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Purple_Mountain_2281
According to Michel Pastoureau, French Historian about symbolisms, the animals have virtues or sins associated to them. One of the most influencial authors during the Middle Age was Isidore of Sevilla, that wrote The Etymologies during the Seventh Century. He made several assumptions about animal's virtues. It was also there in Saint Augustin's works.
According to Pastoureau, in Western Europe, the King of animals wasn't the lion in the beginning. It was the Bear. It's the animal most associated with the monarchy, especially in German lands such as England, Scandinavia and Germany. Among the warriors, he was also followed by the Boar.
Both represented Strength, bravery. The Bear was feared because of his wrath and the hunt for Boars was resulting in a one to one fight with a big stake. It needed mastery, knowledge, warrior capacities, strength and courage to fight these animals.
The famous "King" associated to Britain for example is King Arthur which means Bear... And his nickname is The Boar of Cornwall.

根据研究象征主义的法国历史学家米歇尔·帕斯图罗的说法，动物都有与之相联系的美德或罪恶。塞维利亚的伊西多尔是中世纪最有影响力的作家之一，他在七世纪时著写了《词源学》。他就动物的美德作出了一些假设。圣奥古斯丁的作品中也存在这类假设。
根据帕斯图罗的说法，在西欧，一开始万兽之王并不是狮子，而是熊。熊是与君主制联系最紧密的动物，在日耳曼地区尤然，比如英格兰、斯堪的纳维亚和德国。而在战士群体中，紧随其后的还有野猪。
两者都代表了力量和勇敢。人们害怕熊是因为它的万钧之怒，而猎杀野猪则会引发风险极高的一对一搏斗。想要和这类动物搏斗，需要精湛的技艺、知识、战士的才能、力量和勇气。
比如，和英国联系在一起的著名“国王”是亚瑟王，其名字的意思就是熊...而他的绰号是“康沃尔的野猪”。

But, one of the most influential books during the Middle Ages, not to say the most influential was the Bible itself. In the Bible, another animal is King, due to a long tradition coming from assirians Legends: The Lion. In the Bible, God is sometimes referred to as a lion. He represents strength, nobility, but also wrath.

但中世纪最有影响力的书籍之一另有说法，更不用说《圣经》本身了。在《圣经》中，由于源起亚述传奇的悠久传统，另一种动物才是王：狮子。在《圣经》中，有时候会把上帝称为狮子。他代表着力量、高贵，但也代表着万钧之怒。
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During the 12th Century and the beginning of Heraldry, in France and England we saw that the Lion took the Lion share in heraldry (15% of Heraldry represents a lion), becoming far more popular than the Bear. The most famous example is Richard Lionheart's Leopards (or Lions, in French heraldry, we call them Leopard or "Lion Passants" while lions to us is mostly called "Lion Rampant") that become the Flag of Normandy (I am from Normandy x) ) and the Flag of the England Monarchy during centuries.

随着十二世纪纹章学的兴起，在法国和英国，我们发现狮子在纹章学中占比最大（有15%的纹章以狮为形），其流行程度远远超过了熊。最有名的例子是“狮心王”理查一世的豹子（或狮子，在法国的纹章学中，我们称其为豹子或“行进的狮子”，而我们通常称狮子为“跃立的狮子（译注：后腿站立）”），它们在几百年间成为了诺曼底（我就来自诺曼底地区）的旗帜和英格兰君主制的旗帜。

First, there is the influence of the Norman Invasion in 1066 in England. The Normands elites that used heraldry were french and imposed their morals, and ideas such as knighthood in England. So the anglo-saxon/German Bear was already getting replace.

首先是1066年诺曼人入侵英格兰带来的影响。当时使用纹章的诺曼底精英是法国人，他们将自己的道德观和骑士精神之类的思想强加给了英格兰。因此，盎格鲁-撒克逊/日耳曼尊奉的熊在那时候已经开始被取代了。

The Second reason for the Bear becoming replaced as King: religion. The priests hated the Bear, associating it to the old German Paganism. Also, Bears and boars were seemed by the religious men as lazy and lustful. Sometimes men would drag as animals and often did Bears and boars. To the priests, it was dangerous because they feared that they could be animated by the animal's spirit, acting like these animals.

