To start with the classical references: Apart from the famous legend of Romulus and Remus, saved and fed by a friendly she-wolf, there are many other mythological and religious tales from this area of Europe: Apollo, the famous Greek God of Light, Medicine and Music, was born, together with his twin Arthemis, from Zeus and Latona, a woman turned into a she-wolf to be disguised and so protected from the wrath of Era, Zeus’ official wife (and sister). For this reason Apollo was always looked upon as a protector, both from and of the wolves: they were not to be killed if not absolutely necessary. Then there is the legend of Licao (Greek and almost Italian for hunting dog), the very first renowned werewolf : this man was the king of Arcadia and he knew that, disguised among the wanderers he hosted, Zeus himself was hiding. So he decided to discover which one was Zeus: he killed his youngest son, Arcade, and prepared a meal with his flesh: only a God would know the taste of human flesh and from this he could tell who the unfortunate meal was. The hungry wanderers wolfed down their meal, but Zeus was so angry for the useless murder that he instantly turned the king himself into a wolf. Then another Greek peculiarity was the great number of white and albino wolves : they were found especially around Hermes’ temples, so they were considered sacred to this God, protector of the wandering shepherds and of the cattle, and should never be harmed. Greeks had an excellent relation with wolves, since the population was very scarce and mainly concentrated around the coasts and did not often interfered with wolfish affairs. In the Roman world the wolf was extremely important especially in the beginning, since the early Romans were shepherds and cattle thieves, so they considered the wolf one of the family: the early warriors moved to war under a flag with a wolf and until the Empire era the Colours Bearers of the Roman Army were dressed in armours covered with wolf skins. Later, as more Asiatic and African mercenaries, as well as officers, flocked in the ranks, these were substituted with more exotic stuff: leopard, lion and even some tiger skins. One of the more important roman festivals was the Lupercali, an extremely ancient festival: its name comes from the words lupus (wolf) and ircus (goat). It was a fertility rite and its apex was reached when entranced young men, dressed in sacred wolf skins, run around with lashes, hitting the women : they did not oppose, since been hit by one of this lashes was a very good omen. As you can see, this fertility rite both protected man and his possessions (the goat) and the wild nature (the wolf). After the Christians took over, the Heathens’ legacy began an evolution for the wolf: from somewhat sacred and surely respected animal to fierce enemy of mankind and Satan’s ally. This evolution can only be partially explained by the disappearance of the old guardian spirits of the woods, been substituted by Saints that don’t seem, even today as good as the original deities. Probably, after the barbarian invasions, the man-wildlife balance was somewhat broken and surely the woods took over a lot of old cultivated and inhabited areas: wolves grew in number and learned not to fear the vicinity of houses, were he could obtain easy food. The already nerve-broken man became exasperated and he thought that Satan, after sending the Barbarians, the Famines and the sacking armies, was again at work, so he searched new protectors: Saint Defendente in Northern Italy, Saint Blasius in Germany, Saint Peter in Romania, Saints Theodore and Sava in Yugoslavia etc. The touching example of Saint Francis of Assisi, who taught that all lifeforms should be equally respected as manifestation of God’s Will, and he even stroked a wolf before his horrified followers to prove so, was completely ignored. Here begins the mythological part, the one created by man’s fears and hopes. The wolf cries because he can’t bear the moonlight; he eats the earth from moles’ mounds and this makes him the boldest of the fighters. He blinds the wanderers throwing fresh snow at their faces; he poisons the flesh he bites; his brain grows and decreases with the moon, like the man suffering from epilepsy. His body is one of the most powerful amulets: his skull, put near the house door will keep away other wolves and thieves; his tail and teeth protects from witchcraft. The old Mafia, when wolves were still common, would leave a dead wolf in front of the house of the enemy as a warning ; epilepsy can be cured by eating three crow hearts and one wolf heart, with some particular magical flowers; a horse bitten by a wolf will become the fastest