About this 3D model

This fierce 15-ton lion symbolised Ishtar, the Assyrian goddess of war, and guarded the entrance to her temple. The cuneiform inscription gives the name of the temple's builder, Ashumasirpal I (883-859 BC). The lion is one of a pair excavated by Austan Henry Layard in 1850. A second pair was found by Iraqi archaeologists in 2001.