Winged lion
The winged lion is a mythological creature that resembles a lion with bird-like wings.
Mythical adaptations
The winged lion is found in various forms especially in ancient and medieval civilizations.There were different mythological adaptions for the winged lion:
- On the beautiful ridges of that mountain flying-lion are inhibiting and they will be winching sharks, fish and elephant seals to their lairs. - from The Ramayana IIT translation.
- Lamassu or shedu in Mesopotamian mythology was depicted as a winged lion. It was often also depicted with a bull's body instead of a lion's body.
- The griffin in classical mythology was depicted as a lion-eagle creature. Griffin-like creatures were depicted in Egyptian and Persian mythology.
- The first beast in the first vision of the biblical prophet Daniel resembled a winged lion.
- The winged lion was the heraldic symbol of Mark the Evangelist.
- The goetic demon Vapula was depicted as a winged lion.
Emblems
The emblems of the winged lions were featured in different countries:- The emblem of the Republic of Venice as the heraldic symbol of St. Mark the Evangelist, the patron saint of the Republic.
- * The Lion of Venice is an ancient bronze sculpture of a winged lion that is located in the Piazzetta di San Marco, Venice.
- * The flag of the short-lived Septinsular Republic, derived from the above, has a winged lion on it.
- * The logo of the Italian company Assicurazioni Generali which has a winged lion on it was derived from the above.
- * The winged Golden Lion is the highest prize of Venice Film Festival.
- The emblem of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Allied Joint Force Command Naples headquarters, in Italy, is a winged lion holding a sword and scroll on which is written PAX - Latin for 'peace'.
- The emblem of the Chinese city of Nanjing is Bixie, a winged lion that wards off evils.