He was invulnerable. Swords and arrows bounced off his skin. It wasn’t the strategy to beat him but to avoid him. He terrorized the area around Nemea. Many considered him to be the child of Typhon and Echidna – parents of all the monsters.
Side Note: Nemea is in middle of Greece (near Corinth and northwest of Athens). Besides the ferocious feline, it is also known for a temple to Zeus and the Hellenistic Stadium where the Nemean games were held. There are also some 5th century BCE houses.
Back to the lion …
The Nemean Lion was an unbeatable adversary.
At the prompt of the Delphic Oracle, Hercules went to his cousin Eurystheus to do tasks to find redemption from the death of his family at his hands. And Eurystheus gave him ten tasks (undoable tasks). The first was for Hercules to bring him the skin of the Nemean Lion.
There are a few different ways to what went down – but basically, Hercules realized no weapons would work. So he resulted to a battle using his bare hands. Movies show Hercules grabbing the jaw of the lion and ripping it apart – slaying the Lion with his mere hands.
However, he couldn’t skin the lion. He tried weapons, pulling by his great strength, and finally realizing it wouldn’t work. At the point of giving in, legend says Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom and war, gave him some advice. He could skin the beast by using the claws of the beast itself.
He completed his task. He found success in the first of the labors.
This victory terrified Eurystheus who then refused to let Hercules enter the city. And from here on out, the tasks would only get harder.
What happened to the pelt? Art and literature show Hercules wearing the pelt after this event. He would use it as armor during the other tasks.
One later tradition, and is seen in Alexander’s the Great’s sarcophagus, is that the pelt made its way to Alexander. He used it as a symbol of his strength and unbeatable nature as he rides into battle.
To honor the completion of the Hercules’s first task, his father Zeus used the Nemean Lion to create the constellation Leo.
The Goat of all Lions – the Greatest Of All Times Lion – was defeated.
Lessons –
- There are some huge tasks that seem impossible
- But what is Impossible with man, is not with God
- And Satan, like a roaring lion, is seeking to whom he can devour … so stay vigilant, stay alert
- And one last one … like the legacy of the pelt went to Alexander, so our legacy flows to those who follow. What will they have from you?
Muddy Shoes by Todd 
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