This sculpture is of the highest quality and its subject matter of a lion devouring a bull is unique. Usually, Egyptian depictions of lions show the animal at rest, but here the predator is seen in action. With its front paws it is grabbing a bull, represented on a smaller scale, in the flank. The lion's teeth are in the bull's neck. The head of the bull is missing. The motif of a lion devouring a bull has symbolic overtones. It is known from Egypt, particularly in the Amarna Period, but also from elsewhere, such as Mycenae. H. Brunner and E. Brunner-Traut suspect that this sculpture functioned as a cult statue in the holy of holies of a temple, where it received the secret cult of the priests. Egyptian religion believed that the god would manifest itself in such a statue in order to exert influence on earth. The god is most likely to be identified as Miysis, the principal god of Leontopolis in the eastern Delta.
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