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Concept
Therianthropy
Summary
Therianthropy is the mythological ability or affliction of individuals to metamorphose into animals or hybrids by means of shapeshifting. It is possible that cave drawings found at Les Trois Frères, in France, depict ancient beliefs in the concept.
The best-known form of therianthropy, called lycanthropy, is found in stories of werewolves.
The term therianthropy comes from the Greek thēríon [θηρίον], meaning "wild animal" or "beast" (implicitly mammalian), and anthrōpos [ἄνθρωπος], meaning "human being". It was used to refer to animal transformation folklore of Europe as early as 1901. Sometimes the term "zoanthropy" is used instead.
Therianthropy was used to describe spiritual beliefs in animal transformation in a 1915 Japanese publication, A History of the Japanese People from the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era. One source, The Human Predator, raises the possibility the term may have been used as early as the 16th century in criminal trials of suspected werewolves.
Therianthropy refers to the fantastical, or mythological, ability of some humans to change into animals. Therianthropes are said to change forms via shapeshifting. Therianthropy has long existed in mythology, and seems to be depicted in ancient cave drawings such as The Sorcerer, a pictograph executed at the Palaeolithic cave drawings found in the Pyrénées at the Les Trois Frères, France, archeological site.
Theriocephaly (Greek "animal headedness") refers to beings that have an animal head attached to an anthropomorphic, or human, body; for example, the animal-headed forms of gods depicted in ancient Egyptian religion (such as Ra, Sobek, Anubis).
Shapeshifting
Shapeshifting in folklore, mythology and anthropology generally refers to the alteration of physical appearance from that of a human to that of another species. Lycanthropy, the transformation of a human into a wolf (or werewolf), is probably the best-known form of therianthropy, followed by cynanthropy (transformation into a canine) and ailuranthropy (transformation into a cat).
Official source
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