatise of the Great Seth , a 3rd-century Gnostic writing. Delitzch 's Assyrisches Handwörterbuch (1896) connected

1300-774: A war crime". The president of the Syriac League in Lebanon compared the losses at the site to the destruction of culture by the Mongol Empire . In November 2016, aerial photographs showed the systematic leveling of the Ziggurat by heavy machines. On 13 November 2016, the Iraqi Army recaptured the city from ISIL. The Joint Operations Command stated that it had raised the Iraqi flag above its buildings and also captured

1400-464: A wheeled cart. They were lowered with a complex system of pulleys and levers operated by dozens of men. The cart was towed by 300 men. He initially tried to hook up the cart to a team of buffalo and have them haul it. However the buffalo refused to move. Then they were loaded onto a barge which required 600 goatskins and sheepskins to keep it afloat. After arriving in London a ramp was built to haul them up

1500-456: Is described in an inscribed stele discovered during archeological excavations. By 800 BC Nimrud had grown to 75,000 inhabitants making it the largest city in the world. King Ashurnasirpal's son Shalmaneser III (858–823 BC) continued where his father had left off. At Nimrud he built a palace that far surpassed his father's. It was twice the size and it covered an area of about 5 hectares (12 acres) and included more than 200 rooms. He built

1600-477: Is found in Tractate Shabbat . The text recounts the sages' halakhic discussion in which Rabbi Hizkiya praises Rabbi Yohanan's competencies by exclaiming "this is not a human!". Right after his remark a following passage appears. Rabbi Zeira said that Rava bar Zimuna said: If the early generations are characterized as sons of angels, we are the sons of men. And if the early generations are characterized as

1700-434: Is in progress. Kalhu was located on a prosperous route and was built of an earlier business community under Shalmaneser I (1274-1245 BCE). Through the centuries, it was in disrepair. The city was established from a previous settlement during the rule of Shalmaneser I (1274-1245 BCE). Ashurnasirpal I ordered the removal of debris from the towers and walls and wanted the construction of a new city. This new city would have

1800-560: Is probably because they are depicted in profile. In rabbinic literature, the two cherubim are described as being human-like figures with wings, one a boy and the other a girl, placed on the opposite ends of the Mercy seat in the inner-sanctum of God's house. Solomon's Temple was decorated with Cherubs according to 1 Kings 6 , and Aḥa bar Ya’akov claimed this was true of the Second Temple as well. Many forms of Judaism include

1900-407: Is their intellectual proficiency. When it comes to the mapping of specific rabbinic competencies onto the angels, the most popular is the ability to engage in halakhic scrutiny and teaching. In sum, this presentation of the sages as angels can be taken as an expression of the sense of elitism entertained by the Babylonian sages. Maimonides , in his Mishneh Torah , counted ten ranks of angels in

2000-649: The Ark of the Covenant as quadrupedal creatures with backward-facing wings, as these cherubim were meant to face each other and have their wings meet, while still remaining on the edges of the cover from which they were beaten. At the same time, these creatures have little to no resemblance to the cherubim in Ezekiel's vision. On the other hand, even if cherubim had a more humanoid form, this still would not entirely match Ezekiel's vision and likewise seemingly clashes with

2100-465: The Ark of the Covenant , two cherubim are described as bounding the ark and forming a space through which Yahweh would appear – however, aside from the instruction that they be beaten out of the sides of the ark, there are no details about these cherubim specified in the text. The status of the cherubim as constituting a sort-of vehicle for Yahweh is present in Ezekiel's visions, the Books of Samuel ,

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2200-625: The Ark of the Covenant . Many appearances of the words cherub and cherubim in the Bible refer to the gold cherubim images on the mercy seat of the Ark, as well as images on the curtains of the Tabernacle and in Solomon's Temple , including two measuring ten cubits high. In Isaiah 37:16 , Hezekiah prays, addressing God as Hebrew : יֹשֵׁ֥ב כְּ֝רוּבִ֗ים , lit.   'enthroned above

2300-648: The Birkat Hamazon (grace after meals) is recited by at least ten thousand seated at one meal, a special blessing Blessed is Ha-Shem our God, the God of Israel, who dwells between the cherubim is added to the regular liturgy . In the Book of Genesis , the Cherubim were introduced: So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep

