Reddit user: c0urso The Eurasian cave lion (Panthera leo spelaea), evolved around 370,000 years ago and ranged widely across Europe and Asia. It is depicted in Paleolithic cave paintings, such as those found in the Lascaux and Chauvet Caves in France. It was somewhat larger than the modern lion. Modern lions are thought to have originated around 124,000 years ago in eastern and southern Africa. They then spread throughout most of Africa and from there into southeastern Europe, the Middle East, the South Caucasus, southern Russia, southern Afghanistan and the Indian sub-continent. There is some inconclusive historical evidence to suggest that they may also have inhabited other parts of Europe, including modern-day Portugal, Spain, southern France, southern Germany, Italy, and the Balkans. Although lions have long since disappeared from Europe, according to reports by Ancient Greek writers such as Herodotus and Aristotle, they were common in Greece around 480 BCE. They became endange