[entropy12]

Thanks for that reply. That means The Neanderthals were smarter than the Sapiens to leave lions infested Africa for the Mediterranean area first! hehe..

[Red Badger]

There may have been drought and famines there. Common in that part of the world, then as now..................

[Verginius Rufus]

There used to be lions in parts of Europe. They figure in Greek mythology and Greek art, and there is the famous Lion Gate at Mycenae from the Late Bronze Age (about the 13th century BC).

Herodotus reports that lions attacked Xerxes' baggage train in 480 BC, but going after the camels only. He says there were many lions in those areas--between the River Nestos and the River Acheloos (Herodotus 7.12-126). The Nestos is in what is now NE Greece (the coastal strip south of Bulgaria) and the Acheloos is in the western part of central Greece (flowing into the sea opposite the island of Ithaca).