Cultural depictions of lions
The lion has been an important symbol to humans for tens of thousands of years. The earliest graphic representations feature lions as organized hunters with great strength, strategies, and skills. In later depictions of human cultural ceremonies, lions were often used symbolically and may have played significant roles in magic, as deities or close association with deities, and served as intermediaries and clan identities.
History, religion, and mythology
First depictions
The earliest known cave paintings of lions were found in the Chauvet Cave and in Lascaux in France's Ardèche region and represent some of the earliest paleolithic cave art, dating to between 32,000 and 15,000 years ago. The zoomorphic Löwenmensch figurine from Hohlenstein-Stadel and the ivory carving of a lion's head from Vogelherd Cave in the Swabian Jura in southwestern Germany were carbon-dated 39,000 years old, dating from the Aurignacian culture.Ancient Egypt
The earliest tomb paintings in Ancient Egypt, at Nekhen, c. 3500 BC, classified as Naqada, possibly Gerzeh, culture include images of lions, including an image of a human flanked by two lions in an upright posture. Among ancient Egyptians, from prehistoric times through well documented records, the war goddess Sekhmet, a lioness, later depicted as woman with a lioness head, was one of their major deities. She was a sun deity as well as a fierce warrior and protector. Usually she was assigned significant roles in the natural environment. The Egyptians held that this sacred lioness was responsible for the annual flooding of the Nile, the most significant contributing factor to the success of the culture. Sometimes with regional differences in names, a lioness deity was the patron and protector of the people, the king, and the land. As the country united, a blending of those deities was assigned to Sekhmet.Similar regional lioness deities assumed minor roles in the pantheon or, when so significant in a region, continued local religious observance in their own right, such as Bast. Offspring of these deities found niches in the expanding pantheon as well.
During the New Kingdom the Nubian gods Maahes and Dedun were depicted as lions. Maahes was absorbed into the Egyptian pantheon, and had a temple at the city the invading Greeks called Leontopolis, "City of Lions", at the delta in Lower Egypt. His temple was attached to the major temple of his mother, Bast. Dedun was not absorbed into the Ancient Egyptian religion and remained a Nubian deity.
Bast, originally depicted as a lioness and the "eye of Ra" in the delta region, was the parallel deity to Sekhmet in the southern region. Her nature gradually changed after the unification of the country and Sekhmet prevailed throughout. At that time Bast changed into the goddess of personal protection with different responsibilities, and often was depicted as a very tame lioness or a cat. She is shown to the left atop an alabaster jar that contained precious oils and lotions. The name of the stone probably bears her named because materials sacred to her usually were stored in it..
The sphinx of Ancient Egypt shows the head and shoulders of a human and the body of a lioness. The statues represents Sekhmet, who was the protector of the pharaohs. Later pharaohs were depicted as sphinxes, being thought as the offspring of the deity.
Iran
Lions are depicted on vases dating to about 2600 before present that were excavated near Lake Urmia.In Iranian mythology, the lion is a symbol of courage and monarchy. It is portrayed standing beside the kings in artifacts and sitting on the graves of knights. Imperial seals were also decorated with carved lions. The lion and sun motif is based largely on astronomical configurations, and the ancient zodiacal sign of the sun in the house of Leo. Lion and sun is a symbol of royalty in Iranian flag and coins. Goddess Anahita was sometimes shown standing on a lion. Lion is also title of the fourth grade of mithraism.
Lions have been extensively used in ancient Persia as sculptures and on the walls of palaces, in fire temples, tombs, on dishes and jewellery; especially during the Achaemenid Empire. The gates were adorned with lions.
Ancient Mesopotamia
In ancient Mesopotamia, the lion was regarded as a symbol of kingship. Depictions of the Mesopotamian lion show that it was an important symbol of Ancient Iraq. It is depicted in Ninevan reliefs. The lion of Babylon is a statue at the Ishtar Gate in Babylon The lion has an important association with the figure Gilgamesh, as demonstrated in his epic. The Babylonian goddess Ishtar was represented driving a chariot drawn by seven lions.The Iraqi national football team is nicknamed "Lions of Mesopotamia."
Sculptures and reliefs of the Neo-Assyrian Empire dating to the 6th and 7th centuries BC were rediscovered and excavated in the mid 19th century. Several reliefs feature lions, including the Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal, a famous group of Assyrian palace reliefs with numerous small narrative scenes, now in the British Museum. A well-known detail of this group of reliefs is The Dying Lioness depicting a half-paralyzed lioness pierced with arrows. They were originally in an Assyrian royal palace in Nineveh, in modern-day Iraq.
