Description

The royal Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal is shown on a famous group of Assyrian palace reliefs from the North Palace of Nineveh that are now displayed in room 10a of the British Museum. They are widely regarded as “the supreme masterpieces of Assyrian art”. They show a formalized ritual “hunt” by King Ashurbanipal (reigned 669-631 BC) in an arena, where captured Asian lions were released from cages for the king to slaughter with arrows, spears or his sword. They were made about 645-635 BC, and originally formed different sequences placed around the palace. They would probably originally have been painted and formed part of a brightly colored overall décor. (credit: Wikipedia)

Assyrion Lion is a powerfully drawn image referencing the historic changes happening in the Middle East and the accompanying loss and damage of ancient cultural icons. With dramatic effect, Jimènez borrows from the archetypal image of a wounded lioness (see above) and adds a flame engulfed, falling ziggurat (the tower of Babel?) to make his point. The arrows may also be interpreted as modern missiles.