This paper argues that the function of the paired lions in Tel ʿEton Tomb 1 is analogous to that of the lion deities Aker and Ruty from Egyptian funerary contexts. Grounded in an updated survey of the role of lions in Egyptian mortuary iconography, it shows that the inward-facing lions at the entrance to the tomb point to a mythological belief in solar resurrection. The Judahite tomb, which contained Egyptian protective amulets, was oriented towards the rising sun, which would have shined on an inverted carving of Death the Swallower, suggesting a deliberate reworking of a familiar motif into a mortuary space that reflects the hope of disempowering death. This highlights a striking synthesis of Judahite, Egyptian, and wider Near Eastern funerary traditions.
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