What does the lion mean in ancient Egypt?

Strength and the sun. Two lions back to back, called Aker, guard the horizon where the sun goes down and comes up.

What the sign shows: A lion.
How Gerald Massey read it in 1907: The lion is the sun’s force for Massey, and the pair of lions the double force of Horus at the two horizons.
Where you see it today: The Great Sphinx: a lion’s body with a king’s head.
Where it stands in Massey’s book: Massey names it 384 times across the book. Book VIII, p. 504: “The mount of the two lions”; Book VIII, p. 503: “The Lord who roars like a lion”; Book X, p. 671: “In the cleft of the rock”.
Signs that look like it: Jackal, Cat and Hippopotamus. The app’s Symbol Trainer sets them side by side, so the eye learns to tell them apart.
In Massey’s words: “His double force is imaged by two lions.” (Gerald Massey, Ancient Egypt: The Light of the World (1907), Book XII, p. 844)
In the app: Trainer › Symbol Trainer › Lion. The app’s Symbol Trainer reads 42 signs this way, each with Massey’s own words and the page they stand on.

Last updated October 25, 2026.

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