Lion of Babylon
Lion of Babylon is a stone sculpture, over 2,600 years old, that was found in the ancient city of Babylon, Iraq. Its discovery was first documented in 1817 by Claudius Rich, although it may have been seen as early as 1790 by Joseph de Beauchamp.| Tap on a place to explore it |
- Type: Memorial
- Description: sculpture
- Also known as: “Babylon Lion” and “Lion of Babylon (statue)”
- Inscription: “أسد بابل وهو تمثال لأسد عثر عليه في مدينة بابل الأثرية في العراق في سنة 1776 من قبل بعثة حفريات أثرية ألمانية، وهو مصنوع من حجر البازلت الأسود الصلب، حيث يظهر هذا التمثال على شكل أسد يقف على شخص بشري، طوله يبلغ حوالي متران وهو موضوع على منصة طولها حوالي م”
Places of Interest Nearby
Highlights include Babylon and Ishtar Gate.
Babylon
Photo: Edwin Long, Public domain.
Babylon is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Iraq, today only ruins; it was once one of the most prominent cities of Ancient Mesopotamia. Alexander the Great chose Babylon to be the capital of the great empire he had created, and died there while planning further conquests; for several centuries after that it was a major center of the Seleucid Empire founded by one of his generals.
Ishtar Gate
City gate
Photo: rictor-and-david, CC BY 2.0.
The Ishtar Gate was the eighth gate to the inner city of Babylon. It was constructed c. 569 BC by order of King Nebuchadnezzar II on the north side of the city. Ishtar Gate is situated 450 metres southeast of Lion of Babylon.
Esagila
Archaeological site
The Ésagila or Esangil was a temple dedicated to Marduk, the protector god of Babylon. It lay south of the ziggurat Etemenanki. Esagila is situated 1¼ km south of Lion of Babylon.
Places in the Area
Nearby places include Hillah.
Hillah
Lion of Babylon
- Categories: statue, sculpture, and historic site
- Location: Babylon Governorate, Iraq, Middle East, Asia
- View on OpenStreetMap
Latitude
32.54502° or 32° 32′ 42″ northLongitude
44.42155° or 44° 25′ 18″ eastElevation
2 metres (7 feet)Open location code
8H46GCWC+2JOpenStreetMap ID
node 7248398788OpenStreetMap feature
historic=memorialWikidata ID
Q16120770
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Satellite Map
Discover Lion of Babylon from above in high-definition satellite imagery.
In Other Languages
From Arabic to Welsh—“Lion of Babylon” goes by many names.
- Arabic: “أسد بابل”
- Arabic: “اسد بابل”
- Chinese: “巴比伦之狮 (雕像)”
- Chinese: “巴比伦之狮”
- French: “Lion de Babylone”
- German: “Löwe von Babylon”
- Indonesian: “Singa Babilonia (patung)”
- Indonesian: “Singa Babilonia”
- Japanese: “バビロンのライオン(像)”
- Kurdish: “ئه سه د بابل”
- Persian: “شیر بابل (مجسمه)”
- Persian: “شیر بابل”
- Russian: “Вавилонский лев”
- Spanish: “León de Babilonia (estatua)”
- Spanish: “León de Babilonia”
- Tamil: “பாபிலோனின் சிங்கம் (சிங்கம்)”
- Tamil: “பாபிலோனின் சிங்கம்”
- Ukrainian: “Лев Вавилону (статуя)”
- Ukrainian: “Лев Вавилону”
- Welsh: “Llew Babylon”
Places with the Same Name
Discover other places named “Lion of Babylon”.
Notable Places Nearby
Highlights include Ishtar Gate and مول جوزيف.
Nearby Places
Explore places such as جوزيف and Tower of Babel Hall.
Iraq: Must-Visit Destinations
Delve into Baghdad, Babylon, Mosul, and Basra.
Curious Memorials to Discover
Uncover intriguing memorials from every corner of the globe.
About Mapcarta. Data © OpenStreetMap contributors and available under the Open Database License". Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, except for photos, directions, and the map. Description text is based on the Wikipedia page “Lion of Babylon”. Photo: Wikimedia, CC BY 2.0.