The Gods’ Wrath: Ancient Greek Explanation of Werewolves

 

Figure 1: Artistic rendition of King Lycaon being transformed into a wolf by the god Zeus 

 

Humans have had a fascination with monsters for millennia.  This is because monsters and tales concerning monsters serve specific purposes with each cultural group.  They can explain horrible phenomenon that people cannot understand or seek to explain (e.g., mind altering diseases), or they are safe and socially sanctioned ways to explore deviance and/or share lessons about right versus wrong behavior.  Despite the seemingly universal nature of monsters many cultural groups may share similar monster tales but have very different origin stories attached to it.  As previously discussed there are several ideas concerning the origins of werewolves, which addressed evidence from 30,000 years ago in Europe.  In that post a mention was made toward what the ancient Greeks and Vikings had to say about the origins of their werewolf myths, and today’s blog post will explore what the Greeks believed concerning these monsters.

 

The Greeks are the group wherein the first documented evidence of werewolves, or men having the ability to change into animal form, exists.  They have thousands of myths about the gods cursing men and transforming them into all manners of creatures (be it as punishment or to save them from a horrible fate in their human form).  It is important to note because of this that the Greeks did not necessarily believe in werewolves in and of themselves.  The Greeks believed man could be turned into any number of beast, and they referred to this as skin-shifting or skin-turning.  While they did not believe in werewolves their tales concerning men who transformed into wolves are some of the first documented evidence of werewolves and feed into the present-day werewolf lore.

 

Some of these tales involved the transformation into wolves.  The myth of King Lycaon is a well cited example wherein the King offended the paramount god Zeus by either attempting to trick him into eating a young child or eating a young child himself (the specifics are unclear in the stories but all of the variants revolve around the cannibalism theme).  Zeus was so offended by the King’s actions that he cursed him and transformed him into a werewolf (Figure 1). 

 

This is, however, not the only werewolf myth that exists among the Ancient Greeks.  There was another wherein an enslaved man claimed that he saw a warrior turn into a werewolf.  This transformation occurred while the pair were walking during night to the home of a young woman the enslaved man was seeing.  During their walk the warrior stopped and transformed into a wolf in front of the enslaved man and ran away.  The enslaved man rushed to his beloved’s home and told her about what he just witnessed.  She, however, is too preoccupied with her own tale involving a wolf, and the heroic act of another individual in her household who just stopped a wolf from killing their livestock.  She explained to her beloved that the wolf was struck with a spear before running off.  The next morning the enslaved man returns to his station and discovers his warrior companion wounded with a puncture wound in the same exact location as that of the wolf.

 

Again, it is important to point out that the Greeks did not believe specifically in werewolves.  They believed the gods could and would transform men (and women) into any manner of beasts, with wolves just being one option.  There are various Greek myths about humans being turned into dolphins, insects, and even plants.  These tales very much influenced subsequent cultural groups and their myths and legends.

 

 Bibliography

Beresford, M. (2013). The White Devil: The Werewolf in European Culture. London: Reaktion Books Ltd.

Cooper, B. (1977). The Werewolf in Legend, Face, and Art. New York: St. Martin's Press.

Cybulski, A. (2004). Introduction. In A. Cybulski, Werewolves: Fact or Fiction (pp. 7-17). Farmington Hills: Greenhaven Press.

Davidson, S. (1976). The anthropological implications of the vampire and werewolf in Europe and the affiliations of such beliefs with related phenomena worldwide (Master's thesis).

Douglas, A. (1992). Beast Within: A History of the Werewolf. New York: Avon Books.

