Mythological Notes (I): The Myth of the Werewolf - Lycaon

Introduction

This is the English version of a series of notes taht I'll be posting in my Wordpress blog (yep, I forgot to say in my presentation that I have a blog written in Spanish). I want to share them since I'm doing a research about vampires, werewolves, hybrids and damphirs, and I think that it would be interesting to read and / or hear opinions about those themes.

Now, let's begin this Mythological Notes with a character that almost is invisible in the Greek Mythology: Lycaon, King of Arcadia and the ancestor of the Werewolves.

The king who unleashed the wrath of the gods

Lycaon was a legendary Arcadian king who founded the oldest city of Greece, Lykosoura, and is the main promoter of the cult to Zeus Lýkaios, or  Zeus Lyceum. About his family, some versions alleged that he was the son of Pelasgus and Meliboea and, also, the grandson of the titan Oceanus (Harrauer y Hunger, 2008: 505). It's attributed to him the paternity of almost 50 children, including Dia and Callisto  (Julien, 1998: 246). 

Now, there are two mythical versions about Lycaon's destiny after the divine visit, mostly from Zeus alone or accompanied by other gods. The first version, reported by Pierre Grimal (1981: 319 – 320), mentions that Lycaon was a pious king who was loved by his people and to whom several gods visited from time to time. However, this king had so cruel children who, in order to satisfy their curiosity, decided to offer a feast to their father's visitors... A feast whose main snack was the flesh of a child. As a punishment for such an act, Lycaon and his family were destroyed by a storm.

Nevertheless, in the second version of the myth, reported by Nadia Julien and by Christine Harrauer and Herbert Hunger (2008), we find a less pious Lycaon: In this version, Lycaon was a sadistic and cruel man with an almost fanatical religiosity that led him to perform human sacrifices. The atrocities commited by him and his family reached the ears of Zeus, who went to visit him in Lykosoura and tested their cruelty's limits. The result of that visit was calamitous for the family: When they offered to Zeus the dismembered body of a child, they unleashed the wrath of the god himself, who didn't hesitate to curse them by transforming them into wolves.

Explanation of the myth

The authors mentioned in the previous paragraphs coincide in an important point when explaining this ancient myth: in the Mont Lykaion, where a temple in honor of Zeus was built, human sacrifices and cannibalism were practiced (Harrauer y Hunger, 2008: 506). The flesh of their victims was offered to Zeus, from whom it was believd that he could grant his believers the power to transform into wolves once they consume their share of human flesh. 

We can find possible evidences about these practices in ancient authores as Plato, who stated, in his work The Republic, that " who has tasted the entrails of a single human victim minced up with the entrails of other [animal] victims neccesarily is destined to become a wolf" (quoted in La brújula verde).  Also we can find physical evidences in the excavation performed last year by a group of archaeologists in the temple's altar, in where they found a beheaded human skelleton (Greek Reporter, August 2016).

Cited Bibliography

1. Nadia Julien. 1998. Enciclopedia de mitos. México. Editorial Océano.
2. Pierre Grimal. 1981. Diccionario de la mitología griega y romana. España. Editorial Paidós.
3. Christine Harrauer y Herbert Hunger. 2008. Diccionario de mitología griega y romana. España. Editorial Herder.
4. Ioanna Zikakou. 2016. “Skeleton Found in Ancient Zeus Temple”, en Greek Reporter. 
5. Guillermo Carvajal. 2016. “Encuentran la primera evidencia de sacrificios humanos a Zeus en el Monte Liceo de Arcadia”, en La brújula verde.

What do you think about this issue? Share your opinions!