| half-lion creature, is one of the most enduring traditions in Africa. In some parts of East Africa were-lions are thought to be witches in lion shape, and in other regions all man-eating lions are believed to be sorcerers in disguise. A particularly bloody and violent cult, which linked witchcraft, ritual murder, and lion symbolism, evolved in the early part of the 20th century in Africa. At Singida in central Tanzania, local sorcerers bought or stole mentally handicapped boys and kept them isolated from the outside world until they had grown up. They were then dressed in lion skins and hired out by their owners as professional assassins. Known as the Lion Men, they came to public attention in 1920, when a British colonial government official reported that some 200 people had lost their lives near Singida. At first, man-eating lions were suspected, but the authorities soon realized that the murders had been committed by Lion Men working on behalf of witch-doctors who were extorting money from the local population. One example, among many hundreds, tells of three people who were sentenced to death in 1957 for their part in the murder of a five-year-old girl; they were accused of having used a Lion Man to kill the child, who had been torn from her mother's arms and carried off into the bush, where her scattered remains were later discovered. In the city of Babylon, the lion was a symbol of Ishtar. In the imposing Processional Way, which led to Babylon's Ishtar Gate, high defensive walls were decorated with 120 lions in glazed-brick relief, with white bodies and yellow manes set against a blue background. This imposing display could not have failed to impress all who made their way along the great approach to the ancient city. The image of the big cats as symbolic protectors was also popular further north, where great stone lions protected the monumental entrances to Hittite fortresses, and, similarly, on the western side of the Aegan, where the famous Bronze Age City of Mycenae had its own spectacular Lion Gate. In the Luapala valley, which divided Zambia and Zaire, elaborate purification rites had to be performed if a lion was killed; failure to perform these rites was believed to bring about a plague of lions and drive the local ruler to insanity. The rites reasserted the political order by requiring that representatives of each political level, culminating with the king, stepped on the lion's skin. In this way the monarch re-established his dominion over lions, the lions here being metaphors for rival headmen and chiefs. In China, the lion was called Shih, and was one of the four animals of power. It was said to watch over and protect the living and the dead. It could also call forth rain. "In the huge cave of Pech Merle in France is a painting of a red human-lion figure wearing a crown; called the Lion Queen, this has been the only one of its kind found thus far. In the foothills of the Pyrenees is a cave (Les Trois Freres) containing the Chapel of the Lioness; on a stone altar is carved a lioness and her cub. This lioness has been termed the Guardian of Initiation." -- Buffie Johnson, Lady of the Beasts Lions were particularly significant in Egyptian cosmology and that of its successor, the Nubian kingdom of Kush, where Apedamak their supreme deity, was represented as a lion-headed being. At the temple of Ra at Heliopolis, a lion cult was practiced, whose priests affected great solicitude for the big cats, decreeing public mourning at the death of one of these sacred animals. The myth of Heracles firmly established the link between the strength and prowess of lions, and brave -- and often royal -- individuals who, as a mark of divine favor, ultimately vanquished both their feline and human enemies. Heracles first superhuman task was to kill the great Nemean lion, which had been sent by Hera to terrorize the ancient city of Argos. (Lions still survived in Greece in Classical times.) Heracles, finding his weapons useless against the creature's impenetrable hide, wrestled with it and finally squeezed it to death. Having skinned the huge cat with its own claws, Heracles wore its pelt ever after as a symbol of his prowess. The man, albeit with divine help, had assumed the lion's mantle, in both appearance and strength. Commemorating his epic victory, Heracles set up a memorial at Thebes in front of the Temple to Artemis, the lone huntress, who had dominion over all wild beasts including those expert hunters and the lion. By association, Artemis was regarded as a lioness among the Olympian Gods, with the figure of the beast as her image. It is probable that lions were kept in some of her forest grove sanctuaries. The symbol of the lion was also associated with water, fertility, and the dead a complex relationship, but one found in many parts of the world. It has been suggested that lion-skin-wearing priests who performed vegetation rites were practicing a lion cult, and there are statues of lions which stand guard over springs and fountains. In Greek myth, Cyrene was a water nymph who subdued lions, and whose great sanctuary was established around a spring. The link with the dead is particularly evident in the common