July 22, 2016 – August 22, 2016
The story behind the Leo constellation is a complicated one. Its mythology is intertwined with the 12 trials of Hercules, but also with the lives of Hera (the goddess of women and marriage) and Zeus (the king of the gods who rules over the sky). This version of the myth behind the Nemean Lion is one that I picked up while I was studying abroad in Greece. There are often many versions of Greek myths, but this is the one that I prefer.
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Hera played a part in the creation of many of the creatures that roamed around the work in ancient Greek mythology. She asked Gaia (the primal Greek Mother Goddess) and Tartarus (both a deity and a place in the underworld) to create Typhon (one of the most feared monsters in Ancient Greek mythology), who would one day give life to the Nemean Lion, the center of our Leo story.
The Nemean Lion was a lion sent to Nemea by Hera one day because she was angry at her husband Zeus. He was sent to guard the temple of Zeus, so that whoever wanted to worship there would have to go through an enormous and powerful lion with impenetrable skin.
When Hercules is tasked to kill the Nemean Lion, he doesn't know that its pelt is impenetrable and first attempts to kill it with a bow and arrows. Realizing that this was doing nothing, he then cleverly traps the lion in a cave and is able to use his immense strength to strangle the lion.
To prove to the king that he has slain the lion, he was ordered to bring back the pelt as evidence. Unable to cut its skin with any knives or weapons, he figures out that the only way to cut the skin is by using the lion's own claws. He then brings the pelt back to the king, but chooses to keep it for himself and use it as armor.
The reason why the Nemean Lion was graced with a place in the sky is unclear, but there are a couple of speculations. One is that Hera felt guilty that she sent her creature to earth where he was hunted and killed, so he was placed in the sky next to Selene (the goddess of moonlight, sometimes of the moon) who adored him so much. Another reason could be because Leos are closely connected to the sun. The Leo is a fire sign and it represents those born in the summer months. This sign lined up almost perfectly with the summer solstice in Ancient Greece, which could provide the reasoning for its place in the night sky.
