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Greek Lion Monuments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

W. R. Lethaby
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Extract

There is in the British Museum a colossal marble lion which was found near Cnidos by Sir Charles Newton (Cat. of Sculpt., ii. p. 214, No. 1350). It is recumbent and sculptured out of one block, the underside being hollowed out to diminish the weight. Its length is 9 feet 7 inches. (Fig. 1.) In the Guide to Greek and Roman Antiquities (1908) the sculpture is thus described and discussed:—

‘A colossal lion which was found lying overturned on a lofty promontory. about three miles to the east of Cnidos. On the site where it was lying were the remains of a great tomb, which consisted of a square basement surrounded by engaged columns of the Doric order and surmounted by a pyramid.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 38 , November 1918 , pp. 37 - 44
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1918

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References

1 Autobiography of an Architect, 1870. The attitude suggested was standing.

2 For this and other references see B.M., Catalogue of Sculpture iii. No. 2698, p. 443Google Scholar.

3 Died 951.

4 Cf. the lion-statuette in the British Museum (Cat. of Sculpt. No. 2127). On a late coin of Corinth a lion in a similar attitude appears which is supposed to represent a fountain, and it has been thought that the Venice lion may have been a fountain as the mouth is pierced. The monument of Lais, which is also represented on a coin of Corinth, may also be mentioned (Imhoof-Blumer, Numis. Comm. Pl. E lxxiv). Mr. Arthur Smith informs me that there are remains of a lion monument at Amphipolis, which tradition associates with the monument of Brasidas.