It’s Leo season, and in this article, we’re going to look at the ancient mythology of the sign of the lion as well as the personality traits of Leo natives.
An introduction to Leo…
Leo is a fire sign, the fifth sign of the zodiac, and it represents anyone born between July 22nd and August 22nd. It’s symbolised by the brave, courageous lion (Leo is Latin for lion) and its ruling planet is the sun.
The constellation of Leo
The Leo constellation is one of the easiest to recognise thanks to its many bright stars and the fact that it’s shaped like a crouching lion. Nine of its stars can be seen with the naked eye and six of these form ‘the sickle’, representing the lion’s head and mane. The other three stars form the tail and the rest of the lion’s body.
Leo in Mythology
Heracles was one of the most famous heroes in Ancient Greek mythology. He was the son of Zeus and Alcmene, a mortal woman who Zeus had an affair with. When Zeus’s wife, the goddess Hera discovered the affair and the birth of Heracles, she was wildly jealous and set out to make Heracles’s life as miserable as possible. She even sent two serpents to kill him in his cradle when he was a baby!
Before Heracles was born, Zeus declared that the next born son would reign on the throne of Mycenae and the Argolid. He obviously thought that this would be Heracles. But no, Hera accelerated the birth of Eurystheus, the son of Sthenelus and Nicippe. So the throne went to Eurystheus, and Heracles became his slave. Heracles was commanded to perform his Twelve Labours, a series of gruelling tasks. The first of which was the slaying of the Nemean lion.
There was a ferocious lion that roamed the Peloponnese, terrifying everyone who lived there. When Heracles found the lion, he tried to kill it with arrows, but they bounced right off the savage animal. He tried to kill it with a sword, but the sword bent in half. He tried to hit it with a wooden club and it broke on impact. He decided that because weapons weren’t working, he had to get up close and personal, so he bravely wrestled the lion and strangled it to death. Heracles used the lion’s own claws to skin it and made some armour from the pelt and jaw, and a helmet from its head. Zeus put the lion in the sky after it had been defeated to commemorate the great battle.
Leo in astrology
As you would expect from a sign that is ruled by the bright sun, Leos are often optimistic and confident. Being a fire sign, they also often burn with passion and creativity. Leo is a natural leader; if there’s a person in the room who is full of charm and confidence, they are likely to be a Leo. They can be bossy and demanding, and they love the spotlight, but they are also very loyal and generous friends. Just like their animal namesake, Leo natives are a force of nature and definitely make their mark on the world, wherever they go and whatever they do.