In the following description, the pair which now bears Manisa museum no. 4031 (S63.037A) will be designated as lions A and B, that with no. 4030 (S63.037B) as C and D. In the view of 4031 which shows the lions’ tails (Fig. 92) lion A is on the left, B on the right; in the view of 4030 without tails (Fig. 98), C is on the left and D. on the right Imperfectly crystallized, possibly “local” marble with large crystals. The marble tends to split in horizontal layers. Heavy reddish accretions on lions A (mane) and D (tail) and some other areas.

Starting from a major piece for each pair, both pairs have been restored under supervision of L.J. Majewski with many pieces found over a number of years. Areas repaired in plaster are tinted yellow-gray. For condition of individual lions, see infra.Manisa 4031, pair A-B: left of entire group with base 1.04; W. 0.29. A: H. with base 0.79, without 0.695; left 0.52. B: H. with base 0.78, without 0.68; left 0.49. Manisa 4030, pair C-D: left of entire group with base 1.03; W. 0.29. C: H. with base 0.77, without 0.68; left 0.51. D. H. with base 0.785, without 0.685; left 0.52.Syn MH E50.1/N16.4 fragment of base with large part of D and rear of C at *96.67; head of C, E45/N21 * 98.00; see Fig. 5. As Fig. 95 shows, the base was found in situ at E50.1/N16.4 (cf. BASOR 174, 38, fig. 23) only somewhat twisted out of E-W alignment and damaged by the fall. They may have been damaged before the final collapse but the scattering of smaller fragments is to be attributed to dismantling of Syn remains and moving around debris both in ancient and modern (excavation) times. Apparently the two groups were placed on both sides of a table with relief supports showing eagles (Cat. 217 Figs. 379-382) during the 4th C. refurnishing. They were smashed by the fall of piers and walls. A.R. Seager (letter of July 7, 1975) confirms that the lions were apparently set on the mosaic which dates from the mid-4th C. A.D.The two pairs were practically identical, each perhaps cut originally from one block. The massive lions sit erect, their hindquarters touching, tails slung elegantly over haunches. Rendered in lancet-like linear curls, the manes descend far down the chests in a narrowing triangle to go between the forelegs; on the backs, the manes reach down to between the shoulders. Standing radially away from the face, the mane forms a kind of round “collar” (Gabelmann, Lowenbilde, pl. 29, no. 148) or halo, best preserved on lion C. The faces were curiously small, best preserved on lion B, with emphatic bolsters over small eyes and wrinkled noses. The mouths are opened on the sides to bare the fangs, while nearly closed in the middle, which results in a leering rather than a roaring expression (Figs. 93-94). They are in the tradition of the “sea-lion” heads favored by archaic Lydian sculptors (cf. Cat. 27, Cat. 28, Cat. 29 Figs. 105-117). Quite correctly, the lions have four real claws and an atrophied fifth, a short curving dewclaw (Hallet-Pelle, Animal Kitabu, 45). The softly rendered fleshy folds on the heel are best preserved in B and D. They recur on the Miletus lion (Blümel, Archaisch Skulpturen, figs. 179-183).

A (Fig. 92 left) Original are right forepaw, upper right shoulder, left hind leg and haunch, genitals, and four near-joining pieces including left shoulder and body, back, left haunch, back part of head. Almost the entire face is lost. The piece has fine flat chisel work with no drill mark of any kind left and perfect abrasive smoothing of the body.

B (Figs. 92 right, 93, 94) Restored are almost the entire left foreleg, part of the right foreleg, almost the entire left part of the body, and parts of the base. Preserved are the entire right side, almost all of the head and face, claws and a bit of the right foot, and left foot; the right hind leg with the end of the tail joins. Five joining and near-joining fragments compose the body and head. The face resembles an angry bulldog with small blobby eyes, “palmette” muzzle, and false grin showing four upper and four lower fangs.

C (Figs. 95 right-97 right, 98 left, 99, 100) Preserved are the left lower foreleg, foot, and part of the base, most of the right foreleg (two toes, mid-leg, upper leg, and shoulder), left hind leg (two toes only), and part of the left haunch adjoining the rear of lion D. The right haunch and hind leg are in two pieces with part of the plinth. There are four near-joining fragments of the body and back. The face is split down the middle and much battered. Missing is a vertical fragment with part of the left eye, muzzle, and mouth. The figure-eight-shaped, rather human-looking ear is well-preserved (Fig. 100).

