Spiritual Animals
Get in touch

Tattoo Meaning

Lion Tattoo Meaning: Lion of Judah, Heraldic English-Scottish, Ethiopian Rastafari

Lion tattoo meaning: Lion of Judah Rastafari inheritance from the Ethiopian Solomonic dynasty, English and Scottish heraldic lions, Zodiac Leo, and American traditional.

Published

Glazed brick lion from the Processional Way of the Ishtar Gate of Babylon, c. 575 BCE, Pergamon Museum.
A Neo-Babylonian lion from the Processional Way of the Ishtar Gate, c. 575 BCE, Pergamon Museum. Lion tattoos are among the most universally distributed in the world; the lion as emblem of royal authority appears in virtually every civilization that encountered the animal — from Mesopotamian seals (c. 3500 BCE) to heraldic lions in medieval European arms. Ishtar Gate lion, c. 575 BCE. Pergamon Museum, Berlin. CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Lion tattoos carry multiple specific cultural registers. The Lion of Judah (Revelation 5:5, Genesis 49:9, Ethiopian Solomonic imperial imagery, Rastafari symbolism) is the most specific Biblical-Christian lineage. English three-lions and Scottish rampant-lion heraldic traditions are civic. Zodiac Leo (see our Leo page) is astrological. See our lion spirit-animal page for the fuller Inanna-Sekhmet-Samson-Buddhist-Shakyasimha treatment.

Lion tattoos carry specific cultural registers (Lion of Judah, heraldic, Zodiac Leo). See our lion spirit-animal page.

See the full spirit-animal meaning: Lion Spirit Animal .

Frequently asked

What does a lion tattoo mean?
Courage, sovereignty, protection. Specific registers: Lion of Judah (Biblical-Rastafari), heraldic civic identity, Zodiac Leo. See our lion spirit-animal page.

Sources

  1. REFERENCEOur lion spirit-animal page
  2. PRIMARYGenesis 49:9, Revelation 5:5 — BHS / NA28.