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Monumentum

Lion-headed Aion from Sidon

The controversial Italian journalist Edmon Durighello discovered this marble statue of a young naked Aion in 1887.

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The New Mithraeum

4 Jul 2009

Updated on Sept 2026

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*)…

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