Lycaon (king of Arcadia)

Lore & Background

Lycaon was the son of Pelasgus and either the Oceanid Meliboea or Deianira. His wife was called Cyllene, an Oread nymph who gave her name to Mount Cyllenê, though sometimes she was regarded as his mother instead. Other accounts give the name of his wife as Nonacris. Lycaon was also known to have had at least three daughters: Callisto, Dia, and Psophis. According to the Bibliotheca, Lycaon had 50 sons with many wives, and an alternate list of his sons is given by Pausanias, with almost each founding a city in Arcadia.

There are several versions of the Lycaon myth. The most popular version, reported by Ovid in the first book of his Metamorphoses, states that Lycaon mistrusted Zeus's divine nature, served him the flesh of a prisoner, and attempted to murder the god while he slept; Zeus then brought the roof down and transformed the fleeing Lycaon into a wolf. According to the Bibliotheca, Zeus visited Lycaon's sons in the form of a peasant; they mixed the entrails of a child into the god's meal, whereupon Zeus threw the meal over the table (explaining the name Trapezus) and killed Lycaon and his sons with lightning, saving only Nyctimus through Gaia's intervention.

Other versions include Pausanias's account that Lycaon was instantly transformed into a wolf after sacrificing a child on the altar of Zeus. Lycophron states that all were transformed into wolves for devouring Nyctimus. The Suda records that Lycaon's subjects killed one of his fifty sons and mixed him into sacrificial meat to test whether Zeus truly visited; all were killed by lightning. Some variants make the victim Lycaon's grandson Arcas or an unidentified child.

Reader's Guide

Lycaon's myth is significant as one of the earliest Greek stories explaining the origin of werewolves (lycanthropy) and as a cautionary tale about impiety and testing the gods. The transformation into a wolf directly links to the word 'lycanthropy' and the cult of Zeus Lycaeus, which Lycaon himself was said to have established. The myth also serves as an etiological story for the city Trapezus and the Lycaean Games, which Pausanias thought were older than the Panathenaic Games. Lycaon's dual nature—both a culture hero who founded cities and a cannibalistic king punished by Zeus—reflects the complex moral landscape of Greek mythology, where founders and villains often overlap. The many variants of the myth, with different victims and perpetrators, show its adaptability across ancient sources. Lycaon's story also connects to other myths, such as that of his daughter Callisto and grandson Arcas, who were transformed into constellations. The myth's enduring legacy appears in later literature and modern popular culture as a prototype for the werewolf figure.

Did You Know?

• Lycaon was believed to have founded the city Lycosura and established the cult of Zeus Lycaeus.
• According to Gaius Julius Hyginus, Lycaon dedicated the first temple to Hermes of Cyllene.
• In one version of the myth, Lycaon's victim was his grandson Arcas, who was restored to life and later became a constellation.
• The Suda records that Lycaon's subjects killed one of his fifty sons to test whether Zeus truly visited him.