- The European Mountain Lion is thought to have existed in Greece and Turkey until the 5th or 4th century BCE.
- It continued to exist until the 10th century CE in the South Caucasus, also known as the Transcaucasus, in the area between Georgia, Armenia and Turkey.
Damnatio ad bestias
- Meaning ‘Condemnation to beasts’, this was a Roman capital punishment for criminals to be executed by being thrown to wild animals, often lions from North Africa or Syria.
- In popular culture Christians are also considered to have been ‘thrown to the lions’.
Barbary Lions
- Barbary lions were also in widespread use in the Roman Amphitheatres.
- The last Barbary Lion in North Africa was hunted in 1922 CE.
Sources
- Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE) compared the European lion favourably over the African and Syrian lion.
- Pausanias (c.110-180 CE) referred to lions still existing in Thrace.
- Themistius (317-388 CE), the Philosopher and Proconsul of Constantinople in 383 CE, wrote that by his time there were no more lions for the Games in the Circus.
Southern Caucasus