Werewolf

shapeshifter · Greece · Mediterranean

Greek tradition offers the oldest named werewolf: the Arcadian king Lycaon, who tested Zeus by serving human flesh and was transformed into a wolf (Ovid, Metamorphoses). Later Greek belief distinguished the lykánthropos, a man who became a wolf by magic or curse and roamed wild at night. The very words 'lycanthropy' and 'lycanthrope' descend from this Greek root.

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