Image Details

Photo by Giovanni Lattanzi

Sculpted in limestone, this relief of an attacking lion guards the entrance to the city’s acropolis. The Porta Leone, or Lion’s Gate, is one of three prominent gates along Butrint’s city walls. The fortifications, rising in some places to a height of 6 feet, date to around the fourth century B.C. and attest to Butrint’s history as a Mediterranean military power.