Christianity’s effect on werewolf lore was interesting (2 Viewers)

[Ahsoka]

Pre Christianity, the Romans had a lot of beliefs about who werewolves were, but in general believed in the existence of werewolves. But when Christianity started to spread in the Roman Empire, there was a problem with this belief.

For the typical werewolf transformation to work, a human would literally need to turn into a flesh and blood wolf. Which would be fine with pagan Roman religions. But according to Christianity at the time, only God should have the power to do transformations. So people faced the problem as to how to explain away werewolves. They couldn’t just say they were completely fake because most Romans really truly believed in werewolves, so they needed to figure out how to deal with the transformation story. A semi convoluted explanation became the standard for the church, written by Augustine.

According to him, there was no real transformation taking place. Instead, he thought that demons caused people to hallucinate and think they were wolves, which made them act like wolves, and naturally the people around them were also put under the demonic hallucination to make them also think they were seeing a wolf. Therefore, they got away with the transformation aspect by saying that there never was any actual transformation, so it wasn’t considered heresy. Good save ig?

 

[Ahsoka]

History tag:
@LexieBoo @Nyaz @Dreamer_of_Songs @Nina @velvet @FairyflossBoss @ChuuAntics @alo @sick @Moguri

 

[Pirioca]

According to him, there was no real transformation taking place. Instead, he thought that demons caused people to hallucinate and think they were wolves, which made them act like wolves, and naturally the people around them were also put under the demonic hallucination to make them also think they were seeing a wolf.

Apart from the 'demon' theory, he wasn't entirely wrong.

Clinical lycanthropy - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Ahsoka]

Apart from the 'demon' theory, he wasn't entirely wrong.

Clinical lycanthropy - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

and apart from the belief that everyone around the person also believes that the person is a wolf

 

[Pirioca]

and apart from the belief that everyone around the person also believes that the person is a wolf

If you put some 'special' ingredients in your wine, you may see werewolves everywhere too.

Hallucinogenic Drug in Rome - Ancient Sin City Revealing

Hallucinogenic drugs have been used for centuries in various cultures and civilizations. Ancient Rome is no exception.

roman-empire.net