Mythology
Beyond the hills, the river Aesopos’ daughter-nymph Nemea welcomes you…
- The Leo of Nemea
In Greek Mythology the Leo of Nemea was a lion that lived in the area of Nemea and scared people away. He was Typhoon and Echidna’s or Orthros and Chimaera’s descendant. There still exists the view that he fell from the Moon and was Zeus and Moon’s descendant: “I come from the beautiful-haired Moon, who, shaking in horror tossed from above her the quadromorph lion and threw it in Nemea to satisfy the venerable Hera”. This beast was eventually killed by Hercules.
The killing of the Leo and its skinning was the first of the 12 deeds assigned to Hercules by Evristheas.
Leo had a very thick skin that could not be pierced by any weapon. At first, Hercules used his bow and sword, but with no result. He finally wrestled, himself, bare-handed with the beast and suffocated it, …“the beast dashes on me, its legs do not touch the ground anymore, but it staggers and falls. I stroke it so herd on the head that a thick cloud covered its eyes…” Then he tried to skin it, but that was also impossible. Goddess Athena recommended using the animal’s own teeth, as Hercules did, finally, managing to subtract its skin… “I did it, I winkled out its pelt, which was harder than iron and covered my shoulders with it. Thus, I had shield that no homicidal enemy arrow could penetrate.
The hero wore the lion skin and took it to Evristheas to tell him he had carried out his first mission. When he saw him entering, Evristheas was terrified, thinking it was the lion itself and hided in a storage jar. Hercules kept the lion skin and always wore it from then on as a shield, known as “leonti”.
The Lion’s dead body was transferred from the Gods to the sky and formed the constellation Leo.