DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4376#0248
230 DESCRIPTION OF THE SCULPTUItES
does not seem to . have much exceeded 5'. One
head, measured across the face in a line with the
eyes, was 2" less in width than the largest head.
A paw was found smaller than any of the rest,
which seems to correspond in scale with this head.
Prom the examination of the numerous fragments
of legs and paws, and also from the action of the
shoulders and hind-quarters, there can hardly be a
doubt that all the lions were represented standing like
sentinels. Their heads, which seem to have been all
placed nearly on the same level, are turned, with a
vigilant look, a little on one side or the other, as if
they were guarding the approaches to the tomb.1'
The expression and attitude of each is beautifully
varied. The jaws are open just far enough to show
the teeth and tongue. In some, the countenance
has an angry look; in others, the natural savage-
ness of the animal ^eems tempered with a certain
earnestness and pathos in the expression, which is
very peculiar. The frame of these lions is. square
and compact, the forms are wiry and muscular, but
not gaunt and bony, as in the two lions found
by Sir C. Fellows at Xanthus. The mane is very
short and close, and the hind-quarters do not
exhibit that falling off and disproportion which is
so remarkable in the African lion, as we know it
from living sjoecimens. In comparing the lions of
the Mausoleum with nature, it must be borne in
mind that many deviations from the life may have
been made by the sculptors, iu order to adapt the
l' Compare the description of the lions on the funeral car of
Alexander the Great, cited from Diodorus, ante. p. 206.
does not seem to . have much exceeded 5'. One
head, measured across the face in a line with the
eyes, was 2" less in width than the largest head.
A paw was found smaller than any of the rest,
which seems to correspond in scale with this head.
Prom the examination of the numerous fragments
of legs and paws, and also from the action of the
shoulders and hind-quarters, there can hardly be a
doubt that all the lions were represented standing like
sentinels. Their heads, which seem to have been all
placed nearly on the same level, are turned, with a
vigilant look, a little on one side or the other, as if
they were guarding the approaches to the tomb.1'
The expression and attitude of each is beautifully
varied. The jaws are open just far enough to show
the teeth and tongue. In some, the countenance
has an angry look; in others, the natural savage-
ness of the animal ^eems tempered with a certain
earnestness and pathos in the expression, which is
very peculiar. The frame of these lions is. square
and compact, the forms are wiry and muscular, but
not gaunt and bony, as in the two lions found
by Sir C. Fellows at Xanthus. The mane is very
short and close, and the hind-quarters do not
exhibit that falling off and disproportion which is
so remarkable in the African lion, as we know it
from living sjoecimens. In comparing the lions of
the Mausoleum with nature, it must be borne in
mind that many deviations from the life may have
been made by the sculptors, iu order to adapt the
l' Compare the description of the lions on the funeral car of
Alexander the Great, cited from Diodorus, ante. p. 206.