Piraeus Lion, Venice

The Piraeus Lion can be found at the Venetian Arsenal in Venice. It's a large marble lion that was once located in Piraeus in Greece. There is some evidence that it had been a fountain at one time. It was plundered by the Italians during the Turkish War and relocated to Venice sometime in the 17th century.

If you look closely at the following photos, you'll see something interesting. Carved into the flanks and shoulders of the lion, there are Scandinavian runes. It's very difficult to make them out because the marble is heavily eroded (the inscriptions date from around the 11th century), but they are in the Lindworm (i.e dragon-headed scroll) form.

Close up of the runic inscriptions.

"Sven woz 'ere and I pillaged your village, ha ha" (or something like that)

This isn't the only incident of ancient vandalism I have ever seen. Inside the chamber at Newgrange, some bright sparks have carved their names into the stones lining the chamber. Many of the statues at the temples in Egypt have had graffiti carved onto them - in greek, italian, french and english. Christians have carved crosses and defaced the images of ancient Egyptian gods and kings on the temple walls. So, the next time you see a wall that has been defaced by taggers, don't sigh deeply and complain that the world is going to hell in a hand basket, just remember that tagging did not suddenly spring up at the invention of the spray can. Vandals have ALWAYS been around - it's just that the materials that they use to make their mark have changed over the centuries!