2400-571: The Book of Ezekiel , they transport Yahweh's throne. The cherub who appears in the "Song of David", a poem which occurs twice in the Hebrew Bible, in 2 Samuel 22 and Psalm 18 , participates in Yahweh's theophany and is imagined as a vehicle upon which the deity descends to earth from heaven to rescue the speaker (see 2 Samuel 22:11, Psalm 18:10). In Exodus 25:18–22, God tells Moses to make multiple images of cherubim at specific points around

2500-652: The God of Israel . They are categorized in different hierarchies . Their essence is often associated with fire. The Talmud describes their very essence as fire. Hebrew mal’ākh is the standard word for "messenger", both human and divine, in the Hebrew Bible ; it is also related to the words for "angel" in Arabic ( malāk ملاك ), Aramaic and Ethiopic . It is rarely used for human messengers in Modern Hebrew as

2600-570: The Hebrew Bible , as the Hebrew word appears 91 times. The first occurrence is in the Book of Genesis 3:24. Despite these many references, the role of the cherubim is never explicitly elucidated. While Israelite tradition must have conceived of the cherubim as guardians of the Garden of Eden in which they guard the way to the Tree of life , they are often depicted as performing other roles; for example in

2700-567: The heavens , soon became the most prominent part, and animals of various kinds were adorned with wings; consequently, wings were bestowed also upon human forms, thus leading to the stereotypical image of an angel . William F. Albright (1938) argued that "the winged lion with human head" found in Phoenicia and Canaan from the Late Bronze Age is "much more common than any other winged creature, so much so that its identification with

2800-548: The 17th century, that is commonly sung on the eve of Shabbat , either upon returning home from services, or at the dinner-table. שלום עליכם מלאכי השרת ‎ Peace be unto you, Malakhei HaSharet (Angels of Service) מלאכי עליון ‎ Angels of the Most High ממלך מלכי המלכים ‎ From the King of the kings of kings הקדוש ברוך הוא ‎ The Holy One Blessed Be He Before going to sleep, many Jews recite

2900-515: The Assyrian village of Numaniya, on the edge of the town. By the time Nimrud was retaken, around 90% of the excavated part of the city had been destroyed entirely. Every major structure had been damaged, the Ziggurat of Nimrud had been flattened, only a few scattered broken walls remained of the palace of Ashurnasirpal II, the Lamassu that once guarded its gates had been smashed and scattered across

3000-661: The Babylonian Talmud. This tendency has two components, and, on the one hand, the text compares the sages to angels in various respects such as knowledge (e.g., the sages should be good teachers playing the function of the angel of the Lord in Hagigah , some of their halakhic decisions are labeled as angelic in origins in Pesachim ), or appearance (e.g., according to Shabbat Rabbi Yehudah bar Ilai's Sabbath attire resembles

3100-419: The Bible deal with angels to different degrees. On numerous locations the Bible introduces the idea of a Heavenly host or "host of heaven", and the related divine epithet " Lord of Hosts ". While sometimes depicted in military fashion, the assembly also serves to praise God, in descriptions reminiscent of a kingly court. Genesis has Elohim , Bene Elohim ( Sons of God ), as does the Book of Job ; Psalms has

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3200-528: The British Museum by Layard and the British archaeologist Hormuzd Rassam . Also in the British Museum is the famous Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III , discovered by Layard in 1846. This stands six-and-a-half-feet tall and commemorates with inscriptions and 24 relief panels the king's victorious campaigns of 859–824 BC. It is shaped like a temple tower at the top, ending in three steps. Series of

3300-494: The Holy One blessed be He created four winds (directions) and four banners (for Israel's army), so also did He make four angels to surround His Throne— Michael , Gabriel , Uriel and Raphael . Michael is on its right, corresponding to the tribe of Reuben; Uriel on its left, corresponding to the tribe of Dan, which was located in the north; Gabriel in front, corresponding to the tribe of Judah as well as Moses and Aaron who were in

3400-587: The Jewish angelic hierarchy, beginning from the highest: The Zohar , in Exodus 43a , also lists ten ranks of angels, beginning from the highest: Jacob Nazir, in his Maseket Atzilut , also listed ten ranks of angels, beginning from the highest: Abraham ben Isaac of Granada , in his Berit Menuchah , also listed ten ranks of angels, beginning from the highest: Eliyahu de Vidas , in his Reshit Chochmah , also listed ten ranks of angels, beginning from

