Page:Star Lore Of All Ages, 1911.pdf/328

232 and this fact is thought by some to account for the name of the constellation.

The figure of a lion's head was usual on the gates which opened the canals irrigating the Nile Valley, and we find, even in modern times, fountains springing from the gaping jaws of graven lions, patterned after ancient fountains, a decorative symbol that was universally employed throughout the Greco-Roman world.

At Athens, Ephesus, Olympia, Agrigentum, and many other places, lion fountains are found, but it is not definitely known where the idea of the design originated. Curtius describes an Assyrian bas-relief from Bairan, showing water streaming from a ring-shaped vessel, and on either side of the fountain, as if on guard, stands the figure of a lion.

The water clock, which was used by the ancients in judicial proceedings, had the form of a lion, and a name which signified "the guardian of the stream," and some think the idea of protection may have been the origin of the association of lions with fountains, and that the custom may have been originated in Asia.

The connection between the sun, king of the heavenly hosts, and the lion, king of beasts, is obvious. Macrobius says: "This beast seems to derive his own nature from that luminary [the sun], being in force and heat as superior to all other animals, as the sun is to the stars." The Lion is always seen with his eyes wide open, and full of fire.

There is little doubt as to the existence of the Lion among the first Babylonian constellations, and throughout antiquity it has held a close relationship with the sun. It was "the Fiery Trigon" of the Arabs. The Egyptians worshipped it because the sun's entrance into the sign coincided with the inundation of the Nile, and some authorities think that the mysterious Sphinx syrnbolises Leo. The Mexicans also worshipped the Lion, and the chief Druid of Britain was styled "a Lion." The national banner of the ancient Persians bore the device of the sun