Le culte du lion en Basse Égypte d'après les documents grecs

Well known in Egypt ever since prehistoric times, the most regal of all animals, the lion, holds a strong position in the imaginary of Egyptian religion. The importance of the lion cult is evidenced by the number of leonine figures in the Egyptian geography and cosmogony, and more particularly so by those found in the Delta, in the "city of lions" that stood at Tell-el-Muqdâm. This small but eloquent corpus of nine greek inscriptions, set in Leontopolis, along with various accounts by authors of that time, enable us to appreciate fully the originality of this lion cult which lasted from the foundation of the major temple under Ptolemaeus Epiphanes till the reign of Elagabal, when an ephebic competition was installed in honour of the lion. Through these we can also get an idea of the organisation of sacred matters, the feline menagerie, as well as the politics of a few lagid kings and of the emperor concerning the religious, administrative and military centre that made up the metropolis of the nome named Leonpolite.Bernand Étienne. Le culte du lion en Basse Égypte d'après les documents grecs. In: Dialogues d'histoire ancienne, vol. 16, n°1, 1990. pp. 63-94