King Lycoan

According to some of the version of the myth, King Lycoan was a former head of the Greek Arcadians.  He is also believed to be the first werewolf and some also believed that lycanthropy originated from him.  But that subject is yet to be proven, though the life of King Lycoan is said to inspire most of the legends of a werewolf tales; a ruler that is so vile and wicked that god decided to punish him by stripping him of his humanity.

Based on the legends, there was a time when the Gods ignored the humanity, but still some of the humans tried to appeal to the Gods by offering sacrifices.  Others who were filled with evil intent chose to take a chance of the opportunity and spread torment and terror, one of them is King Lycoan.  King Lycoan’s immorality and blood thirst is said to be unmatched during his days.  The worst part is he considered himself more powerful than the Gods.

The cycle of blasphemies committed by the humans finally caught the attention of one of the oldest God, Zeus.  He decided to go down from the mountain of Olympus and take the form of a human.  As soon as he descended from the Mount Olympus, he was able to hear about King Lycoan and his terrible deeds.  He went into the palace of Arcadia and revealed his true form.  The Arcadians immediately bow down and pay respect to the God.  King Lycoan however, plotted against Zeus. He invited him to attend a small feast in his honor but his true plan is to cut the throat of Zeus when he fell asleep.

Lycoan took one of their prisoners of war and slit its throat.  He then cut his flesh and cooked him.  When Zeus arrived at the banquet, Lycoan presented him a human flesh.  Zeus was well aware of what Lycoan has offered him.  He was so angry that his rage causes the entire house of Lycoan to fall down.  Everyone on the house was killed except for Lycoan and Zeus.

Lycoan appealed to the God Zeus by offering a baby on his altar.  Zeus was even more enraged that he cursed Lycoan to become a wolf.  He was cursed by the God to live the life of a beast for the rest of his life.