The Werewolves of Arcadia

This chapter separates the ancient data on the werewolves of Mt Lykaion into three categories: (1) that bearing on the elaborate complex of aetiological myths about Lykaon himself and his human sacrifice, the bulk of which is surprisingly late; (2) that bearing upon the historical Anthid rite associated with the Lykaia festival, a rite of maturation with affinities to such rites known from other Greek cities; and (3) that bearing upon a traditional tale in which Damarchus was transformed into a wolf at the Lykaia festival. The data in the latter two categories is heavily and confusingly concatenated and must be disentangled. When the two data-sets are appropriately disaggregated, both the rite and the traditional tale become easier to make sense of. We can now see that those performing the Anthid rite are (supposedly) transformed into wolves not by eating human flesh, but simply by virtue of being chosen by lot or, more immediately, by the act of doffing their clothes and swimming across a pool. After a period doubtless equivalent to one or two years patrolling the wilderness (under light arms?), they return across the pool and recover their clothes, and with them their humanity. And we can now see that the Damarchus tale described not one performer of the Anthid rite amongst others, but an avowedly exceptional set of events, events explicitly presented as another ‘myth.’ This story found its home amongst a distinctive suite of supernatural stories attaching to the outstanding athletes of archaic Greece.