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Leo, the lion, is said to represent the first labor of Hercules.
Hercules was sent to kill the lion near Nemea. The lion had skin that was impervious to all weapons. Hercules grabbed the lion and strangled it to death. Unable to skin the lion with a regular knife, Hercules finally used the lions own claws to skin it. Hercules wore the lions skin as armour from that time on. He could not be injured by any weapons while wearing the skin. (Lesikar) When Hercules brought back the dead lion to Eurystheus, the king was said to have hidden from Hercules and demanded that he never be permitted back into his presence but must call from the walls when he had completed a labor. (Powell 405)
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The link to any Greek myth is very tenuous. "Virgo is Astraea ("justice"), the last of the gods to leave the earth in the wicked iron age". (Powell 390) Arnold Lesikar claims that she could be either Demeter or Persephone, possibly even Erigone, daughter of Icarius. No one seems to agree on who the virgin is supposed to represent. She may originate with the Egyptians as she is usually drawn holding a wheat sheaf as she appears during the Egyptian harvest. (Peoria)
![]() Libra, the balanced scales, are generally associated with justice. This is true of many peoples, however, the Greeks actually saw the stars that make this constellation as the claws of the scorpion. Therefore, they did not give it any significance and it was not a separate constellation to them. The Egyptians saw the constellation as a scale beam. The Romans are credited for creating Libra as a sign of the Autumn Equinox. (Peoria)
![]() To learn more about the constellations of Leo, Virgo, and Libra and the stars they contain, contact The Peoria Astronomical Society.
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