Lion-headed Aion from Sidon
.jpg "Coyau / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0")
Frontal view of the lion-headed statue from Sidon
Coyau / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0.jpg "Coyau / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0")
Head left-side view of the lion-headed statue from Sidon
Coyau / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0.jpg "Coyau / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0")
Central body view of the lion-headed statue from Sidon
Coyau / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0.jpg "Coyau / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0")
Head right-side view of the lion-headed statue from Sidon
Coyau / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0.jpg "Wikinade / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0")
Base with inscription view of the lion-headed statue from Sidon
Wikinade / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
CIMRM 78
Vermaseren's Corpus
CIMRM 78-2
Vermaseren's Corpus
.jpg "Coyau / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0")
.jpg "Coyau / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0")
.jpg "Coyau / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0")
.jpg "Coyau / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0")
.jpg "Wikinade / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0")
TNMM 157 ↔ CIMRM 78 & 79
Lion-headed figure of the Mithraic Mysteries, from the late 4th-century Mithraeum at Sidon (Colonia Aurelia Pia, Syria), discovered by the journalist Edmond Durighello in 1887. The figure had probably stood in a niche. Sculpture is part of the ’Collection Péretié’, brought to Paris in 1892 [typo in Vermaseren: ’1882’] by de Clerque and placed in the home of Comte Louis de Boisgelin (5 Rue Masseran, Paris VII), and then donated to the Louvre in 1967. The figure has Louvre accession number AO22258.
On a round pedestal with inscription (No. 79) stands an entirely naked figure with a lion’s head (Aion*). Beneath his wide-open mouth the head of a snake, entwining him in three large coils. In his hands, which he holds stiffly by his side the figure carries two keys. A double pair of wings attached to his back; Behind his legs a tree stump. The function of a round hole in the back of his head is doubtful.
Main inscription
References
de Ridder 6lff No. 40 and PI. XXII-XXIII (see fig. 29); Legge in Proc. Soc. bibl. arch. 1912 PI. XIX 18; 1915 154 and PI. XXIII 1; DS col. 1951 fig. 5090; RRS II 266 4; Gressmann Or. Ret. 146 fig. 54; Cumont in CRAJ 1928 277 and PI. I 3; Leipoldt XV and figs. 35-36; MM PI. I 6; Lavedan Diet. Myth. 654 fig. 617; Pettazzoni in AntC. XVIII 1949 PI. VII.
- Vermaseren, Maarten Jozef (1956) Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae
- Kronos mithriaque — Musée du Louvre.
