had wanted to visit the sites linked to the Soleb Lions (also known as the ‘Prudhoe Lions’) at the British Museum ever since childhood. I would hold my grandfather’s hand as we stood and playfully growled at these two realistic-looking red granite lions. The lions had been moved at least once in antiquity – along with six black granite rams – to Gebel Barkal in Sudan by the kings of Kush. They had originally been carved during the reign of Amenhotep III for his Temple of Amun, located between the Second and Third Nile Cataracts at Soleb. Various inscriptions had been added to them during the reigns of Amenhotep IV, Tutankhamun, Ay, and the Meroitic king Amanislo (the Ethiopian king Amonasro in Verdi’s opera Aïda). It is widely believed to be Amanislo (c.260-250 BC) who moved them from Soleb to Gebel Barkal.