Lion: Did you mean...?

A gold rhyton in the form of a lion's head. From Grave Circle A, Mycenae, 16th century BCE. (National Archaeological Museum, Athens)

This terracotta figurine of Cybele depicts her seated on a throne with a lion on her lap. She wears a mural crown which symbolises her patronage over the city and its defensive walls. A patera (libation-bowl) and tympanon (hand-drum) are...

Gypsum wall relief depicting the typical royal hunting of lions, part of a longer sequence. The king, Ashurbanipal II, thrusts a spear onto a leaping and furious lion. Behind him, an Elamite squire assists him. Partially appearing on the...

This object is an ivory furniture inlay depicting a crouching lion. It was excavated from Samaria and dates to the Iron Age II (9th–8th century BCE). It has a height of 3.7 cm and a length of 6.4 cm. (The Israel Museum, Jerusalem) ©The...

The Stone Lion of Hamadan, which once had a twin, was part of the old gate of the city of Ecbatana in Persia (modern-day Iran). According to some accounts, the lions were built upon the order of Alexander the Great (r. 336-323 BCE) to commemorate...

A bronze statue portraying an ancient Israelite judge Samson fighting with the Lion. Located at Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Credits to The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection, 1982.

A Hittite Lion Tub lying among the ruins of the Great Temple at Hattusa, the capital of the Hittite Empire. The basin was originally 5.5 metres long, and featured crouching lions at all four corners. It probably had a role in cult rituals.

In India, the lion is known as the Lord of Beasts and has royal associations. This marble white panel is an architectural figure from the base of an Indian temple. From India, 11th century CE. (National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, UK)

Upper Paleolithic (Aurignacian) sculpture of a lion man, made from mammoth ivory, c. 40,000 years ago. Found at the Stadel cave at Hohlenstein Rock in the Lone Valley, township of Asselfingen, Germany. Museum of Ulm, Germany.

Gypsum wall relief depicting a classical Assyrian lion-hunting scene. The striking feature is that the king wears a diadem with a rosette on it, instead of the typical conical headcap of the Assyrian kings. From the North-West Palace at Nimrud...