Artigiani divini e umani nella costruzione della statua di culto in Mesopotamia

In the ancient Mesopotamia, the creation of the divine statue was a com- plex process that required deep cultic knowledge and technical skills. Since the statue was not only the image of a god or a goddess, but the very essence of him/her, and the effigy itself was endowed with agency, its creation in- volved a unitary presence of deities, cultic officers, and craftsmen. Hence, this paper aims to provide an overview of the divine and human entities that were involved in the creation of the god statue in the light of the Neo-As- syrian cuneiform sources, including rituals, prayers, royal inscriptions, and correspondence.