Leo Zodiac Sign: Dates, Symbol, Myth, and Traits

Nearly everyone knows a little something about astrology, even if it is only where to find the daily horoscope in the local newspaper. Whether you truly believe the stars shape your destiny, think it is all bunk, or simply enjoy the stories, the 12 signs of the zodiac are stitched into our cultural heritage. The Farmers’ Almanac has been tracking the sky since 1818, and this entry in our zodiac series introduces the fifth sign: Leo, the Lion.

If your birthday lands between July 23 and August 22, the Sun was passing through the house of Leo when you were born. That window opens in the heat of high summer and closes as the days begin to noticeably shorten. Leo is one of the easier constellations to spot, anchored by Regulus, a first-magnitude star the old astronomers nicknamed the “little king.” Below is what you should know about the dates, the symbol, the Nemean Lion myth, the personality traits the folklore assigns, and how astronomers see the same patch of sky today.

When Is Leo Season?

Leo season runs from July 23 to August 22 each year. The exact start can shift by a day on either side because the Sun’s apparent path through the zodiac does not divide neatly into 30-day blocks. The season opens after the Sun leaves Cancer and closes when it crosses into Virgo. Leo is a fire sign, and its dates fall in the hottest stretch of the Northern Hemisphere summer.

If your birthday falls within a day or two of either edge, you may be considered a “cusp” baby. There is no astronomical line in the sky; the cutoffs are conventions set by Western astrology centuries ago. For the exact sign tied to your birthday, see our guide on what your zodiac sign is.

The Leo Symbol: The Lion

The astrological symbol for Leo is ♌, a curve and loop most readers see as the lion’s mane and tail. The name itself is plain: Leo is the Latin word for lion. Of the twelve signs, Leo is one of the few represented by a powerful predator rather than a domestic animal, an object, or a human figure. The image conveys what the tradition assigns to the sign: pride, presence, and a willingness to be seen.

You will find the lion stamped on heraldry, coins, and old maps long before anyone connected it to a horoscope column. The connection to the constellation is older still. Babylonian stargazers were already grouping these stars into a lion thousands of years ago, and the figure carried into Greek and Roman star charts more or less intact.

The Mythology of Leo

In Greek mythology, Leo is the great Nemean Lion slain by Heracles during the first of his famous twelve labors. The lion was no ordinary beast. Its golden hide could not be pierced by any spear, arrow, or sword, and its claws were sharp enough to cut through any armor known to the heroes who tried to face it. For years it terrorized the people of Nemea, killing livestock and travelers without resistance.

Heracles was sent to kill the lion by his cousin, King Eurystheus, who expected the task to finish him. When weapons failed against the invulnerable hide, Heracles cornered the lion in its cave and strangled it with his bare hands. Once the beast was dead, he used one of the lion’s own claws to skin it, then wore the impenetrable pelt as a cloak and the head as a helmet. The armor made him nearly untouchable in the labors that followed. In honor of his victory, Zeus placed the shape of the lion in the night sky so it would not be forgotten. That is the constellation we still call Leo.

A second story, recounted by the Roman poet Ovid in his Metamorphoses, ties a different lion to the same patch of sky. It tells of the tragic lovers Pyramus and Thisbe, whose parents forbade them to marry. The pair made a secret plan to meet outside the city beside a mulberry tree with white berries. When Thisbe arrived first, she was frightened by a lion still bloody from its latest kill and ran away. As she fled, her veil slipped off and was snatched up in the lion’s paw. When Pyramus arrived, the sight of the bloody lion with Thisbe’s veil led him to believe she had been eaten. Anguished, he drew his sword and killed himself. When Thisbe found him, she turned the sword on herself to join her dead lover. Their blood stained the white mulberries red, which is why, the story says, all mulberries are now red. In memory of the lovers, Zeus placed Thisbe’s veil in the sky near Leo. It can be seen today as the constellation Coma Berenices. If you think you recognize the plot, it is because Ovid’s tale was the inspiration behind William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

Leo Personality Traits (Folklore)

People born during this period have Leo as their Sun sign. Proponents of astrological determinism believe that everyone born under the same Sun sign shares a set of character traits. We list those traits the way the folklore reports them, with a plain caveat: there is no scientific evidence that the date of your birth shapes your personality. Astrology is a cultural tradition with a long memory, not a predictive science.