3500-455: The Kabbalah reasons, when they appear in the Hebrew Bible their description is from the viewpoint of the person that received the vision or prophesy or occurrence, which will be anthropomorphic. However, they are not material beings but are likened to a single emotion, feeling, or material, controlled by God for his purpose of creation. Shalom Aleichem is a Jewish hymn, first documented in

3600-685: The Middle Ages by a number of Arabic geographers including Yaqut al-Hamawi , Abu'l-Fida and Ibn Sa'id al-Maghribi , using the name "Athur" (meaning Assyria) near Selamiyah. The name Nimrud in connection with the site in Western writings was first used in the travelogue of Carsten Niebuhr , who was in Mosul in March 1760. Niebuhr In 1830, traveller James Silk Buckingham wrote of "two heaps called Nimrod-Tuppé and Shah-Tuppé... The Nimrod-Tuppé has

3700-677: The Mosque of the Prophet Jonah in Mosul. In early 2015, they announced their intention to destroy many ancient artifacts, which they deemed idolatrous or otherwise un-Islamic; they subsequently destroyed thousands of books and manuscripts in Mosul's libraries. In February 2015, ISIL destroyed Akkadian monuments in the Mosul Museum , and on March 5, 2015, Iraq announced that ISIL militants had bulldozed Nimrud and its archaeological site on

3800-637: The UK's Arts and Humanities Research Council funded the "Nimrud Project", directed by Eleanor Robson , whose aims were to write the history of the city in ancient and modern times, to identify and record the dispersal history of artefacts from Nimrud, distributed amongst at least 76 museums worldwide (including 36 in the United States and 13 in the United Kingdom). In 2015, the terrorist organization Islamic State announced its intention to destroy

3900-538: The ancient Near East, and were in a palace storeroom and other locations. These are mainly in the British Museum and the National Museum of Iraq , as well as other museums. Another storeroom held the Nimrud Bowls, about 120 large bronze bowls or plates, also imported. The "Treasure of Nimrud" unearthed in these excavations is a collection of 613 pieces of gold jewelry and precious stones. It has survived

4000-414: The angel who redeems me from all evil, bless the children, and let my name be named in them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and let them flourish like fish for multitude in the midst of the land. In the ancient Near East, Jews understood the sun, moon, and stars to be angels, just as others in the same region viewed them as divine beings. Philo of Alexandria identified angels in Judaism to be

4100-522: The apparently equivalent archetypes of the cultures surrounding the Israelites, which almost uniformly depicted beings which served analogous purposes to Israel's cherubim as largely animalistic in shape. All of this may indicate that the Israelite conception of the cherub ' s appearance may not have been wholly consistent. The cherubim are the most frequently occurring heavenly creature in

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4200-443: The basis of a cuneiform reading of "Levekh" which he connected to the city following Ainsworth and Rich's connection of Xenophon's Larissa to the site. Initial excavations at Nimrud were conducted by Austen Henry Layard , working from 1845 to 1847 and from 1849 until 1851. Following Layard's departure, the work was handed over to Hormuzd Rassam in 1853-54 and then William Loftus in 1854–55. After George Smith briefly worked

4300-458: The basis that the city of Birtha described by Ptolemy and Ammianus Marcellinus has the same etymological meaning as Rehoboth in Hebrew. Sir Henry Rawlinson mentioned that the Arabic geographers referred to it as Athur . British traveler Claudius James Rich mentions, "one or two of the better informed with whom I conversed at Mosul said it was Al Athur or Ashur, from which the whole country

4400-499: The basis that they were blasphemous. A member of ISIL filmed the destruction, declaring, "These ruins that are behind me, they are idols and statues that people in the past used to worship instead of Allah. The Prophet Muhammad took down idols with his bare hands when he went into Mecca . We were ordered by our prophet to take down idols and destroy them , and the companions of the prophet did this after this time, when they conquered countries ." ISIL declared an intention to destroy

4500-421: The cherub is certain". A possibly related source is the human-bodied Hittite griffin , which, unlike other griffins, appear almost always not as a fierce bird of prey, but seated in calm dignity, like an irresistible guardian of holy things; some have proposed that the word griffin ( γρύψ ) may be cognate with cherubim ( kruv > grups ). While Ezekiel initially describes the tetramorph cherubim as having

