The Genies on the Stairs: a 3000 year journey from Assyria to Cambridge
On 19 June 2013, Eleanor Robson gave a lunch-time talk at The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, on the museum's Assyrian stone genies from the Northwest Palace of king Assurnasirpal II.
Alabaster TT bas-relief TT of a winged genie from the Northwest palace of king Assurnasirpal II in Kalhu, c. 885 BC. Now in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. ANE.2.1908. © The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, UK. View the Fitzwilliam's catalogue entry on this object.
Who are the genies TT on the stairs of the Fitz? Where do they come from and how did they get here? How have they changed in the process, both physically and in the minds of the people who have encountered them?
This lunchtime talk discussed the answers to those questions, and the ways in which knowledge of the ancient past is made and re-made in the light of new evidence, changing theories and current circumstances.
» Read more about the Fitz's stone genies on the stairs.
» Try our family quiz on Assyrian kings and genies, designed for use in the Fitz's Gallery 23 and Main Entrance staircase.
Content last modified: 18 Dec 2019.