Advanced Intermediate Beginner Home English Spanish

The Nemean Lion




Earl Staley, "Hercules and the Nemean Lion."
Acrylic canvas 120 x 160 cm (1983). Private collection.
Click on image for full size (139K JPEG)
Image courtesy of Mr. Earl Staley.
More than two thousand years ago, Greeks believed the god Zeus placed the figure of a gigantic lion in the sky with the rest of the stars. This lion lived in the city of Nemea.

The people who lived in that region were terrorized by the Nemean Lion. Several times they tried to destroy the beast. Heracles, the most famous Greek hero, was ordered by the king, Euryshtheus, to kill the Nemean lion. Heracles was an incredibly strong man. The Romans called him Hercules.

Visit the constellation Leo


Credits Settings Sponsorship Membership Contact us About the site Site map Help Myths People News Arts, books and film Images and multimedia Tours Life Geology Physics Space weather Space Missions Solar system Astronomy and the Universe Shop for science stuff Games Ask a scientist Journal Comets Dwarfs Neptune Uranus Saturn Jupiter Asteroids Mars Earth Venus Mercury Sun Teacher resources Kids Space Search Home
Last modified prior to September, 2000 by the Windows Team

The source of this material is Windows to the Universe, at http://www.windows.ucar.edu/ at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR). © The Regents of the University of Michigan. Windows to the Universe® is a registered trademark of UCAR. All Rights Reserved. Site policies and disclaimer