The Lioness of Gobedra is a rock sculpture located in Gobo Dura (Gobedra), Ethiopia. It is a representation of a crouching lioness around three metres long, which was carved into a relief on a large phonolite[1] rock outcropping situated two kilometers west of Axum. It was first described by German archeologists in 1913.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a6/Lioness_of_Gobedra.jpg/300px-Lioness_of_Gobedra.jpg)
The reason for this isolated stone carving is unknown, but the subject of much speculation. A local story, according to Philip Briggs, is that Archangel Michael was attacked by a lion here, and "he repelled the lion with such force it left an outline in the rock." Not far away is a quarry, where the stelae that adorn Axum are thought to have been carved, and there is a partially-carved example of one.[2]
Notes
edit- ^ Miruts Hagos; Koeberl, C.; Jourdan, F. (2017). "Geochemistry and Geochronology of Phonolitic and Trachytic Source Rocks of the Axum Obelisks and Other Stone Artifacts, Axum, Ethiopia". Geoheritage. 9 (4): 479–494. doi:10.1007/s12371-016-0199-7.
- ^ Philip Briggs, Guide to Ethiopia, fifth edition (Old Saybrook: Globe Pequot Press, 2009), p. 264
External links
edit- Several photographs of the Lioness of Gobedra which is stated on the site as possibly dating to sometime B.C. and many details about the carving. (archive)