身为王的熊被取代的第二个原因是宗教。神父们憎恨熊，将其与古老的日耳曼异教信仰联系在一起。此外，在信教人士眼中，熊和野猪是懒惰、性淫的。有些时候，人们会把自己装扮成动物，而经常会去扮演的就是熊和野猪。对神父们来说，这就很危险了，因为担心他们在扮演这些动物时，会被这些动物的灵神所操纵。

In Hagiography, there is countless examples of priests overcoming bears, boars, eagles and ravens. Pagan animals. According to Pastoureau, it helped to diminish their influence.
It can be observed elsewhere in medi culture. In the representations of the Arch of Noe, it was commonly bears and Lions entering first, followed by boar and the deer. As time goes by, the Lion is the only one coming first.

在圣徒传记中，有无数神父战胜熊、野猪、鹰和乌鸦的例子。它们都是异教（崇拜的）动物。 根据帕斯图罗的说法，这有助于削弱它们的影响力。
在中世纪文化的其他领域也能观察到这种现象。在对诺亚方舟的描写中，通常都是熊和狮子第一批进入，跟在后面的是野猪和鹿。随着时间推移，第一个进入的就只有狮子了。

So, the Lion, also because it was a foreign animal (so aristocrats didn't hunt them) and of Biblical representation (Lions were often represented in churches) became the King of animals. There is the influence of the Normans in England. That's it. I will put a thesis on the boar, still from Pastoureau after for those interested. Sorry if I made mistakes in English, it's not my native language.

因此，狮子成为万兽之王也是因为狮子是一种外来动物（所以贵族不会猎杀它们），而且狮子在《圣经》中也有呈现（狮子经常展现在教堂中）。还有诺曼人对英格兰的影响。就是这样。之后我还会发一篇有关野猪的论文，还是会渊源于帕斯图罗的著述，供感兴趣的人参考。英语不是我的母语，如有错误，请见谅。
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JosephvonEichendorff
The significance of lions in Western culture can be mostly explained by a combination of Christian and Hellenic influence. The Greeks were the only ancient European culture to have lions prominently featured in their mythology and art (as in Mycenae, the Iliad, Heracles, Aesop's Fables etc.), with other cultures, such as Rome, inheriting it either from them or from Christian tradition. As OP said, there is no mention of lions in Germanic, Celtic, Slavic or Baltic mythology, art or culture prior to Christianisation, but bears and wolves were held in great reverence.

狮子在西方文化中的重要意义，基本可以用基督教和希腊人影响的结合来解释。希腊人是唯一在其神话和艺术中凸显狮子形象的古代欧洲文化（如迈锡尼、《伊利亚特》、赫拉克勒斯、《伊索寓言》等等），而其他文化，比如罗马，不是从希腊就是从基督教传统那里继承了这一形象。正如楼主所说，在基督化之前，日耳曼、凯尔特、斯拉夫或波罗的海的神话、艺术或文化中都没有提到过狮子，但熊和狼却备受尊崇。

Even in the case of Greece it's unclear how much the importance of the lion is derived from their own cultural memories of lions having lived in Greece and how much is from their contacts with Near Eastern cultures, although it's likely mostly the latter. The story of Heracles slaying the Nemean Lion, for example, has clear parallels in the Biblical story of Samson. The various lion hybrids in Greek myth (like the chimera, gryphon and sphynx) also have Middle Eastern origins (such as the Mesopotamian Lamassu or the Biblical Cherubim). And the Greek word for lion itself ("léōn") is likely borrowed from a Semitic language. So in all likelihood the prominence of lions in both Christianity and Greek culture, and through them all of Western culture, has its roots in ancient Mesopotamian culture.

