Editing Werewolf (section)

=== Classical antiquity ===
A few references to men changing into wolves are found in [[Ancient Greek literature]] and [[Greek mythology]]. [[Herodotus]], in his ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]'',<ref>{{cite book| author=Herodotus| title=Histories| chapter-url= https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Herodotus/4E*.html#105 | chapter=IV.105}}</ref> wrote that according to what the [[Scythians]] and the Greeks settled in Scythia told him, the [[Neuri]], a tribe to the northeast of [[Scythia]], were all transformed into wolves once every year for several days and then changed back to their human shape. He added that he was unconvinced by the story, but the locals swore to its truth.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D4%3Achapter%3D105 Herodotus, The Histories, 4.105]</ref> The tale was also mentioned by [[Pomponius Mela]].<ref>{{cite book |author1=Pomponius Mela |title=Description of the world |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015042048507&view=1up&seq=84 |chapter=2.14|series=De chorographia.English |year=1998 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=978-0472107735 }}</ref>[[File:Lycaon Transformed into a Wolf LACMA M.71.76.9.jpg|thumb|[[Zeus]] turning [[Lycaon (king of Arcadia)|Lycaon]] into a [[wolf]], engraving by [[Hendrik Goltzius]].]]

In the second century BC, the Greek geographer [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] related the story of King [[Lycaon (king of Arcadia)|Lycaon]] of Arcadia, who was transformed into a wolf because he had sacrificed a child on the altar of [[Zeus Lycaeus]].<ref name="pausanias-8.2">{{cite book |author1=Pausanias |author-link1=Pausanias (geographer)|title=Description of Greece |chapter=8.2|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+8.2.6&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160}}</ref> In the version of the legend told by [[Ovid]] in his ''[[Metamorphoses]]'',<ref>{{cite book |author1=Ovid |author-link1=Ovid |title=Metamorphoses |url=https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Metamorph.php#anchor_Toc64105461 |chapter=I 219–239}}</ref> when [[Zeus]] visits Lycaon disguised as a commoner, Lycaon wants to test if he is really a god. To that end, he kills a [[Molossians|Molossian]] hostage and serves his entrails to Zeus. Disgusted, the god turns Lycaon into a wolf. However, in other accounts of the legend, like that of [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Pseudo-Apollodorus's ''Bibliotheca'']],<ref name="apollod-3.8">{{cite book |author1=Apollodorus |author-link1=Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus) |title=Bibliotheca |url=https://www.theoi.com/Text/Apollodorus3.html#8|chapter=3.8.1}}</ref> Zeus blasts him and his sons with thunderbolts as punishment.

Pausanias also relates the story of an Arcadian man called [[Damarchus]] of [[Parrhasia (Arcadia)|Parrhasia]], who was turned into a wolf after tasting the entrails of a human child sacrificed to Zeus Lycaeus. He was restored to human form 10 years later and became an Olympic champion.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+6.8.2 Pausanias 6.8.2]</ref> This tale is also recounted by [[Pliny the Elder]], who calls the man Demaenetus, quoting [[Agriopas]].<ref>[[Pliny the Elder]], ''Natural History'', [http://attalus.org/translate/pliny_hn8a.html#82 viii.82].</ref> According to Pausanias, this was not a one-off event, for men have been transformed into wolves during sacrifices to Zeus Lycaeus since the time of Lycaon. If they abstain from tasting human flesh while wolves, they will be restored to human form nine years later; if they do not abstain, they will remain wolves forever.<ref name="pausanias-8.2" />

Lykos (Λύκος) of Athens was a wolf-shaped herο whose shrine stood by the jury court, and the first jurors{{what|date=May 2025}} were named after him.<ref>[https://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/sol/sol-entries/eta/271 Suda, eta, 271]</ref>

Pliny the Elder likewise recounts another tale of lycanthropy. Quoting Euanthes,<ref>[[Pliny the Elder]], ''Natural History'', [http://attalus.org/translate/pliny_hn8a.html#81 viii.81].</ref> he mentions that in [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]], once a year, a man was chosen by lot from the [[Anthus (mythology)|Anthus]]'s clan. The chosen man was escorted to a marsh in the area, where he hung his clothes on an [[oak]] tree, swam across the marsh, and transformed into a wolf, joining a [[Pack (canine)|pack]] for nine years. If during these nine years, he refrained from tasting human flesh, he returned to the same marsh, swam back, and recovered his previous human form, with nine years added to his appearance.<ref>The tale probably relates to a rite of passage for Arcadian youths.{{cite book |last1=Ogden |first1=Daniel |title=Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds: A Sourcebook |date=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-513575-X |page=178}}</ref> Ovid also relates stories of men who roamed the woods of Arcadia in the form of wolves.<ref>{{cite book |author=Ovid |title=Metamorphoses |chapter=I|title-link=Metamorphoses (poem) }}</ref><ref name="menard">{{cite book|last=Ménard|first=Philippe|title=Symposium in honorem prof. M. de Riquer|year=1984|publisher=Barcelona UP|language=fr|pages=209–238|chapter=Les histoires de loup-garou au moyen-âge}}</ref>

[[Virgil]], in his poetic work ''[[Eclogues]]'', wrote of a man called Moeris who used herbs and poisons picked in his native [[Pontus (region)|Pontus]] to turn himself into a wolf.<ref>{{cite book |author=Virgil |title=Eclogues |chapter=viii |page=98|title-link=Eclogues }}</ref> In [[prose]], the ''[[Satyricon]]'', written circa AD 60 by [[Petronius]], one of the characters, Niceros, tells a story at a banquet about a friend who turned into a wolf (chapters 61–62). He describes the incident as follows, {{qi|When I look for my buddy I see he'd stripped and piled his clothes by the roadside... He pees in a circle round his clothes and then, just like that, turns into a wolf!... after he turned into a wolf he started howling and then ran off into the woods.}}<ref>{{cite book |author=Petronius |author-link= Petronius |title=Satyrica |year= 1996 |publisher= University of California |location= Berkeley |isbn= 0-520-20599-5 |page=56|others= R. Bracht Branham and Daniel Kinney}}</ref>

[[Early Christianity|Early Christian]] authors also mentioned werewolves. In ''[[The City of God]]'', [[Augustine of Hippo]] gives an account similar to that found in Pliny the Elder's ''Natural History''. Augustine explains that {{qi|It is very generally believed that by certain witches' spells men may be turned into wolves...}}<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''The City of God'', [https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/Nicene_and_Post-Nicene_Fathers:_Series_I/Volume_II/City_of_God/Book_XVIII/Chapter_17 XVIII.17]</ref> Physical metamorphosis was also mentioned in the ''Capitulatum Episcopi'', attributed to the [[Synod of Ancyra]] in the 4th century, which became the early [[Christian Church]]'s doctrinal text in relation to magic, witches, and transformations such as those of werewolves.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/witch/canon.html|title=Canon Episcopi|website=www.personal.utulsa.edu|access-date=27 March 2020|archive-date=6 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201206122850/http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/witch/canon.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The ''Capitulatum Episcopi'' states that {{qi|Whoever believes that anything can be...transformed into another species or likeness, except by God Himself...is beyond doubt an infidel.}}<ref name=":0" />

In the works of the early Roman Christian writers, werewolves often received the name ''versipellis'' ("turnskin"). Augustine{{which|date=May 2025}} instead used the phrase "''in lupum fuisse mutatum''" (changed into the form of a wolf) to describe the metamorphosis of werewolves, which is similar to phrases used in the medieval period.{{cn|date=May 2025}}