The Werewolf in the Ancient World

by: Ogden, D.

The Werewolf in the Ancient World
Daniel Ogden
Presents the first book-length study in any language devoted to the subject of the werewolf in the ancient world
Argues for the priority of folklore over ritual in understanding ancient ideas about werewolves in a valuable contribution to the studies of ancient narrative and ancient religion
Incorporates all relevant ancient texts in new, accessible English translations, providing an integrated sourcebook for the subject

Description
In a moonlit graveyard somewhere in southern Italy, a soldier removes his clothes in readiness to transform himself into a wolf. He depends upon the clothes to recover his human shape, and so he magically turns them to stone, but his secret is revealed when, back in human form, he is seen to carry a wound identical to that recently dealt to a marauding wolf. In Arcadia a man named Damarchus accidentally tastes the flesh of a human sacrifice and is transformed into a wolf for nine years. At Temesa Polites is stoned to death for raping a local girl, only to return to terrorize the people of the city in the form of a demon in a wolfskin.

Tales of the werewolf are by now well established as a rich sub-strand of the popular horror genre; less widely known is just how far back in time their provenance lies. These are just some of the werewolf tales that survive from the Graeco-Roman world, and this is the first book in any language to be devoted to their study. It shows how in antiquity werewolves thrived in a story-world shared by witches, ghosts, demons, and soul-flyers, and argues for the primary role of story-telling-as opposed to rites of passage-in the ancient world's general conceptualization of the werewolf. It also seeks to demonstrate how the comparison of equally intriguing medieval tales can be used to fill in gaps in our knowledge of werewolf stories in the ancient world, thereby shedding new light on the origins of the modern phenomenon. All ancient texts bearing upon the subject have been integrated into the discussion in new English translations, so that the book provides not only an accessible overview for a broad readership of all levels of familiarity with ancient languages, but also a comprehensive sourcebook for the ancient werewolf for the purposes of research and study.

Table of Contents
Introduction. Petronius, Werewolves, and Folklore
1:The Curse of the Werewolf: Witches and Sorcerers
2:Werewolves, Ghosts, and the Dead
3:The Werewolf Inside, and Out
4:Werewolves and Projected Souls
5:The Demon in a Wolfskin: A Werewolf at Temesa?
6:The Werewolves of Arcadia
Conclusion: The World of Ancient Werewolves and their Stories
Appendix A. Homer's Circe as a Witch
Appendix B. Cynocephali
Appendix C. False Werewolves: Dolon and the Luperci
References
Index

The Werewolf in the Ancient World

by: Ogden, D.

• ISBN-13: 9780198854319 / 978-0-19-885431-9
• ISBN-03: 0198854315 / 0-19-885431-5
• Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2020