Panthera leo leo

Status: Small groups of the Egyptian lion were surviving in Algeria and Morocco until the mid-1960s, but were hunted to extinction in the wild. A few still remain in captivity.

In ancient Egyptian mythology, the lion was often used in sun-symbolism. They were often associated with the solar aspects of deities, and sometimes depicted with a sun disk behind their heads.

Aker was the god who guarded the horizons. These are the eastern and western entrances to the underworld. He was responsible for the gateway to the earth, and was the the boundary that lay between these transitional times. In iconography, he is represented as a thin strip of land and horizon, with the sun’s orb glowing above, and two guardian lions facing away from each other at either end. These two lions were named Tuau (today) and Sef (yesterday). They guarded the morning gate, and the evening underworld gate. Aker was also sometimes represented with two lino heads, or as a double-sphinx.

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Size: 6 x 6 inches
Medium: Ink
©2023, Stephanie Law