Egyptian Lion

3D Image

Geoffrey Marchal
by
published on 31 January 2017

Laying Lion, Egypt, 1st century BCE, Rom, Capitol, plaster copy. The Royal Cast Collection (Copenhagen, Denmark). Made with Memento Beta (now ReMake) from AutoDesk.

In the Pharaonic period, lions were relatively few in Egypt, but were at the same time significant to the Pharaonic Egyptians. However, it was probably during the prehistoric times that they became a symbol with religious associations. It was the lion-god Aker who guarded the gateway to the netherworld through which the sun passed each day and so, since the sun was born each morning and died each evening on the horizon, the lion was associated with death and rebirth. Most lion deities (and cat deities) were female, of which Sekhmet was almost certainly the most important. In fact, her cult was eventually merged with Mut and the cat goddess Bastet. Maahes was an ancient Egyptian lion-headed god of war, whose name means “he who is true beside her”.

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References

Cite This Work

APA Style

Marchal, G. (2017, January 31). Egyptian Lion. World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/image3d/84/egyptian-lion/

Chicago Style

Marchal, Geoffrey. "Egyptian Lion." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified January 31, 2017. https://www.worldhistory.org/image3d/84/egyptian-lion/.

MLA Style

Marchal, Geoffrey. "Egyptian Lion." World History Encyclopedia. World History Encyclopedia, 31 Jan 2017. Web. 10 Nov 2024.

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