 

Applied Anthropologist Profile: Dr. Laura Brown, Senior Staff Researcher at Meta (Reality Labs)

 

Dr. Laura C. Brown

Throughout the series of Applied Anthropologist Profiles readers have had the opportunity to learn about various anthropologists who work outside of the academy (higher education).  Many of them went directly toward industry, non-profit, or independent contractor jobs to meet their personal and professional goals.  Very few of the previously featured individuals, however, started in academics, working as faculty, and transitioned to alternative academic (alt-ac) careers.  Today’s blog post seeks to remedy that deficiency by sharing with you the story of Dr. Laura C. Brown, a linguistic anthropologist who successful transitioned out of academia and into industry.

 

Dr. Laura C. Brown earned her Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from Stanford University, and she continued with earning her Ph.D. in Linguistic Anthropology from the University of Michigan.  She followed this closely up with a Postdoctoral Fellowship with Rutgers University, wherein she studied economics and politics among a small population in India.  Her academic trajectory launched her into a faculty position at the University of Pittsburg, where she worked for eight years. 

 

It was at this point that she transitioned out of the academy and began working for Facebook.  She took a position as a Senior Qualitative Researcher in Privacy.  In this position she was responsible for interviewing and working with adolescent Facebook users and their guardians (parents or otherwise) in identifying strategies and products that enhanced privacy needs for the adolescent users and their guardians, who were concerned about Facebook use.  This was not an easy task.  Brown and her team had to interview the adolescent users and their guardians both together and separately, recognizing that presence of the other would alter the answers to the questions being asked by the researchers.  It was through the application of ethnographic, semiotic, and linguistic methods and ethical considerations from the discipline that team of researchers were able to recognize the challenges they faced in understanding the heart of the issues.  Without that they would be unable to develop real solutions to the user problems faced by Facebook users at all levels.  Ultimately they were successful in their mission, enabling Facebook developers to create appropriate privacy controls and settings that meet the needs of the adolescent users and their guardians.

 

Brown has since transitioned to a new position as Senior Staff Researcher at Meta (Reality Labs).  In this position her primary duties include examining challenges in using multiple different devices and apps that may or may not be compatible with each other.  This aids her in collecting data and information that aids programmers to create the best practices in integrating old and new software with old and new hardware.  Ultimately, this new role satisfies Brown’s curiosity in fostering better connections among humans as they use technology and devices with others they may or may not personally know, be it via social media or virtual reality.  Her research also affects the development of better smart devices as used by households. 

 

Outside of her career as a User Experience (UX) researcher with first Facebook and now Meta, Brown also offers webinars and articles advising interested individuals how they can leave the academy and pursue their own alt-ac careers.  She has done this with the Society of Linguistic Anthropology, various podcasts, as well as posts through her LinkedIn Profile.

 

Works Cited

Brown, Laura C. LinkedIn Profile: Laura C. Brown. n.d. 17 March 2026.

Busso, Dan and Laura C. Brown. "Overcoming Social Desirability Bias." Medium 17 May 2022.

Hasbrouck, Jay and Laura C. Brown. "Pathfinding in the Next 20 Years." 18 August 2024. Epic2024. 17 March 2026.

On the Brink: Extinction Risks for the Tonkin Snub-Nosed Monkey

Figure 1: Four Tonkin Snub-Nosed Monkeys (Photo by Lekhac Quyet)

This blog has previously addressed the importance of nonhuman primate conservation.  This point has been highlighted by a series of endangered primate profiles written by the blog author and guest authors comprised of her students (a sample exists here, here, and here).  Today’s blog post continues with this vein of inquiry by addressing a critically endangered primate species that was previously believed to have been extinct until its rediscover a few decades ago.  This rediscovery has earned it the label of a “Lazarus” species, but this is a misnomer because it remains on the brink of extinction presently.  This blog post will discuss the Tonkin Snub-Nosed Monkey (Figure 1) and the difficulties in preserving this particularly nonhuman primate species.

 

The Tonkin Snub-Nosed Monkey is the only snub-nosed species located in Vietnam. The other three types of snub-nosed species exist in nearby China.  As of 2019 it is estimated that there are no more than 130 individuals left in the wild, which are dispersed into very small groups throughout isolated conservation areas.  This presents a serious problem in encouraging population growth due to limited mate options among the troops. 

