the persians called leo "ser" or "shir"; the turks, "artan"; the syrians, "aryo"; the jewish, "arye"; the indians, "simha" ; all meaning a lion. in babylonian astronomy these stars were called ur.gu.la - the 'great lion'; the bright star, regulus, that stands at the lion's breast also had distinctly regal associations as it was known as the king star.