Nemean Lion
creatureThe Nemean Lion was a monstrous lion with an impenetrable golden hide that no weapon could pierce — the first of Heracles' twelve labours.
The Myth
The lion terrorised the valley of Nemea in the Argolid. Heracles first tried arrows, then a sword, then an olive-wood club — all useless against the divine hide. Realising no weapon would work, he blocked one cave entrance, entered the other, and wrestled the beast with his bare hands, strangling it to death. He then used the lion's own claws to skin it and wore the hide as armour for the rest of his life. Zeus placed the lion among the stars as the constellation Leo.
Parents
Typhon and Echidna (or Selene)
Children
None recorded
Symbols
Fun Fact
Heracles' lion skin became the most recognisable attribute in all of Greek art — visual shorthand for the hero across thousands of vase paintings.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth: