Anna Lang
Werewolves have almost always had a place in folklore and mythology. Whether it is accusations among a small farm community in Austria in the twelfth century or steaming hot boy in the Twilight movies from 2008, werewolves pop up across our culture. In “Hairy Snout, Human Heart” written by Eveline Brugger, we take a closer look at how werewolves not only influenced our culture through the ages, but how werewolves were represented in the Harry Potter books as well. In ancient times when towns and villages relied on crops and livestock to thrive, there was a constant fear they would be destroyed by various wild predators. According to the chapter, “of all European predators, the wolf probably has the most ambiguous reputation” (294). So in that sense, it is understandable that wolves would be the creature often associated with humans turning into animals. In Greek and Roman mythology, there are several ancient stories that have been told involving men and women turning into wolves, whether they do it consciously or not.
As someone who personally loves Greek mythology, there is a story of a Greek king named Lycaon who tried to outsmart Zeus, the king of the god. Lycaon was an early king of Arcadia, Greece, and wanted to test to see if Zeus was an omniscient God. To test this, Lycaon invited the god to a feast in his hall. In the food he served, Lycaon mixed body parts of his youngest son Nyctimus, which he killed specifically for this test. Zeus was outraged by this and overturning the table, transformed the king into a wolf, and brought Nyctimus back to life. Though there are several versions of the story that have been passed down from generation to generation, it is never clear if Lycaon lost his ability to think like a human, like a wizard becoming an Animagus. Although, “turning oneself into an animal while keeping one’s human mind is difficult and dangerous,” in the Wizarding world (293). Or, if Nyctimus fully submitted to the mind of a wolf, thereby losing his self of being human. Regardless, it is one of the earliest myths involving a human being transformed into a wolf, and I am surprised that Brugger never mentioned it in the chapter.
As it is stated in the chapter, people like Remus Lupin and Fenrir Greyback become werewolves by being bitten by another werewolf and becoming “infected with lycanthropy” (293). After reading this chapter and realizing that the infectious bite is called lycanthropy, I was even further surprised that Brugger never included or found the ancient werewolf Greek myth. If we look at the word lycanthropy, we can see that is is similar to the name Lycaon, the name of the punished king. Furthermore, the phrase “werewolf” actually originated from the ancient Greek language; the original, untranslated word being lycanthrope.
Surprisingly, there is yet another connection that Brugger missed in the chapter that is connected to this ancient Greek tale. The infamous trial of Peter Stump, who was a wealthy farmer, admitted that the devil gave, “him a magical belt that allowed him to turn into a wolf” (298). Stump apparently enjoyed killing and eating specifically children and pregnant woman, although it was not clear from the reading if he was actually a cannibal in real life, or simply hallucinated he killed and ate people. Regardless, the link from King Lycaon has an eerie link with Stump. Both men supposedly killed children (in Lycaon’s case, his own) and some form of cannibalism was followed thereafter, whether by serving the flesh to a Greek god, or eating human flesh themselves. Though that specific link may be weak, it still saddens me that Brugger didn’t include the Greek myth in her chapter; this story could have brought this section up a notch.