The moon may not be full, but this week, we will nonetheless be looking at a topic that has seen some wild transformations (pun intended) over the centuries. Werewolves, also known as lycanthropes, are a staple of modern horror and fantasy. We will be exploring the origins of these fantastical creatures, including asking the question: where did the legend come from? Just as well, how much of them is based in fact rather than fiction?

Tracing the origins of the werewolf is easier said than done. For one, the definition of what a werewolf is has itself seen change over the years. If we are looking broadly at stories that mention men being turned into wolves, then we will need to go way back. More specifically, we will be going back to Ancient Greece.

In Ancient Greek literature, there is a story of a man named Lycaon, king of Arcadia, who kills and cooks his own son before presenting it as an offering to Zeus himself. Out of disgust and as a punishment, Zeus turns Lycaon into a wolf. It doesn’t need to be said that if you’ve done something even Zeus is disgusted by, you’re probably too far gone anyway. Let’s also not miss the glaring similarity between the king’s name and the term “lycan.”

If we stay in the ancient past, we’ll find that tales of men turning wolves are surprisingly common. The famed Greek historian Herodotus wrote of an Eastern European people called the Neuri who reportedly transformed into wolves once every year. Damarchus, an Olympic athlete, was said to have transformed into a wolf during a festival, only to become a man again years later. We can see that not all of these figures were transformed into wolves permanently like Lycaon. Damarchus was seemingly not alone in his curse, rather there was an idea that some men would be turned into wolves and would need to abstain from eating human flesh or else remain a wolf forever. Successfully abstaining would allow them to become human again, as Damarchus did.

Later in the historical record, Virgil, in his Eclogues, depicts a man named Moeris who is supposedly able to use herbs and poisons from his homeland to turn into a wolf. Here we can see that not all of these transformations are described as being forced.

As we enter the Middle Ages, mentions of werewolves as real creatures continue. Augustine of Hippo, or Saint Augustine, attests that there exist certain spells which can transform men into wolves. Over in Ireland, we hear tales of the werewolf kings of Ossory. In both Germanic and Scandinavian lands, there are examples of men either being werewolves or channeling the spirits of wolves. Inhuman strength and speed seem to have been cause enough for this claim, which opens up room for hyperbole used to emphasize the ferocity of some men.

Within the last half-millennium or so, historical cases of “werewolf attacks” still exist. In the time period where witch hunts and hysteria were most common in the Western world, accusations of lycanthropy were no exception. As time progressed, however, like vampires and witches among others, the idea that werewolves were more than a myth began to fade.

Looking at these stories, can we determine where the idea of werewolves truly originated? As said before, the concept is vague enough that it is hard to definitively answer. To emphasize this, take for example the Epic of Gilgamesh, said to be the oldest surviving story we have access to. The tale makes mention of a woman who turns her lover into a wolf. Should we take this, then, as the earliest mention of a werewolf?

It is entirely possible that the true origin of werewolves is simply so old and archaic, even predating the Epic of Gilgamesh, that we may never learn the truth. Even so, looking at history, we can see how the idea evolved and took new forms. The werewolves we talk of now are not the same ones that existed thousands of years ago.

There is a lot of discussion on what might’ve inspired the idea of werewolves. Werewolf attacks are often explained away as being hyperbolic reports of cannibal killings. Another possibility is an attack by an unusually large wolf or other animal. There also exist medical conditions, perhaps causing an excessively hairy person to be mistaken for a werewolf, or a loose case of rabies leading to madness. The possible explanations are so extensive that any one of them, or perhaps several, could be the culprit for the werewolf myth.

Regardless of where werewolves came from, we can rest assured, at least, that they probably won’t be going anywhere anytime soon, whether it be in literature, the big screen, or hushed campfire tales.

— r

Further reading:

“Werewolves: Creatures of the Night” by Amanda Cantu is a quick read that similarly charts the history of werewolves while providing details on some specific and very interesting cases.

If you are especially curious about the psychological elements that may have inspired the idea of the werewolf, consider reading Isabelle Pollentzke’s “Howling at the Boundaries: Werewolves and Anxiety about the Human-Animal Border in Early Modern Europe.”