摘要：Well known in Egypt ever since prehistoric times, the most regal of all animals, the lion, holds a strong position in the imaginary ofEgyptian religion. The importance of the lion cult is evidenced by the number of leonine figures in the Egyptian geography andcosmogony, and more particularly so by those found in the Delta, in the "city of lions" that stood at Tell-el-Muqdam. This small buteloquent corpus of nine greek inscriptions, set in Leontopolis, along with various accounts by authors of that time, enable us toappreciate fully the originality of this lion cult which lasted from the foundation of the major temple under Ptolemaeus Epiphanestill the reign of Elagabal, when an ephebic competition was installed in honour of the lion. Through these we can also get an ideaof the organisation of sacred matters, the feline menagerie, as well as the politics of a few lagid kings and of the emperorconcerning the religious, administrative and military centre that made up the metropolis of the nome named Leonpolite
