by Michael Fassbender

Created on: September 17, 2008

The lion was a complex symbol to the ancient Egyptians, capable of representing alternately danger and chaos or protection and the defeat of chaos. It was a secondary attribute of several gods, and of the king as well. Always, it represented power and vitality, and depending upon context it could be a worthy foe, a capable defender, or a fierce avenger.

The lion figures on many of the earliest examples of Egyptian artwork. Lions appear on the decorated handles of Predynastic flint knives, and on several of the famous palettes. If one includes the fanciful beast that appears to be a lion with a very long, snakelike neck, it even appears on the Narmer Palette. Two sources, the Gebel Tarif knife and the Hierakonpolis Palette, use the lion in the very same manner that it would be used in dynastic artwork, depicting the lion in its pounce upon its prey. It may be premature to assume the same interpretation in these cases, but the lion that appears on the Battlefield Palette looks tantalizingly like a royal symbol. In this case, a larger-than-life lion is attacking a defeated enemy in the wake of a successful battle, with bound captives and fallen foes around it. It may well be that a victorious king is here identified with a lion, in the same way that the Narmer Palette appears to identify that king with those other two royal symbols, the falcon and the bull.

Certainly, the lion was used as in this manner in dynastic history. Among the treasures of Tutankhamun is an alabaster unguent jar which features a sculpted lion on its lid and carved lions on its sides. The prominent lion on the lid, presented in a state of repose, bears the inscription "the Good God, Nebkheperure" on its shoulder; Nebkheperure was the "throne name" of Tutankhamun, while the phrase "the Good God" was a typical way to speak of the Pharaoh in the third person, used much as we might say "His Majesty." This sculpture makes the identification clear, but it is the carvings on the side that gives it its context. In desert scenes, lions are shown in the act of bringing down their prey. As long as the lion represents the king himself, such a scene depicts his strength and his mastery over the natural world. The inscription on the shoulder of the lion on the lid is only one sign that this is the intention here; others include the fact that the lion is aided in its attack by a hunting dog, which a natural lion would not have had, as well as the placement of the heads of foreigners at the base of the jar,

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