Editing Werewolf (section)

=== Indo-European comparative mythology ===
[[File:Lekythos Dolon Louvre CA1802.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Dolon (mythology)|Dolon]] wearing a wolf skin. Attic red-figure vase, {{Circa|460 BC}}.]]
The European motif of the devilish werewolf devouring human flesh harks back to a common development during the [[Middle Ages]] in the context of [[Christianity]], although stories of humans turning into wolves take their roots in earlier pre-Christian beliefs.{{sfn|Otten|1986|pp=5–8}}{{sfn|de Blécourt|2015|pp=82–83}}

Their underlying common origin can be traced back to [[Proto-Indo-European mythology]], wherein ''lycanthropy'' is reconstructed as an aspect of the initiation of the ''[[kóryos]]'' warrior class, which may have included a cult focused on dogs and wolves identified with an age grade of young, unmarried warriors.{{sfn|Koch|2020|p=96}} The standard comparative overview of this aspect of Indo-European mythology is McCone's 1987 work.<ref>Kim R. McCone, "Hund, Wolf, und Krieger bei den Indogermanen" in W. Meid (ed.), Studien zum indogermanischen Wortschatz, Innsbruck, 1987, 101–154</ref>