In Greek mythology, Lycaon (; , ) was a king of Arcadia who, in the most popular version of the myth, killed and cooked his son Nyctimus and served him to Zeus, to see whether the god was sufficiently all-knowing to recognize human flesh. Disgusted, Zeus transformed Lycaon into a wolf, while Nyctimus was restored to life.
Though notorious for his horrific deed, Lycaon was also remembered as a culture hero. He was believed to have founded the city Lycosura, to have established a cult of Zeus Lycaeus and to have started the tradition of the Lycaean Games, which Pausanias thinks were older than the Panathenaic Games.Pausanias, 8.2.1 According to Gaius Julius Hyginus (d. AD 17), Lycaon dedicated the first temple to Hermes of Cyllene.Hyginus, Fabulae 225
Family Lycaon was the son of Pelasgus and either the Oceanid MeliboeaApollodorus, 3.8.1.Tzetzes ad Lycophron, 481. or Deianira, daughter of an elder Lycaon.Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitates Romanae 1.11.2 & 1.13.1; Greek Papyri III No. 140b His wife was called Cyllene, an Oread nymph who gave her name to Mount CyllenêDionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitates Romanae 1.13.1 though sometimes she was regarded as his mother instead.Apollodorus, 3.8.1; Scholia ad Euripides, Orestes 1642 Other accounts give the name of his wife as Nonacris, after whom an Arcadian town may have been named.Pausanias, 8.17.6 Lycaon was also known to have had at least three daughters: Callisto,Pseudo-Clement, Recognitions 10, p. 123, l. 44 Dia,Scholia ad Apollonius Rhodius, 1.1218; Etymologicum Magnum 288. 33 under DryopsTzetzes ad Lycophron, 480 and Psophis.Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Psōphis
Sons of Lycaon According to the Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus), Lycaon has 50 sons.Apollodorus, 3.8.1 An alternate list of Lycaon's sons is given by Pausanias. According to his account, almost each of them founded a city in Arcadia and became its eponym.Pausanias, 8.3.1–5
+List of Lycaon's sonsNameApollodorusPausaniasOthersNotesAcacus✓foster-father of Hermes; founded AcacesiumAcontes1✓Aegaeon2✓Alipherus3✓✓founded AlipheraAncyor4✓Archebates5✓Aseatas✓founded AseaBucolion6✓Canethus7✓Carteron8✓Caucon9✓✓Tzetzes on Lycophron, 481eponym of the Caucones that were believed to have settled in TriphyliaCeteus✓Hyginus, Astronomica 2.1.6 with Araethus of Tegea as authorityfather of Callisto or MegistoCharisius✓founded CharisiaCleitor10✓✓possibly eponym of CleitorCoretho11✓Cromus✓founded CromiCynaethus12✓Daseatas✓founded DaseaEleuther✓Plutarch, Quaestiones Graecae, 39stayed aside from the abominationEuaemon13✓possibly eponym of EuaemonEumetes14✓Eumon15✓Genetor16✓Haemon17✓✓possibly eponym of HaemoniaeHarpaleus18✓Harpalycus19✓Helix20✓Helisson✓founded the town of Helisson (also gave his name to a nearby river)Heraeus21✓✓founded HeraeaHopleus22✓Horus23✓Hyperes✓Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Hyperēsiafounded HyperesiaHypsus✓founded HypsusLebadus✓stayed aside from the abominationLeo(n)24✓Linus25✓Lycius26✓✓(possibly)✓founded LycoaMacareus27✓✓founded MacariaMacednus28✓founded MacedoniaMaenalus29✓✓✓founded MaenalusMantineus30✓✓✓founded MantineaMecisteus31✓Melaeneus32✓✓ (possibly)founded MelaeneaeNyctimus33✓✓✓succeeded to Lycaon's powerOenotrus✓✓Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitates Romanae 1.11.2the youngest, founded Oenotria in ItalyOrchomenus34✓✓✓founded Orchomenus and MethydriumOrestheus✓founded OresthasiumPallas35✓✓founded PallantiumParrhasius✓The dictionary of classical mythology, Pierre Grimal, p. 346-7founded Parrhasia and said to be the father of ArcasPeraethus✓founded PeraetheisPeucetius36✓Phassus37✓Phigalus✓founded PhigaliaPhineus38✓Phthius39✓✓possibly eponym of PhthiotisPhysius40✓Plato(n)41✓Polichus42✓Portheus43✓Prothous44✓Socleus45✓Stymphalus46✓✓possibly eponym of the town StymphalusTeleboas47✓✓Tegeates✓founded TegeaThesprotus48✓✓founded ThesprotiaThocnus✓founded ThocniaThyraeus✓founded ThyraeumTitanas49✓Trapezeus✓founded TrapezusTricolonus✓founded Tricoloni
Mythology There are several versions of the Lycaon myth already reported by Hesiod (Fragmenta astronomica, by Eratosthenes, Catasterismi), told by several authors. The most popular version is the one reported by Ovid in the first book of his Metamorphoses.
