According to legend Orion was such a mighty hunter that he boasted that he could defeat any animal on Earth in battle. Suddenly a scorpion appeared, stung Orion on the foot and Orion died. However, Orion was such a great hunter that he was given immortality and placed in the heavens. The scorpion was also placed in the night sky, but you never seen Orion and the scorpion at the same time.

Orion is not alone in his celestial hunt. By Orion's feet are his two hunting dogs. Canis Major the Big Dog is easy to find. Look for the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius, and you have found the Big Dog. Between Sirius and Orion is a somewhat fainter star, this is Procyon and Canis Minor, the Little Dog.

Above Procyon in the Little Dog and Betelgeuse in Orion, look for two bright stars nearby each other and of about the same brightness. They almost look like twin stars, and in fact these two stars, Castor and Pollux, mark the heads of the Gemini Twins. The Twins accompanied Jason and the Argonauts in the quest for the Golden Fleece. Pollux was famous for his achievements in arms whereas Castor was a superior equestrian. The Twins also were said to have power over the seas and ships often paid homage to them by placing effigies of the Twins on the prows of vessels.

If you look high in the eastern sky you will find a bright red star, Regulus, in Leo, the lion. Regulus is supposed to mark the Lion's heart. Regulus is also the dot at the base of a backwards question mark formed of fainter stars. The curved part of that backwards question mark forms the Lion's head. Three fainter stars to the east of Regulus form the Lion's hind quarters and tail. Now, with a little imagination, or perhaps a lot of imagination, you might be able to kind of see a lion formed by these stars. But, it is certainly not all that obvious, so why would anyone think to see a lion there. Perhaps no one really did.

Long ago in Egypt, in the summertime, the water in the out-lying areas would dry up and the animals would be forced to come down to the Nile to drink. Since their prey was by the river, naturally, the lions followed the animals down to the river. While, the people lived by the river and they too needed its water. And, as you might expect, the people and the lions did not get along too well. People did not have a calendar to mark with "look out for the lions", but they did have the sky to keep track of time. Long ago the Sun was in that part of the sky during the summertime when the lions were a problem. So people watched the sky and the Sun. When the Sun got to that certain part of the sky, look out for lions. Thus, perhaps this is why this part of the sky became know as a lion.