Page 56 - All About History - Issue 186-19
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Lykaion in Greece. On Mount Lykaion, the able to see that, within the temple, the animal cast
mythological birthplace of Zeus, there was an altar no shadow.
dedicated to Lykaean Zeus, or ‘Wolf-Zeus’, and To the ancient Greeks, the werewolf became
the cult who worshipped there were believed to representative of a behavioural deviance, a sign
be werewolves. The rites of passage, as recorded that the transformed man was a beast before
in the works of Latin writer of natural history he became a wolf. Such ideas associated with
and miscellany Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE) and the werewolf were also adopted by the ancient
Greek travel writer Pausanias (second century CE), Romans. For example Latin author Ovid, in his
applied to the adolescent boys of the cult. One first-century CE epic Metamorphoses, recorded the
would be chosen from a lot and taken to a lake, story of Lycaon, a corrupt king who slaughtered
where he would shed his clothes and hang them a prisoner and served the corpse at a feast for the Image source: wiki/Jastrow
from a tree before swimming across the lake and Roman god Jupiter. Lycaon failed in his duties to
transforming into a wolf. If he abstained from his people and to his religion, looking down on his
harming a human in the nine years that followed, more pious subjects and mocking the worship of The wearing of wolf skins may have had an influence on the
concept of werewolves
he could swim back across the lake, retrieve his the gods. When Jupiter heard of his blasphemous
clothes and transform back into his human self, ways, he visited Lycaon’s kingdom disguised
with the nine years added to his appearance. as an elder and gave the people signs that a
Rumours circulated that the cult also practised god was among them. When Lycaon decided to
human sacrifice (which has not yet been prove that Jupiter was nothing but an old man,
confirmed, although archaeological excavations of he slaughtered a protected hostage, cooked the
“When Lycaon fled, his true self infected his body and
his form was changed to match. He became a wolf, and his
bloodlust was turned to the cattle of the countryside” © Getty Images
the site have found the remains of an adolescent flesh, and prepared to serve it to the god. Jupiter,
boy buried next to the altar) and would mix disgusted that human flesh was offered as food
human flesh with their ritual sacrifices. Pausanias and offended by the lack of respect afforded to A 1765 illustration of the ‘Beast of Gevaudan’ that’s said to have
himself refused to ask for details of the “secret him, used his lightning to destroy Lycaon’s palace. killed more than 80 people in France
sacrifice”, instead letting “them be, as they are When Lycaon fled, his true self infected his body
and were from the beginning”. If a member of and his form was changed to match. He became
the cult tasted human flesh, they would take a wolf, and his bloodlust was turned to the cattle
the form of the wolf. The place itself was also of the countryside.
known for folk beliefs: in the precinct of Lykaean Other authors became entangled with the
Zeus, for example, no one was allowed to enter, werewolf myth, adding pieces to the developing
or they would not survive the year. If an animal traditions. In the Satyricon, a bawdy novel by Latin
sought refuge from a hunter within the precinct, author Petronius (c. 27–66CE), a young man tells
the hunter would not pursue it, but he would be a story at a dinner party. While walking through a
graveyard with a soldier for company, the soldier
removes his clothes, transforms into a wolf and
runs off to attack the livestock. When the narrator © Alamy
Image source: Wellcome Collection wolf-man look had speared a wolf through the neck in an attempt The fascination with a blurred line between humanity and
An early variation
arrives at his destination, he finds that his host
on the classic
from a 16th
beasts goes back millennia
to save her sheep. Afterwards, back at his lodgings,
century book
the narrator is disturbed to find the soldier
of wonders
attended by a doctor, with a large neck wound and
a fever. The narrator claims that, even though the
soldier was of good character, he could never dine
with the werewolf again, knowing that his kind
must be evil.
Even magic became a part of the story, with
the theme of witchcraft in the Eclogues of Latin
poet Virgil, published in 37 BCE. Therein, the
necromancer Moeris provides herbs and poisons
to the narrator for a love spell. With these poisons, © Alamy
says the narrator: “I have often seen Moeris turn
wolf and hide in the woods, often call spirits from
the depth of the grave and charm sown corn away Often the moral of a werewolf tale is that the transformation
to other fields.” This connection influences later merely revealed the true beast who lay within
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