Nabataean Lion Head

The Nabataeans were an Arab people who inhabited northern Arabia and the Southern Levant. Their settlements, most prominently the assumed capital city of Raqmu, now called Petra gave the name of Nabatene to the borderland between Arabia and Syria, from the Euphrates to the Red Sea. Nabataean art was mostly religious – although influenced by the Greek they had their own deities to celebrate. Therefore their works of art majorly represent Gods and Goddesses or creatures of the Zodiac. In this respect one may assume this lion could be the lion from the Zodiac.