Historical Context
Editorially reviewedMoulded terracotta heads of this viscera-bearded type appear in southern Mesopotamia in the Old Babylonian period. Contemporary plaques do not label the face. Humbaba/Huwawa is an Akkadian literary name applied by modern catalogues. Later first-millennium demon-head amulets and Greek Gorgoneia are separate types and sit outside this fence.
Provenance: Early Old Babylonian terracotta face-plaques: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1983.582; Metropolitan Museum of Art 55.162.1. Met 1991.368.1 is excluded (Shamash seal, not this plaque type).
Research status: reviewed · reviewed 02/09/2026
Sources
3 referencesMFA Boston 1983.582 Humbaba mask
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Fragmentary mask of Humbaba, accession 1983.582. Terracotta; Old Babylonian Period, 1894–1595 B.C. Gift of the Endowment for Biblical Research, Boston. (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
Supports: Type-object for the early Old Babylonian frontal face; not an Ur III start date.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Plaque with face of the demon Humbaba, object 55.162.1. Ceramic; Old Babylonian, ca. 2000–1600 BCE; Gift of E. S. David, 1955. This corpus uses the early face-type only (to c. 1800 BCE). (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Supports: Second plaque type-object. Distinct from Met 1991.368.1, which is not a Humbaba plaque.
Thureau-Dangin 1925 and Graff 2012 on Humbaba heads
François Thureau-Dangin, “Humbaba,” Revue d’assyriologie et d’archéologie orientale 22 (1925): 23–26; Sarah B. Graff, “The Head of Humbaba,” Archiv für Religionsgeschichte 14 (2012). (Revue d’assyriologie / Archiv für Religionsgeschichte)
Supports: Literary Huwawa/Humbaba name versus uncaptioned terracotta face; later apotropaic reading not treated as a plaque caption.
How to cite this page
Humbaba Frontal Face — Documented Akkadian Motif, Old Babylonian. Sanctum Hex Vault. Reviewed 02/09/2026. https://vault.sanctumhex.com/symbols/historically-documented-sumerian-and-early-akkadian-visual-motif-types-from-southern-mesopotamia-c-3500-1800-bce-drawn-from-cylinder-seals-votive-plaques-temple-fittings-and-royal-standards-motif-types-only-exclude-modern-anunnaki-claims-invented-occult-seals-and-later-neo-assyrian-palace-types-presented-as-sumerian-humbaba-frontal-face-documented-akkadian-motif-old-babylonian
https://vault.sanctumhex.com/symbols/historically-documented-sumerian-and-early-akkadian-visual-motif-types-from-southern-mesopotamia-c-3500-1800-bce-drawn-from-cylinder-seals-votive-plaques-temple-fittings-and-royal-standards-motif-types-only-exclude-modern-anunnaki-claims-invented-occult-seals-and-later-neo-assyrian-palace-types-presented-as-sumerian-humbaba-frontal-face-documented-akkadian-motif-old-babylonianMythic Beasts
Humbaba Frontal Face — Documented Akkadian Motif, Old Babylonian
Old Babylonian frontal monster-head plaque with a viscera-like coiled beard; the literary name is Akkadian Huwawa/Humbaba.
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