Lycaon's Feast
The myth of King Lycaon who served Zeus a meal of human flesh and was transformed into a wolf, establishing the Greek origin of the werewolf legend.
The Meaning of Lycaon's Feast
Lycaon was the king of Arcadia who either doubted Zeus's divinity or wished to test it. When Zeus visited Arcadia disguised as a mortal, Lycaon slaughtered a child — in some versions his own grandson, Arcas, in others a Molossian captive — and served the flesh mixed into a stew. Zeus recognised the abomination instantly. He overturned the table (the site became Trapezous, from trapeza, "table"), destroyed Lycaon's fifty sons with thunderbolts, and transformed Lycaon himself into a wolf. His eyes remained wild, his fur was grey like his hair, and his nature, already savage, found its true form. The myth explained a ritual at Mount Lycaeum in Arcadia where, according to Pausanias, a man who ate human flesh at the sacrificial feast was transformed into a wolf for nine years. If he abstained from human flesh throughout, he would regain human form in the tenth year.
Parents
Pelasgus (in some genealogies)
Children
Arcas (grandson)
Symbols
Fun Fact
The word "lycanthropy" — clinical term for the delusion of being a werewolf — comes directly from Lycaon's name. Werewolf trials in medieval Europe cited the Lycaon myth as proof that shape-shifting was possible. The nine-year wolf transformation at Mount Lycaeum was reported as fact by Pliny, Augustine, and other authorities for over a millennium. Every werewolf in fiction, from An American Werewolf in London to Twilight, descends from an Arcadian king who served the wrong dinner to the wrong guest.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
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