4600-463: The cherubim and other angels regarded as having mystical roles. The Zohar , a highly significant collection of books in Jewish mysticism, states that the cherubim were led by one of their number named Kerubiel. On the other end of the philosophical spectrum is Maimonides , who had a neo-Aristotelian interpretation of the Bible. Maimonides writes that to the wise man, one sees that what the Bible and Talmud refer to as "angels" are actually allusions to

4700-397: The cherubim', referring to the mercy seat . In regards to this same phrase, which appears also in 2 Kings 19 , Eichler renders it "who dwells among the cherubim". Eichler's interpretation is in contrast to common translations for many years that rendered it as “who sits upon the cherubim”. This has implications for the understanding of whether the ark of the covenant in Solomon's Temple

4800-476: The city, as well as introducing Eastern Aramaic as the lingua franca of the empire, whose dialects still endure among the Christian Assyrians of the region today. However, in 706 BC Sargon II (722–705 BC) moved the capital of the empire to Dur Sharrukin , and after his death, Sennacherib (705–681 BC) moved it to Nineveh . It remained a major city and a royal residence until the city

4900-572: The confusions and looting after the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in a bank vault, where it had been put away for 12 years and was "rediscovered" on June 5, 2003. One panel of the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III has an inscription which includes the name Ia-ú-a mar Hu-um-ri-i Whilst Rawlinson originally translated this in 1850 as "Yahua, son of Hubiri", a year later reverend Edward Hincks , suggested it refers to king Jehu of Israel (2 Kings 9:2 ff. Whilst other interpretations exist,

5000-458: The director of the Polish project, with the permission of the Iraqi excavation team, had the whole site documented on film—in slide film and black-and-white print film. Every relief that remained in situ, as well as the fallen, broken pieces that were distributed in the rooms across the site were photographed. Meuszyński also arranged with the architect of his project, Richard P. Sobolewski, to survey

5100-418: The distinctive Assyrian shallow reliefs were removed from the palaces and sections are now found in several museums (see gallery below), in particular the British Museum . These show scenes of hunting, warfare, ritual and processions. The Nimrud Ivories are a large group of ivory carvings, probably mostly originally decorating furniture and other objects, that had been brought to Nimrud from several parts of

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5200-407: The east; and Raphael in the rear, corresponding to the tribe of Ephraim which was in the west. The Babylonian Talmud contains a reworked ancient tradition of the myth of the fallen angels – here, this narrative is invested with new significance and accordingly, these are the distinguished rabbis who are portrayed as the heavenly messengers' offspring. The most explicit presentation of this notion

5300-478: The etymologization of the name by Abbahu (3rd century). Before this, some early midrashic literature conceived of the cherubim as non-corporeal. In the first century AD, Josephus claimed: No one can tell, or even conjecture, what was the shape of these cherubim. A midrash states that when Pharaoh pursued Israel at the Red Sea, God took a cherub from the wheels of His throne and flew to the spot, for God inspects

5400-437: The face of a man ... the face of a lion ... the face of an ox ... and ... the face of an eagle in the tenth chapter this formula is repeated as the face of the cherub ... the face of a man ... the face of a lion ... the face of an eagle which (given that "ox" has apparently been substituted with "the cherub") some have taken to imply that cherubim were envisioned to have the head of a bovine . In particular resonance with

5500-583: The face of an ox, Ezekiel 10:14 says "face of a cherub". Ezekiel equates the cherubim of chapter ten with the living creatures of chapter one in Ezekiel 10:15 "The cherubs ascended; those were the creatures ( Hebrew : הַחַיָּ֔ה , romanized :  ḥayā ) that I had seen by the Chebar Canal" and in 20:10, "They were the same creatures that I had seen below the God of Israel at the Chebar Canal; so now I knew that they were cherubs." In Ezekiel 41:18–20, they are portrayed as having two faces, although this

5600-469: The fact that he believes an angel to be a body of fire one third the size of the entire world. All this, he thinks, is possible for God. But if you tell him that God placed in the sperm the power of forming and demarcating these organs, and that this is the angel, or that all forms are produced by the Active Intellect; that here is the angel, the "vice-regent of the world" constantly mentioned by

5700-514: The first objects created in the universe. The following sentence of the Midrash is characteristic: When a man sleeps, the body tells to the soul ( neshamah ) what it has done during the day; the soul then reports it to the spirit ( nefesh ), the spirit to the angel, the angel to the cherub, and the cherub to the seraph, who then brings it before God". In early Jewish tradition there existed the notion that cherubim had youthful, human features, due to

