Greek Gods

Leo was a constellation and also the Nemean lion in Greek mythology. The lion was raging the countryside and killing sheep and people. Hercules was given the task to kill the lion. The lion was said to have skin so strong and tough that it could not be penetrated with any type of iron, bronze, or stone. Hercules could not reason with the beast so he strangled Leo to death. Hera (Zeus’ wife), was so angry with Hercules that she raised the soul of Leo and placed it high in the sky. Today Leo can be seen as the constellation Leo, the Lion. The Chaldeans connected Leo with the sun since it was in the sky during the summer solstice but this is not true anymore because of the precession of the Earth and it’s axis.

Somewhere around 240 B. C., Leo’s tail was taken from him. It seems that the priest under Ptolemy III chopped off Leo’s tail when they invented the new constellation Coma Berenices (also known as Bernice’s Hair).

The Egyptians believed in Leo and they worshiped the lion god because the lion beast had a lot of influence on their life. The Egyptians believed the world was created when the sun rose in Leo close to the star named Denebola. The Sumarians also believed this group of stars was that of a lion. The form is believed, by some, to have been passed on to the Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, and others.

Killing this beast was the first task given to Hercules of the twelve he had to accomplish for a king. The lion came down from the Moon in the form of a meteor. It roamed the countryside of Corinth and destroyed animals and people. Hercules found the lions den in a cave and sealed off one of the two entrances. After failing to kill him with an arrow, he approached the lion, grabbed it and stuck his fist down its throat and strangling it. He then threw the lion over his shoulder and took it back to the king to prove to him that it was dead. Hercules skinned the lion and used it’s tough hide as a shield because arrows and other weapons could not penetrate it.

Leo was known to the Persians as Ser, To the Turks he was known as Arten. He was known to the Syrians as Aryo, to the jews as Arye, and to the Babylonians as Aru. All of these names stand for lion, so it proves that there were many who acknowledged the constellation as a lion.

Leo the Lion is the nearest constellation to the Milky Way. The lion has been identified as having a connection to the sun since the earliest Mesopotamian civilizations.