The winged bulls of Persepolis in twentieth-century Iranian scholarship

Record summary

The monumental winged guardian figures at Persepolis were documented and interpreted in archaeological publications throughout the first half of the twentieth century. Their hybrid anatomy—bull body, wings and often human or leonine features—provides a specific Iranian comparison for later claims about giant flying animals. The lead is especially useful for studying how ancient visual motifs enter modern cryptozoological and popular culture. Nothing in the archaeological record indicates that the sculptures represented eyewitness zoology; their function was architectural and symbolic within Achaemenid imperial art.