Banduddu: Solving the Mystery of the Babylonian Container
One of the great riddles in Mesopotamian sacred art concerns the image of anthropomorphic winged figures called Apkallu holding a mullilu (tree fruit) in one hand, and a banduddû — a container — in the other. The purpose of this container is rightly mysterious. It appears throughout Sumer and Babylon, and half a world away in Yucatan; six thousand years earlier, it was carved in relief upon Pillar 43 at Gobekli Tepe, one of the world’s oldest standing stone enclosures. But what exactly was the purpose of this container? A look at cross-cultural symbolism in the images provides an answer.
