Friday, 13 January 2012

Half man / half-lion

Stafford holds many mysteries for the curious observer like me (and they can’t be solved by Google, neither). This frieze on a building in the town-centre in the town is destined to be (I suspect) forever a puzzle. 
What does this half-man/half-lion figure represent? There’s no particular clue on the building itself.
Are there any local social historians out there who might decipher this riddle?

2 comments:

  1. That is striking! I like the sunburst effect of the bricks and sandstone too. Could he be wearing a lion's head robe? Nope, I can't find anything about it. What a cool mystery.

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    Replies
    1. You got me thinking. Yes, it's not a man being consumed by a lion, but, as you say, 'wearing' a lion.
      Turns out that one of the attributes of Hercules is the lion-skin he wears, the one he acquired after he killed the fearsome Nemean Lion.

      So. It's Hercules. Not sure how far that gets me though as to my understanding why he's up there.

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