According to Greek mythology, Lycaon was a mortal who tried to test Zeus' omniscience abilities. To see if Zeus really was all-powerful and all-knowing, Lycaon killed his own son and served his roasted flesh to Zeus.
Zeus knew what Lycaon had done and punished him for his terrible deeds by turning him into a wolf.
Lycaon, in Greek mythology, a legendary king of Arcadia. Traditionally, he was an impious and cruel king who tried to trick Zeus, the king of the gods, into eating human flesh. The god was not deceived and in wrath devastated the earth with Deucalian's flood, according to Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book I. Lycaon himself was turned into a wolf.
The story of Lycaon was apparently told in order to explain an extraordinary ceremony, the Lycaea, held in honor of Zeus Lycaeus at Mount Lycaeus. According to Plato (Republic, Book VIII), this ceremony was believed to involve human sacrifice and lycanthropy (assuming the form of a wolf). The Greek traveler Pausanias implies that the rite was still practiced in the 2nd century ad.
A second Lycaon was a son of Priam, killed by Achilles in one of the most memorable scenes in Homer's Iliad (Book XXI, lines 34ff). A third Lycaon was a son of Ares who was killed by Heracles.
A son of Pelasgus by Meliboea, the daughter of Oceanus, and king of Arcadia. Others call him a son of Pelasgus by Cyllene, and Dionysius of Halicarnassus distinguishes between an elder and a younger Lycaon, the former of whom is called a son of Aezeus and father of Deianeira, by whom Pelasgus became the father of the younger Lycaon.
The traditions about him place Lycaon in very different lights, for according to some, he was a barbarian who even defied the gods, while others describe him as the first civiliser of Arcadia, who built the town of Lycosura, and introduced the worship of Zeus Lycaeus. It is added that he sacrificed a child on the altar of Zeus, and that during the sacrifice he was changed by Zeus into a wolf.
By several wives Lycaon became the father of a large number of sons, some say fifty, and others only twenty-two; but neither their number nor their names are the same in all accounts. The sons of Lycaon are said to have been notorious for their insolence and impiety, and Zeus visited them in the disguise of a poor man, with a view to punish them. They invited him to a repast, and on the suggestion of one of them, Maenalus, they mixed in one of the dishes set before him the entrails of a boy whom they had murdered. According to Ovid, Zeus was recognized and worshiped by the Arcadian people, but Lycaon, after a vain attempt to kill the god, resolved to try him with the dish of human flesh. However, Zeus pushed away the table which bore the horrible food, and the place where this happened was afterwards called Trapezus. Lycaon and all his sons, with the exception of the youngest (or eldest), Nyctimus, were killed by Zeus with a flash of lightning, or according to others, were changed into wolves.
Some say that the flood of Deucalion occurred in the reign of Nyctimus, as a punishment of the crimes of the Lycaonids.
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Werewolf Facts
Про оборотнейFacts about werewolves that include age of shifting, birth, side effects, coat colors, pack ranks, mating habits and spells that can possibly transform you into a werewolf. A lot of information here is found on the internet, credit goes to the write...
