★ A large and impressive amulet with a deity standing on a lion ★

ASIA MINOR. Uncertain. Amulet (Lead, 36 mm, 10.70 g), circa 4th-6th centuries. Deity standing on a lion to right, facing an attendant standing to left, who holds an uncertain object in his raised right hand and another one in his left; in upper left field, star with central pellet and pellet-in-annulet below; in upper right field, star; all within border decorated with pellets and lines in two concentric circles. Rev. Field decorated with pellets. An attractively designed amulet with an intriguing scene. Good very fine.

Several deities from antiquity were portrayed in association with lions, especially solar deities. The imagery on our amulet resembles the Anatolian sun god Sandan who is portrayed on coins of the Seleucids and on the Roman provincial coinage of the Cilician city of Tarsus. Some hardstone amulets, too, portray Helios standing on a lion, as well as a winged deity usually described as Pantheos.