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Why the brick lions that protected the streets of Babylon feel alive

"It always had this possibility to come alive in a very real sense."

"It always had this possibility to come alive in a very real sense."

Curator Sarah Graff on two panels with striding lions.

Featured artworks:
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/322585
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/322586

Throughout 2013, The Met invited curators from across the Museum to each talk about one artwork that changed the way they see the world. Each episode is interpreted by a Museum photographer.

Photography by Peter Zeray

"Dawn over the Euphrates, Babylon, 1900" by Walter Andrae courtesy of Berlin State Library, Department of Manuscripts, Walter Andrae estate

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Contributors

Sarah Graff
Associate Curator, Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art

Close-up of a Queen of Clubs playing card with a cut-out section. Behind it, a faded, ghostly face is visible, creating a surreal, mysterious mood.
The artist’s work challenges the social and political context of mass incarceration.
Lisa Sutcliffe
April 28
Photo image of The Great Hall of the Met, with hanging calligraphy paintings
Explore how the Taiwanese artist’s Great Hall Commission invites a transhistorical conversation about the art of writing
Lesley Ma
February 28
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Panel with striding lion, Ceramic, glaze, Babylonian
Babylonian
ca. 604–562 BCE
Panel with striding lion, Ceramic, glaze, Babylonian
Babylonian
ca. 604–562 BCE