Lion of Amphipolis

According to Oscar Broneer and archaeologist Dimitris Lazaridis, the first person excavating in the area in the 1960s, it was set up in honour of Laomedon of Mytilene, an important general of Alexander the Great, king of Macedon.

[1] They were followed by British soldiers a few years later in 1916, during World War I, who also discovered significant parts of the monument while building fortifications at the bridge.

In the early 1930s, during works for draining part of Lake Kerkini nearby, there was a discovery of an ancient bridge and close to it in the river mud further, very large pieces of the marble lion.

In 1937, and thanks to Lincoln MacVeagh, the US ambassador in Greece at the time, there was a private initiative along with support and funds from the Greek government to restore the Lion of Amphipolis, which eventually came to be in its current form.

Taking into account the base, it is taller than 8 m. The head has a width of 2 m. Its craftsmanship shows a work of the 5th or first half of 4th century BC.