many civilizations over thousands of years have portrayed the constellation of leo as a lion. one theory for this is that the sun was among its stars in midsummer. this was the time when the lions of the egyptian desert left their usual home for the banks of the river nile. there they could find relief from the heat in the water. the roman writer pliny the elder wrote that the egyptians worshipped the stars of leo. he says this is because the nile would overflow with water at the same time as the sun entering into the constellation.