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one really early reference to werewolves is the legend of Lycaon.

Story goes that Lycaon, A king of Arcadia, was rumored to have sacrificed a human baby to Zeus at one of his altars. Upon hearing this, Zeus came down diguised as a human and visited Lycaon, and gave a sign of some sort that he was a god. Lycaon didn't believe him, and plotted to find out if in fact the disguised Zeus was indeed a god. To do this, Lycaon killed one of his own sons, and made a dish of human flesh and served it to Zeus for dinner. Zeus of course knew what this was and punished Lycaon, by turning him into a wolf, and destroying the king's house, and because it was said that Lycaon's sons exceeded all men in pride and impiety, Zeus killed them as well with the exception of one named Nyctimus

Ronkonkoma wrote:one really early reference to werewolves is the legend of Lycaon.

Story goes that Lycaon, A king of Arcadia, was rumored to have sacrificed a human baby to Zeus at one of his altars. Upon hearing this, Zeus came down diguised as a human and visited Lycaon, and gave a sign of some sort that he was a god. Lycaon didn't believe him, and plotted to find out if in fact the disguised Zeus was indeed a god. To do this, Lycaon killed one of his own sons, and made a dish of human flesh and served it to Zeus for dinner. Zeus of course knew what this was and punished Lycaon, by turning him into a wolf, and destroying the king's house, and because it was said that Lycaon's sons exceeded all men in pride and impiety, Zeus killed them as well with the exception of one named Nyctimus

I found some really cool stuff (can't remember where just now, but it seems like it was in a book devoted just to bear folklore) that scholars thought that the usual version of the Lycaon myth (the one you just summarized) was actually considerably modified from the original legend. Namely, they didn't have the original legend (at least, not in its entirety) but were able to find clues pointing to a much earlier version. And, in this earlier version, Lycaon was a werebear, not a werewolf (and so was his daughter, or grandaughter, or daughter-in-law). Anyway, cool stuff.

The usual myth, that you've summarized, has always struck me as religious propaganda. Its a pagan version of "you'd better not piss off God or you're in big trouble."

I found some really cool stuff (can't remember where just now, but it seems like it was in a book devoted just to bear folklore) that scholars thought that the usual version of the Lycaon myth (the one you just summarized) was actually considerably modified from the original legend. Namely, they didn't have the original legend (at least, not in its entirety) but were able to find clues pointing to a much earlier version. And, in this earlier version, Lycaon was a werebear, not a werewolf (and so was his daughter, or grandaughter, or daughter-in-law). Anyway, cool stuff.
The usual myth, that you've summarized, has always struck me as religious propaganda. Its a pagan version of "you'd better not piss off God or you're in big trouble."

I do agree that it is pretty much religious propaganda, be interesting to know more of the Bear-Lycaon myth you mentioned Jamie,

Ronkonkoma wrote:

I found some really cool stuff (can't remember where just now, but it seems like it was in a book devoted just to bear folklore) that scholars thought that the usual version of the Lycaon myth (the one you just summarized) was actually considerably modified from the original legend. Namely, they didn't have the original legend (at least, not in its entirety) but were able to find clues pointing to a much earlier version. And, in this earlier version, Lycaon was a werebear, not a werewolf (and so was his daughter, or grandaughter, or daughter-in-law). Anyway, cool stuff.
The usual myth, that you've summarized, has always struck me as religious propaganda. Its a pagan version of "you'd better not piss off God or you're in big trouble."

I do agree that it is pretty much religious propaganda, be interesting to know more of the Bear-Lycaon myth you mentioned Jamie,

Thanks! I do plan to put it in a future book (or, discussion of it, since you can only discuss myth fragments and not actually "tell" the tale like you can with a complete legend).

I've always been rather fond of this legend. If he was originally a werebear, then, durnit, I'm going to have to rethink an obscure, unwritten portion of my storyline, that has, thankfully, no effect whatsoever on any of my existing stories. I pictured Lycaon actually getting lycanthropy.

Edit: Oh well, there's always the Romulus and Remus kids.

one problem of this verson of myth is that they say "Lycaon, A king of Arcadia" he later went on to from the Arcadians not before.

Ronkonkoma wrote:

I found some really cool stuff (can't remember where just now, but it seems like it was in a book devoted just to bear folklore) that scholars thought that the usual version of the Lycaon myth (the one you just summarized) was actually considerably modified from the original legend. Namely, they didn't have the original legend (at least, not in its entirety) but were able to find clues pointing to a much earlier version. And, in this earlier version, Lycaon was a werebear, not a werewolf (and so was his daughter, or grandaughter, or daughter-in-law). Anyway, cool stuff.
The usual myth, that you've summarized, has always struck me as religious propaganda. Its a pagan version of "you'd better not piss off God or you're in big trouble."

I do agree that it is pretty much religious propaganda, be interesting to know more of the Bear-Lycaon myth you mentioned Jamie,

Most likely not because he was later greatly reward by the gods.