King Lamassu of the Sphinx
King Lamassu of the Sphinxes is a character in the popular series, Luminous Ages by award winning fantasy artist, Anthony Christou.
His design takes inspiration from one of the very earliest examples of Sphinxes, the Ancient Mesopotamians where it was considered a protective deity or spirit, with a special association with Royalty. Lamassu was a protective deity associated with the Assyrians, they were depicted with the body of a lion or bull, a man’s head and a bird’s wings. They were thought to have been inspired by the earlier Sumerian protective deity, Lama who is depicted as a winged female.
It was important to Anthony when designing his king of Sphinxes for his fantasy comic book, Luminous Ages that he showed the rich history behind the creature by delving deeper into it’s origins.