Lycaön –

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story in short –

We have come out of the Golden and the Silver Ages and are now in the Iron Age and the gods are having a conference

Jupiter who has never like Men much in the first place has now decided they are a menace and a danger to the Narnia-type creatures, the ‘demigods, the wild spirits, nymphs, fauns and satyrs, and sylvan deities of the hills‘ that he likes much better.

To illustrate the depravity of humanity he uses the example of the savage Arcadian king, Lycaön.
He tells the story of how he had roved the lands of the Peloponnese and arrived at the house of Lycaön as darkness fell. He was invited into the house, quite properly, as a stranger should be and then he showed signs (unspecified) that he was a god and the people began to worship him.

The Arcadian king, however, was not easily impressed and he mocked the people for their credulity and then, in an act of appallingly poor judgement, decided on an experiment to test whether the visitor was actually a god or a mortal. He did this by cutting the throat of a hostage, boiling and roasting the remains and feeding him to his guest in several dishes.

The guest, because of course he WAS a god, knew instantly that it was human flesh on the plates in front of him and because it wasn’t just *any* god but Jupiter that Lycaön had tried to feed human flesh to, he furiously blasted the household gods and set the house on fire with a thunderbolt.

The terrified king ran into the fields and began to maul sheep. Then his clothes became bristles, his arms became legs and soon he became almost, but not ever quite, a wolf

And, also, even before the Wolf incident, Lycaön had apparently planned to kill Jupiter (a guest!) in his sleep and those two reasons were why Jupiter had decided to punish the human race by wiping it out entirely

The other gods reeled back appropriately in shock and nodded wisely in agreement at the punishment but then pointed out that if there were no humans at all then there would be nobody at all to make sacrifices to the gods. ie/Themselves.

Jupiter said not to worry, he would make some new and better ones when this lot were gone.
And then he sent the Flood

It is also possible that Lycaon, in his original Greek incarnation, is in some ways a local and shadow aspect of Zeus (Jupiter) himself. More about this will be HERE (when I have found the sources)

BACK – Four Ages NEXT- The Flood

Bk I:177-198 Jupiter threatens to destroy humankind

When the gods had taken their seats in the marble council chamber their king, sitting high above them, leaning on his ivory sceptre, shook his formidable mane three times and then a fourth, disturbing the earth, sea and stars. Then he opened his lips in indignation and spoke. ‘I was not more troubled than I am now concerning the world’s sovereignty than when each of the snake-footed giants prepared to throw his hundred arms around the imprisoned sky. Though they were fierce enemies, still their attack came in one body and from one source. Now I must destroy the human race, wherever Nereus sounds, throughout the world. I swear it by the infernal streams, that glide below the earth through the Stygian groves. All means should first be tried, but the incurable flesh must be excised by the knife, so that the healthy part is not infected. Mine are the demigods, the wild spirits, nymphs, fauns and satyrs, and sylvan deities of the hills. Since we have not yet thought them worth a place in heaven let us at least allow them to live in safety in the lands we have given them. Perhaps you gods believe they will be safe, even when Lycaon, known for his savagery, plays tricks against me, who holds the thunderbolt, and reigns over you.’

Bk I:199-243 Lycaon is turned into a wolf

All the gods murmured aloud and, zealously and eagerly, demanded punishment of the man who committed such actions. When the impious band of conspirators were burning to drown the name of Rome in Caesar’s blood, the human race was suddenly terrified by fear of just such a disaster, and the whole world shuddered with horror. Your subjects’ loyalty is no less pleasing to you, Augustus, than theirs was to Jupiter. After he had checked their murmuring with voice and gesture, they were all silent. When the noise had subsided, quieted by his royal authority, Jupiter again broke the silence with these words: ‘Have no fear, he has indeed been punished, but I will tell you his crime, and what the penalty was. News of these evil times had reached my ears. Hoping it false I left Olympus’s heights, and travelled the earth, a god in human form. It would take too long to tell what wickedness I found everywhere. Those rumours were even milder than the truth. I had crossed Maenala, those mountains bristling with wild beasts’ lairs, Cyllene, and the pinewoods of chill Lycaeus. Then, as the last shadows gave way to night, I entered the inhospitable house of the Arcadian king. I gave them signs that a god had come, and the people began to worship me. At first Lycaon ridiculed their piety, then exclaimed ‘I will prove by a straightforward test whether he is a god or a mortal. The truth will not be in doubt.’ He planned to destroy me in the depths of sleep, unexpectedly, by night. That is how he resolved to prove the truth. Not satisfied with this he took a hostage sent by the Molossi, opened his throat with a knife, and made some of the still warm limbs tender in seething water, roasting others in the fire. No sooner were these placed on the table than I brought the roof down on the household gods, with my avenging flames, those gods worthy of such a master. He himself ran in terror, and reaching the silent fields howled aloud, frustrated of speech. Foaming at the mouth, and greedy as ever for killing, he turned against the sheep, still delighting in blood. His clothes became bristling hair, his arms became legs. He was a wolf, but kept some vestige of his former shape. There were the same grey hairs, the same violent face, the same glittering eyes, the same savage image. One house has fallen, but others deserve to also. Wherever the earth extends the avenging furies rule. You would think men were sworn to crime! Let them all pay the penalty they deserve, and quickly. That is my intent.’

Bk I:244-273 Jupiter invokes the floodwaters

When he had spoken, some of the gods encouraged Jupiter’s anger, shouting their approval of his words, while others consented silently. They were all saddened though at this destruction of the human species, and questioned what the future of the world would be free of humanity. Who would honour their altars with incense? Did he mean to surrender the world to the ravages of wild creatures? In answer the king of the gods calmed their anxiety, the rest would be his concern, and he promised them a people different from the first, of a marvellous creation.

Now he was ready to hurl his lightning-bolts at the whole world but feared that the sacred heavens might burst into flame from the fires below, and burn to the furthest pole: and he remembered that a time was fated to come when sea and land, and the untouched courts of the skies would ignite, and the troubled mass of the world be besieged by fire. So he set aside the weapons the Cyclopes forged, and resolved on a different punishment, to send down rain from the whole sky and drown humanity beneath the waves.

https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Metamorph.php#anchor_Toc64105461

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African hunting dog, Lycaon pictus

African hunting dog, Lycaon pictus. The Tortoise Shell Hyaena or Hyaena Dog in the Gardens of the Zoological Society

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