The Lion of Chaeronea

Assyrian ivory statuette group, found with other statuettes in a room at Fort Shalmaneser, Nimrud (30 km south of Mosul in present-day Iraq). A man with a leopard-skin on his right shoulder grasps the horns of an oryx, while a monkey sits on his other shoulder. Artist unknown; ca. 8th cent. BCE. Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Two Assyrian cavalrymen pursue a camel rider. Relief from the central palace of the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III at Kalhu (Nimrud), artist unknown; 728 BCE. Now in the British Museum. Photo credit: Mary Harrsch/Wikimedia Commons.

An Assyrian soldier conducts captives in a boat.  Gypsum alabaster relief, artist unknown; ca. 668-627 BCE (Neo-Assyrian Empire).  Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Assyrian lamassu from the Throne Room (Room B) of the North-West Palace at Nimrud (present-day Iraq).  Artist unknown; 9th century BCE.  Now in the British Museum.  

Ancient Assyrian ivory box panel depicting a griffin and sacred tree.  Artist unknown; ca. 800 BCE.  From Nimrud (in present-day Iraq); now in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto.

A pair of Assyrian winged deities, carved in gypsum.  Artist unknown; reign of Ashurbanipal II (883-859 BCE).  Now in the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX.

Ivory furniture plaque from Assyria, carved with a falcon-headed figure in relief.  Artist unknown; ca. 9th/8th cent. BCE.  Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Ancient Assyrian ivory furniture plaque depicting a cow suckling a calf.  Artist unknown; 9th/8th cent. BCE.  Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Assyrian “winged genie” with elaborate bracelets.  Alabaster relief sculpture from Room H of the Northwest Palace at Nimrud (Kalhu), Iraq.  Artist unknown; reign of Ashurnasirpal II (ca. 883-859 BCE).  Now in the Brooklyn Museum.

A hero subdues a lion.  Relief sculpture from Wall M of the entrance court of the palace of Sargon II, King of Assyria (r. 722-705 BCE), at Dur-Sharrukin (=present-day Khorsabad, Iraq).  Now in the Louvre.  Photo credit: 0x010C/Wikimedia Commons.

Assyrian relief sculpture from the North Palace at Nineveh, depicting King Ashurbanipal (r. 669-631 or 627 BCE) killing a lion.  Artist unknown; 645-635 BCE.  Now in the British Museum.  Photo credit: Aiwok/Wikimedia Commons.

Head of a man, fragment of a relief sculpture from Room N in the palace of the Assyrian king Sargon II (r. 721-700 BCE) at ancient Dur-Sharrukin = present-day Khorsabad, Iraq.  Now in the Cabinet des Médailles, Paris.

Panel from Room C of the North Palace at Nineveh, showing a lion being brought down during the Assyrian royal hunt.  Artist unknown; ca. 645-635 BCE.  Now in the British Museum.