LEO. — In early Christian monuments the prophet Daniel is depicted between two lions, both in sarcophagi and in funerary paintings, or in inscriptions on which this scene is represented.
He then appears as a symbol of the forces of evil, “leo rugiens” (1 Pt 5:8), in contrast to the Good Shepherd in the well-known inscription of Veratius Nicator (Wilpert, Sarcofagi, I, p. 70, fig. 27). There he is alongside the dragon, according to the concept expressed in the prayer preserved in the Gelasian Sacramentary: “non se ci (the deceased) opponet leo rugiens et draco devorans.”
The lion also appears as an ideographic sign of the name of a deceased person, Pontius Leo, in an inscription in the Lateran Museum (O. Marucchi, I monumenti del Museo Pio Lateranense, Milano 1910, tav. 59, n. 44). It is also a symbol of the Evangelist St Mark and as such is found already in the museums of St Pudentiana and the Baptistery of Naples.
LEO. — Name of six Armenian princes of Cilicia who reigned from the 12th to the 14th century. All promoted alliances with the West in order to defend themselves from Muslim invasions. Of the Leos, the most notable are:
1. LEO II (prince 1187–98 and king 1198–1219), called the Magnificent, one of the most illustrious figures in Armenian history.
He not only succeeded in repelling the attacks of Muslim tribes, the Sultanate of Iconium, and the coalition of the sultans of Aleppo and Damascus, but also expanded his principality. After subduing the lords of Cilicia, he had to resolve two political issues. On the one hand, Byzantium regarded the Armenian Principality of Cilicia as an usurpation and threatened its independence, and on the other, the year in which Leo assumed power, Jerusalem fell into the hands of Saladin. To resolve this double issue, Leo pursued a policy of close cooperation with the West, placing himself as a vassal of the Holy Roman Empire and seeking the royal crown from Frederick Barbarossa and Pope Innocent III. The Pope sent him a crown, and Leo maintained a profound filial veneration for him until his death. After the death of Barbarossa, his son Henry VI had Leo crowned with great pomp in 1198. At the same time, Alexios III Angelos also sent Leo a royal crown.
Leo began the organization of the new kingdom according to Western systems; courts were established according to the norms in force in Antioch; close ties were forged especially with the military Orders; economic relations were established with Venice, Genoa, Sicily, and Western Europe. At the same time, Leo also encouraged industry; orphanages, hospitals, convents, and schools were erected. Leo died in 1219, leaving a well-organized kingdom to his sole heir, the pious Isabella, aged seven, born of his second marriage.
2. LEO VI, Prince of Lusignan, King of Cilician Armenia (1374–75).
The Kingdom of Cilicia had been reduced to two cities only: Sis and Anazarba. While Leo was welcomed festively, the armies of the Mamluks besieged the cities; to resist, Leo had only a few thousand soldiers. He had ascended the throne as a crusader and a captain rather than as an Armenian king, as was expected, and thus failed to win the affection of his subjects or the trust of many Armenian princes, including the patriarch.
Under these conditions, the struggle could not last long. After four months the capital fell and the king had to surrender. Leo was taken prisoner to Cairo (1375), where he managed to retain power on condition of apostatizing from the Christian faith. Released through the efforts of John, King of Castile and Navarre, he went to Spain, then to France and England, everywhere regarded as the last crusader. He died in Paris on 29 November 1393 and was buried in the church of the Celestines. His tomb is in St-Denis (Paris).