use of lion symbolism on grave markers, particularly in and around Athens. During the 4th Century BC, some of the largest freestanding Athenian monuments ever produced took the shape of huge lions, carved from slabs of marble, and weighing up to five tons. These funerary lions have been found at the famed Kerameikos cemetery, just outside the ancient city walls, and also commemorating tombs which originally flanked the ancient roads leading to Athens. they are symbols and totems and legends; they have impressed themselves so deeply on the human mind, if not its blood, it is as though the psyche were emblazoned with their crest." ~ Evelyn Ames, A Glimpse of Eden An excerpt from researcher Laurens Van Der Post: "The old Bushman took up his assegai and walked to and fro in front of a bush where an imaginary lion was supposed to be tearing apart a zebra or an antelope. Brandishing his weapon, he called out to the 'lion': 'What have you come here for? Have you got anything to eat? You made such a noise I thought you had something. Don't think to come here and quarrel with me, but go off now and get meat.' Thus talking he walked around for a while and finally sat down. The puzzled animal usually withdrew, he said, leaving the remains of its prey to him. Another Bushman then started up, spear in hand, and fifty yards in front of the bush sprang about with great animation, shaking his weapon and exclaiming to the imaginary lion: 'What have you got there? Cannot you spare me some of it? Be off, and let some stand for me, or I'll do you an injury.' Some of the Bushman Alexander came across derived almost their whole sustenance from the lions." Lion ~ Richard Grossman Regal, sanguine, generous me. My bounty extends across the savannah in little red piles -- provender for hyenas, dogs, vultures, and crocodiles. Day and night I oversee a life and death struggle for territory and energy to breed. Tribal love, protection of the young, courage in senility, daring and speed are rendered in saliva: wildebeast, zebra, gazelle, impala. For in my court reigns Fate, crowned by ritual slaughter, which neither I nor my vassals dare tergiversate. A Batonka story, Why Does The Lion Roar? After the coming of man into the world, Lion became the most feared of the predators... In these early days, Lion still had a gentle voice, not very loud at all, and so he was able to catch and eat the other animals without much trouble. This, of course, greatly worried the other animals, since they never knew when Lion was on the hunt. They decided to hold a meeting to find a way of somehow making Lion less dangerous. They talked for a long time, but none of them could think of anything. Hare, always the imaginative one, then had a bright idea. "I know a way that would make Lion's voice like the terrible thunder of a summer's storm," he said, "and then we would always know when he is coming." The other animals agreed that this was a marvellous idea, but how was Hare going to manage such a thing? Hare just winked and set off on his difficult task. Eventually Hare found Lion resting beneath a shady umbrella tree, and approached him carefully, saying, "O Great One, I am truly most unhappy to bring you bad news, but your brother is very ill, and requests to see you at once." Lion was dreadfully upset to hear the news and told Hare to lead him to his brother as fast as possible. He took lion for miles and miles around the Bushveld and after several hours Lion (who, after all, had been disturbed during his morning sleep) was so weary he could go no further. He lay down in a shady spot and slept. Now, with the help of a honeyguide bird, the crafty Hare found a wild bees' nest in a tree not too far away. After following the required custom of leaving a good piece of the honeycomb as a thank you for the little bird, Hare took some of the honey and dribbled it all over the paws and head of the sleeping lion. Hare then ran off to some thick bushes nearby and hid. When the bees returned home and saw that someone had raided their hive, they were terribly angry. They soon found Lion sleeping nearby, with honey all over his paws. In a raging swarm, the bees attacked him, and Lion was stung so many times and was in such pain that his soft cries soon swelled to a thunderous roar that could be heard for miles around! That's the story of how Lion's voice was changed forever. The animals were very grateful to Hare because, from then on, they could hear Lion's roar from a long way away, and be warned that the King of Beasts was on the hunt. Strange spirit with inky hair, Tail tufted stiff in rage, I saw with sudden stare Leap on the printed page. The stillness of its roar From midnight deserts torn Clove silence to the core Like the blare of a great horn. I saw the sudden sky; Cities in crumbling sand; The stars fall wheeling by; The lion roaring stand; The stars fall wheeling by, Their silent, silver stain, Cold on his glittering eye, Cold on his carven mane. The full-orbed Moon shone down, The silence was so loud, From jaws wide-open thrown His voice hung like a cloud. Earth shrank to blackest air; The spirit stiff in rage Into some midnight lair Leapt from the printed page. |
