personnel that included vets and nurses. Despite overwhelming response, Marjan succumbed to old age and died in January 2002. Both private and public funeral ceremonies were held for the famous lion that was buried in the zoo. On his grave is posted a sentence in Pashto: Here lies Marjan, who was about 23. He was the most famous lion in the world. In March 2002, China donated a pair of lions to the Kabul Zoo to replace Marjan. In fiction Marjan is mentioned in Khaled Hosseini's novel "The Kite Runner" and is the central and eponymous figure in the play The Lion of Kabul by Colin Teevan, part of The Great Game: Afghanistan. Marjan appears in Denis Johnson's essay collection Seek. More recently Marjan has also been mentioned in Kim Barker's book "The Taliban Shuffle". A deleted scene in Whiskey Tango Foxtrot features the attack on Marjan. He is also the subject of Dwyer Jones' poem, "Lion of Afghanistan (Apology to Marjan)." In a poem "In Kabul Zoo, The Lion", Jeet Thayil writes about the suffering, resilience and strength from the perspective of Marjan himself. Marjan's story is told in "Libraires envolés, Bangkok-Damas" by Anne & Laurent Champs-Massart. Notes 2002 animal deaths 1976 animal births History of Kabul Individual animals in Afghanistan Individual lions