The Cramond lioness is a Roman-era sculpture recovered in 1997 from the mouth of the River Almond at Cramond, Edinburgh, Scotland.
It depicts a bound male prisoner being killed by a lioness. The upper torso and head of the prisoner are shown, with the giant lioness behind him, sinking her teeth into his skull.
The work is interpreted as a Roman sculpture imported to Scotland to serve as part of the tomb of a Roman military commander or dignitary, and connected to the nearby Cramond Roman Fort. The location of such a tomb, and how the sculpture reached its location in the river are unknown.[1]
The sculpture is presently housed at the Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. In 2003, plans were unveiled for the lioness to be housed in a new archaeological centre at the Roman Fort in Cramond,[2] although this proposal was still at the initial planning stage in 2008.[3]