Lion of Carnuntum III

TNMM 495 ↔ CIMRM 1690

A reclining lion devours a bull’s head held between its paws. The open mouth of the beast still bears traces of red paint.

The iconography of the lion with a bull’s head is well known, specially because of some gems and a few coins. Those gems were amulets, on which the bull’s head represented evil. In fact, according to Egyptian beliefs, the bull’s head was a symbol of evil, possibly of Seth, and the lion was an image of the divine power which was supposed to control and conquer evil.

One should not suppose that the lion with a bull’s head from the Mithraea were directly related to Egyptian ideas, and we will see later that the bull as a symbol of evil was also widespread in the Roman Empire.