Hercules First Labor Necklace

Designed by Marcy

This fearsome necklace will appeal to your customers born under the sign of Leo, or any who identify with the powerful image of the lion.  

Leo is one of the oldest constellations in the sky. Archaeological evidence suggests that Mesopotamians had a constellation similar to Leo as early as 4000 BC. The Persians knew the constellation as Shir or Ser, Babylonians called it UR.GU.LA (“the great lion”), Syrians knew it as Aryo, and the Turks as Artan. The Greeks associated Leo with the beast defeated by Heracles during the first of his twelve labors. The lion lived in a cave in Nemea, a town located to the south-west of Corinth. It set upon the local inhabitants and could not be defeated because it had impenetrable skin. Heracles could not defeat the lion with arrows, so he trapped it in its cave, grappled with the beast and eventually defeated it. He used the lion’s claws to cut off its pelt, and then wore the pelt as a cloak, complete with the lion’s head. The cloak both protected Heracles and made him appear even more fearsome. 

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