即使在希腊，也不清楚狮子的重要性在多大程度上源于他们自己对狮子曾在希腊生活过的文化记忆，又在多大程度上源于他们与近东各文化的接触，尽管很可能主要是后者。例如，赫拉克勒斯杀死尼米亚狮子的故事，与《圣经》中参孙的故事明显有相似之处。希腊神话中各种与狮子杂交的物种（如奇美拉、狮鹫和斯芬克斯）也源自中东（如美索不达米亚的拉玛苏或《圣经》中的基路伯）。而希腊语中狮子一词（léōn）很可能就是借自一种闪米特语言。因此，狮子在基督教和希腊文化中的突出地位，乃至在整个西方文化中的突出地位，很可能都起源于古代美索不达米亚文化。

[dexed]
Indeed they did. In Sweden the Protestants promoted and exploited an old prophecy that a golden lion from the north would come and aid those who were true to Christ (which means the Protestants, in context).
Gustavus Adolph was that lion, called der Löwe aus Mitternacht (literally the lion of midnight), also called the Lion From The North.
This is a central part of the propaganda and narrative around the Swedish empire.

的确如此。在瑞典，新教徒们宣传并利用了一则古老的预言，即一头来自北方的金色狮子将会临凡，帮助那些忠于基督的人（在此语境中指的就是新教徒）。
古斯塔夫·阿道夫就是那头狮子，他被称为der Löwe aus Mitternacht（字面意思是午夜之狮），也被称为北方之狮。
这是围绕瑞典帝国宣传和叙事的核心部分。

alriclofgar
While lions are not native to Northern Europe, lions did live in many N. European royal courts. Medi elite loved collecting wild and exotic animals, and lions were at various times imported or given as diplomatic gifts by foreign rulers. Henry I had a menagerie in Woodstock (a few miles outside his palace in Oxford) where he kept lions (among other things), and his son adopted the lion for his coat of arms. James V of Scotland kept a lion in one of the courtyards in his palace at Stirling Castle.

虽然狮子不是北欧的原生动物，但狮子确实曾生活在北欧的很多宫廷中。中世纪的精英们喜欢收集野生动物和异国动物，在不同时期，狮子作为外交礼物被外国统治者引进或赠予。亨利一世在伍德斯托克（距他在牛津的宫殿几英里远）有一个动物园，他在那里蓄养狮子（和其他很多动物），他的儿子还把狮子作为自己的家族纹章。苏格兰国王詹姆斯五世在他斯特灵城堡宫殿的一个庭院里养了一头狮子。

So while lions were certainly, as /u/koredozo says, valued for their symbolic value in much the same way that dragons and gryphons were, they wouldn't have been mythical in the same way. Kings or wealthy elites who chose a lion for their coat of arms could, and did, bring real lions home and show them off.

因此，虽然狮子肯定会像龙和狮鹫一样因其象征意义而受到重视，但它们不会以同样的方式被神话。选择狮子作为纹章的国王或富有的精英们有能力，也确实曾把活生生的狮子带回家炫耀。

TheGreatLakesAreFake
In western and northern Europe, the Lion wasn't always the symbol of royalty and strength. That function was previously held by a fauve beast native to the regions: the Bear. Bear imagery and bear-related myths are very common among the peoples living in bear habitat throughout the world. I don't have knowledge about North America though; so I'll leave it here for now. There are signs of a circumpolar family of bear-cults from the Saami of Scandinavia to the (many) peoples of northern Siberia, for instance.

在西欧和北欧，狮子并不总是皇室和力量的象征。在此之前，承担这一职能的是该地区原生的一种野兽：熊。全世界生活在熊栖息地的各民族中，熊的形象和与熊有关的神话极为常见。但我不了解北美洲的情况，所以暂且不谈。从斯堪的纳维亚的萨米人到西伯利亚北部的很多民族，都存在极地族群崇拜熊的迹象。

Allow me to digress very shortly in order to better show how important bear figures were. In ancient Germanic, Slavic and Celtic cultures the bear played a very important symbolic role. It was associated with virility, strength, and the ability to fight as well as sexual prowess. There is a recurrent myth form among European peoples where a bear-like figure raptures a woman to rape her, thus breeding half-man half-bear heroes often gifted with a specific fate and great martial prowess. Of course you've heard of the berserkers, the Norse warriors whose name meant "bear shirt" -- since they used to wear bear skins to show off their strength and recklessness. Maybe you know the Greek goddess Artemis, the Huntress. There are some who think her name is related to the greek arktos meaning, you guessed, the bear. The same (admitedly speculative) hypothesis applies to the name Arthur - some would see in the mythical warrior/king a resurgence of older bear-like heroic forms of Celtic and Germanic peoples. And of course you have a lot of placenames and personal names derived from the bear/bär root. Bern, Berlin, Bjorn...

