Lion Heads as Gargoyles from the temple of Himera. Photograph by Bernhard J. Scheuvens aka Bjs. Via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.
These lion gargoyles come from the Temple of Nike (Victory) at Himera, Sicily. The ancient temple was probably built to commemorate a military victory of the Syracusans (rulers of Sicily) over the Carthaginians c. 480 BCE, though it was destroyed around 408 BCE in another battle that resulted in victory for the Carthaginians. Ruins of the temple still exist in Siciliy, and some decorative elements like these gargoyles are now displayed in the the Museo Archeologico Regionale in Palermo, Italy.
Sources: “Temple of Victory (Himera)”. Wikipedia.org. Accessed October 11, 2015. Lendering, Jona. “Himera (480 BCE)”. Livius.org. Last modified August 10, 2015. Accessed October 11, 2015.
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Alexandra Kiely, aka A Scholarly Skater, is an art historian based in the northeastern United States. She loves wandering down the dark and dusty corners of art history and wholeheartedly believes in visual art's ability to enrich every person's life.
Her favorite periods of art history are 19th-century American painting and medieval European art and architecture. When she not looking at, reading about, writing about, or teaching art, she's probably ice dancing or reading.
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A Scholarly Skater 