The werewolf myth is not a product of early modern fiction but a story that dates back more than two millennia, involving Lycaon, the ancient Greek werewolf.
As Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey were the blueprints of Western literature, so is the story of Lycaon, the mythical king of Arcadia who turned into a werewolf, an inspiration for gothic horror novels.
Over time, the myth expanded, influencing cultures across history and eventually shaping modern entertainment. The theme of transformation and the battle between man and beast has resonated through generations, becoming a core element in countless stories, including Hollywood blockbusters, where it continues to captivate audiences today.
Lycaon, the king who turned into a werewolf
Lycaon, the king of Arcadia in the Peloponnese, was famous for being a very just man. He had fifty sons and named fifty cities after them.
Zeus, who was always interfering in human affairs, wanted to test if Lycaon was indeed a fair man. So one night an old man in a cape, his face covered by his hood, entered the palace of Lycaon.
The Arcadian king immediately suspected that the strange man who appeared in his palace was a god who had come to test him. Lycaon killed one of his sons and offered his meat to the visitor to see if the god was truly all-knowing enough to recognize human flesh.
Lycaon’s act disgusted Zeus so much that he laid a curse on him. The king, terrified, ran away into the night. Running like a madman, he entered a dark forest and got lost. He called out for help, but when he opened his mouth, no human sound emerged. Instead, he began howling like a wolf.
A legend soon spread across Arcadia that on Mount Lykaion (so named in later tradition) a man had been transformed into a wolf and could only return to human form if he abstained from eating human flesh for nine years.
Zeus, the ancient Greek werewolf and human sacrifices
The myth of the ancient Greek werewolf Lycaon is intertwined with the local history of Arcadia. In this particular region, Zeus was worshipped as Lycaean Zeus. However, while lycos means wolf in Greek, some ancient writers and modern scholars suggest the name Lycaon may be connected to lykē (Greek:λύκη), meaning morning twilight.
The account of Pausanias speaks of a human sacrifice and the immediate transformation of Lycaon to a werewolf. In Description of Greece the traveler and geographer writes:
For Cecrops was the first to name Zeus the Supreme god, and refused to sacrifice anything that had life in it, but burnt instead on the altar the national cakes which the Athenians still call pelanoi. But Lycaon brought a human baby to the altar of Lycaean Zeus, and sacrificed it, pouring out its blood upon the altar, and according to the legend immediately after the sacrifice he was changed from a man to a wolf.
Archaeological excavations on Mount Lykaion suggest that human sacrifice may have been practiced around 3,000 years ago. A burial found in the middle of Zeus’ ash altar, adjacent to a man-made stone platform used for dedications, supports the idea of ritual sacrifices at this site. ‘This is not a cemetery, it is a sacrificial altar,’ explained Dr. David Gilman Romano, who has been leading the excavation since 2007. ‘While we’ve found thousands of animal remains, this is the first human remain, which lends an air of significance.’
More versions of the werewolf myth
Historian and philosopher Nicolaus of Damascus (c. 64 BCE – after 4 CE) tells the story of the ancient Greek werewolf differently. He describes Lycaon’s sons as disgraceful because they tried to test Zeus by mixing the flesh of a boy into the sacrifices. The god is furious about the child’s murder and the attempted deception, and kills everyone present at the execution with a bolt of lightning.
The involvement of a young athlete—the boxer Damarchus—in the Arcadian sacrifice of an adolescent boy is also a legend about a werewolf. At the festival of Lycaea, Damarchus was compelled to taste the entrails of the young boy. He was transformed into a wolf only to return to human form again after ten years.
With regard to this legend, Pausanias writes: “Ever since the time of Lycaon a man has changed into a wolf at the sacrifice to Lycaean Zeus, but that the change is not for life; if, when he is a wolf, he abstains from human flesh, after nine years he becomes a man again, but if he tastes human flesh he remains a beast for ever.”
In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Zeus appears in Lycaon’s palace and reveals to the people there
that he is a god. The king mocks him and tries to test the god’s immortality, attempting to murder him later that night.
Unable to wait, Lycaon murders Zeus’ companion, roasts his flesh, and serves it at the banquet. Zeus is furious for his insolence and strikes the whole palace with lightning. Lycaon flees to the forest at night where he transforms into a wolf but maintains his savage expression.
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