The Lion Monument at Amphipolis

The monumental lion at the site of Amphipolis in northern Greece is one of the most illustrated sculptures in textbooks of ancient art. It is probably the burial monument of Laomedon, a general and close friend of Alexander the Great. Until the 1930s however, the remains of the lion were fragmentary and little known. This book, by a famous art historian, describes the re-erection of the monument by the French and American Schools in Athens, at a time when the gathering clouds of war gave new meaning to this symbol of Greek military prowess. It presents a full description of the 4th-century B.C. lion, its meaning, and its historical context.