horse; a tooth, hanging from a horse or mule neck, will make the animal tireless; and as a last thing: if you want to know everything from a woman, even her deepest secrets, put three she-wolf milk drops on her neck while she is asleep. These are just a small part of the legends regarding the wolf’s body and they’ve been collected in Italy, France, Greece, Rumania. In Southern Italy there is a common saying : The Female born on the Christmas Night will be a witch ; The Male born on the Christmas Night will be either a warlock or a werewolf. It is just the punishment for being born the same day as the deity. During the XI century the Church, with the Decreta from Bucardus of Worms, began her fight against witches and werewolves: at those time death was not the punishment, and we must remember that most of the atrocities usually attributed to the Holy Office (the inquisition) were really committed by civilian authorities. In Lithuania werewolves are considered God’s allies in His fight against the warlocks and Satan himself. They were engaged in epic fights three times a year to recover the properties warlocks and demons stole from men. In Armenia the werewolves are women and men betraying their partners. There are many ways to become a werewolf: as a result of a curse; for a sacrilege; wearing for a determined time a wolf skin; bathing in certain lakes and streams or eating human flesh (Greece); being the seventh male son of a poor family (Portugal); drinking the rain fallen inside a wolf’s footstep and do some particular dances. In Bulgaria they were just born from a murdered man’s blood. It’s easy to recognise a werewolf: his eyebrows are thick and they cover his nose; he has a small tail; his nails are red and curved; he has hair under his tongue(Russia). The werewolf suffers a lot when his body changes, but he becomes a huge wolf (not a half man half wolf hybrid) with a fearful strength. He loves human flesh and his an exceptional hunter but he fears any light and the cross (not because is a Christian symbol, but because is the symbol of sunlight, as in the ancient cultures), he can’t look up in the sky and can’t climb more than three steps (this magical number is pre-Christian, probably ancient Greek). Throwing some keys before him will stop him dead in his tracks. Some say that throwing water at him will return him to his human state, but the ultimate cure is spilling three (again) drops of blood from particular points of his body. Sorry to blow away some of the American-teens-inspired legends but a werewolf can be killed with any weapon that can kill a wolf : shotguns, spears, traps, poison, NOT the classical, expensive and abused silver bullet. But a werewolf is exceptionally smart and strong, so traps and poisons won’t work, much of the time. During the enlightened Renaissance (not the Dark Middle Ages!) Southern Europe experienced the fearful and shameful Witchhunt: some men were even accused to be werewolves, stealing the cattle and killing the village children, and executed for their crimes. These cases were so few and exceptional, against the mass of the usual witch trials that they are still well recorded: they happened in France (Lyon, Besançon and other places), Germany (Kolh, etc.), Italy (Naples, Pavia, Bologna, etc.). The country where the most exaggerated tales abut wolves born is surely France : 500 (?) people killed by wolves just at Toulouse in 1606 and other fantastic numbers. Even Northern Italy had its outbreak of wolf scare: hundreds of people killed in Emilia in 1247, large scale wolf hunt near Pavia in the XI century ordered by the local petty tyrant. And at Vicenza, in 1300, the Government was engaged in building walls, not against enemy armies, but against wolves. And what happens when a werewolf dies? Easy: he becomes either a lubin (a French word for wolf shaped ghoul, living on corpses he digs in graveyards) or a vampire. Such fear was so great that special laws were approved to deal with suspected dead werewolves : in Germany and Serbia their corpses were burnt and in Normandy the priests oversaw the beheading of the dead suspects. And to what this brought ? In France, Switzerland and most of Germany the wolf is completely extinct; in Greece he is partially protected and keeps on living; in Italy, he is now completely safe and he is taking back, slowly but steady, his old habitat, helped by the new specimen arriving from Slovenia and Croatia. The situation in Eastern Europe is less clear: in some areas is hunted down, but in others is left alone and free to do what he wishes. In Spain and Turkey he is still well diffused but is unprotected. It seems we may have stopped the cull in time.