Leo and Water

Water jars and stand from the Byzantine Period (8th-13th century BC)
© R.M.N./B. Hatala

These porous jars are used in the 12th century AD by the Coptics to keep water cool by using evaporation. Excess water seeped through the ceramic, then flowed from the cavities into a pipe that emerged through the lion's mouth carved at the front of the stand. The water that dripped from the lion’s mouth was then collected in a container.

Why do lion spurts water from its mouth? The lion has always been associated with water in the Mediterranean world; even today, fountain water still spurts from lions' mouth. In Egypt, this could be explained by the fact that the Nile flood occurs when the sun is in Leo. Pliny wrote that the Egyptians also worshipped the stars of Leo because the rise of the Nile happens when the sun moves to Leo (actually it is also explained that the inundation of the Nile is caused by the setting of Aquarius into the Nile, pouring his water into the Nile and thus causing it to flood).

Another explanation is that the Sun was in Leo during Midsummer, and during this time the lions of the Egyptian desert went to banks of the Nile where they could find relief from the heat in the flooded water of the Nile.

Nile Mosaic of Palestrina depicting the scene around the Nile, including the lion and some monsters (ca. 100 BC). Wikipedia 

Another explanation is the symbolism of lion in the Roman world, in which the lion symbolizes the cleansing fire; the water that poured through the lion’s mouth was therefore pure and fit for either drinking or religious purposes.

Link:

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