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Monumentum

Lion-headed Aion from Sidon

The controversial Italian journalist Edmon Durighello discovered this marble statue of a young naked Aion in 1887.
  • Frontal view of the lion-headed statue from Sidon

    Frontal view of the lion-headed statue from Sidon
    Coyau / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 

  • Head left-side view of the lion-headed statue from Sidon

    Head left-side view of the lion-headed statue from Sidon
    Coyau / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 

  • Central body view of the lion-headed statue from Sidon

    Central body view of the lion-headed statue from Sidon
    Coyau / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 

  • Head right-side view of the lion-headed statue from Sidon

    Head right-side view of the lion-headed statue from Sidon
    Coyau / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 

  • Base with inscription view of the lion-headed statue from Sidon

    Base with inscription view of the lion-headed statue from Sidon
    Wikinade / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 

 
The New Mithraeum
4 Jul 2009
Updated on Dec 2023

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Lion-headed figure of the Mithraic Mysteries, from the late 4th-century Mithraeum at Sidon (Colonia Aurelia Pia, Syria), discovered by the journalist Edmond Durighello in 1887. The figure had probably stood in a niche. Sculpture is part of the ’Collection Péretié’, brought to Paris in 1892 [typo in Vermaseren: ’1882’] by de Clerque and placed in the home of Comte Louis de Boisgelin (5 Rue Masseran, Paris VII), and then donated to the Louvre in 1967. The figure has Louvre accession number AO22258.



On a round pedestal with inscription (No. 79) stands an entirely naked figure wi…

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