Who was Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? Wolves in the Culture, Mythology, and Religion of Ancient Greece, Rome, and Scandinavia
Date
2021-08-10
Authors
Montgomery, Luke
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Abstract
My JCURA project is an analysis of wolves in European folklore and religion, namely
wolves in Ancient Greek, Roman, and Scandinavian Sources. The work begins analyzing the reception of the wolf as the animal itself, then the wolf in the religions and mythologies of the three respective cultures, and finally werewolf folktales in ancient Greece, Rome, and Scandinavia. In all three cultures wolves are thought of as dull, ferocious, and rapacious creatures. Each culture has a different story surrounding the wolf: In Greece the story of Lykaion transforming into a wolf in Arcadia lead to the festival of Lykaia, Rome had the Lupercalia which celebrated the nursing of Romulus and Remus by the She-Wolf, and Norse mythology has the giant wolf Fenrir who devours the god Odin during Ragnarok. Werewolves appear in all three cultures. Lykaion is the standout werewolf in Greek mythology, along with a myriad of other werewolf stories. The most prominent story of werewolves in Norse folklore is the father and son pair Sigmund and Sinfjotli who find wolf skins which allow them to take the form of wolves. Wolves are prominent features in the stories of all three cultures and all have a place for the wolf within their mythology.
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Keywords
Greece, Rome, History, Werewolves, Folklore, Mythology, Wolves, Vikings, Scandinavia, Norse Culture, Comparative Mythology