With that said, the traits most commonly assigned to Leos in the Western tradition are:

• Confident: comfortable in the spotlight and quick to take the lead.
• Outgoing: warm with strangers and easy in a crowd.
• Generous: ready to share what they have, often without being asked.
• Honest: plain-spoken, sometimes to a fault.
• Open-minded: curious about new ideas and willing to be persuaded.
• Affectionate: demonstrative with family and friends.
• Creative: drawn to performance, design, and visible expression.
• Dramatic: at home with bold gestures and big feelings.

The flip side of these traits, in the same folklore, is a tendency toward pride, stubbornness, and a need for attention that can wear on the people nearby. Leo is a fixed fire sign ruled by the Sun, which the tradition links to vitality, leadership, and personal authority. Whether any of that matches the Leos you know is up to you.

The Leo Constellation

Leo is the fifth constellation of the zodiac and one of the easier ones to spot on a clear night. It sits between Cancer to the west and Virgo to the east, with Leo Minor to the north, Lynx to the northeast, and Sextans and Hydra to the south. The figure is built around two shapes: a sickle of stars that some readers describe as a “backwards question mark,” and a trapezoid that forms the lion’s body and hindquarters.

At the base of the sickle sits Regulus, the brightest star in Leo at magnitude 1.36 and one of the brightest in the entire night sky. Old astronomers called it the “little king,” from a Latin diminutive of rex. The other stars in the sickle, all marking the lion’s mane, are Al Jabbah, Algieba, Adhafera, Ras Elased Borealis, and Ras Elased Australis. Two straight lines run east from the mane and end in the sharp triangle of the lion’s flank.

Leo also holds a number of bright galaxies, which makes it a favorite of amateur astronomers with a small telescope. The Leo Triplet, a tight group of three spiral galaxies (M65, M66, and NGC 3628), sits beneath the lion’s belly. M95, M96, and M105 form a second nearby cluster. All were catalogued by the French astronomers Charles Messier and Pierre Méchain in the eighteenth century. For a current sky map and viewing tips, the NASA Hubble Messier catalog is a reliable reference.

Leo is also the radiant point for the Leonid meteor shower, which peaks each November. Most years it produces a steady ten to fifteen meteors per hour, but every thirty-three years or so the shower delivers a storm of thousands. For the next peak and viewing tips, see our guide to when the Leonid meteor shower will appear.

Leo Compatibility

Western astrology pairs each sign with others based on element and quality. Leo is a fire sign, which the tradition pairs most easily with other fire signs (Aries, Sagittarius) and air signs (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius). Water and earth signs are said to be a harder fit, though plenty of Leos live happily alongside Cancers and Capricorns.

Compatibility charts are folklore, not forecasts. Treat them as a conversation starter, not a screening tool. The same caveat we apply to traits applies here: no controlled study has shown Sun-sign matching to predict relationship outcomes.

Leo Birthstones

Because Leo season straddles two calendar months, Leos have a choice of birthstones depending on which side of the cusp their birthday lands.

• July Leos: ruby, traditionally tied to passion, vitality, and protection.
• August Leos: peridot, spinel, and sardonyx, a trio prized for color, clarity, and old-world banding.

Birthstone customs vary by country and by the chart you consult, but ruby, peridot, spinel, and sardonyx are the four stones most commonly given for the Leo window in the United States.

Famous Leos

Leo season has produced its share of well-known names. Whether any of them owe their reputations to the stars is a question we leave to you. A short, partial list:

• Barack Obama (August 4)
• Madonna (August 16)
• Amelia Earhart (July 24)
• Neil Armstrong (August 5)
• Jennifer Lawrence (August 15)
• Mick Jagger (July 26)
• Andy Warhol (August 6)
• Coco Chanel (August 19)

It is an unusually broad mix of presidents, performers, pilots, and painters. Make of that what you will. The folklore would say their Leo Sun lends a flair for the stage; the science would say a list of eight famous people is too small a sample to draw any conclusion at all.

