h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Lycanthropy
(From Greek lykos,wolf ,anthropos, man, mental disorder in which the patient believes that he is a wolf or some other nonhuman animal. Undoubtedly stimulated by the once widespread superstition that lycanthropy is a supernatural condition in which men actually assume the physical form of werewolves or other animals, the delusion has been most likely to occur among people who believe in reincarnation and the transmigration of souls.

Usually, a person is deemed to take the form of the most dangerous beast of prey of the region: the wolf or bear in Europe and northern Asia, the hyena or leopard in Africa, and the tiger in India, China, Japan, and elsewhere in Asia; but other animals are mentioned too.

Both the superstition and the psychiatric disorder are linked with belief in animal guardian spirits, vampires, totemism, witches, and werewolves. The folklore, fairy tales, and legends of many nations and peoples show evidence of lycanthropic belief. Stories of men turning into beasts go back to antiquity. In parts of ancient Greece, werewolf myths, presumably stemming from prehistoric times, became linked with the Olympian religion. In Arcadia, a region plagued by wolves, there was a cult of the Wolf-Zeus.
Mount Lycaeus was the scene of a yearly gathering at which the priests were said to prepare a sacrificial feast that included meat mixed with human parts. According to legend, whoever tasted it became a wolf and could not turn back into a man unless he abstained from human flesh for nine years.
The Romans also knew of this superstition. Anyone who was supposed to have been turned into a wolf by means of spells or herbs was called versipellis (turnskin) by the Romans.

Stories about the werewolf (in French, loup-garou) were widely believed in Europe during the Middle Ages.

Outlaws and bandits played on these superstitions by sometimes wearing wolfskins over their armour. At that time people were unusually prone to develop the delusion that they themselves were wolves; suspected lycanthropists were burned alive if convicted. Only rarely was their condition recognized as a psychological disturbance. Although the superstition is no longer common, traces still linger in some primitive and isolated areas. See also werewolf.


Wolf
Believed to be an ancestor of the domestic dog, the wolf is a highly intelligent and courageous hunter. Its remarkable powers of endurance are legendary. Although it is not a fast runner, it can maintain a loping run for many miles, running throughout the night if necessary. Both species resemble shepherd dogs, though their heads and muzzles are broader and their tails shorter and bushier. The gray wolf has a coat usually of gray to tawny-buff. It grows up to 32 inches (81 centimeters) high at the shoulder and weighs up to 175 pounds (79 kilograms). The red wolf is smaller;about 66 pounds (29 kilograms;and has a cinnamon or tawny coat with gray and black highlights.

For centuries the wolf has been depicted as a symbol of fighting prowess, courage, and endurance. Beowulf, the legendary Anglo-Saxon hero, named himself after the wolf, and North American Indians used the name for their most powerful warriors. There have been numerous stories of wolves that have raised human children from infancy, as in the famous story of Romulus and Remus (see Romulus and Remus).

Fenrir

In Norse mythology, a monstrous wolf that was a major threat to the gods until they found a way to chain him, using a magic fetter. The name Fenrir means, from the swamp. Also known as the Fenriswolf, he was the offspring of the trickster fire god Loki. His sister was the goddess Hel and his brother the evil serpent Jormungand. It was because of Fenrir that the god Tyr lost his right hand.
The Vikings believed that during Ragnarok, the battle that would take place at the end of the world, Fenrir would swallow the principal god Odin; Odin's death would be avenged by his son Vidar. According to the myths, the evil Loki himself gave birth to Fenrir, after eating the heart of a giantess, the witch Angerbotha. After his birth, the gods received prophecies of disaster concerning Fenrir and his siblings. Even when Fenrir was a pup, the only god courageous enough to approach him was Tyr.Despite the dire prophecies, according to the Prose (or Younger) Edda', the gods could not kill Fenrir because it would have defiled their sanctuary. But they sought some way to tie up the beast, which grew noticeably larger each day. They attempted to restrain him with two different iron fetters. The wolf broke the first, called Leyding, with a single kick. The second fetter, called Dromi, was twice as strong.


The wolf strained a bit at this one but soon broke it as well. Then the gods became more afraid of the wolf's power.
Odin sent Skirnir, Frey's messenger, down into the world of the dwarfs and had them fashion a magic restraint called Gleipnir. It was made of six ingredients: the sound of a 's footfall, the beard of a woman, the roots of a mountain, a bear's sinews, a 's breath, and a bird's spittle. When it was done, Gleipnir was smooth and soft, like a silken ribbon.
Skirnir brought it back to the home of the gods, and they took it to the island of Lyngvi by the lake Amsvartnir. They called the wolf, showed him the silky band, and challenged him to test his strength again. Fenrir was suspicious because of the thinness of the band. The gods agreed to free him if he could not break out of the fetter himself, but Fenrir was still reluctant to have it put on him. He asked that someone put their hand into his mouth as a pledge that the gods were acting in good faith. None of the gods was willing to take such a risk, knowing full well the deceit, but then Tyr stepped forward and put his right hand into the wolf's mouth, making the sacrifice that would keep the gods safe. Fenrir was bound with Gleipnir, and he tried with all his might but could not snap it. The gods laughed to see the wolf's distress—except for Tyr: Fenrir closed his mouth on Tyr's hand at the wrist. Once the wolf was bound, the gods took a cord, called Gelgia, that hung from the fetter, and threaded it through a great stone slab called Gioll. They fastened the slab deep into the earth.
Then they took a huge rock, called Thviti, using it for an anchoring-peg.
The wolf, in his anger, struggled violently and stretched its jaws frighteningly wide, trying to bite them all. The gods thrust a tall sword into Fenrir's mouth as a gum prop, with its hilt touching his lower gums and the point touching his upper gums. Fenrir continued to howl horribly, and saliva ran from his mouth. In this subdued condition, according to the myths, the terrible Fenriswolf would remain until Ragnarok, when the gods and the giants would fight to the death. Fenrir appears in both the ‘Poetic (or Elder) Edda' and the ‘Prose Edda'.
According to the ‘Prose Edda', by the time of Ragnarok, the wolf> would have grown so large that when he opened his mouth, his lower jaw would be against the Earth and his upper jaw would scrape heaven. Flames would burn from his eyes and nostrils. At Ragnarok, the wolf would break loose and join the giants and other monsters in all-out war with the gods.
Fenrir would kill Odin by swallowing him. Odin's son Vidar would then come forward and step with one foot on the wolf's lower jaw. Vidar would be wearing a thick shoe made of all the accumulated waste pieces that were cut from the toe and heel of all the shoes ever made from the beginning of time. Thus securing the wolf's lower jaw, Vidar would grasp his upper jaw with one hand and tear his mouth apart, killing the beast at last.


In the Southern Hemisphere Lupus is best viewed between March and September. It reaches its highest point in the sky at 10:00 PM on June 1, when, for an observer in the mid-southern latitudes, it appears about two thirds of the way up the sky. Lupus lies northeast of the very bright star Alpha Centauri and follows Centaurus across the sky.
About half of Lupus is visible from the mid-northern latitudes in late spring and early summer. For a northern observer, Lupus lies southwest of the red supergiant Antares and precedes Scorpius across the sky.