Lion of Saint Mark

On the pinnacle of St Mark's Cathedral he is depicted as holding a Bible, and surmounting a golden lion which is the symbol of the city of Venice and formerly of the Venetian Republic.

"[2] In some depictions the lion rests his front paws on the ground, often in cities with rivers or in ones close to water, indicating the Venetian balanced power on land and sea.

Venetian tradition states that when Mark was traveling through Europe, he arrived at a lagoon in Venice, whereby an angel appeared to him and said, "Pax tibi Marce, evangelista meus.

[8] A fifteen-foot bronze statue of a lion stands atop a column of Egyptian granite in St. Mark's Square.

[10] There are also lions carved in relief on the façade of the Doge's Palace, and at the Scuola Grande di San Marco[10] A common theme in venetian art, it was also present in armoury worn by noblemen.

It is also visible in several places in the Giuliano-Dalmata area of Rome (including the church of San Marco Evangelista in Agro Laurentino), which was settled by refugees from the Julian March (formerly Venetian territory) after the Second World War.

[13] The Latin words engraved on the book are Pax Tibi Marce Evangelista Meus, which means Peace unto you, Mark, my Evangelist.

The heraldist Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, however, defined the true Lion of St. Mark as being one used specifically within religious badges to signify the saint, and to have a halo.