Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 58, October 2006, pp. 1-13. | Page 9

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they were frightened wild donkeys. Fleeing from a lion (Qaswara)." (The Holy Qur‟an,
Suret Al-Muddather, Aya 49-51).
Lions are the most powerful of all carnivorous animals. Although not now found in
Palestine, they must have been in ancient times very numerous there. They had their lairs
in the forests (The Bible: Jeremiah 5:6; Jeremiah 12:8; Amos 3:4), in the caves of the
mountains (Song of Solomon 4:8; Nahum 2:12), and in the canebrakes on the banks of
the Jordan (Jeremiah 49:19; Jeremiah 50:44; Zechariah 11:3).
"Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil
them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: everyone who goes out of them shall be torn
in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased."
(The Bible, Jeremiah, 5:6).
"Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest; she has lifted up her voice against me:
therefore have I hated it." (The Bible, Jeremiah, 12:8).
"Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? Will a young lion cry out of his den,
if he has taken nothing?" (The Bible, Amos, 3:4).
"Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon: look from the top of
Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of
the leopards." (The Bible, Song of Solomon, 4:8).
"The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and
filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin." (The Bible, Nahum, 2:12).
"Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the habitation of
the strong: but I will suddenly make him run away from her: and who is a chosen man
that I may appoint over her? For who is like me? And who will appoint me the time? And
who is that shepherd that will stand before me?" (The Bible, Jeremiah, 49:19 and 50:44).
"There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the
roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled." (The Bible, Zechariah, 11:3).
"And the men of the city said unto him on the seventh day before the sun went down,
what is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion? And he said unto them, if
ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle." (The Bible, Judges,
14:18).
The Asiatic or Persian Lion (Felis leo persica), this proud symbol of strength and
courage, must have been abundant in Biblical times. According to the Bible, in which it
appears under several different names, the lion must have been quite common at that
time. The species appears often on mosaics from the Roman and Byzantine periods. The
thickets of the Jordan River were a preferred habitat. It became extinct after the time of
the Crusaders. The last mention of them being by Arab writers of the 13th and 14th
century, when lions still existed near Samaria and other areas. One specimen has been
hunted at Lejun, near Megiddo, in the thirteenth century. Alfaras Bin Shawer, Wali of
Ramla, wrote that he saw eleven dead lions after heavy rain in Ramla and the area of
Nahr (River) Al-Auja in 1294. Sanqarshah Almansouri, Naib of Safad (1304-1307),
killed in the coastal forests 15 lions. At this time, lions certainly roamed over parts of
Syria and Arabia and along the Rivers Tigris and Euphrates in Iraq, where in ancient
times lions figured prominently in the great royal hunts in Assyria. It is clear that lions

Gazelle – Number 58 – October 2006