Striding Lion from Babylon's Ishtar Gate at Kunsthistorisches Museum

The Striding Lion, a 604–562 BCE glazed brick relief from Babylon's Processional Way, is held at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Created under King Nebuchadnezzar II during the Neo-Babylonian Empire, the lion measures 1.07 meters high and 2.30 meters wide, composed of yellow, brown, and red bricks on a blue background. It adorned the 250-meter Processional Way linking the Ishtar Gate to Babylon's central temple, symbolizing Ishtar, goddess of beauty, love, and war. The Ishtar Gate, decorated with dragons and bulls for Marduk, and a section of the Processional Way are reconstructed at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.