Lion Felling a Bull from a Marble Pediment in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Oct. 2007

Lion felling a bull, from a marble pediment
Greek, Attic, ca. 525-500 BC

Accession # 42.11.35

The original composition which probably decorated the pediment (triangular gable) of a small building, consisted of two lions felling their prey. The adjoining piece, with the fore-part of the right-hand lion and the middle of the bull, was found near the Olympieion in Athens in 1862 and is now in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens. The subject is one of the most popular in Archaic art of all media. It allowed artists to infuse a symmetrical composition with violent movement. It may also have represented the conflict between civilized life and nature, a theme symbolized later by struggles between Greeks and centaurs.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.