Sandas

Sandas (more commonly spelt as "Sandan") was the Anatolian (Hittite) lion god during the Classical period. He used to be represented in association with a horned lion, and often resided inside a pyre surmounted by an eagle. Sandan was often associated to the Greek god Herakles, and sometimes to Marduk. In ceremonies, an image of the god was placed inside a pyre and was set on fire.

Sandan appears in the coins of the Seleucids, as well as on other coins of Tarsus (Cilicia) during the time of the Roman emperors. In Tarsus, Sandon (sometimes spelled Sandes, Sandan, or Sanda) was visually represented as a mitre-wearing human form carrying a sword, a flower, or (commonly) an axe who stands on the back of a horned and winged lion.^[1][2] Associated primarily with war and weather,^[3] Sandon was the chief god in the Cilician pantheon from at least the beginning of the second millennium BC.^[4] The ancient Greeks and Romans equated Sandon with Herakles.^[5] A large monument to Sandon existed at Tarsus at least until the third century AD.

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  Coin of Antiochus VIII Grypus. Reverse: god Sandan standing on the horned lion, in his pyre surmounted by an eagle.

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  Bronze sesterce from Tarsus (Cilicia) with bust of Caracalla (211-217) on the obverse, and god Sandan on the reverse.

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  Coin of Antiochos X Eusebes Philopator depicting Sandon.

See also

• Lion of Venice

References

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