Editing Nemean lion

{{Short description|One of the lions killed by Hercules}}
{{For| the other lion killed by Hercules|Lion of Cithaeron}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2016}}
[[File:Mosaico Trabajos Hércules (M.A.N. Madrid) 01.jpg|thumb|[[Heracles]] slaying the Nemean lion. Detail of a Roman mosaic from [[Lliria, Spain|Llíria]] (Spain).]]

The '''Nemean lion''' ({{IPAc-en|n|ɪ|ˈ|m|iː|ə|n}}; {{langx|grc|Νεμέος λέων|Neméos léōn}};<ref>{{Cite book |last=Apollodorus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2BALAwAAQBAJ |title=Mythographi Graeci. Volumen I |publisher=Рипол Классик |isbn=978-5-87455-463-7 |language=el}}</ref> {{langx|la|Leo Nemeaeus}}) was a monster in [[Greek mythology]] that lived at [[Nemea]]. Eventually, it was killed by [[Heracles]] (Hercules). Because its golden fur was impervious to attack, it could not be killed with mortals' weapons. Its claws were sharper than mortals' swords and could cut through any strong armour. In ''[[Bibliotheca (Photius)|Bibliotheca]]'', [[Photius]] wrote that the dragon [[Ladon (mythology)|Ladon]], who guarded the [[golden apple]]s, was his brother.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bibliothèque de Photius : 190. Ptolémée Chennus, Nouvelle Histoire. |url=http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/erudits/photius/ptolemee.htm |access-date=2023-09-06 |website=remacle.org}}</ref>

==Parents==
[[Hesiod]] has the Nemean lion as the offspring of [[Orthus]] and an ambiguous "she", often understood as probably referring to the Chimera, or possibly to [[Echidna (mythology)|Echidna]] or even [[Ceto]].<ref>The referent of "she" at [[Hesiod]], ''Theogony'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.29.xml 326] is uncertain, see Clay, [https://books.google.com/books?id=2etBN0w0NGUC&pg=PA159 pp. 159&ndash;160, with n. 34]; Most, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.29.xml p. 29 n. 20] ("Probably Chimaera"); Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA63 p. 63] ("Chimaira (or conceivably with his mother Echidna)"); Gantz, p. 23 ("[Chimera] ... or just possibly Echidna"); Caldwell, p. 47 lines 326 ("either Echidna or Chimaira"); West 1966, p. 356 line 326 '''ἡ δ' ἄρα''' ("much more likely ... Chimaera" than Echidna).</ref> According to Hesiod, the lion was raised by [[Hera]] and sent to terrorise the hills of Nemea.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.29.xml 327–329]</ref> According to [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]],<ref name="Apollod 2.5.1">[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], 2.5.1</ref> he was the offspring of [[Typhon]]. In another tradition, told by [[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]] (citing Epimenides) and [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], the lion was "sprung from" the moon-goddess [[Selene]], who threw him from the Moon at Hera's request.<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA256 p. 256]; [[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], [http://www.attalus.org/translate/animals12.html 12.7]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [http://www.hs-augsburg.de/~harsch/Chronologia/Lspost02/Hyginus/hyg_fabu.html#c30 30]</ref>

==First labour of Heracles==
[[File:Heracles and the Nemea Lion Pieter Paul Rubens.jpg|thumb|left|''Hercules' fight with the Nemean lion'', [[Pieter Paul Rubens]].]]
The first of [[Heracles]]' [[Labours of Hercules|twelve labours]], set by King [[Eurystheus]] (his cousin), was to slay the Nemean lion.

Heracles wandered the area until he came to the town of [[Cleonae (Argolis)|Cleonae]]. There, he met a boy who said that if Heracles slew the Nemean lion and returned alive within 30 days, the town would sacrifice a lion to Zeus; if he did not return within 30 days or he died, the boy would sacrifice himself to Zeus.<ref name="Apollod 2.5.1"/> Another version claims that he met Molorchos, a shepherd who had lost his son to the lion, saying that if he came back within 30 days, a ram would be sacrificed to [[Zeus]]. If he did not return within 30 days, it would be sacrificed to the dead Heracles as a mourning offering.

While searching for the lion, Heracles fetched some arrows to use against it, not knowing that its golden fur was impenetrable; when he found the lion and shot at it with his bow, he discovered the fur's protective property when the arrow bounced harmlessly off the creature's thigh. After some time, Heracles made the lion return to his cave. The cave had two entrances, one of which Heracles blocked; he then entered the other. In those dark and close quarters, Heracles stunned the beast with his club. He eventually killed it by strangling it with his bare hands.

After slaying the lion, he tried to skin it with a knife from his belt, but failed. He then tried sharpening the knife with a stone and even tried with the stone itself. Finally, [[Athena]], noticing the hero's plight, told Heracles to use one of the lion's own claws to skin the pelt.

When Heracles returned on the thirtieth day carrying the carcass of the lion on his shoulders, King Eurystheus was amazed and terrified. Eurystheus forbade him ever again to enter the city; in the future, he was to display the fruits of his labours outside the city gates. Eurystheus warned him that the tasks set for him would become increasingly difficult. He then sent Heracles off to complete his next quest, which was to destroy the [[Lernaean Hydra]].

