Mythology Behind the Constellation Leo
| PLEASE NOTE: Even though Takeuchi Naoko used mostly the Roman names of mythological characters when she was finding names for her own characters, I will use the Greek names instead. I do this because - as any student of mythology knows - the Romans gods and characters are almost all facsimiles of the original Greek mythology characters. Also, all the mythology connected to the Sailor Senshi is Greek, not Roman, so it makes more sense to use the Greek names. Therefore, if you are used to the Roman names because you've been watching lots of Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon or something, here's a Greek-to-Roman mythology name conversion chart to help you understand this page better:
- Ganymede |
Mythology Behind the Constellation Leo
Heracles, most famous of the Greek heroes, had killed his wife Megara and their three sons in a fit of madness inflicted on him by Hera, queen of the gods, who was upset over the fact that Heracles was the offspring of an affair her husband Zeus had had with Alcmene, princess of Argos and wife to Amphitryon, a Theban general.
Although many forgave him for murdering his family since it happened during a fit of madness he had no control over, Heracles did not forgive himself and wanted to atone so badly that he asked the oracle at Delphi what he should do to be cleansed of his sin. The priestess told him to go to his cousin Eurystheus, King of Mycenae, and do whatever Eurystheus told him he needed to do to be cleansed; with encouragement from Hera, Eurystheus told Heracles that the only way to atone for his crime was to undertake a series of near impossible tasks - tasks which were to be later known as the Twelve Labors of Heracles.
The first labor was to kill the lion of Nemea, an animal whose skin could not be cut by any weapon. Heracles killed the beast by choking it to death, and he managed to skin the lion with its own claws, which were the only thing that could penetrate the skin. Thereafter Heracles used this strong lionskin as a cloak (the head portion of the skin formed a hood of sorts) and it became his trademark. Also, for whatever reason they may have had, the gods placed the Nemean Lion in the sky as the constellation Leo - the Lion.