CIMRM 78-79 - Lion-headed statuette. Sidon. In the Louvre.

78. Statue of Parian marble (H. 1.0B). de Ridder, 61ff No. 40 and Pl. XXII-XXIII (see fig. 29); Legge in Proc. Soc. bibl. arch., 1912, Pl. XIX, 18; 1915, 154 and Pl. XXIII, 1; DS col. 1951 fig. 5090; RRS 11 266, 4; Gressmann, Or. Rel., 146 fig. 54; Cumont in CRAI 1928, 277 and Pl. I, 3; Leipoldt, XV and figs. 35-36; MM, Pl. I, 6; Lavedan, Dict. Myth., 654 fig. 617; Pettazzoni in AntC. XVIII, 1949 Pl. VII. On a round pedestal with inscription (No. 79) stands an entirely naked figure with a lion's head (Aion). Beneath his wide-open mouth the head of a snake, entwining him in three large coils. In his hands, which he holds stiffly by his sides the god carries two keys. A double pair of wings attached to his back; behind his legs a tree-stump. The purpose of a round hole in the back of his head is doubtful. 79. Fl. Gero/ntios, path\r no/mimoj, a)neqe/mhn tw~| f' e!ti.

I.e. I, Flavius Gerontius, pater nomimos, set this up in the 500th year.

The "year 500" is uncertain. If it is the 500th year of the Seleucid Era (AS), then 500 AS = 188 A.D. If it is following a local Sidon year-table, it is 398 A.D.¹

Another monument from the Sidon Mithraeum also has a similar dated inscription, CIMRM 76.