The different versions of the myth are as follows:
According to the Bibliotheca, Lycaon had sired 50 sons with many wives. These sons were the most nefarious and carefree of all people. To test them, Zeus visited them in the form of a peasant. They mixed the entrails of a child into the god's meal, whereupon the enraged Zeus threw the meal over the table, which explains the name of the city Trapezus (from , table), and killed Lycaon and his sons with lightning. Only the youngest son, Nyctimus, was saved due to the intervention of Gaia.Apollodorus, 3.8.1–2 John Tzetzes records two similar versions which agree with Apollodorus's account; one mentions that the idea to serve Zeus a slaughtered child belonged to Maenalus, one of Lycaon's sons, while the other makes Nyctimus the victim. According to Pausanias, Lycaon was instantly transformed into a wolf after sacrificing a child on the altar of Zeus and sprinkling the blood on the altar.Pausanias, 8.2.3 According to Lycophron, all were transformed into wolves for having devoured Nyctimus. Lycophron extends the characteristics of Lycaon and his sons onto all the Arcadians.Lycophron, 480 The version recounted in the FabulaeHyginus, Fabulae 176 is basically the same as that of Pseudo-Apollodorus. De astronomia describes the victim of Lycaon as being Arcas, son of Jupiter (Zeus) and Callisto, the daughter of Lycaon. Restored to life, Arcas was brought up to be a hunter. His mother was subsequently transformed into a bear, whom Arcas pursued without realizing her true identity; they strayed into a temple where entrance was punished by death. Zeus saved them both by turning them into the constellations Arctophylax and Ursa Major, the Great Bear.Theoi: Astronomica, Bear-watcher, by Gaius Julius Hyginus (translated by Mary Grant). Both these works are attributed to different authors named Hyginus; whether one of them was Gaius Julius Hyginus is disputed. Nicolaus Damascenus tells that Lycaon's sons were nefarious. To test Zeus, they mixed the flesh of a boy into the sacrifices, whereupon all who were present during the murder of the child were killed by lightning. According to Ovid, Lycaon mistrusted and derided the signs of Zeus's divine nature which the god openly demonstrated upon arrival to Arcadia. Determined to find out whether the guest was truly a god or a mortal, Lycaon served Zeus the flesh of a prisoner, partly cooked and partly roasted. Moreover, in his quest to test Zeus's immortality, Lycaon attempted to murder the god while he slept. Thereupon, Zeus brought the roof down and transformed the fleeing Lycaon into a wolf.Ovid, Metamorphoses, 1. 216 - 239 According to the dictionary Suda, Lycaon had diligently been guarding the laws established by his father for the Arcadian people. In order to keep his subjects from injustice, he would tell them that Zeus frequented his home in the guise of a mortal man so as to keep watch over how lawful the humans were. One day, when he was about to perform a sacrifice, the people were eager to know if the god was present; to find out if Lycaon told them the truth about Zeus's visits, they killed one of the king's fifty sons and mixed him in with the sacrificial meat, whereupon all of them were killed by lightning.Suda s. v. Lykaōn According to Eratosthenes, Lycaon butchered his grandson (that is, Arcas), who was put together again by Zeus and placed upon the constellations, whereas Lycaon's house was struck by a thunderbolt.Pseudo-Eratosthenes, Catasterismi, 8
In some versions of the myth, the victim is thus Lycaon's grandson or an unidentified child, boy, or prisoner. Some variants say that, instead of Lycaon himself, it was his sons who decided to test Zeus in this way.
See also
Child cannibalism Damarchus Lykaia Tantalus Werewolf (lycanthropy)
Notes
References Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website. Dionysus of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities. English translation by Earnest Cary in the Loeb Classical Library, 7 volumes. Harvard University Press, 1937-1950. Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitatum Romanarum quae supersunt, Vol I-IV. . Karl Jacoby. In Aedibus B.G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1885. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library. Fowler, Robert L., Early Greek Mythography. Volume 2: Commentary. Oxford University Press. Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP, United Kingdom. 2013. Gaius Julius Hyginus, Astronomica from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project. Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project. Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus, Moralia with an English Translation by Frank Cole Babbitt. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1936. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website. Lycophron, The Alexandra translated by Alexander William Mair. Loeb Classical Library Volume 129. London: William Heinemann, 1921. Online version at the Topos Text Project. Lycophron, Alexandra translated by A.W. Mair. London: William Heinemann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1921. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library. Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library. Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses translated by Brookes More (1859-1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses. Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library. Scholia to Lycophron's Alexandra, marginal notes by Isaak and Ioannis Tzetzes and others from the Greek edition of Eduard Scheer (Weidmann 1881). Online version at the Topos Text Project.. Greek text available on Archive.org Stephanus of Byzantium, Stephani Byzantii Ethnicorum quae supersunt, edited by August Meineike (1790-1870), published 1849. A few entries from this important ancient handbook of place names have been translated by Brady Kiesling. Online version at the Topos Text Project. Suida, Suda Encyclopedia translated by Ross Scaife, David Whitehead, William Hutton, Catharine Roth, Jennifer Benedict, Gregory Hays, Malcolm Heath Sean M. Redmond, Nicholas Fincher, Patrick Rourke, Elizabeth Vandiver, Raphael Finkel, Frederick Williams, Carl Widstrand, Robert Dyer, Joseph L. Rife, Oliver Phillips and many others. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Further reading Piccaluga, Giulia, Lykaon, un tema mitico, Rome, Edizioni dell'Ateneo, 1968. .
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