Note 191 — Chapter II · SCULPTURE. (continued 2)

The king sometimes found himself engaged with a lion at the closest quarters. In an inscription on one of these reliefs, Assurbanipal thus expresses himself. “I, Assurbanipal, king of the nations, king of Assyria, fighting on foot in my great courage with a lion of terrifying size, I seized him by the ear(!), and, in the name of Assur and Istar, goddess of war, I put an end to his life with the lance I held in my hand.” (Fox Talbot in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. xix. p. 272).