5800-586: The garments of the angel of the Lord , in Kiddushin the Babylonian scholars are compared to the ministering angels). On the other hand, the Babylonian Talmud portrays the angels as highly reminiscent of the rabbis themselves: they are proficient halakhists (e.g., in Menachot an angel disputes the laws of fringes with Rabbi Kattina, in Avodah Zarah the angel of death betrays his deep familiarity with

5900-480: The god of writing and the arts, and as extensive fortifications. In 1988, the Iraqi Department of Antiquities discovered four queens' tombs at the site. Nimrud has been one of the main sources of Assyrian sculpture , including the famous palace reliefs. Layard discovered more than half a dozen pairs of colossal guardian figures guarding palace entrances and doorways. These are lamassu , statues with

6000-527: The heavenly worlds while sitting on a cherub. The cherub, however, is "something not material", and is carried by God, not vice versa. In the passages of the Talmud that describe the heavens and their inhabitants, the seraphim, ofanim, and living creatures are mentioned, but not the cherubim; and the ancient liturgy also mentions only these three classes. In the Talmud , Jose the Galilean holds that when

6100-594: The highest angels near God , in contrast to the messenger angels. They include the Bearers of the Throne , the angels around the throne, and the archangels . The angels of mercy subordinative to Michael are also identified as cherubim. In Isma'ilism , there are Seven Archangels referred to as cherubim. As described in Ezekiel 1 , "[E]ach had four faces, and each of them had four wings; the legs of each were [fused into]

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6200-520: The highest: The Kabbalah describes the angels at length. Angels are described in Kabbalah literature as forces that send information, and sensations, between mankind and the Tetragrammaton. They are analogized to atoms, wavelengths or channels that help God in his creation, and it is therefore, reasoned that they should not be worshipped, prayed to, nor invoked. They are not physical in nature but spiritual beings, like spiritual atoms. Therefore,

6300-552: The history of the alphabet. Nimrud's various monuments had faced threats from exposure to the harsh elements of the Iraqi climate. Lack of proper protective roofing meant that the ancient reliefs at the site were susceptible to erosion from wind-blown sand and strong seasonal rains. In mid-2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) occupied the area surrounding Nimrud. ISIL destroyed other holy sites, including

6400-406: The idea of cherubim embodying the throne of God, numerous pieces of art from Phoenicia, Ancient Egypt , and even Tel Megiddo in northern Israel depict kings or deities being carried on their thrones by hybrid winged creatures. If this animalistic form is how the ancient Israelites envisioned cherubim, it raises more questions than it answers. For one, it is difficult to visualize the cherubim of

6500-417: The inscriptions found at Nimrud . Aside from Ezekiel's vision, no detailed attestations of cherubim survive, and Ezekiel's description of the tetramorph being may not be the same as the cherubim of the historic Israelites. All that can be gleaned about the cherubim of the Israelites come from potential equivalences in the cultures which surrounded them. The appearance of the cherubim continue to be

6600-599: The landscape. A renovation program started in July 2017 with the support of UNESCO . The first phase included conducting studies of the damage caused to the site, assembling an Iraqi maintenance and rehabilitation team, preservation and archiving of the city's cultural heritage in co-operation with the American Smithsonian Institution . Phase 2 was launched in October 2019 with the goal to restore

6700-430: The latter is usually denoted by the term shaliyakh ( שליח ). The noun derives from the verbal consonantal root l-’-k ( ל-א-ך ), meaning specifically "to send with a message" and with time was substituted with more applicable sh-l-h . In Biblical Hebrew this root is attested only in this noun and in the noun מְלָאכָה məlʾāḵā́ , meaning "work", "occupation" or "craftsmanship". The morphological structure of

6800-596: The modern-day Assyrian village of Noomanea in Nineveh Governorate , Iraq . The name Nimrud was recorded as the local name by Carsten Niebuhr in the mid-18th century. In the mid 19th century, biblical archaeologists proposed the Assyrian name Kalḫu (the Biblical Calah ), based on a description of the travels of Nimrod in Genesis 10 . Archaeological excavations at the site began in 1845, and were conducted at intervals between then and 1879, and then from 1949 onwards. Many important pieces were discovered, with most being moved to museums in Iraq and abroad. In 2013,

