Werewolf (lycanthrope)
The werewolf, or lycanthrope, is a mythic figure deeply rooted in ancient European folklore, primarily tied to Greek mythology. The term originates from the Greek "lycanthropos," and the earliest mentions can be traced back to writers like Herodotus and Virgil, who documented legends of humans transforming into wolves. Key tales often involve transformations linked to punishment, such as the story of Lycaon, who was turned into a wolf by Zeus for his transgressions. While werewolf legends are prominent in Europe, similar shape-shifting stories appear globally, including in pre-Columbian cultures of the Americas, where transformation is often associated with shamanic practices.
Common beliefs about werewolves include the idea that transformation can be triggered by the full moon, witchcraft, or divine retribution. Over time, adaptations of the myth incorporated modern elements, such as the vulnerability to silver bullets. Cultural representations of werewolves have proliferated in literature, film, and other media, reflecting ongoing fascination with these creatures. Additionally, various psychological conditions, such as clinical lycanthropy, add complexity to the understanding of werewolf lore, blurring the lines between myth and psychological phenomena. Overall, the werewolf remains a powerful symbol in popular culture, embodying themes of duality, transformation, and the human-animal connection.
Werewolf (lycanthrope)
The mythic figure of the werewolf, also known as the Greek lycanthropos, has ancient origins in Europe. Greek mythology recorded werewolf legends that were already very old. In fact, cultures worldwide have legends of shape-shifters, which suggests that the concept of humans who can become animals has existed since before recorded time. The oldest documented references to werewolves that have survived are by Greek and Roman writers. It was believed that a werewolf could be killed by destroying its heart or brain. The legend eventually adapted to include modern technology, and the myth incorporated the belief that werewolves could be killed by a silver bullet. Werewolves endure as a motif in popular culture and are the topic of thousands of novels, films, comic books, graphic art, and video games.
Brief History
The first recorded instances of European werewolves come from ancient Greek and Roman writers, such as Herodotus, Petronius, Pliny the Elder, and Virgil, among others. In Greek mythology, the first werewolf is Lycaon, King of Arcadia, who was transformed into a wolf by Zeus, in punishment for having tricked the god into eating human flesh. In fact, the legendary king’s name survives in the genus of Lycaon pictus, commonly known as the African wild dog, and in the term lycanthropos itself.
The historian Herodotus (c. 484–425 BCE) wrote that the Scythian tribe known as the Neuri—ancestors of some Scandinavian tribes—were able to transform into wolves for a specific period of time every year. Centuries later, Petronius (27–66 CE) mentioned a legend in which some humans were capable of becoming wolves during a full moon.
Legends about werewolves have long existed throughout Europe; they also exist in South America and Mexico, probably as an amalgam of indigenous and European stories. Legends about werewolves peaked in sixteenth century France, probably, according to some experts, because of the prevalence of wolf attacks in the countryside. In fact, the legendary man-eating Beast of Gevaudan that terrorized communities in south central France during the 1760s was possibly a pack of wolves or mastiff-wolf hybrids. Wolves are wily and astute predators, and people who encountered or observed them may have attributed human characteristics to them, assuming them to be werewolves.
Werewolf legends were also prevalent in Britain, although wolves are known to have become extinct in the region by the turn of the eighteenth century. In the fifth century, St. Patrick was said to have transformed Vereticus, a Welsh king, and other pagans into wolves. There are several tales featuring Christian saints who punished alleged sinners by cursing them with lycanthropy.
In some regions, werewolves were believed to be victims of witchcraft and in others, to be people who used black magic or sorcery in order to shift-shape. With the advent of the Enlightenment, however, individuals who believed themselves werewolves were usually deemed as victims of self-delusion. However, despite a growing dependence upon reason and science, the myth of werewolves survived worldwide, and werewolf attacks were still reported into the eighteenth and late nineteenth centuries.
Overview
Among many pre-Columbian cultures of the Americas, especially North America and Mesoamerica (the region encompassing Central Mexico through Central America), it was believed that humans could transform into other animals, often a panther, jaguar, coyote, or wolf. These religious beliefs were tied to shamanic or spiritual rituals. Shape-shifting powers enabled humans to use their powers for both good and evil; in other words, as opposed to the myths of other cultures, shape-shifters are not necessarily considered evil. They are, instead, related to religious totems and guardian spirits.
These pre-Columbian beliefs conflated with European myths of shape-shifting and werewolves brought over by conquerors and colonizers. Many belief systems worldwide hold different views as to what it takes to turn into a werewolf, and these include incurring in the wrath of a divine being, being bitten by a wolf or werewolf, eating wolves’ flesh or brains, and falling victim to sorcery or even birth order. In some areas of Spain, Portugal, and South America, for example, it was believed that the seventh-born son was fated to become a werewolf. The most common legend holds that humans may transform into werewolves—voluntarily or involuntarily—during a full moon. In general, most werewolves are believed to transform back into human form during daylight hours, yet retain a wolf’s natural traits even when in human form.
In ancient Greece, the myth originally seems to stem from Arcadia and its king Lycaon; not coincidentally, the Greek region of Arcadia was known to be a natural habitat for wolves. The Romans added their own version of the myth, known as a "turnskin," which seems similar in name to the Navajo "skin walker," a person able to turn into any nonhuman animal.
The first documented instance of the term "werewolf" appears to have been used by Gervase de Tilbury in the thirteenth century in his book Otia Imperalia (c. 1212), although an older romance translated from the French as William and the Werewolf around the same period suggests that the term may have already been commonly used.
Some of the reasons given for the surges in werewolf reports and legends have been prevalent beliefs in shamanism and shape-shifting; generalized ergot poisoning, which causes hallucinations; witchcraft hysteria; bandits wearing wolves’ pelts; a peak in wolf attacks; human illnesses such hypertrichosis, which cause an abnormal excess of bodily hair growth; and finally, clinical lycanthropy, a mental disorder which causes the patient to believe that he or she is transforming into another animal, usually—although not necessarily—a wolf.
While lycanthropy—formed by the Greek words for wolf and man—is the supernatural phenomenon of human transformation into a wolf form, clinical Lycanthropy is a syndrome that causes a person to believe that she or he is a wolf or some other animal. This delusion most often appears in people whose religious beliefs include reincarnation. As is the case with most shape-shifting myths, patients adopt the delusion that they transform into a dangerous large animal, such as a tiger, wolf, or hyena. Werewolves were popular characters in Gothic horror novels of the romantic period (late 1700s to 1850s) and appear as characters in popular culture, such as comedy and horror films, TV serials, music videos, and novels.
Bibliography
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