Zeus transforming Lycaon into wolf

The first image to the right is a  depiction of what many consider to be one of the very first werewolves…Lycaon!  The black and white picture depicts Lycaon the King being transformed into a wolf by the god Zeus.  The picture depicts the point in the story when Zeus – angry at Lycaon for having served him human flesh (as most stories go) – turns Lycaon into a wolf.  The image in this depiction shows only Lycaon’s head transformed. As legends say however, his whole body eventually transforms – everything except his eyes!  The image is taken from Ovid’s book Metamorphoses.  The book, called Metamorphoseon libri, translates to “Books of Transformations” is actually a poem published in 15 books which is said to “chronicle the history of the world”.

The second image is also an engraving for Ovid’s Metamorphoses and depicts the same event, however in this image Lycaon’s entire body has been transformed and he is skulking away from Zeus (who stands in front of the table on the left).