Striding lion from Near East, Mesopotamia, Babylon, Iraq. Neo-Babylonian Period, 604-561 BCE. The striding lion with an open mouth was lined the Processional Way to the Temple of Marduk from Ishtar Gate at Babylon. The size is 41 3/4 in. by 91 5/16 in. Glazed bricks. The striding lion is a symbol of Ishtar, the goddess of Love and War. All 120 lions were protecters of Babylon and at the same time were leading the way from Ishtar Gate to the Marduk Temple. Neo-Babylonian used animals as symbols of gods. In this paper, I will try to expand this idea. Royal hunting lions subject is widespread in the Central Asia’s art that symbolizes death and rebirth: the continuation of life provided by the killing of a god-like beast, associated both with the
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Ishtar ran two great essence of life: she was the Goddess of Sorrow and the battles, as well as radiant and beautiful goddess of love, known as the Goddess of Heaven. To get Ishtar on your side was not so easy. Often she resented and could viciously persecute anyone who molested her. It was well known that she had a lot of men who quickly found their deaths, when she got tired of them. Ishtar was watching from above of the world in the guise of the planet Venus, so the star was one of her characters. If she acted as a goddess of war, it was the symbol of the lion. The line of lions are on our eyes level and they are imaged a bit smaller than a life size. But still, they are huge. Also, they intimidate the viewers by their opened mouths that create a feeling that lions are roaring and snarling. The way lions are imaged in a profile view also gives us an opportunity to think that they are striding very consistently and obediently. The bricks are a shabby due to their age, but we still can see its relief and. Lion is popping up from a blue background, it was gained by bas-relief technique. With a light above, that I saw in the MFA, this bas-relief creates a three dimensional feeling and a great outline of lion’s muscles, shapes and shadows that naturally fall on his body and a
Ishtar ran two great essence of life: she was the Goddess of Sorrow and the battles, as well as radiant and beautiful goddess of love, known as the Goddess of Heaven. To get Ishtar on your side was not so easy. Often she resented and could viciously persecute anyone who molested her. It was well known that she had a lot of men who quickly found their deaths, when she got tired of them. Ishtar was watching from above of the world in the guise of the planet Venus, so the star was one of her characters. If she acted as a goddess of war, it was the symbol of the lion. The line of lions are on our eyes level and they are imaged a bit smaller than a life size. But still, they are huge. Also, they intimidate the viewers by their opened mouths that create a feeling that lions are roaring and snarling. The way lions are imaged in a profile view also gives us an opportunity to think that they are striding very consistently and obediently. The bricks are a shabby due to their age, but we still can see its relief and. Lion is popping up from a blue background, it was gained by bas-relief technique. With a light above, that I saw in the MFA, this bas-relief creates a three dimensional feeling and a great outline of lion’s muscles, shapes and shadows that naturally fall on his body and a