Lion gate: Did you mean...?

Colossal figure in the facade of the palace of Sargon II in Dur-Sharrukin. Drawing Flandin PL 41 by Paul-Emile Botta (1802-1870 CE), c. 1849 CE.

Babylon is the most famous city from ancient Mesopotamia, whose ruins lie in modern-day Hillah, Iraq, 59 miles (94 km) southwest of Baghdad. The name is derived from bav-il or bav-ilim, which in Akkadian meant "Gate of God" (or "Gate of the...

This gate was built at the northern side of the city of Babylon by the king Nebuchadnezzar II in 575 BCE. It was the eighth gate into the city of Babylon, Mesopotamia (modern Babil Governorate, Iraq). The gate was built with glazed bricks...

Pebble mosaic floor from the "House of Dionysos" at Pella (Macedonia, Greece) with a scene of a lion hunt. Last quarter of the 4th century BCE. (Pella, Archaeological Museum). The composition depicts the moment when the two huntsmen, one...

Colossal statue of a winged lion from the North-West Palace of Ashurnasirpal II, Nimrud (ancient Kalhu), modern-day Iraq. Neo-Assyrian Empire, c. 883-859 BCE. This is one of a pair of guardian figures that flanked one of the entrances...

Hercules (or Herakles) fighting the Nemean lion on an ancient Greek clay pitcher in black figure style. In ancient Greek mythology, Hercules defeated the lion of Nemea and took the lion's skin to King Eurystheus. This specimen dates from...

The Marble Lion of Piraeus, book illustration by an unknown artist, included in Antiquités de l'Orient by Carl Christian Rafn, p. 54, Copenhagen, 1856. This lion is one of several that were brought to Venice from Greece and set outside the...

This relief may depict Alexander with the lion skin of Hercules, fighting a lion on foot. His friend Krateros (on horseback) rescues him. The lion hunt is a common image in Near Eastern art. This relief formed part of the base of a statue...

One of the ten gates of the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople, completed c. 413 CE.

The east side of the Gate of All Nations (also known as the Gate of Xerxes) in Persepolis (Iran), built by Xerxes I (r. 486-465 BCE). The gate was flanked by two monumental statues of lamassu, winged bulls with human heads, who were thought...