Heracles wore the Nemean lion's coat after killing it, as it was impervious to the elements and all but the most powerful weapons. Others say that Heracles' armour was, in fact, the hide of the [[Lion of Cithaeron]].

According to [[Alexander of Myndus]], Heracles was helped in this labour by an [[Gaia (mythology)|Earth]]-born [[Dragons in Greek mythology|serpent]], which followed him to [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]] and settled down in [[Aulis (ancient Greece)|Aulis]]. It was later identified as the water snake which devoured the sparrows and was turned into stone in the prophecy about the [[Trojan War]].<ref>Daniel Ogden, ''Drakon: Dragon Myth and Serpent Cult in the Greek and Roman Worlds''</ref>

==In art==
<gallery>
File:Herakles Nemean lion BM B621.jpg|[[Oinochoe]], 520–500 BC, from [[Vulci]]
File:Herakles Nemean lion Louvre L31.jpg|White-ground [[lekythos]], ca. 500-475 BC, from [[Athens]], by [[Diosphos Painter]]
File:Met, gandhara, hercules and the nemean lion, 1st century.JPG|[[Gandhara]], India, 1st century
File:Mathura statue of Herakles strangling the Nemaean lion.jpg|[[Mathura Herakles|Herakles fighting the Nemean lion]], [[Mathura art]], India.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www2.nau.edu/~d-ctel/hum/hum362/slideshows/Kushan_Mathura/images/img0073.jpg |title=Archived copy |access-date=30 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729230651/http://www2.nau.edu/~d-ctel/hum/hum362/slideshows/Kushan_Mathura/images/img0073.jpg |archive-date=29 July 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=August 2023}}
File:Antalya Museum - Sarkophag 3 Herkules und Nemäischer Löwe.jpg|[[Roman Empire|Roman-era]] [[relief sculpture|relief]], 2nd century
File:Il moderno, ercole con il leone neemeo, 1488-89.JPG|[[Renaissance]] plaque by Galeazzo Mondella
File:Hércules lucha con el león de Nemea, por Zurbarán.jpg|Painting by [[Francisco de Zurbarán]] (1634)
File:Lucha de Heracles con el león de Nemea.jpg|Marble by [[:es:José Manuel Félix Magdalena|J.M. Félix Magdalena]] (b. 1941)
File:Mètopa del temple de Zeus d'Olímpia amb representació d'Hèracles i el lleó de Nemea (Museu Arqueològic d'Olímpia).jpg|[[Temple of Zeus, Olympia|Temple of Zeus at Olympia]] metope 1
Hercules and the Nemean Lion.jpg|Marble in the Münchner Residenz
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[History of lions in Europe]]
* {{c|Mythological lions|List of mythological lions}}
* [[Lion of Cithaeron]]
* [[Kangla Sha]]
* [[Nongshaba]]
* [[Tsavo Man-Eaters]]
* [[Mfuwe man-eating lion]]
* ''[[Panthera spelaea]]''
* ''[[Smilodon]]''
* [[Leo (astrology)]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* {{Cite book|last=Caldwell |first=Richard |title=Hesiod's Theogony |publisher=Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Company |date=June 1, 1987 |isbn=978-0-941051-00-2}}
* {{Cite book|last=Clay |first=Jenny Strauss |title=Hesiod's Cosmos |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=2003 |isbn=978-0-521-82392-0}}
* {{Cite book|author-link=Timothy Gantz|last=Gantz |first=Timothy |title=Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |date=1993 |pages=383–384 |isbn=0-8018-4410-X |url=https://archive.org/details/early-greek-myth-a-guide-timothy-gantz/page/382/mode/2up}}
* {{Cite book|last=Hard |first=Robin |title=The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology" |publisher=Psychology Press |date=2004 |isbn=9780415186360 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC}}
* [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'', in ''Hesiod, Theogony, Works and Days, Testimonia,'' Edited and translated by Glenn W. Most. [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 57. Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]], 2018. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99720-2}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL057/2018/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
* [[Glenn W. Most|Most, G.W.]], ''Hesiod, Theogony, Works and Days, Testimonia,'' Edited and translated by Glenn W. Most, [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 57, Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]], 2018. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99720-2}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL057/2018/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
* {{Cite book|author-link=William Smith (lexicographer)|last=Smith |first=William |title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology |location=London |date=1873 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=heracles-bio-1&highlight=orthrus}}
* {{Cite book|author-link=Martin Litchfield West |last=West |first=M. L. |title=Hesiod: Theogony |publisher=Oxford University Press}}

==See also==
* [[Master of Animals]]
* [[Irresistible force paradox]]

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline|Nemean Lion}}

{{Labours of Heracles}}

[[Category:Labours of Hercules]]
[[Category:Monsters in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Mythological lions]]
[[Category:Children of Selene]]
[[Category:Nemea]]
[[Category:History of lions in Europe]]