The Werewolf

Myths, Legends, and a little Science

Gilgamesh• First ever mention of a werewolf (that

we know of)

The Early Romans• Petronius’ The Satyricon

1st Century AD

Trimalchio’s Banquet• Two guys walking along, they go into

a graveyard, one needs to pee, and then he turns into a wolf and starts to howl.

• (really, I didn’t make this up)

Ovid’s Metamorphoses

2nd century AD

King Lycaon of ArcadiaBook I of Ovid’s epic (first metamorphosis)• Jupiter changes King Lycaon

into a Werewolf

In English . . . • The first mention (in English) of

werewolves comes in 1000 (about the same time as the Beowulf text was written down). This is also in Old English.

• c1000   Laws Cnut xxvi. (Lieberm.) ,   Þæt se wodfreca werewulf to swyðe ne slite, ne to fela ne abite of godcundre heorde.

Kings . . .• King Arthur (as told by Malory)

1470–85   MALORY Morte d'Arthur XIX. xi. 793   His wyf..made hym seuen yere a werwolf.

• King James (King of England)1597   KING JAMES VI & I Daemonologie III. i. 61   And are not war-woolfes one sorte of these spirites also..?

Werewolves & The Church• In the 5th century, St. Augustine

argues (against popular belief) that the werewolf is an illusion because “only God can change matter; the Devil merely deceives men’s senses.”

• But many others in and outside the Church believed that werewolves existed.

Trials• Peter Stubbe

was executed for being a werewolf in Germany in 1589. It is reported that he killed his victims and then drank their blood, and ate their flesh.

• Follow this link for a fascinating and artistic YouTube rendition of the story of Peter Stubbe.

The execution of Peter Stubbe, 1589

• In 1603, a French boy (14), Jean Grenier, confessed to being a werewolf and the murder of 14 or more people. He was given life in prison and died 7 years later

Disease / Science (ish)• Lycanthopia, lycanthopes (1584)• Lupina Melancholia• Melancholy• Porphyia• Hypertrichosis• Lycanthrope• Schizophrenia