We have been discussing a lot of tombs and funerary
monuments in class this year. So when I came across a lion in the Greek section
that had topped a funerary monument I was instantly inspired. Normally I associate the
Egyptians rather than the Greeks with using cat imagery, but then maybe that’s
where the Greeks got the idea. The Greeks were inspired by the Egyptians enough
to start building their temples in stone, so why not be inspired by their
sphinxes as well. In Egypt sphinxes guard the pyramids of Giza, in Greece lions top funerary monuments, even as far forward as today you can find
lion statues and images on tombstones (or as tombstones) in local cemeteries. Beyond that lions are used to
guard other buildings and statues as well. Could this have all been inspired by
the Ancient Egyptians idea of a sphinx? Or did the Greeks themselves start the protective lion trend?
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