6900-502: The monument known as the Great Ziggurat , and an associated temple. Nimrud remained the capital of the Assyrian Empire during the reigns of Shamshi-Adad V (822–811 BC), Adad-nirari III (810–782 BC), Queen Semiramis (810–806 BC), Adad-nirari III (806–782 BC), Shalmaneser IV (782–773 BC), Ashur-dan III (772–755 BC), Ashur-nirari V (754–746 BC), Tiglath-Pileser III (745–727 BC) and Shalmaneser V (726–723 BC). Tiglath-Pileser III in particular, conducted major building works in

7000-451: The name keruv with Assyrian kirubu (a name of the shedu or lamassu ) and karabu ("great, mighty"). Karppe (1897) glossed Babylonian karâbu as "propitious" rather than "mighty". Dhorme (1926) connected the Hebrew name to Assyrian kāribu (diminutive kurību ), a term used to refer to intercessory beings (and statues of such beings) that plead with the gods on behalf of humanity. The folk etymology connecting cherub to

7100-429: The northern palace. As of 2020, archaeologists from the Nimrud Rescue Project have carried out two seasons of work at the site, training native Iraqi archaeologists on protecting heritage and helping preserve the remains. Plans for reconstruction and tourism are in the works but will likely not be implemented within the next decade. The first major excavation works, launched in mid-October 2022 by an excavation team from

7200-634: The obelisk is widely viewed by biblical archaeologists as therefore including the earliest known dedication of an Israelite. Note: all the kings of Israel were called "sons of Omri" by the Assyrians (mar means son). A number of other artifacts considered important to Biblical history were excavated from the site, such as the Nimrud Tablet K.3751 and the Nimrud Slab . The bilingual Assyrian lion weights were important to scholarly deduction of

7300-400: The palace entrance. The large number of inscriptions dealing with king Ashurnasirpal II provide more details about him and his reign than are known for any other ruler of this epoch. The palaces of Ashurnasirpal II , Shalmaneser III, and Tiglath-Pileser III have been located. Portions of the site have been also been identified as temples to Ninurta and Enlil , a building assigned to Nabu ,

7400-537: The parallel passages in the later Books of Chronicles , and passages in the early Psalms : for example, "and he rode upon a cherub and did fly: and he was seen upon the wings of the wind." The traditional Hebrew conception of cherubim as guardians of the Garden of Eden is backed by the belief of beings of superhuman power and devoid of human feelings, whose duty it was to represent the gods, and as guardians of their sanctuaries to repel intruders; these conceptions in turn are similar to an account found on Tablet 9 of

7500-409: The place of the ark, and the cherubims covered the ark and the staves thereof above. – 2 Chronicles 5:7–8 Each of the cherubim had four faces: One face was that of a cherub, the second the face of a human being, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. – Ezekiel 10:14 In Medieval theology , following the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius , the cherubim are

7600-400: The post-biblical Apocalyptic literature , such as each serving as personal patrons of peoples (Persia, Greece), and some having personal names (Gabriel, Michael). As a subcategory of heavenly beings, mal’akim occupy the sixth rank of ten in Maimonides ' Jewish angelic hierarchy. Numbers Rabbah names four angels who would later be known as archangels , surrounding God's throne: As

7700-538: The primitive. Maimonides says that the figures of the cherubim were placed in the sanctuary only to preserve among the people the belief in angels, there being two in order that the people might not be led to believe that they were the image of God. Cherubim are discussed within the midrash literature. The two cherubim placed by God at the entrance of paradise were angels created on the third day, and therefore they had no definite shape; appearing either as men or women, or as spirits or angelic beings. The cherubim were

7800-453: The related bənê ēlîm and bənê elîon, as well as Shinnan and Qedoshim . The prophetic books , that usually do not write of angels, nonetheless mention Seraphim , Cherubim , and Ophanim , Chayot Ha Kodesh , Erelim , and Hashmallim . In the Book of Zechariah , several episodes explicitly contain Angels. In Daniel , angels gain some of the characteristics they would come to possess in

7900-455: The restored city gates in Nineveh . ISIL went on to do demolition work at the later Parthian ruined city of Hatra . On April 12 2015, an online militant video purportedly showed ISIL militants hammering, bulldozing, and ultimately using explosives to blow up parts of Nimrud. Irina Bokova , the director general of UNESCO , stated "deliberate destruction of cultural heritage constitutes

