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Chapps @chapps.bsky.social

For those of you who celebrate it - and even for the weirdos who don’t! - here’s some gorgeous ancient art in celebration of #WorldLionDay. 😉 🦁 🏺

Info in the ALT text, all available for download in high res on my Flickr account at www.flickr.com/photos/chapp....

📸 me

A magnificent set of cast-bronze fittings (the heads of four wolves, three lions, and one panther) were salvaged in 1895 from the remains of Caligula's so-called pleasure barge, the 'prima nave', the first of two ships to be excavated from Lake Nemi. This is one of the cylindrical lion head caps which crowned the long shafts of the side-rudders. There's some debate about whether the rings were used to secure the ship to the dock, or whether they were ornamental or used for hanging garlands. As to the remainder of the bronze animal protomes on the prima nave, the big cats (lions and a panther) adorned the main crosswise structures of the ship, the wolves the lengthwise structures. The lions have a tamer appearance whilst the wolves are fiercer: their bared teeth, taut muscles and small lowered ears give these animals a proud beauty, exalted by the use of bronze. Standing out in this group is the panther, whose spotted coat is rendered by damascening, a special artistic metal-working technique used to obtain a multicoloured decoration; in this case sheets of copper and tin have been inserted onto the metal surface. Age of Caligula (37 - 41 CE). Bronze, lost-wax casting, finished by hand with burin and chisel Museo Nazionale Romano, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, RomeThe Assyrian Empire fell before the combined onslaughts of Babylonians and Medes in 614 and 612 BCE. In the empire's final days, Nabopolassar (r. 625–605 BCE), who had been in Assyrian service, established a new dynasty with its capital in Babylon. During the reign of his son, Nebuchadnezzar II (r. 604–562 BCE), the Neo-Babylonian empire reached its peak. This was largely attributable to Nebuchadnezzar's ability as a statesman and general. He maintained friendly relations with the Medes in the east while vying successfully with Egypt for the control of trade on the eastern Mediterranean coast. He is well known as the biblical conqueror who deported the Jews to Babylon after the capture of Jerusalem. During this period Babylon became the city of splendor described by Herodotus and the Old Testament Book of Daniel. Because stone is rare in southern Mesopotamia, molded glazed bricks were used for building and Babylon became a city of brilliant color. Relief figures in white, black, blue, red, and yellow decorated the city's gates and buildings. The main street of Babylon ran past the city's ziggurat, the royal palaces, perhaps the still-unlocated Hanging Gardens, and out through the Ishtar Gate to the Akitu House, where the city god Marduk ritually defeated the forces of chaos in the Babylonian New Year festival. The walls of this Processional Way were lined with colorful low-relief images of striding lions (sacred to Ishtar), and the gate itself with bulls (sacred to Adad) and Mushhushu snake-dragons (sacred to Marduk). Made of glazed bricks, they formed one of the most spectacular aspects of the city rebuilt by King Nebuchadnezzar Il in the 6th century BCE. This style of decoration was copied by the Achaemenid Persians a century later for their palaces and city gates. From the Processional Way, Babylon (Iraq) Glazed polychrome bricks Neo-Babylonian period, reign of Nebuchadnezzar II, 605-562 BCE Met Museum, New York (31.13.1), at the Getty Villa MuseumIn the center of this sima (a projecting molding from the edge of a roof) is a waterspout fashioned in the shape of a lion's head. The lion’s mouth is open, revealing its teeth, and its tongue projects. The head is surrounded by a thick mane. On either side are inverted lotus and half-palmettes in relief. Some remains of pigments - particularly the white ground - can still be detected. In classical architecture, a sima is the upturned edge of a roof which acts as a gutter. The term "sima" comes from the Greek simos, meaning bent upwards. A lateral sima runs along the horizontal edges and is broken by downspouts to let out rainwater. Terracotta simas, like this one, have repeating patterns that are easy to reproduce with molds. They would have been brightly painted when new. Lion's heads were common, but ram and dog heads also existed. These animal heads may have served as religious symbolism, or as puns on the structure's geographic location. Greek, South Italian, Metapontum, ca. 425-400 BCE. Terracotta with polychromy. Getty Villa Museum (71.AD.449)From the ancient kingdom of Lydia, this electrum (a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver) coin is no bigger than a fingernail. Worth 1/3 stater, it represents the beginning of coinage in the world, just edging out coinage production in India and China. Dated to about 600 BCE, it would have been made during the reign of King Alyattes (r. 619-560 BCE), under whose rule the first coins were minted. It's no exaggeration to say that all subsequent coins - up through the modern day - are based on the Lydian stater. The first Lydian staters were about the same size but blank. They rapidly gained decoration, and the lion featured on many of the denominations. This particular coin depicts a lion's head in profile, its mouth open in a roar, a sunburst symbol above. The lion was the symbol of Lydia's capital city of Sardis, where this coin was minted. A tiny bit of copper was added to the electrum blend in order for these coins to appear golden - electrum is naturally a whiter metal. King Croesus (r. 560-547 BCE), Alyattes' successor - yes, *that* Croesus - decided to improve upon the electrum coin by introducing highly pure gold and silver staters. These coins had the advantage of a more definite intrinsic value of their underlying metals, whereas electrum's worth was more difficult to calculate due to the mix of metals. This particular coin was the most common fractional coin within this system, the third-stater, or trite, which — just as it sounds — was one-third the weight of the stater. Some sources have surmised that the value of a third-stater amounted to a month's subsistence; others have placed its monetary worth somewhat lower. In addition to thirds, there were also sixth-staters, twelfth-staters, as well as staters in fractions of 1/24, 1/48, and 1/96. Trite, or third-stater, electrum, struck in Sardis, Lydia (part of modern-day Turkey), about 600-560 BCE. Getty Villa Museum, on loan from the American Numismatic Society (1944.100.48851)

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