 

Tonkin Snub-Nosed Monkies are arboreal, diurnal (active during the day) primates.  They are characterized as being slender, large bodied, and sexually dimorphic species.  The males are doubled the size of females.  Both are characterized by black and white bodies with small patches of brown fur on the back of their heads and orange fur on their throats.  Their faces have bald patches characterized by blue skin around their eyes and blue-black skin around their mouths. 

 

The Tonkin Snub-Nosed Monkeys are consumers of a variety of hard plants that various other forest dwelling species do not consume, in large part due to the difficulties in chewing and digesting the plants and the poisonous nature of their consumption.  This means that the Tonkin-Snub Nosed Monkeys have minimal competition in the consumption of the leaves, stems, fruits, and seeds they consume, which is a positive aspect of their existence.  It also means that they cannot be easily removed from their home environments due to their specialized diets. 

 

Tonkin Snub-Nosed Monkeys have been observed existing in primate social organizations defined by either one male or multimale groupings.  It is unclear if this is a natural grouping or if this is one that has developed out of a lack of options (due to small troop sizes).  What is also troubling is the lack of survivor behaviors among these primates.  Typically, species that are heavily hunted by humans develop an aversion to them, but this is not the case with Tonkin Snub-Nosed Monkeys.  They show little to no fear of humans, demonstrated by them not running away when they encounter humans.  This leads to them being easily hunted.  Villagers have admitted to hunting the Tonkin Snub-Nosed Monkey, although it is unclear why.  As hunting contributes to the decline in their populations this behavioral pattern is concerning, but it is not one that humans can change.

 

The human endangered factor that is proving to be the biggest factor in reducing the Tonkin Snub-Nosed Monkeys’ ability to survive and grow its populations is forest fragmentation and deforestation.  The forests these primates exist in are being cut down to make room for agricultural activities, largely activities used to produce crop exports (e.g., cardamon, potatoes, and bananas).  As the Tonkin Snub-Nosed Monkey is a largely arboreal primate, the forest fragmentation disables their ability to travel, limiting their opportunities to acquire new mates and produce more offspring.  Several attempts to restore the forested regions have been made, but they have largely been unsuccessful.  Also, the attempts to conserve the forests where the Tonkin Snub-Nosed Monkey reside have failed because the populations disappear, rendering the conservation of that area mute. 

 

Despite these challenges scholars and conservationists continue their efforts to document and preserve this species.  Due to their small size there is very little precisely known about them, but it is clear based on the extinction of other species across the world that the extinction of the Tonkin Snub-Nosed Monkey will probably have a negative impact on its habitat.  This is just one reason why these conservation efforts continue despite the challenges previously and currently faced.

 

References

James, N. (2017). Movement and Socioecology of the Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey and recommendations for future conservation. Oxford Brookes University.

 

Le, X.C. and R. Boonratana. 2006. A conservation action plan for the

Tonkin snub-nosed monkey in Viet Nam. Hanoi/New York: IEBR/PCI.

 

Nguyen, N. (2000). A survey of Tonkin snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus avunculus) in Northern Vietnam. Folia Primatologica, 157-160.

Quyet, L. K., Nguyen, A. D., Tai, V. A., Wright, B., & Covert, H. H. (2007). Diet of the Tonkin snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus avunculus)in the Khau Ca area, Ha Giang Province, Northeastern Vietnam. Vietnamese Journal of Primatology, 75-83.

Schwitzer, C., Mittermeier, R. A., Rylands, A. B., Chiozza, F., Williamson, E. A., Byler, D., . . . McCabe, G. (2019). PRIMATES IN PERIL: The world’s 25 most endangered primates 2018-2020. Washington, D.C.: IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group, International Primatological Society, Global Wildlife Conservation, and Bristol Zoological Society.