Focus on Panel with striding lion and discuss the abstract.
The Panel with striding lion (MA 31.13.1) is a panel of Neo-Babylonian glazed ceramic bricks or tiles dated to 604–562 B.C., now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. It was one of many that lined the Processional Way north of the Ishtar Gate. It was excavated by R. Koldewey in 1902, and at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin from 1926, before coming into the possession of the Met in 1931.A large group of such figures is part of the Processional Way leading to the Ishtar Gate, a centrepiece display of the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.
Lions were symbolic of royalty because of their strength, and fighting a lion gave a king great prestige. The lion was also the symbol of Ishtar, the goddess of love and war. In her role of the goddess of war she is depicted on a chariot drawn by seven lions with bow in hand
Ishtar Gate Pergamon Museum ceramic Berlin tile Neo-Babylonian Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Metropolitan Museum of Art