Fragment of floor mosaic depicting a striding lion, birds, and crops
400-500
Physical Qualities
Stone, lime mortar, 92 x 90 x 2 1/2 in. (233.7 x 228.6 x 6.4 cm.)
Credit Line
Antioch Subscription Fund
Object Number
1937.139
A life-sized lion strides across a diamond trellis pattern filled with fish, birds, and fruits. For the original viewers of this mosaic, the lion might have represented power or protection. The imagery of nature’s bounty—an extremely popular theme in both clothing and home décor of the 5th and 6th centuries—was invested with the power to attract
wealth and good fortune.
The Baltimore Museum of Art and Walters Art Gallery, "Early Christian and Byzantine Art", 1947, no. 668, ill. pl. LXXXIV.
C. R. Morey, "Museum Quarterly II," BMA, 1937-1938, no. 4, ill. cover.
Richard Stillwell, ed., "Antioch-on-the Orontes, II, The Excavations, 1932-1936," Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1938, no. 62, p. 189, pl. 47.
C.R. Morey, "The Mosaics of Antioch," Longmans, Green & Co., 1938, pp. 42, pl. XXII
Doro Levi, "Antioch Mosaic Pavements," Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1947, vol. I, pp. 321-322, fig. 135, vol. II, pl. LXXIV-a.
"A Picture Book," Baltimore: BMA, 1955, ill. p. 14.
Eloise Spaeth, "American Art Museums & Galleries; An Introduction to Looking, NY: Harper & Bros., 1960, p. 51.
R. Stead, "Pavements from a Fabled City," "Pharos," Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida, Fall/Winter 1964, pp. 5-8.
Christine Kondoleon, "Antioch The Lost Ancient City," Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000, fig. 1, p. 130.
Baltimore Museum of Art. The Baltimore Museum of Art: Celebrating a Museum. Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 2014.
"Striding Lion" BMA Today, no. 162 (winter/spring 2020): p. 3
"From the Ground Up: New Intepretation for the Antioch Floor Moasics Reflect many Cultural Influences" BMA Today issue 170 (Winter/Spring 2023): p. 24.
On View: Antioch Court