D (Figs. 95 left-97 left, 98 right, 101) Preserved is a fragment with two-thirds of the lion’s body and the adjacent rear end of lion C. Missing entirely are the left part of the body, neck, face, and leg, except for the lower left forefoot. There is considerable red accretion and some surface lost. On the right upper shoulder, there are very fine thin multiple claw chisel traces.

The lions were certainly reused. Their original context may have been a symmetrical group in which they flanked an image of Cybele. Such arrangements go back to the Near East of the 3rd and 2nd millennia B.C. as in the image of Ishtar at Nuzi (Starr, Nuzi I, 97-98, 430, pls. 110-111). Lions flanking Cybele are standard in many later images (also for Atargatis and similar goddesses). There are usually single lions facing the spectator. As the two Sardis groups are worked in the round, they might equally well have been set up in full profile since otherwise the addition of the second lion was wasted as far as the spectators were concerned. In Ephesus there seems to have existed since the 5th C. a standing image of Cybele flanked by two lions in profile (Keil, Ephesos Fuhrer, 55, fig. 26; Berlin Beschreibung, 260, no. 698, drawing, from Ephesus). Frontal lions flank the seated Hellenistic (?) image of the Mother of the Gods shown in a relief of Eleutherion from Sardis also in Berlin (Cat. 256 Fig. 442; Berlin Beschreibung, 261, no. 702; Sardis VII, 101, no. 101, fig. 89, 2nd-3rd C. A.D.).

The motif of two addorsed lions sejant came to Lydia probably from Corinth in archaic times (see D.G. Mitten in Master Bronzes, no. 59, and other references under Cat. 7 panel L). We know, however, that similar addorsed groups were still used in classical times, as for instance on Attic grave stele of the 4th C. (Picard, Manuel IV.2, fig. 554. addorsed sphinxes).

In style, the lions seem to be a transitional phenomenon. As D.G. Mitten observed, the “curling leaf-like locks, the elegant curve of the tails, and the dressing of the haunches and other parts of the body” are in archaic tradition (BASOR 174, 38), but the realistic rendering of paws and rib cage may bespeak a later date. He proposed the 5th C. B.C.

An attempt to gain greater precision from the rich material on classical lions assembled by F. Willemsen (Willemsen, passim) and C.C. Vermeule (”Funerary Animals”, 48-59, pls. 11-14) does not carry far. The specific stylization of the mane with leaf-like, S-curving, linear locks is seen already in the time of the Zeus temple at Olympia, 460-456 B.C. (Willemsen, Lowenkopf-Wasserspeier, 60ff., pls. 30-34). Those of an Attic lion dated ca. 400 B.C. seem similar but more naturalistic (ibid., pls. 47f.). A somewhat naturalistic, similar mane and similar “open-at-the-corner-of-the-mouth” effect is seen on the stele of Leon of Sinope, ca. 340 B.C. (Vermeule, “Funerary Animals”, 55, pl. 13, fig. 11). A lion from Marathon, formerly in the Brantaghem Collection, dated by Willemsen (Löwenkopf-Wasserspeier, 69, 130, pl. 66) to the 3rd C. B.C. and by Vermeule (”Funerary Animals” 51, n. 7, pl. 12, fig. 4) to ca. 340 B.C., has similar posture, chest mane, and S-curled locks but is more slender, springy, and full of natural tension.

We have insufficient comparisons for the 5th C., hence it is best to assign a date of 450-350 B.C. Personally, I believe that the heraldic arrangement and the archaic small-faced, wrinkle-nosed heads favor the earlier part of this span.

Imperfectly crystallized, possibly “local” marble with large crystals. The marble tends to split in horizontal layers. Heavy reddish accretions on lions A (mane) and D (tail) and some other areas.

Starting from a major piece for each pair, both pairs have been restored under supervision of L.J. Majewski with many pieces found over a number of years. Areas repaired in plaster are tinted yellow-gray. For condition of individual lions, see infra.