为了更好地说明熊的形象有多重要，请允许我离题片刻。在古代日耳曼、斯拉夫和凯尔特文化中，熊扮演着非常重要的象征角色。它与阳刚、力量、战斗能力以及超强性能力联系在一起。在欧洲各民族中有一反复出现的神话形式，即一个熊形的（重要）人物为了强暴她把一个女人提上天，由此孕育出了半人半熊的英雄，他们往往天赋异禀，拥有特殊的命运和强大的武艺。你们肯定听说过狂战士，他们是北欧武士，而这个名字的意思是“熊皮衫”，因为以前他们经常会身着熊皮来炫耀自己的力量和狂野。也许你也知道希腊女神阿耳忒弥斯，即女猎手。有些人认为她的名字与希腊语arktos有关，你猜对了，就是熊的意思。同样的假设也适用于亚瑟（Arthur）这个名字（不可否认，这只是推测）。有些人认为这类神话中的战士/国王是凯尔特人和日耳曼人古老的熊形英雄的复活。当然了，还有很多地名和人名都派生于熊(bear/bär)这个词根。伯尔尼、柏林、比约恩...
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In any case, the bear has since been replaced by the lion as the "king of Animals". The French scholar Michel Pastoureau argues that the Roman Catholic Church favored such mythography over the more traditional, pagan bear figures. By chosing the lion over the bear, the Church let the symbol of strength/virility/power be an animal from far away, associated with the glory of the Roman empire above all, and unlikely to be found in the forests of newly converted Germany or northern Europe. Thus there would be no lion worshipping, no offerings, no cult except through approved church imagery, in contrast with the bear ceremonies (still too pagan for the church).

不管怎样，熊“万兽之王”的地位后来被狮子取代了。法国学者米歇尔·帕斯图罗认为，罗马天主教会偏爱这种神话，而不是更传统的异教熊形象。通过选择狮子而不是熊，教会让一种远道而来的动物成为了力量/勇气/权柄的象征，最重要的是与罗马帝国的荣耀联系在一起，而且不太可能在新近才皈依的德国或北欧的森林中找到。因此，除非通过经认可的教堂形象/意象，否则不会有狮子崇拜，没有祭品，没有狂热崇拜，这与崇拜熊的典仪形成鲜明对比（对教会来说，异教的味道仍然太重）。

ryan_holiday
I would also strongly recommend the book The Bear: History of a Fallen King by Michel Pastoureau. For much of European and Roman history, the bear was considered the proper symbol of royalty and prestige (including King Arthur if I recall correctly) but due to a variety of factors it was supplanted by the lion as the so called "king of the jungle" in our imagery and myths. As Pastoureau argues very convincingly, the church waged a campaign against the bear for sexual immorality, believe it or not, using an observation from Pliny that bears copulated missionary style like humans. The lion apparently had no such baggage. After all, bears were quite common in Europe and were considerably more fearsome until changing landscapes and pressure from human development altered their diet from mostly meat to mostly plants.

我还要强烈推荐米歇尔·帕斯图罗所著的《熊：堕落之王的历史》一书。在欧洲和罗马的大部分历史中，熊被视为王权和威望的象征（如果我没记错的话，也包括亚瑟王），但由于各种各样的因素，在我们的意象/形象和神话中，狮子取代了熊成为了所谓的“丛林之王”。正如帕斯图罗颇有说服力的论证所言，教会利用了普林尼的观察，即熊像人类一样进行传教士式交媾，发起了一场反对熊之不道德性事的运动。狮子显然没有过这样的包袱。毕竟，熊在欧洲相当常见，而且在地貌变迁以及人类发展的压力把熊的食物从以肉类为主变为以植物为主之前，熊可是相当可怕的。