Jon Solo Sebastian 09/20/2024:

Imagine King Eurystheus tasks you with 12 labors and your first one is to defeat a lion. A lion of today is terrifying, right? You wouldn’t go out and willingly get into a tussle with one, and neither would I. Now, let’s take this a step further and travel into Greek mythology.

I know what you’re thinking: Is he really doing another creature from Greek mythology? There are so many fascinating beasts, folktales, and characters from this mythology that I keep going further down the rabbit hole. I’m having a blast learning and writing about them, and from what I’ve seen, so are many of you! Thank you as always, for coming to my bloggo and reading my articles/pieces!

Now back to the scenario; picture it: Sicily 1912… Whoops, for a second I thought I was Sophia from The Golden Girls. Any time someone says, “picture it, or picture this,” it makes me think of that show. Not that I watched it a lot. I’ve had girlfriends over the years that loved that show, but I digress.

Picture it: Your mission is to fight a lion, but he’s no ordinary lion. He is the child of Typhon and Echidna, whom as we know from my other pieces, are the parents of a terrifying Brady Bunch of creatures such as Lernaean Hydra, Orthrus, Chimera, Cerberus, and the Sphinx. Some tales claim that Zeus and Selene are his parents. Either way, he comes from a line of powerful creatures or gods. To make matters worse for your battle against the lion is his fur is so tough that no man-made weapon could penetrate it. This type of armored fur makes the lion essentially invincible. You’ve also been informed a young child will sacrifice himself to Zeus if you do not defeat the lion within thirty days. If you defeat the lion, the boy will be safe, and a lion will be the sacrifice instead. What do you do to defeat this Nemean lion?

Hercules Versus the Nemean Lion

The battle ensues and while Hercules initially struggles, he decides his best chance is to use a move made famous by Rowdy Roddy Piper, one of the most popular wrestlers and actors of all time: the sleeper hold. Hercules isn’t aiming to just put the mighty beast to sleep, however. He grabs the neck of the lion and squeezes it tightly for what feels like forever before the beast struggles no more. Hercules wins.

Now what would any victor of a battle like this do at the end? Hercules would like a trophy or something to perhaps wear to honor the fallen beast, and to show just how strong he himself is by defeating the Nemean lion. He decides he wants to wear the fur for armor, and wear its head for renown, I suppose. Hercules attempts to skin the beast—don’t tell him I said this, but he’s not very bright, considering he had just learned the fur was impenetrable. Athena decides she’s seen enough, and she tells him to use the lion’s claw to cut through the fur. He finishes preparing his lion suit and heads back into town. He enters, proudly wearing the fur and head of the ferocious beast, and he nods at the young boy who is now free from Zeus’s grasp.

You may be wondering why the Nemean lion was on King Eurystheus’ hit list and had made him numero uno on the labors of Hercules. One, no king wants an enemy like the Nemean lion because it’s a threat to his power. Also, “the lion kidnapped women from Nemea and kept them in its lair, in order to lure warriors. When the brave warrior would see the woman, she would turn into a lion and kill him.” This became an issue for the king because he was losing good warriors due to the lion’s seductive and sinister ways. I feel like something else was at play here because this doesn’t sound like normal behavior for a lion. It does sound like something Loki would do just for fun, but he isn’t part of Greek mythology—unless he played around in multiple mythologies. When it comes to Loki, nothing would surprise me.

So there you have it; a trickster-like lion with fur of invincibility faces off against Hercules and loses. That doesn’t mean the Nemean lion was a joke, or a weak monster. It just means Hercules found a way to move onto the next fight. If I may, I’d like to throw another wrestling reference in here because it’s fitting—“Who’s Next?”