8000-533: The rules of ritual slaughter), linguists (e.g., in Bava Batra Gabriel and Michael scrutinize the semantics of the term kadkod known from Isa. 54:12), and teachers (e.g., in Megillah and Sanhedrin an angelic prince admonishes Joshua for neglecting his Torah studies). On the whole, the quantitative data show that the sages are frequently juxtaposed with angels, and the main dimension of comparison

8100-487: The sages, then he will recoil. For he [the naive person] does not understand that the true majesty and power are in the bringing into being of forces which are active in a thing although they cannot be perceived by the senses ... Thus the Sages reveal to the aware that the imaginative faculty is also called an angel; and the mind is called a cherub . How beautiful this will appear to the sophisticated mind, and how disturbing to

8200-552: The same being as daemons in Hellenistic thought. In Late Antiquity, the two most popularly invoked angels among Jews were Micheal and Gabriel. Nimrud Nimrud ( / n ɪ m ˈ r uː d / ; Syriac : ܢܢܡܪܕ Arabic : النمرود ) is an ancient Assyrian city (original Assyrian name Kalḫu , biblical name Calah) located in Iraq, 30 kilometres (20 mi) south of the city of Mosul , and 5 kilometres (3 mi) south of

8300-711: The same manner, apparently, the prophet Haggai is described as "the messenger of the Lord with the message of the Lord" (malʾakh ʾElohim be-malʾakhut ʾElohim; Book of Haggai 1:13). The Hebrew Bible reports that angels appeared to each of the Patriarchs , to Moses , Joshua , and numerous other figures. They appear to Hagar in Genesis 16:9, to Lot in Genesis 19:1, and to Abraham in Genesis 22:11, they ascend and descend Jacob's Ladder in Genesis 28:12 and appear to Jacob again in Genesis 31:11–13. God promises to send one to Moses in Exodus 33:2, and sends one to stand in

8400-1028: The second highest rank in the angelic hierarchy , following the seraphim and preceding the Thrones . Cherubim are regarded in traditional Christian angelology as angels of the second highest order of the ninefold celestial hierarchy. De Coelesti Hierarchia (c. 5th century) lists them alongside Seraphim and Thrones . According to Thomas Aquinas , the cherubim are characterized by knowledge, in contrast to seraphim, who are characterized by their "burning love to God". Angels in Judaism#Angelic hierarchy In Judaism , angels ( Hebrew : מַלְאָךְ , romanized :  mal’āḵ , lit.   'messenger', plural: מַלְאָכִים mal’āḵīm ) are supernatural beings that appear throughout The Tanakh ( Hebrew Bible ), rabbinic literature , apocrypha and pseudepigrapha , Jewish philosophy and mysticism , and traditional Jewish liturgy as agents of

8500-482: The site and record it in plan and in elevation. As a result, the entire relief compositions were reconstructed, taking into account the presumed location of the fragments that were scattered around the world. Excavations revealed remarkable bas-reliefs, ivories, and sculptures. A statue of Ashurnasirpal II was found in an excellent state of preservation, as were colossal winged man-headed lions weighing 10 short tons (9.1 t) to 30 short tons (27 t) each guarding

8600-497: The site because of its "un-Islamic" Assyrian nature. In March 2015, the Iraqi government reported that Islamic State had used bulldozers to destroy excavated remains of the city. Several videos released by ISIL showed the work in progress. In November 2016, Iraqi forces retook the site, and later visitors also confirmed that around 90% of the excavated portion of city had been completely destroyed. The ruins of Nimrud have remained guarded by Iraqi forces ever since. Reconstruction work

8700-425: The site in 1873 and Rassam returned there from 1877 to 1879, Nimrud was left untouched for almost 60 years. A British School of Archaeology in Iraq team led by Max Mallowan resumed digging at Nimrud in 1949; these excavations resulted in the discovery of the 244 Nimrud Letters . The work continued until 1963 with David Oates becoming director in 1958 followed by Julian Orchard in 1963. Subsequent work

8800-446: The sons of men, we are akin to donkeys. And I do not mean that we are akin to either the donkey of Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa or the donkey of Rabbi Pinḥas ben Yair, who were both extraordinarily intelligent donkeys; rather, we are akin to other typical donkeys. Although on the façade this appears to be a humorous allegory, this passage represents a broader tradition of associating angels and rabbis that manifests in other passages dispersed in

