Why does this statue have five legs?

Question

Bulls have 4 legs. These statues have 5 legs. Why?

Khorsabad

The Palace of Sargon

This area mainly contains sculptures from the city and palace of Khorsabad, built for the Assyrian king Sargon II (721-705 BC). The pair of human-headed winged bulls stood originally at one of the gates of the citadel, as magic guardians against misfortune.

Answer 1

According to Wikipedia,

The Assyrians typically prominently placed lamassu at the entrances of cities and palaces. From the front they appear to stand, and from the side, walk.

Something confirmed by the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art:

The sculptor gave these guardian figures five legs so that they appear to be standing firmly when viewed from the front but striding forward when seen from the side.

The statue is called a lamassu, and it's Assyrian, not Egyptian.

Answer 2

I think that if you view the statue from head-on, you only see the front two legs. If you view the statue from the side, you see four. At that time, they probably couldn't just clear away all the rest of the rock so that you could see four legs from any direction.

Answer 3

The 5 legs represent the five pillars of the Assyrian empire.

1. mental health
2. emotional health
3. spiritual health
4. physical health
5. culture health.

These were basic requirements of every man and woman that was to protect and defend the Assyrian Assyria. As a protector of the sacred places the Lamassu also named nathoora which means protector.