The proud Lion of Amphipolis has been a trademark of the Greek region of Serres and a symbol of Macedonia in Northern Greece.The 5.3-meter tall statue was found in 1912 after the 7th division of the Greek army found it at the base of the Strymonas River during drainage works there. A legend was started that no doubt the unknown sculptor of the work, realising that the Lion missed its tongue, threw it into the river so that nobody would see it. In August 1916, British soldiers building fortifications at the bridge of Amphipolis found the marble parts and tried to smuggle them to England, however their efforts were stopped when Bulgarians who had just seized Paggaion attacked them. According to archaeologists, the “material of the Lion’s base had been re-used as a dam since the Roman era.” Historians and archaeologists initially believed that it was erected as a symbolic monument to express the power of Amphipolis.