This majestic lion was excavated from the site of a temple which was built about 1250 BC, during the New Kingdom. But it turns out that this life-size creature is in fact far, far older than that temple. It was carved from the early days of the Old Kingdom. The Egyptians must have revered this monumental, imposing sculpture— and took it from an earlier site to reuse it. One clue to its age is the characteristic style in which the lion’s mane is carved. It’s abstracted into a circle around the face, and then the shape joins the ears. Move around the body until you see the tail. The fact that the tail is placed high up on the haunch is also characteristic of the way carvers represented lions during the Old Kingdom. Recent excavations at a sculptors’ workshop from this early period reveal little models of lions that look just like this one.

Throughout the thousands of years of Egyptian history, lions remained a potent symbol of the power of the king. Also, from the Old Kingdom onward, the body of a recumbent lion was often combined with the head of the pharaoh, or his queen. That combination came to be known by the ancient Greek name; a “sphinx.”