Pond creatures (f79v)

[-JKP-]

I think it's reasonable to search for a matching context in which a hippo and a lion co-exist, and then not to forget about what's going on to the left of the figure - what's the connection of the mer-person and the persons above to these animals. One thing which is more or less distinct is that at the highest level we have heavens (cloudband pattern), from which water seems to pour onto the second layer of the system.
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While they were extinct in the region when Alexander Crawford visited the S.E. Mediterranean in the first half of the 19th century, he mentions that there used to be lions and hippopotami around the River Jordan.