Epitome 12. Lion
THIS is one of the more conspicuous constellations; it would seem that this sign of the zodiac was granted that honour by Zeus because the lion holds the leading position among four-footed beasts. Some say that it was placed there to commemorate the first labour of Heracles; for this was the only beast which, for love of glory, he killed without the aid of weapons, by strangling it between his arms; the tale is recounted by Peisandros of Rhodes.* This also explains why Heracles carries the lion’s skin, as an emblem of the glorious deed that he had accomplished. This is the lion that was killed by him at Nemea.
Above the Lion there can also be seen seven faint stars, forming a triangle by its tail; these are called the Lock of Berenice Euergetis.*
Hyginus
The Constellation
Looking toward the east, the Lion is set above the Water-snake, from the snake’s head, which lies above the Ram, to the central part of it, and is divided through the middle by the summer tropic in such a way that its hind foot lies under that circle. It sets and rises head first.
It has three stars on its head, two on its neck, one on its chest, three on its upper back, one in the middle of its tail and another at the end, two under its chest, a bright star on its front paw, a bright one on its belly, with another large one below, one on its loins, one on its hind knee, and a bright one on its hind paw. That makes nineteen stars in all.
The Mythology
Zeus placed it [the Lion] in the sky, so it is said, because it is reckoned to be the king of the beasts. Some authors add that Heracles fought against it as the first of his labours, and killed it without the aid of weapons. Peisandros and many others have written about this episode.
Above its image, right next to the Maiden, there are seven other stars, arranged in a triangle by the Lion’s tail, which Conon, the mathematician of Samos, and Callimachus describe as being Berenice’s hair. When Ptolemy had married his sister Berenice, daughter of Ptolemy and Arsinoe, and set off a few days afterwards to make war against Asia, Berenice vowed to cut off her hair if Ptolemy returned victorious. In fulfilment of her vow, she deposited her hair in the temple of Aphrodite-Arsinoe at Zephyrion,* but on the following day it was no longer to be seen. The king was greatly upset by this, but as was said above, the mathematician Conon, in the hope of gaining the king’s favour, claimed to have seen the lock set among the stars; and he pointed to seven stars that did not belong to any constellation, saying that these must surely be the hair.
Some authors, including Callimachus, have said that this Berenice raised horses and used to send them to the Olympic Games.* Others add that when Ptolemy, the father of Berenice, had once been overcome by fear in the face of the overwhelming numbers of the enemy, and had sought safety in flight, his daughter, who was very experienced in horse-riding, jumped on to a horse, rallied the rest of the army, and killed a great many of the enemy and put the rest to flight. For that reason Callimachus called her great-souled.* According to Eratosthenes, she arranged for the Lesbian girls* to be given the dowry that each had been left by her father, but that no one had handed over, and laid a claim meanwhile for restitution.
Commentary
The Lion
(i) Eratosthenes apparently suggested as his primary interpretation that Zeus placed the lion in the sky because it is the king of the beasts.
(ii) Or else this is specifically the Nemean lion which was killed by Heracles as the first of his twelve labours. Although Eratosthenes said that the hero attacked it unarmed for the sake of glory, it was usually explained that he was obliged to seize hold of it and throttle it because it was invulnerable and could not be pierced by weapons (Pindar, Isthmian Ode 6.47–8; full narrative in Ap. 2.5.1); it was no ordinary lion but a child of Echidna (Hes. Theog. 327), a notable progenitor of monsters. As was noted by Eratosthenes in his description of the constellation, the lion’s skin, which Heracles carried thereafter as one of his attributes, was represented by four stars on the left arm of the constellation of the Kneeler, later known as Hercules. Nigidius offered an account in which Hera raised it on the moon to be an opponent for Heracles, and later placed it in the sky because of her hatred of him (schol. Germ.). It is not known who placed it there in Eratosthenes’ account; although Hera may have performed that function there too, as in the case of that other notable enemy of his, the Crab (see pp. 66–7). It is also possible that Zeus was said to have placed it in the sky to commemorate the valour of Heracles, because stress was laid on the glory that he had won by killing it with his bare hands.
Berenice’s Hair
Although Ptolemy did not include this among his forty-eight constellations, it has come to be accepted into the modern canon. It is exceptional in being associated with a historical figure. This Berenice (267–221), whose true parents were Mages of Cyrene and Apama, married Ptolemy III Euergetes, king of Egypt (reigned 246–222) soon after his succession, but was then separated from him by the campaign that marked the beginning of the Third Syrian War (246–241). Conon of Samos, who claimed to have rediscovered the lock that she had dedicated for his safe return after it vanished, was an astronomer and mathematician associated with the court at Alexandria (there was no official position of court astronomer). His claim that it could now be seen among the stars was a playful and flattering conceit that would not have been taken any more seriously than was intended. Callimachus wrote a poem about the matter in which the Lock was compared with Ariadne’s Crown as a symbol of marital fidelity; although the poem is lost, some idea of its nature can be gathered from the surviving imitation by Catullus (66).