The Legend of Leo Leo: the bright stars of this constellation are first, second and third magnitudes. Its shape is reminiscent of a powerful animal. Its name may derive from the fact that lions would come near to the Nile river at the time of its flood to escape the drought. The flood coincided with the arrival of the Summer solstice, when the sun entered the portion of the sky where Leo is found. Precession has since changed the position of the solstice within the constellation of Cancer, but the correspondence of the figure of a lion with the name of this star grouping is obvious. The symbol of a lion's head was carved on the gates that opened the irrigation canals of the Nile valley. Several Mediterranean fountains from this period featured the head of a lion from whose mouth streams of water flowed.
Mesopotamia: lions were a nuisance to the people of Mesopotamia. Lion hunting became a popular sport of kings and a necessity to keep their populations down. The lion is associated with the warrior goddess, Istar. Representations of the hero-king Gilgamesh often show him with a club in one hand and a lion in the other. The sickle shape of the constellation containing the bright star Regulus was not lost on the farmers of early Mesopotamia. At the time that the solstice occurred within the sickle, the harvest of grains was underway. This portion of the constellation was known as Gis-mes, the Curved Scimitar.
Egypt: the sphinx of Giza dates to the fourth dynasty as does the Sirian, a lion with wings and the face of a woman. These are connected to the position of the sun within Leo during the solstice, the flooding of the Nile and the return of lions from the desert to the river.
Greece: the conquering of the Nemean lion, the first of the twelve labors of Hercules is symbolized by this star group. According to legend, Hera ordered the creation of the lion by the moon, Selene, who put the lion in a cave in the Nemean Mountains where the battle between Hercules and Leo took place. After killing the lion, Hercules wore its skin as his symbol. See the Greek legend of Hercules.
Arabic astronomy: an early Arab constellation called Asad, the lion, actually stretched over a much larger portion of the sky then present day Leo. It included stars from Gemini through Libra and as far north as Ursa Major and south to Hydra. Its size was later reduced and the name changed to Leo to match the classical star atlases.
India: there are 250 hymns in the Rig-Veda dedicated to Indra. This god of the rains, lightning and the solstice held the same power as the gods of Egypt who were responsible for the flooding of the Nile. When the sun entered this constellation the monsoon season returned life and fertility to the people of India. Leo represented Indra riding the sun to its highest point in the sky at this time of the year. See the Indian legend of Hydra.
China: this constellation was represented variously as a horse and the Red Bird. A connection to lions was never made.Back to the Constellations