8900-550: The steps and into the museum on rollers. Additional 27-tonne (30-short-ton) colossi were transported to Paris from Khorsabad by Paul Emile Botta in 1853. In 1928 Edward Chiera also transported a 36-tonne (40-short-ton) colossus from Khorsabad to Chicago. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has another pair. The Statue of Ashurnasirpal II , Stela of Shamshi-Adad V and Stela of Ashurnasirpal II are large sculptures with portraits of these monarchs, all secured for

9000-463: The various laws of nature; they are the principles by which the physical universe operates. For all forces are angels! How blind, how perniciously blind are the naive?! If you told someone who purports to be a sage of Israel that the Deity sends an angel who enters a woman's womb and there forms an embryo, he would think this a miracle and accept it as a mark of the majesty and power of the Deity, despite

9100-634: The village of Selamiyah ( Arabic : السلامية ), in the Nineveh Plains in Upper Mesopotamia . It was a major Assyrian city between approximately 1350 BC and 610 BC. The city is located in a strategic position 10 kilometres (6 mi) north of the point that the river Tigris meets its tributary the Great Zab . The city covered an area of 360 hectares (890 acres). The ruins of the city were found within one kilometre (1,100 yd) of

9200-669: The way of Balaam in Numbers 22:31. Isaiah speaks of מַלְאַךְ פָּנָיו "the Angel of the Presence " ("In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them: in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bore them, and carried them all the days of old") ( Isaiah 63:9). The Book of Psalms says "For He Will give His Angels Charge over you, to keep you in all your ways" (Psalms 91:11). Different parts of

9300-468: The way of the tree of life. – Genesis 3:24 They were further described throughout the Old Testament , especially in the Book of Chronicles and Ezekiel respectively: And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord unto his place, to the oracle of the house, into the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubims: For the cherubims spread forth their wings over

9400-408: The word mal’ākh suggests that it is the maqtal form of the root denoting the tool or the means of performing it. The term mal’ākh therefore simply means the one who is sent, often translated as "messenger" when applied to humans; for instance, mal’ākh is the root of the name of the prophet Malachi , whose name means "my messenger". In Modern Hebrew, mal’akh is the general word for "angel". In

9500-520: Was Yahweh's throne or simply an indicator of Yahweh's immanence. Cherubim feature at some length in Ezekiel. While they first appear in Ezekiel 1 , in which they are transporting the throne of God by the Kebar (or Chebar, which was near Tel Abib in Nippur ), they are not called "cherubim" until Ezekiel 10 . In Ezekiel 1:5–11 they are described as having the likeness of a man and having four faces: that of

9600-682: Was by the Directorate of Antiquities of the Republic of Iraq (1956, 1959–60, 1969–78 and 1982–92), the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology University of Warsaw directed by Janusz Meuszyński (1974–76), Paolo Fiorina (1987–89) with the Centro Ricerche Archeologiche e Scavi di Torino who concentrated mainly on Fort Shalmaneser, and John Curtis (1989). In 1974 to his untimely death in 1976 Janusz Meuszyński,

9700-474: Was denominated." Prior to 1850, Layard believed that the site of "Nimroud" was part of the wider region of "Nineveh" (the debate as to which excavation site represented the city of Nineveh had yet to be resolved), which also included the two mounds today identified as Nineveh -proper, and his excavation publications were thus labeled. Henry Rawlinson identified the city with the Biblical Calah on

9800-484: Was described in more detail by the British traveler Claudius James Rich in 1820, shortly before his death. Rich identified the site with the city of Larissa in Xenophon , and noted that the locals "generally believe this to have been Nimrod 's own city; and one or two of the better informed with whom I conversed at Mousul said it was Al Athur or Ashur, from which the whole country was denominated." The site of Nimrud

9900-531: Was largely destroyed during the fall of the Assyrian Empire at the hands of an alliance of former subject peoples, including the Babylonians , Chaldeans , Medes , Persians , Scythians , and Cimmerians (between 616 BC and 599 BC). Ruins of a similarly located Assyrian city named "Larissa" were described by Xenophon in his Anabasis in the 5th century BC. A similar locality was described in

10000-478: Was visited by William Francis Ainsworth in 1837. Ainsworth, like Rich, identified the site with Larissa (Λάρισσα) of Xenophon 's Anabasis , concluding that Nimrud was the Biblical Resen on the basis of Bochart 's identification of Larissa with Resen on etymological grounds. The site was subsequently visited by James Phillips Fletcher in 1843. Fletcher instead identified the site with Rehoboth on

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