For example, there are lions on the coat of arms of Britain or Norway, but there are no lions there.
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There used to be lions throughout Africa, even all along the Mediterranean coast. Lions were also found all over the Middle east and India. And even the Balkans have historical evidence for wild lions. The reason why Lions are so heavily featured in for example the Bible is because wild lions lived in Palestine in biblical times and were only hunted to extinction around the time of the crusades.
We do not know the much about the lion population in Spain, France and Italy but we can safely say they went extinct before written history. And there are no evidence of wild lions in northern Europe. But there are plenty of evidence of captured or tame lions. Lions were a common Zoo animal in the ancient world. Especially in Rome where they would import lions in the hundreds. As you got further north lions became more rare but you would still have a number of lion pelts and stuffed lions making their way north. And people would travel south to Italy or even Africa itself where they would see lions and tell storied about it when they came home.
This is probably why the lion was seen as more powerful in these regions. There were plenty of dangerous animals such as bears and wolves but when people were living with these they seamed not that bad. However stories of big lions would often make them stronger and deadlier.
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