The Sun and Leo

Each sign in Western astrology has a ruling planet, and Leo’s is the Sun itself. The Sun is not a planet in the astronomical sense, but the older tradition treated it as one of the seven classical wanderers and assigned it to Leo because the Sun is at its strongest in the sky during Leo season. That association lines up neatly with the sign’s reputation for warmth, visibility, and personal authority.

The Sun reaches its highest yearly altitude at the summer solstice a month before Leo season opens, and by the time the season begins the days are at their longest and warmest. For Leos, that means a birthday in the sun, often the brightest weeks of the year.

Astronomy vs. Astrology

It is worth keeping the two fields straight. Astronomy is the science of stars, planets, and galaxies, built on observation, math, and peer review. Astrology is a cultural tradition that assigns meaning to those same objects. The constellation Leo is real and you can point at it on a clear night. The personality of a Leo is folklore, told and retold for centuries because people find it useful or interesting, not because it has been measured in a lab.

One more wrinkle. Because of a slow wobble in Earth’s axis called precession, the calendar dates assigned to each zodiac sign no longer line up with where the Sun actually appears against the stars. The Sun is in the astronomical constellation Leo from roughly August 10 to September 16 today, not July 23 to August 22. Astrological dates are anchored to the seasons, not to the sky, and they have not been corrected for precession. Both systems are internally consistent; they just answer different questions.

For the longer version of that distinction, see our companion piece on astronomy vs. astrology.

Join The Discussion

Is Leo your zodiac sign? Do you recognize the traits the folklore lists, or do they miss the mark entirely? Have you ever picked out the Leo constellation on a clear summer night? Let us know in the comments below. We read every one.

Related Articles

• Astronomy vs. Astrology
• What Is Your Zodiac Sign?
• Monthly Stargazing Guides
• When Is the Leonid Meteor Shower?
• July Birthstone: Ruby
• August Birthstones: Peridot, Spinel, and Sardonyx

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the dates for the Leo zodiac sign?

Leo season runs from July 23 to August 22 each year, though the exact start can shift by a day depending on the calendar. People born during this window are considered Leos under Western astrology.

What animal represents Leo?

Leo is represented by the lion. The name is the Latin word for lion, and the constellation has been drawn as a lion in Babylonian, Greek, and Roman star charts going back thousands of years. The lion specifically referenced in the Greek myth is the Nemean Lion, slain by Heracles in the first of his twelve labors.

Why is Hercules connected to the Leo constellation?

Greek mythology says the great Nemean Lion’s golden hide could not be pierced by any weapon. Heracles cornered the lion in its cave and strangled it with his bare hands, then used one of its own claws to skin it and wore the pelt as armor. In honor of the victory, Zeus placed the lion in the sky as the constellation Leo.

How do you find the Leo constellation?

Look for the sickle of stars that resembles a backwards question mark, anchored by the bright star Regulus at its base. Leo sits between Cancer and Virgo in the zodiac belt. It is best seen in the Northern Hemisphere from late winter through spring, when it rides high overhead in the evening.

What is Regulus?

Regulus is the brightest star in Leo at magnitude 1.36 and one of the brightest stars in the entire night sky. The old astronomers nicknamed it the “little king,” from a Latin diminutive of rex. It marks the heart of the lion at the base of the sickle asterism.

What are the personality traits of a Leo?

Folklore describes Leos as confident, outgoing, generous, honest, open-minded, affectionate, creative, and dramatic. The same tradition also notes a tendency toward pride and stubbornness. None of this is backed by controlled science; it is a cultural reading, not a personality test.

What is the Leo birthstone?

It depends on which month your birthday falls in. July Leos share the ruby as their birthstone, while August Leos have a choice between peridot, spinel, and sardonyx. All four are commonly given in the United States.

Why do astronomical and astrological Leo dates differ?

Earth’s axis wobbles slowly, a motion astronomers call precession. Over the centuries, that has shifted the calendar dates when the Sun actually sits against the constellation Leo. Today the Sun is in the astronomical Leo from roughly August 10 to September 16. Astrological dates were not corrected for the shift and remain anchored to the seasons.