Various texts from the Greco-Roman period speak of a strange cult on Mount Lykaion, in Greece, dedicated to wolves and which worshiped a form of Zeus known as Zeus Lykios--"Wolf Zeus". Those same texts, and ancient urban legends and folklore, tell us that the cult practiced human sacrifice. But what do we really know about this group, which supposedly could shape shift into werewolves?

SOURCES
“The Werewolves of Arcadia”, in “The Werewolf in the Ancient World”, Daniel Ogden, 2021

“Good to Think: Wolves and Wolf-Men in the Greco-Roman World”, in “Werewolf Histories”, Willem de Blecourt, 2015

“Myth and Ritual in Greek Human Sacrifice: Lykaon, Polyxena and the Case of the Rhodian Criminal”, in “The Strange World of Human Sacrifice”, Jan Bremmer, 2007