This is one of a pair of Egyptian stone lions situated below the Fontana della Pigna in the Pine Cone Courtyard.
They are over 2000 years old and dated to around 360-343 BC; the reign of Pharoah Nectanebo II. They were rediscovered in the Nile delta of Northern Egypt during the pontificate of Pope Eugene IV, and brought to Rome in the 1400s.
In 1839, Pope Gregory XVI had them relocated from a fountain near the Baths of Diocletian and included in his 'new' Egyptian Museum.
Rome; July 2019
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