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Fig. 29 Guardian lion (Aldred 1978, 41)
This image is a depiction of a lion in a sitting pose. It can be found at the base of the left-hand
jamb of the inner doorway of the pronaos. It is holding an object in its paws. The shape of this
object resembles a feather.
According to Aldred, this is a depiction of a lion. He interprets the items in its paws as reeds. He is
of the opinion that they have been carved as a mistake and should have been similarly shaped
knives. These were often given to protective demons. This indicated the lion was supposed to have
been a protective demon (Aldred 1978, 40).
Aldred’s interpretation shows that he has a clear image of what the decoration of an Egyptian
temple should look like. He gives the impression with this interpretation, with the interpretation of
the ceiling panel in the pronaos and with the elements seen in bigger Egyptian temples he claims
to be ‘missing’ that the individual that designed this temple made mistakes or did not have enough
time to do it ‘properly’. He does not seem to take into account that these could have been changes
in temple design and/or decoration due to globalisation processes or simply due to changes in
symbolism that occurred over time.
It is possible that mistakes were made in the details of the decoration of this temple due to a lack
of knowledge of such details by the individual who designed the decoration. It does seem however
rather unlikely that details were not taken into account in a temple meant as a gift to a loyal lord. It
seems like Aldred expected to find certain elements based on the elements known from ancient