Europe
A bronze statue of a lion from either southern Italy or southern Spain, from 1000–1200 years CE was put on display at the Louvre Abu Dhabi.Ancient sculptures
Lions have been widely used in sculpture to provide a sense of majesty and awe, especially on public buildings. Lions were bold creatures and many ancient cities would have an abundance of lion sculptures to show strength in numbers as well. This usage dates back to the origin of civilization. There are lions at the entrances of cities and sacred sites from Mesopotamian cultures; notable examples include the Lion Gate of ancient Mycenae in Greece that has two lionesses flanking a column that represents a deity, and the gates in the walls of the Hittite city of Bogazköy, Turkey.Classical period
Several discoveries of lion bones in Greece, Ukraine and the Balkans have confirmed that lions lived there certainly from 5th millennium BC until the 6th century BC, while according to the written sources they survived up to perhaps the 1st or even the 4th century AD, which was previously only a suspicion by some archaeologists. Thus the strong emphasis on lions in the earliest figurative Greek art, especially that of Mycenaean Greece from around 1600–1400 BC, reflected the world in which Greeks lived, rather than being based on stories from further east, as once thought.Lionesses often flanked the Gorgon, a vestige of the earliest Greek protective deity that often was featured atop temples of later eras. The western pediment from the Artemis Temple of Corfu is a well preserved example.
The most notable lion of Ancient Greek mythology was the Nemean lion, killed barehanded by Heracles, who subsequently bore the pelt as an invulnerable magic cloak.
This lion is also said to be represented by the constellation of Leo, and also the sign of the Zodiac. Lions are known in many cultures as the king of animals, which can be traced to the Babylonian Talmud, and to the classical book Physiologus. In his fables, the famed Greek story teller Aesop used the lion's symbolism of power and strength in The Lion and the Mouse and Lion's Share.
Since classical antiquity, a Gaetulian lion in literature is a lion of fierce reputation. Gaetulia, in ancient geography, was the land of the Gaetuli, a warlike tribe of ancient Libya that appears in Virgil's Aeneid. The Gaetulia lion appears in Odes of Horace, Pliny the Elder's Natural History, Philostratus's Life of Apollonius of Tyana, Robert Louis Stevenson's Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes.
In Socrates' model of the psyche, the bestial, selfish nature of humanity is described metaphorically as a lion, the "leontomorphic principle".
Biblical references and Jewish-Christian tradition
Several Biblical accounts document the presence of lions, and cultural perception of them in ancient Israel.The best known Biblical account featuring lions comes from the Book of Daniel, where Daniel is thrown into a den of lions and miraculously survives.
A lesser known Biblical account features Samson who kills a lion with his bare hands, later sees bees nesting in its carcass, and poses a riddle based on this unusual incident to test the faithfulness of his fiancée. The prophet Amos said : "The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?", i.e., when the gift of prophecy comes upon a person, he has no choice but to speak out.
The lion is one of the living creatures in the Book of Ezekiel.
They were represented in the tetramorph.
In 1 Peter 5:8, the Devil is compared to a roaring lion "seeking someone to devour."
The lion is the biblical emblem of the tribe of Judah and later the Kingdom of Judah. It is contained within Jacob's blessing to his fourth son in the penultimate chapter of the Book of Genesis, "Judah is a lion's whelp; On prey, my son have you grown. He crouches, lies down like a lion, like the king of beasts—who dare rouse him?".
The power and ferocity of the lion is invoked when describing the anger of God and the menace of Israel's enemies and Satan. The book of Isaiah uses the imagery of a lion laying with a calf and child, and eating straw to portray the harmony of creation. In the Book of Revelation, a lion, an ox, a man and an eagle are seen on a heavenly throne in John's vision;.
In ancient Jewish art, lions often served as symbolic decorative elements. They appear in various media, including sculpture and mosaics, with one typical arrangement placing them symmetrically on either side of a Torah shrine. In the modern state of Israel, the lion remains the symbol of the capital city of Jerusalem, emblazoned on both the flag and coat of arms of the city.
In Christian tradition, Mark the Evangelist, the author of the second gospel is symbolized by the lion of Saint Mark – a figure of courage and monarchy. It also represents Jesus' Resurrection, and Christ as king. Some Christian legends refer to Saint Mark as "Saint Mark the Lionhearted". Legends say that he was fed to the lions and the animals refused to attack or eat him. Instead the lions slept at his feet, while he petted them. When the Romans saw this, they released him, spooked by the sight.
Christian tradition has associated lions with Christ's resurrection. In the Christian text Physiologus, lion cubs are said to be born stillborn and the mothers cares for them until the father returns on the third day to breathe life into them.