Shapeshifting In Greek Myths

Shapeshifting Through The Ages

Have you ever wanted to fly? Or run faster than any other living thing? Or roar loudly enough to heard for miles around? Maybe you’ve wanted to breathe underwater, or echolocate. Any of these things could be accomplished if you could just leave your current physical form behind, trade your boring human skin in for a new one. For centuries, maybe millennia, human beings have dreamed of doing just that—shapeshifting. According to Ryan Stone, an academic in fields such as Classical Studies and Art History, “[the] notion of shapeshifting has been around for nearly as long as human beings.” Shapeshifting has been used in stories and myths dating back to Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt, prominently featuring humans and deities transforming into animals and, to a lesser extent, plants. This shapeshifting normally occurred for one of two reasons—as a punishment to mortals
In Egyptian mythology, Egyptian gods appeared in the form of humans with the heads of animals and can turn into these animals completely. Celtic and Scottish mythologies speak notably of the selkie, a creature capable of turning from seal to human, and in Norse mythology, the trickster god Loki is well-known for his shapeshifting, a power not unique to him, but common among the giants that appear in many Norse myths. In these stories, it would seem that shapeshifting is an asset, not a punishment, but the rule still holds true in the story of Fafnir, who was irreversibly transformed into a dragon because of his greed. Instances of shapeshifting vary depending on who or what is being transformed and whether or not it is voluntary. The general rule is that voluntary non-permanent shapeshifting is a blessing, and involuntary permanent transformations are a curse. At the heart of the issue of shapeshifting lies themes of freedom and confinement, strength and weakness, and the duality of